Losing to Virtus.pro, exchanging maps with fnatic and crushing HellRaisers, SK survived Group B and advanced to the quarter-finals at EPICENTER: Moscow.



FalleN shared his thoughts on SK's issues

After SK's last match took place Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo talked to HLTV.org about their results in the group stage and issues they faced following the three-month long break from LAN events.

First you met Virtus.pro and suffered a fairly crushing loss, why was the start of the event so disappointing from you?

Yeah, we had a very tough match against VP, as it always is. Both matches we started pretty badly, losing 0-7 or something, so both of them were very difficult to come back from. We're playing a high level competition and every team can win, so what makes the difference is how you react in-game and to what's happening. For us, at least in the first match, we didn't play as well as we could. We were making stupid mistakes, not playing as a unit and not playing for the strategy. So, we were doing a lot of mistakes and we're trying to fix it, I think today we showed that we can play better than in the first match.

Next you faced fnatic on the second day, Train was quite straight-forward but then you crumbled on Mirage, what happened there?

On Mirage we lost the first pistol round and had three good rounds, so it was 3-3. But then we were just hunting in situations where we shouldn't, lost two guys in a 4v1 situation where the guy had an AWP but we had the bomb. So there was no reason to chase, maybe you'll think this didn't change too much, but that actually forced us on an eco afterwards and we missed the chance to break fnatic's economy. Because of the mistakes, we couldn't get back in the economy game to be able to get a better T side. Despite that there were some other mistakes that we weren't able to fix, some reactions that we weren't doing properly that made us lose the game. But fnatic played super well, I have to say.

I'd like to talk about your level of play after the three-month break from LANs. Here you've made mistakes you usually rarely make, losing advantageous situations etc., how do you feel about the team's performance now?

I think it's not a break problem. We're having internal problems, mainly some relationship problems that should not be happening. And this kind of breaks the team spirit. When you lose the team spirit, then you can't proceed. Right now we're trying to fix it, we're trying to get our motivation back. I mean, this is totally our fault, this should not be happening, but sometimes it's really difficult. When you're living together, you have to spend all day with each other, sometimes it's just too much, you know. There's also the fact that when you reach the top, it's a whole other game to stay there. And we weren't mature enough to understand our mistakes, just because you're the best in the world it doesn't mean you don't need to perform better. That's the kind of mentality that we had, but hopefully we'll be able to fix it in the next games.

That's what I wanted to ask about as well - when I interviewed pasha, he said you might not know how to take the losses considering you have such expectations now, being the best team in the world for the past several months. Is it the inexperience with this type of a situation that maybe affects the young guys?

To be honest, this team is totally the opposite. We just got to the top level, because we knew how to lose. Every single time we lost, we were like "okay, we have to improve on this, this was bad, this was good, let's fix this for the next games." This kind of mentality, this kind of an approach, led us to becoming the best team in the world. But the problem is, you have to keep it, otherwise you crumble, and that's what's happening. Right now we're missing that [mentality], but we're working to get it back. If you don't work hard, someone will pass you, the competition is too high to just think you're going to stay at the top forever.

Group B wasn't that affected by the format's issues, but in Group A every single game was tied up until now. What do you think about the best-of-two's in round-robin groups?

For us getting out of the group was the most important, of course we wanted to place first to go into semi-finals, but second or third really doesn't make a difference. We don't know who we're gonna play yet, but I'm hoping to get pasha again. pasha, I'm waiting for you my friend, the biceps here is ready for you.

What about the event overall, EPICENTER have received a lot of praise for their approach to players. What are they doing better than other organizers?

The part outside of the game is awesome, they're taking care of all the meals, so that's very important. You don't have easy access to go out and get food, so this is making our life much easier. And the fact that we have computers that we can use is something we've never had, and it's something we've been asking for for a long time. This is something very special, because you can watch the other games, watch demos, play whenever you want. Most people don't know this, but most of the time you have at tournaments as a player is spare time. You can go out around the city, watch something, but it's kinda boring. Of course you can go out and visit some place, but you can only do that one day or two days maximum, so having a room like this makes our life so much easier and more joyful to be in the tournament. Besides that, the hotel is awesome, we had some problems with the server, some lag, but I think they're trying to work it out. It's their first time in CS:GO, so it's completely understandable they might have some fixing to do, but right now I think it's the top tournament I've ever played.

What do you make of the two off-days that you have between groups and playoffs, is that a problem considering the packed schedule CS:GO has nowadays?

No, you can use those two days to relax, maybe go visit Moscow or just practise, if teams want to do that.

Any final words, shoutouts to your Brazilian fans?

Yeah, thanks for the interview, thanks to SK for the support and our sponsors. Even to all you guys who are saying we're cheating, so even to you guys who like to criticise us, thanks to you guys as well, you're part of the community too.