NiP continue their run at DreamHack Masters Malmö, securing a win over Natus Vincere to move on in the tournament. The 2-1 win over the Ukranian side means that NiP will face G2 tomorrow.

draken is confident in his team

In a talk with William "⁠draken⁠" Sundin, we learned about his struggles on Train, NiP's map pool and his thoughts on the coaching rule.

You started the first map against Na`Vi, Train, with two 1v1's against Edward that went his way. How did you feel after that, it seemed like you were not getting into the game, did that shake you up a bit? How did that develop through the first map?

I got to a really bad start with 0-10 I think, and I've never got that score in an official match before, so it was a bit scary, but then I just started thinking, you know, you got to skip that, it's a team game, I've worked so much on that since Epsilon, I think I was able to handle it.

I mean, Train was a fluke map, we should've won it, we had some crucial rounds, we just didn't hit our shots and we did small mistakes that cost you the game.

After that, you move on to the second map which was Nuke, your pick. Tell me about that, you had a first half that was ok but in the end, it was 13-6 for them, but you came back with some crazy rounds...

Yeah, Nuke was exactly as Train, we got the exact same score as well and we had so many rounds as Terrorists that we didn't finish... Same as on Train, we did the small mistakes, we didn't hit our shots really well and we gave away advantages. But these two maps, Train and Nuke, it's easy to do that on them. They are CT based maps, if you do the small mistakes, but if you are so coordinated, 100%, then I feel like they are T map. So you have to have those 100% accurate calls, just feel comfortable as a team and attack a site together you know, you have to be on the same page.

How comfortable are you now as a team? You've been together something over a month, how confident are you about everything, on all the maps, with this lineup now?

This lineup... I think we have all the right ingredients to succeed and become top 1 in the world. I mean, we have a strong map pool as well, we are trying to ban some different maps and see how it works out. But I think, on average, we are good on every map. We just need to get into our comfort zone and start playing.

Talking about the map vetos, you started to ban Cobble a bit more and you ended up playing Mirage as the decider, a map that NiP didn't play for almost a year. Tell me about the decision to open up Mirage, when and why did that happen?

We started playing Mirage because it was both mine and REZ's best map, or a top contender for it at least, in Epsilon. We always had high numbers on it. As an AWPer, you can do very much, go everywhere, and mid is so open up, there are so many angles. You can get so many entries there and it's a good map for NiP.

I think we have the right team now for these open, aim duel maps, with me and REZ. Myself, I feel super comfortable, if I just get in my zone on Mirage, and on every map, I feel like I can be number one. I just need to hit my peak and stay there, not be inconsistent and get these experiences with all these LANs.

Something that DreamHack has different from other tournaments is the coaching ruleset. Tell me a bit about that, how has it been playing here, the communication with THREAT, the whole idea, and the execution? How much do you like it?

Yeah, I like it. THREAT is doing a lot of work, actually, especially in freeze time. He doesn't really give calls, but he gives ideas to us. And he always studies his demos, so he sees patterns very well. He is good with these small adaptations and calling in the freeze time. That is why we did so many tactical timeouts as well. So we can let THREAT talk a bit and come with his inputs.

So is this something you would like for other tournaments to implement as well? This ruleset?

Yeah, I feel like this is a good thing. Coaches still can't call, in-game lead, but they can do much more in their role now. Before it was just like, they stand behind and do stuff before the game and maybe in pauses. So yeah, this is much better.

Just to end it off, you are going to play against G2. It's maybe not a historic matchup for you, but for the rest of the team, it is, NiP and the French, since VeryGames. How do you feel going into that and what do you expect from the matchup?

I feel great going against G2, kennyS is probably the pro AWPer that I faced the most times. We have had close games versus each other, so I don't fear him, but I still respect him, because I think he is the top 1 AWPer. I feel comfortable, it's going to be a good game I think.