fnatic have stepped into the Major on the right foot, defeating FlipSid3 in their first match despite a tough start, when the Swedes were down 0-6 on their Counter-Terrorist side.

flusha is back to in-game leading full-time

We grabbed Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist for an interview about fnatic's preparation ahead of the Major, their first bootcamp with this lineup, and the FlipSid3 match.

What has the atmosphere been like in the team in the past couple of weeks throughout some of the losses that you faced?

Of course, after every loss we aren't happy. We had setbacks, we've done the worst we could have done, so we went all in for this, we bootcamped and everyone just played as much CS as possible. We really tried to be the best we could be, we're all in for this.

How long has it been since your last bootcamp, have you done any since this lineup got back together?

No, we never bootcamped, even before the first time we played together, we never bootcamped. So it's our first time.

Did you see that as a last resort, trying something new like that?

Not a last resort... We scheduled this two months ago, so we felt like 'let's try something new'. We aren't winning, so we need to try everything we can.

You famously have always put a lot more hours into the game ahead of Majors, was that the case for the PGL Major as well, did you live and breathe CS?

Yeah, of course, every Major I do it the same way. Now it was a bit harder, since we had Cologne the week before, so I only got one week of only CS, I usually want two weeks. But I feel like I'm probably on the top of my skill, so I'm hoping to show it.

At Cologne, you mentioned that KRIMZ was splitting some of the in-game leading duties with you, can you explain what the balance looks like?

Now it's back to me again, I just told them after Cologne that everyone needs to do what I say and we're going to do well. As long as everyone keeps playing CS and gets their skill up, we're going to get confidence by that, so it's back to me. When KRIMZ was doing it, he was doing all of it, and I had input mid-round.

Why did you do this in the first place, why did you feel the necessity to change leaders?

As I said before, we need to try everything. At ECS, only JW was playing well, I felt like I should be the one who steps up and plays well with him, so it was mainly that. It didn't really work, so I'm back to it and told everyone just to get better.

You had a tough start into your first match here against FlipSid3, losing 0-6 and then even a 4v2 and a 4v1. Do you still have that old faith that you can come back no matter what, or do you doubt yourself now given recent results? What were the issues on your CT side?

Yeah, we have doubts. We started out really slow, but we were never really tilted or gave up, we just knew we are the better team and the better players. Eventually, when we got the first rounds, we all knew it was time to start playing better and the way we should, instead of hiding and playing angles.

Was that the problem, the individual players being a little bit too afraid?

Yeah, I think we've had this mentality since we lost in groups a lot. The bootcamp really helped in that, we know that we need to go into the duels and play the way play the best, we just try to focus on that. We have some strats as well, but mainly playing the way we should.

What would you consider a good placing here at the Major?

It depends on the draws of course, but I'd say top four. The way we played in practice, we could win or go to the final, but top four would be a good result for us right now.