By Taras Bortnik

Special to VPEsports

Following Astralis’ victory over Team Liquid in the quarterfinals, we caught up with Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen as the StarLadder Major in Berlin.

The Danish player didn’t hold back letting us know how much it meant to get that victory, and over Liquid in particular. He also talked taking breaks, the teams confidence, and more.

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VPEsports: How are you feeling after taking down Liquid?



dupreeh: I am happy. It was a really great time playing here, great feeling in the arena. All the fans here supporting us, but also denying Liquid was even better.





VPEsports: Before the tournament Liquid was the number one team without a doubt, but it seems like the break didn’t do any favors for the North American team. On the other hand you guys are well-known for making sure you’re taking breaks. How do you manage to save your form during the breaks?

dupreeh: I think that for some teams playing more increases the way you play both individuals and as a team, but for us we need some time after to like reset and figure out what kind of mistakes we are doing and how to improve. I think the recent player’s break really helped us to recharge the batteries and figure out what we are doing wrong, but also finding that mind set when you want to win again. You aren’t the best team in the world since April and now you wanna win again. Obviously winning a lot in a row kinda takes a lot of glory away, because that’s what everyone expects from you. It’s just great to be in a position when if you win you’ll be like: “Holy shit, we just did it again!”. That’s also driving us and we are happy.





VPEsports: Did the fact that Liquid was your first opponent in the playoffs change the way you came into this stage?



dupreeh: Obviously we still have to beat everyone to win a trophy, that’s the main thing. But also getting Liquid early in quarterfinals is fine, because it’s really nice to get on the way already, playing versus the best team in the world and also a favourite and knocking them out is some kind of confidence boost.





VPEsports: Maybe it’s just me, but Astralis in the group stage and here in the playoffs looks like two different teams. In the previous stage you were inconsistent, but in this matchup you were a juggernaut. Do you agree with that?



dupreeh: Oh yeah, a little bit! I mean there is a huge difference in playing in a studio with a small crowd and playing on the main stage. It’s a lot more pressure in that way. We also have to keep in mind that we are very experienced team and when it comes to playoffs we’ve been doing deep tournament runs for years now so we have to be really confident, but on the other hand we also have to be respectful of our opponents and not underestimate them.

Interviews from StarLadder Major: