Cloud9's Ryan "FREAKAZ0ID" Abadir sat down with theScore eSports after his team's ESWC Grand Final loss to discuss the team's performance, their map pool and his bench press.

Q: What preparations did you do for the Na’Vi game?

A: Well, we didn’t have much time because we just got done playing with EnVyUs. Honestly, I’m not making any excuses but we’re all kind of sick so we we’re all just kind of sleeping. Sean and I watched an Inferno demo and I kind of had an idea about what they liked to do, but playing against it was a completely different thing. I have to give them credit, they were really good on that map.

Q: Can you take us through your comeback in the second map?

A: Well, on the first map they were just that good. On the second map, we were all down. I was a little bit down but I was trying to bring new life to the team like “c’mon we can win we can bring it back.” It was a 10-5 first half and then we won pistol, it became 10-6 and then we kept winning a couple more rounds and it sparked life in us. You could see, it got close and it was grinding rounds but we ended up just being able to pull that out because we believed. That’s the biggest key in this game to me is just confidence and being able to believe that you can win and believe in your teammates and your ability, your practice and preparation.

Q: Can you take us through the final round of Overpass?

A: Well, I rotated over to the same spot that n0thing was in and then Sean got killed first I think. After that, I got doubled with Jordan and Skadoodle missed a shot and it instantly became a one versus two in probably less than three seconds. I guess you can say that I made the initial mistake of not rotating over to bank but I didn’t really think about it because I saw the initial two kills and I wanted get there to help as fast as possible. You have to give those two guys credit though because even when they were in a 2v5 they still weren’t out of it. We made the mistake but they capitalized and that’s how good they are so you have to give them credit because I was devastated. That was a heartbreaker but we can only take a positive from this.

Q: We saw n0thing with a bag of ice over his head during the match and Sean has been reported as sick as well. Can you explain just how sick your team was?

A: Jordan I think got a stomach flu last night or this morning. He started to say he just wasn’t feeling well and he was starting to get messed up last night. This morning he woke up and he just looked horrible. He just wasn’t himself. Sean was just starting to cough up a storm and he needs to get a root canal so that’s pretty serious and I think that’s weakening his immune system. Skadoodle had a headache and he was trying to sleep it off the whole time. I’m not going to make any excuses and say it affected the match. Jordan had an ice bag over his head so it definitely affected him, but he was still playing like a maniac.

Q: Personally, what’s the biggest takeaway for you after this tournament?

A: Inferno. I’m not going to be down even though I was down when I saw my score at the half obviously, but we were just getting wrecked. They were honestly just on their game. On Dust 2 there were times when I made the wrong play and I knew it when I did it. For coming back after four months of a break and not really understanding the meta and not knowing how the Europeans play when I haven't played them at all, I’m definitely growing and improving and I know it too. I’m improving every single round honestly. I’m seeing something new, I’m understanding teams differently, and I know that I’m growing. All of my teammates too. That’s the bright future for us. We’re only going to get better. Not only are we good strategically with Sean’s calling, we’re all really skilled. People are going to start noticing that. Fnatic know that and Na’Vi now know that too. It’s now our job to take it to them and take a first place.

Q: Moving ahead to the FACEIT League finals in Valencia. What do you think your team needs to improve on for that event?

A: Well the one thing we need to do better is obviously finish. We need to close out these matches better. We get to the 13th/14th rounds and we see it and then our mind kind of goes “we’re right there.” We need to take it round by round and instead of thinking about it as the 14th round we need to think about it as the first and we will start closing out these matches. I think this one hurts more than Fnatic just because we should have been in OT. Moving forward, I think we’re never going to want to have this feeling again. It’s motivation for us to keep getting better, wanting to get better and we have to get better.

Q: How much is improving your map pool a priority for your team?

A: One thing is that there are seven maps in the pool and we’re good at five. The two maps that we’re not the best at, the other teams are good at and it’s a problem when they do veto, pick, pick like today. So we had to veto one and they picked the other and look, it showed. Moving forward, we need to do what we can in between these LANs and we need to choose one of the maps and try and do what we can so that we can grind out rounds, because we’re not going to instantly be the best Inferno or Mirage team. So that’s our goal, to tidy up one of those maps.

Q: We saved the the most important question for last. How much do you bench press?

A: 345 on bench. My best deadlift was 455 and my best squat was 365. It’s weak because I never do legs. I’m too lazy.

This article was edited and condensed for clarity.

Jacob Julliet writes about Counter-Strike for theScore eSports. Follow him on Twitter.

Paul Park is a writer for theScore eSports. You can follow him on Twitter.