We sat down with Ke "⁠captainMo⁠" Liu and HaoWen "⁠somebody⁠" Xu after their victory over Spirit to discuss TYLOO's New Legends Stage qualification.

Following yet another map going into overtime, TYLOO managed to close out the game against the CIS side, eliminating Vadim "⁠DavCost⁠" Vasilyev and co. and earning a spot in the next stage of the event, making it the first time a team from Asia reached a top 16 at a Major tournament.

The 29-year-old finally reached the top 16 of the Major with TYLOO

With translation help from SiLe "CruSad3" Hu, TYLOO's manager, we spoke to the longest standing member of the team captainMo and the Asian "smoke criminal" somebody, learning about Chinese CS:GO and more.

I want to start with getting your thoughts on the Major. At this point you play a lot of tournaments, big, international tournaments. How do they compare to the Major for you?

captainMo: A Major is not just a big tournament for us, it has been the main goal since we started playing CS:GO. We always wanted to take that step forward. We always made it to the main qualifier, now the New Challenger Stage, but we couldn't do the last step. This time we did it and we are really happy about it, we will just take it from here.

For captainMo especially, you have been around with TYLOO for a long time, how does it feel to get that step now, having your biggest achievement in a way, especially after recovering from the injury?

captainMo I'm just super happy because I finally made it, we finally made it. From now, we are just going to try our hardest and see if we can go further.

Can you say what is different about this team, now that you have BnTeT and xccurate, the two Indonesian guys, compared to the old Chinese rosters that you had? What allowed you to unlock the result you had here?

somebody: Compared to the old roster, we are playing more as a team. The whole approach to the game is more team-based, everything we do, we do as a team. But the downfall right now is the communication, it is pretty obvious. You can stay behind us when we are practicing or playing, there is chaos in the communication, a mix of three languages. Those are the pros and cons of this roster.

Talking about CS:GO in China, how did the release of the official Perfect World version impact the community over there? Has there been an increase in players and exposure?

somebody: Since the launch of Perfect World in China, the player base increased significantly because people were actually not able to play matchmaking in CS:GO, you needed to use a VPN or something like that. That is one thing, the other thing is that since then, we are having more and more international tournaments in China, either sponsored or organized by Perfect World. It is definitely a good thing, it is going to help us a lot, it is going to draw attention and more professional teams to China.

Touching on somebody's playstyle, how did you become so good at finding timings and pushing smokes?

somebody: Firstly, I watch a lot of demos and I study how others play. I also really like to think about what the opponents are thinking. When I'm playing in a 1v1, for example, I'm just going to think what the other guy is thinking and try to counter that. That's how I really like to play CS:GO. "This guy really thinks I'm going to be here, so I'm going to go there".

I watch a lot of demos and I study how others play. I also really like to think about what the opponents are thinking HaoWen "⁠somebody⁠" Xu

When you mention demos, are there any players that you like to watch, specifically?

Any final words, shoutouts that you want to add now that you made the New Legends Stage?

captainMo: Huge thanks to the fans who are supporting us. Especially those who are watching us now, since in China there is a big time difference, so we are playing and it is already midnight for them. We really appreciate their support, kind words, everything. We need it and it is going to help us a lot. Of course, also thanks to our sponsors, since they secure us bootcamps in Europe, we don't need to worry about anything else than playing, we can focus on that.

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