Since the recreation of the team in March, your results have been very up and down. What is it that still isn't working for you? What are the key differences between the team today and the team that won six straight tournaments?



The biggest difference, I'd say, is the confidence within the team as well as the one in every individual player. With good confidence comes good communication, you dare to do more and it's easier for players to take initiative. We've lost some team play as well that we're working very hard to regain.





Because of your recent setbacks, have you tried new methods and different approaches to the game in an attempt to catch up on the top? You have for example been bootcamping for the first time in many years, how does that feel and is there other stuff you would like to try out?



Bootcamp is something we haven't really been against, we just haven't felt the need for it before. That along with previous bad experiences from bootcamps has led us to be somewhat skeptical towards it. With good planning, however, a bootcamp can feel just like home, which is something you really have to aim for, and which we accomplished with our bootcamp now. The bootcamp here in Krakow has been really good. We have a setup in a conference room at the same hotel that we're staying. We will have access to it during the whole tournament, which definitely could give us an edge. To summarize, we haven't felt the need for a bootcamp before but we really did this time around. We give our heart and soul for this major and does not want to look back with a "what if..." on our heads. We just want to become the best again and is open towards everything, hopefully the great feeling of the bootcamp can be converted into results.





In a swiss format, you don't know beforehand what teams you're up against except for one. How does that affect your preparation and what is the overall feeling of playing a tournament with such uncertainty around when and who you play?



I can't say it affects our preparation that much. Preparing for a single BO1 for two weeks is very risky in itself, a lot of things can go wrong if you overthink it that much. I think the swiss format overall is a fun format, it works on a lot of tournaments but for the very best events, such as this, it needs some tweaking. I believe that swiss format rarely brings the best eight teams in the playoffs, there's too much randomness involved. Of course, you have to beat every team to be the best so it doesn't really matter when looking at it from that perspective. It is however really tough for teams who might be unlucky with the draw, facing, for example, SK, Faze and G2 and then they're out. The uncertainty about when you are to play is really wearisome, you sit there throughout the whole day waiting for the last match to be played just to see the draw. Who will you play? When will you play? Do I have to go to bed straight away? That is a big downside for me.





In your first match, you're playing against Flipsid3 Tactics, a team that impressed a lot during the major qualifier and historically always performs at majors. What is your view on Flipsid3 and the match?



I definitely don't think Flipsid3 is a team to underestimate, we certainly don't. It is important however to go into this major with confidence and show the world that we are back and that we are here to stay. If we want to do that, a team like Flipsid3 can't be a threat to us. We respect them and everything they've accomplished, but we will crush them.





With the latest results in mind, what is a fair goal for you and how far do you have to reach to feel "happy enough" with your performance?



Everything but a final will be a defeat, but we aim for the title. If we don't win the major, the vacation coming up will definitely be hard to really appreciate.





Any last words?



I'd like to thank everyone that supports us even though our last months has been filled with disappointing results. I hope everyone believes in me when I'm saying that we are doing everything in our power to bring back the old fnatic and to once again put Sweden on top of CS and esport. Sweden will be back.



P.S. Monster is delicious.

Jesper "JW" Wecksell and his fnatic have had a rough time on their route back to the top. Their mixed results since the recreation of the team earlier this year has put them in a weird spot for the upcoming major. Wecksell says the team has done everything they can to regain their champion form and talks briefly about his thoughts on the swiss format as well as what Fnatic aims for in the PGL Krakow Major.