Jimpphat: “We cannot let our mental slip this easily”

Aurora are yet to get rolling with their new international constellation, following up a round of 16 exit from Esports World Cup with a group stage elimination at the hands of G2 in BLAST Open Porto.

“We held onto that Inferno game a little bit,” Jimi “⁠Jimpphat⁠” Salo told HLTV, his team having just been smashed on Mirage following a close multi-overtime affair on Inferno. “We got frustrated so easily and I think, in the end on Mirage, after we lost this Deagle round, it was so quiet. Nobody was really making any plans and stuff like this. So yeah it definitely affected us.”

Despite enjoying his time with Aurora thus far, Jimpphat identified mentality as the team’s biggest issue, one he hopes they can remedy moving forward. “The mental part we need to work on it, and as a team it’s a big problem for us. This is the next thing we really need to figure out and sort it out from our way, because it’s holding us [back] a lot.”

You can listen to the interview here.

Talk me through that series from your eyes.

I think it started good, obviously, we won Anubis so not much to say there. We were pretty confident because we knew last time we did a lot of mistakes, and now we kind of fixed them.

Then on Inferno, it was really close I would say. In the beginning the first half was 7-5 or something like this, so it was a really close game. Then on the T side we got really good momentum, and then we got into 12-7 or something like this, but then I think we fucked up a couple of rounds. We did some stuff wrong, or we didn’t communicate properly what we need to do, stuff like this, so then it kind of fucked us mentally. We couldn’t get back to it, and sadly we lost that map in the end. Overtime was a crazy fight, it could have gone either way, but I think in the end, they took it mentally. They had better mentality, so they won.

Then on Mirage, I don’t know what to say. We won pistol, and then after we lost this Deagle round, people were so tilted and stuff like this. So yeah, it was really rough. We tried, but on Mirage it was just a shit show, we couldn’t find our footing at all. They played with full confidence and we got run over, in a way.

Do you think part of that Mirage result was Inferno? It felt like you had it in your hands, and then you end up losing a really rough double overtime game.

I think, of course, it was in the mind a little bit. We tried our best to reset between the maps because obviously Mirage is a good map for us, but we definitely didn’t let it go in some way. We held onto that Inferno game a little bit, and we got frustrated so easily and I think, in the end on Mirage, after we lost this Deagle round, it was so quiet. Nobody was really making any plans and stuff like this. So yeah it definitely affected us, but I wish it wouldn’t have, because obviously it’s only one round. It can still be either way in the game, but we didn’t show up at all. It’s sad.

Do you think some of that comes down to being a new team? It’s maybe a little bit easier to get frustrated ’cause things are going to go wrong, right, when you’re a new team?

Yeah, obviously we are still figuring out a lot of things. With Aurora we are quite a new team, and I think for us we know we can play really good, but sometimes definitely our biggest enemy is ourselves and our mentality. Because in games like this, we should still do better. Even if shit happens, we should still move on, but I think in this game you definitely saw that we couldn’t do it. We were stuck to it mentally and then this was the outcome. It’s really sad. It’s something we need to work on, I trust we’ll work on it as well because I know how good we can be with the team. After we can fix this big issue, I would say it’s quite big, then I think we will be one step better.

I wanted to ask what it’s been like in general on Aurora for you ’cause obviously you were with MOUZ for a long time, the academy roster then the main roster. What have the changes been like?

I think individually I have a little bit more freedom compared to MOUZ towards the end. At least I feel that way. I think of course the whole IGL coach difference is huge. We play different CS in some way. Of course there’s a lot of similarities and still in the end we… Coming from MOUZ, I got a lot of experience playing from tier one, and now after I came back from a break, it feels really fresh to play. Right now I have a lot of confidence individually to do my stuff as well, and I’ve been playing quite well, I would say.

I think as a team it’s more loose, people are really experienced here so we have a lot of individual freedom. But of course sometimes when things are not going as we want, or if, let’s say, individually we are not sharp, then of course we will do something else. kyxsan will call and ashhh will help also behind as much as he can. But overall, I would say that is the biggest thing for me and I really enjoy it for myself as well.

Jimpphat says he is enjoying playing under kyxsan’s leadership

Is it a bit harder to get up to speed, to get up to your top level when you play a little bit looser and it’s new players coming together?

Yeah, in a way, but at the same time I think it’s good. Maybe when we have a lot more experience together, it might not be like this. I think in the beginning it’s definitely good to see, because then we get to know what people like to do and how they are playing. I think it’s much better that in the beginning we have more freedom, and then we can start to build upon that and see where we are as a team. So right now we are still figuring it out, but sometimes, of course, individually if you are not sharp then it will be a little bit more hard, I would say.

But still, in the end, kyxsan is calling really good. I’ve been enjoying it a lot under his IGL. I think he’s a good IGL with a lot of experience, so it’s been a pleasure, and just right now as a team we still need to figure out what everyone is doing and how we want to do things, and see where it takes us.

Even after this shit loss, [because] it’s of course hurting a lot. It’s really sad that we lost this way. I think we need some time now to look back a little bit at what we could have done better, and definitely work on some things that are really big for us. One of them is of course the mental part, because we cannot let it slip this easily.

I wanted to ask what it’s been like playing with the three Turkish players. I know woxic obviously played international teams before, and XANTARES did a little bit, but for a long time they’ve been playing with a Turkish-only core. How have they been adapting in your eyes?

For me, the first thought before I even joined the team was of course the English level, but they are good, nothing to worry about that part. Of course sometimes they might struggle a little bit finding good words or something like this, but nothing major, it’s really simple stuff. And for me, of course, I’ve been playing international my whole life basically, so for me it’s not something new.

Definitely I can see that sometimes for them they need to process a little bit what is being said, because they are not used to it yet, and it’s totally normal. In the beginning you change the language, you used to play Turkish, let’s say for Wicadia his whole life, and now he needs to speak English. It’s a little bit different than playing in FPL and communicating in English or something like this. But for me, I think we have been adapting really quickly, in a good way with this.

Besides that I think sometimes, as I said, with the mental part we need to work on it, and as a team it’s a big problem for us. This is the next thing we really need to figure out and sort it out from our way, because it’s holding us [back] a lot. And we want to see how good we can be, if we can fight all this to the end until it’s over. It’s difficult even for any team, but we can do much, much better in this department.

Once you fix that mentality issue, where do you see the ceiling with this roster? Because obviously whilst we get to see you play officials, we don’t see pracs. Where is the max level?

I think it’s a little bit hard to say, after all, we are a really new team. But if I only look at the individuals and how good we can be, it’s looking really good. Of course I don’t want to speak too much yet, but it’s looking good. We can definitely be one of the contenders at some moment, but we still need time of course. We are really new and need to fix our mistakes, but individually it’s looking just really good. We have a lot of good players, a lot of individual brilliance, so it’s really good for me to see as well. I’m happy so far, but of course there are some shit things like this game, we need to look at it and be better.

Do you have in your minds as a team how long before you want to be at a good level? Do you have a timeline in mind, or is it just take it as it comes?

No, there isn’t really a timeline or anything, because I think in the end it gives you huge less pressure if you think, or if as a team you speak about that, ‘in six months we want to be the best team.’ It’s really… I’m not sure if hypocritical is the word for it, but anyway, anything can happen. You can be the best team or you can not be, you can be a really good team still. So talking about it in that way, we are not doing it.

I think just looking overall, at the development process since we started from the online games, it’s much better already. As we get some experience on the stages, and even playing here in the studio versus the best teams in the world, I think is really beneficial for us.