MOUZ have qualified for their first grand final with Oldřich “PR” Nový after a labored victory against Astralis, during which they needed eight match points to close out the game.
Despite that, however, Lotan “Spinx” Giladi remains upbeat about their performances in Malta.
“We won the semifinal, first tournament, first final for us,” he told HLTV after the victory. “We had so many good situations that we could have closed both of these maps faster, but a win is a win.”
He also touched on his new passive roles, his individual form, and MOUZ’s expectations for the grand final against Spirit.
Listen to the interview here.
Congrats, you got the job done in the end and qualified for the grand final. Are you happy with your performance in this game?
Of course. We won the semifinal, first tournament, first final for us. About the performance, I think Dust2 and Mirage, we played super well, though we could have done much better. We had so many good situations that we could have closed both of these maps faster, but a win is a win. On Ancient, we could not get the ball rolling, but I’m just happy we managed to step up and play better on the second map.
It was another very close game, just as it was against 3DMAX. Why do you think that is? Is it just you guys finding the chemistry on the server with the two new guys?
Yeah, I think our CT side still needs to do a bit better. Me and PR on the B site, I feel like we have many situations where we are doing really good and just missing the kill sometimes… It’s just Counter-Strike after all. You can put yourself in good situations, but eventually you need to shoot some heads. I think we could close this game a bit earlier. But again, we learn from it. Let’s see what we can do better next time, and that’s it.
You can put yourself in good situations, but eventually you need to shoot some heads
For you personally, you moved to more passive roles recently. Do you think that you needed to make a change? Because these last few months have not been like the Spinx of old.
Yeah, of course. I don’t know if it’s to get back into a Spinx from the past or whatever, but just getting into good form to help the team. I think if I would play better, maybe we would do a bit better on the results lately, and it’s my job to do better. It’s the job of the team, for all of us, all five of us.
I have nothing to say about it. I think this game today, the team just played really well. On the Dust2 T side, I had a 1v3, but beside it I had like three kills, and it’s good. You come from behind, maybe you can trade, but when your team is just getting the kills, it’s also good.
I wanted to ask about this Dust2 T side because as you said, you had three kills, then you won a 1v3, and then you got the 3K in mid doors in the pistol. But you spent 12 rounds of almost seeing no one. How has having so little action in some maps been?
Yeah, I think it’s not easy for any player. Any player that has a full half and only saw three CTs and died only twice, it’s a bit hard. It’s really hard to stay in the game, stay focused, keep high communication, and be precise, have high impact, and stuff like this. But I think the 1v3 in the end definitely helped me.
Any player that has a full half and only saw three CTs and died only twice, it’s a bit hard
Sometimes it’s like this. Sometimes if you are more the passive guy and your teammates are just going into the site and killing the guys, what can you do? But it’s a good situation. If you’re winning that 10-2 and you have only three kills, it means your teammates are doing an amazing job.
When you joined MOUZ, you talked about being excited to have more active roles, but it seems that has kind of gone away, and you’re in the same position that you were in Vitality. Is it just down to whatever the team needs, or is this something that you hope will change in the future?
No, I don’t think about the change in the future. I just think about what the team needs right now, and that’s what we need at the moment. It’s fine, a bit more active, a bit more passive…. Of course, everyone wants to be activated and everyone wants to have fun on the server and kill people all the time and stuff like this, but you need to put the team first always.
It’s not like my role is all bad. I can also play the match better, and then maybe we will not have this talk, but it’s okay. We are doing pretty good. First tournament, grand final, that’s the most important.
It’s not like my role is all bad. I can also play the match better
As you said, a very good result in your first tournament. You made the final, but tomorrow there’s a much tougher test in Spirit and a best-of-five final, which also tests the map pool a lot more. Do you feel ready to take on a team like Spirit?
Yeah, I think we can take on anyone. It’s CS2 these days, and coming to this tournament you see the big dogs are failing to qualify. Of course it was online, and there’s a big difference between online and a LAN grand final, but yeah, of course we can do it.
We are confident. I think it’s also a really good experience for the boys, the first grand final for two of them. We want revenge for Spirit, they beat us many times in the past year, so we have a lot of good stuff to come up with. We are enjoying the moment.
