Falcons’ IEM Beijing campaign ended after a 1-2 loss against Natus Vincere. Having beaten HEROIC earlier in the day, they avenged their opening Ancient defeat to NAVI before losing Inferno and Mirage.
Danny “zonic” Sørensen described a recurring issue: poor starts leave Falcons stressed, impatient and unable to follow their protocols or communicate properly.
“It’s frustrating to see because it is something that we are addressing and talking about daily,” he said.
The Danish coach also addressed Falcons’ struggles on their own map picks, admitting that Dust2 is currently the only map they can rely on, and even that comes without guarantees.
Listen to the interview here
Yesterday I talked with karrigan, and he said you’ve been struggling to win your own map picks. From your perspective as a coach, why has that been happening?
It’s tough to say. Obviously, we have tried several times picking different maps. Right now the only map that we can actually rely on, but it’s not even 100% sure, is Dust2. The rest, I think it’s very difficult.
The only thing I can say is that we are often the higher seed, at least recently, and we don’t mind taking our opponents’ map pick, but when it comes to our own, we fall flat, and I don’t know if it’s a mental part or starting on the T-side, and when we get a rough start, it seems to just put us into a very bad space where protocols get lost.
Right now the only map that we can actually rely on, but it’s not even 100% sure, is Dust2
We don’t play with patience. We get stressed. We don’t communicate properly, and it’s a trending factor for us this season, unfortunately.
And talking about the mental part, you picked Mirage the last time you played against NAVI. Why was it so difficult for you on that map today? Did losing Inferno affect your confidence going into the decider?
It looks like it. When we take the first game today against HEROIC, we were very solid. I think we also were competitive, and looked really good on Ancient. We know Ancient is one of our weaker maps, and they picked it, and we went from losing, I think it was 13-5 a couple of days ago, to now winning it in a close fashion, of course.
But yeah, Inferno and Mirage, we got off to a bad start on Inferno. They really pressured us, made the right calls, the right timing, and then we got off to a bad start, and it seems like those few rounds kind of dictated the rest of the entire game, which is unacceptable.
We have to be stronger mentally in those situations. And it’s frustrating to see because it is something that we are addressing and talking about daily. When we are playing good, having momentum, even comes down to maybe winning the first three or four rounds, the entire half looks really good. But when we get off to a bad start, it can destroy our entire game, and there we have to be stronger.
One last question. You were here as a coach at IEM Beijing 2019. How does it feel to be back seven years later here?
It obviously feels great. From what I remember, the results were also a bit different seven years ago where we won the trophy with Astralis. It’s always a pleasure coming to China in general, but also coming back here to Beijing. It’s a beautiful city.
The fans are super nice but also really respectful. When we are going out on team walks, and we tell them, ‘Hey, let’s, we can sign mouse pads or whatever, do pictures after,’ they always respect us and let us do our team walk and our things. So it’s always a pleasure coming back here. Love the fans, love the support. Feels like a second home. So sad about the result, but happy to come back to China.
