Q: NiKo, a disappointing loss to Legacy. This defeat must have been a significant blow for you, given how smoothly the tournament had progressed so far. Can you talk about the match?
NiKo：That was indeed a reality check. We didn't look like the team from the previous three matches at all. I have to give credit to Legacy—they played really well. Even though we knew what to expect and had prepared, I feel the game plan didn't work as intended.
Today we performed terribly. We were expecting more and had higher goals for this tournament, so being eliminated in this manner is truly disappointing. I can't remember the last time we were this crushed. It's hard to accept.
Q: What do you think is the root cause of the problem? Clearly, only m0NESY is in form. Is it a collective underperformance by the whole team, or are there some processes that aren't working properly?
NiKo：I think it's a combination of various factors. Like you mentioned, Ilya's form was really good, especially during the early stages of Mirage. As for us, we probably never truly got into our usual groove. Our pace during the rounds was very slow, perhaps a bit too hesitant, and even a bit fearful at times.
Perhaps we focused too much on their playstyle and how to counter them, without leveraging our own strengths to a greater extent. This feeling is quite unusual, something that rarely happens to us. So before making any further judgments on what exactly went wrong, I really want to review this match first.
Q：At least can we talk about what Legacy did that made things so tough for you? From a bystander's perspective, many times you didn't even get a chance for gunfights. Was it because their individual form was too good, try also played excellently, or were there other reasons?
NiKo: As I said before, you have to give credit to them. Their individual form, game plan, and match attitude were all on point. They simply didn't care who the opponent was; they stuck to their own style and thoroughly executed the game plan.
Take Mirage for example, even though we knew what they were going to do and punished them for it, they kept fighting harder in waves. They are truly doing an excellent job.
But personally speaking, for some reason, I simply couldn't play my game. I couldn't control the pace or take aim duels the way I wanted. That's why I'm really frustrated with my performance today. I tried to fight back a bit on the CT side of Dust2, but it might have been too late by then.