Although they ultimately failed to advance to the elimination stage, 5star left a deep impression at FISSURE Universe Season 3. This Mongolian team fought their way from the qualifiers to the main event, and in the group stage, they pulled off stunning upsets against The MongolZ and Astralis, achieving the two most unexpected victories of the tournament.
“Actually, we didn't expect it ourselves,” rate admitted in an interview with HLTV after the team concluded their China tour. “Facing The MongolZ and Astralis, we just played our own game and indeed gave them a huge surprise.”
Looking ahead, rate hopes that 5star will have the opportunity to train in Europe, engaging with more top-tier teams to continue improving the team's overall performance.
Q: From the preliminaries all the way to the main competition, you ultimately fell just one step short of the knockout stage. How satisfied are you with such a result?
rate: We are truly very happy because this is our first time participating in an S-level event.
Q: You defeated The MongolZ. What does it mean to you to beat players like bLitz and 910?
rate: Of course, The MongolZ is a very, very famous name, and also Mongolia's top team, as well as top ten in the world.
So for us, this was a really good performance and gives us a lot of confidence. We're really happy.
Q：But did you really believe you could consecutively defeat The MongolZ and Astralis before the match?
rate：Actually, we didn't expect it ourselves.
We just played our game, and The MongolZ and Astralis were indeed caught off guard by us. That's about it.
Q: How did you manage to surprise everyone in this competition? Was it because you were exceptionally well-prepared, or simply in great form?
rate: Because we had a very nice training in Mongolia, we have always been working hard.
They probably thought, "This is a weak team, 5star should be easy for us to beat." But in the end, we destroyed them.
Q: Your ranking rose as a result. How important are VRS rankings to you?
rate：We want to participate in Major, so VRS is really important to us.
Certainly, we will continue to give our best efforts in the future as well. Moreover, this victory over The MongolZ and Astralis has indeed significantly boosted our confidence.
Q: You are currently based in Mongolia, which is relatively remote. Do you feel that the current training environment is sufficient to help the team grow? Or will you need to relocate to Europe for training in the future?
Honestly, we need to improve ourselves as soon as possible.
We really hope to go to Europe for training because there are many excellent teams there. Being in Asia, we don't get frequent opportunities to compete against those top-tier S-level European teams.
So this competition was a very good experience for us. In the future, we will only continue to do our best. Regrettably, when we faced G2 at the end, we couldn't achieve better results.
Q：Do you think your performance in this competition could help your team gain more support, such as securing funding for training camps in Europe?
rate：Of course, I think it's fine.
Many people in Mongolia really enjoy watching esports, especially CS2, and this is largely due to The MongolZ. They have had a significant impact on Mongolian esports.
We are returning to our country tomorrow, and perhaps after we return, there will be some people willing to come forward and support us.