After onic's shocking 2-0 upset victory over Vitality in the Inner Circle, they couldn't hide their excitement, stating that the entire team was "crazy with emotion."
Inner Circle have been in good form over the past few months, having just claimed the Super DraculaN championship before the break. Now, they carried that momentum into their opening match at BLAST Premier Spring Final, pulling off an upset 2-0 victory over Vitality.
This victory also significantly boosted Inner Circle's VRS, improving their prospects for qualifying for the Major. onic believes that as long as they maintain their dedication and enhance discipline, this young roster has the ability to consistently secure a spot in the top 10 of the VRS.
Q: First of all, congratulations to you all. Although they had substitutes coming in, defeating Vitality must still hold great significance for your team.
onic：Yes, thank you, really very grateful.
Q: How are you feeling after the match? What was your first reaction?
onic: Bro, this... I don't know, it's truly incredible. Of course everyone knows they're better than us, that's normal; but today our mental state was just much stronger. I'm proud of my teammates.
I told them before the match: this is CS. They might be in bad form, we might be in great form. Anyone can win. We proved it was possible and did it. I don't know, the emotions are just crazy.
Q: How did you manage the comeback on Cache? At one point you were down 7-12, and I imagine many teams might have thought, "No worries, we'll try again on Dust2."
onic：Honestly, it was a bit funny at the time because I forgot we had already used all our tactical pauses. In the last second, I typed "tactical" twice in a row in the chat box, trying to call for a tactical pause.
I guess this actually worked in our favor, because when they saw we had no timeouts left, they were probably expecting us to hold for a slow-paced possession, completely unaware that we’d already run out of timeouts. By the time the freeze ended, we were already in motion, so I called a quick offensive play, and they were totally caught off guard.
After winning that round, all of us felt the energy: we could really easily come back. In the tournament we won before, our mental state in such situations was also strong. It's like we just love making comebacks, so we were very confident. And in the end, we did it.Q: How does this confidence prepare you for the upcoming matches? In the next round, you will face either 9z or MOUZ.
Onic: To be honest, I don't want this to change our mentality. I just want the players to cherish the opportunity to be here—it's a very good opportunity; but at the same time, there's no need to fear things like losing.
We need to accumulate experience as much as possible, which is most important for us now because we are a young team. I am a young coach, and everyone here is very young. This is our first time participating in a first-tier tournament with so many high-profile teams. I am proud to be standing here, and I also hope my teammates cherish this moment, giving their all in every match. Regardless of wins or losses, we must fight until the very end.
Q: As you said, this is not only a great opportunity to gain experience but also very important for the VRS. Winning one more match would result in a significant VRS boost. Will you be considering this factor?
Of course, VRS is extremely important. We've already gotten about 80 points from this win, and the prize pool will bring some more points, which will greatly improve our chances of making it to the Major.
We don't want to set our expectations too high for this tournament, because as I said, this is our first time competing in an event with 12 top-tier teams. We just want to put on our best performance again and gain experience. Even if we lose both of the next two matches 0-2, I think it would still be a great experience, considering it's already amazing to have defeated Vitality on LAN.
Q：Your team has been in great form over the past few months. You mentioned winning Super DraculaN, and the win rate over the last three months seems to be close to 80%. As a young team, how high are your expectations for the future?
onic: Yes, we are very young, and technically not a brand-new lineup, but I feel we haven't fully gelled yet. So just give us a little more time, and we'll play better.
I really believe in this team; no one's considering changing rosters or anything like that. We know that as long as we keep doing what we're doing—and we really put in a lot of effort—everyone hopes to steadily break into the top 10 in VRS. We just need to develop the discipline that top competitors should have.
We still need some time to build this kind of discipline and gain experience; but with this lineup, I think breaking into the top ten won't be difficult.