At the BLAST Open Porto Media Day, HLTV interviewed MOUZ's captain xertioN. The Israeli player discussed the team's strong performance in advancing to the semifinals, as well as the current development of young talents xelex and PR.
xertioN also spoke about his relationship with torzsi, calling the Hungarian sniper "the best teammate I've ever had," and believes that torzsi's recent improvement in form is largely due to the team's atmosphere and him rediscovering the joy of playing.
When discussing the current debate over the "world's best team," xertioN bluntly stated that MOUZ still hasn't received the recognition they deserve. In his view, the team not only has the ability to defeat any opponent, but their recent tournament results also prove they remain one of the top-tier teams in the world.
Q：From an outside perspective, your group stage matches were very successful. How would you evaluate the team's performance in this group stage?
xertioN: Yes, indeed. I think the whole group stage went quite smoothly. Of course, against Falcons, the Nuke map was a bit of a disaster in terms of stats for us, but I feel that match was really decided by some key kills.
Overall, if judging purely by the content of the CS matches themselves, I would give our performance very high marks. We haven't had such a convincing group stage in a long time, so I'm truly relieved and happy to have advanced to the playoffs so smoothly.
Q: In that series against Falcons, you performed exceptionally well on the last two maps—it must have felt great to complete such a comeback in that way?
xertioN: Of course. We've also discussed it as a team. We want to prove that we deserve to advance to the knockout stage.
Perhaps 9z and Inner Circle weren't the most ideal two teams to test against, but I think 9z's playstyle would be tough for any team to handle. Still, we eventually got the better of both squads.
When we played against the Falcons, we wanted to see where we truly stood against a stronger team, and the results were quite positive. As I mentioned, I think they played exceptionally well on the CT side of Nuke and secured many crucial kills.
But in the later games on Ancient and Inferno, I really felt they were outplayed by us a bit. Being able to achieve that is something we're very proud of.
Q: Xelex and PR ranked at the top of the statistics leaderboard in the series against Falcons. As the in-game leader, seeing two young players under your command deliver such performances must give you a great sense of accomplishment and make you even more optimistic about the team's future, right?
xertioN: Of course. Seeing them show such potential feels really good.
They are still in a phase of continuously receiving feedback and learning. Clearly, there is still much for them to improve in their understanding of the competition before they can reach the level of understanding that we core members have.
But at the same time, I feel that they put in so much effort every day, so whenever I see them play like this, I’m genuinely happy for them.
Of course, as the coach I am also happy for myself, but I am even happier for them because such a match can greatly boost their confidence. When they perform like this, we can also praise them directly.
Watching the game again, it's truly amazing to see these two players performing so well.
I think what they mainly need to improve now is mentally, as well as some personal ways to handle situations. So far, everything has been going quite well, and I'm really happy for them.
Q: Another player who has been in excellent form recently is torzsi. It feels like he has had a bit of a "reborn" feeling at the start of this season. You train and compete with him every day—what do you think are the reasons for his recent resurgence in form?
xertioN: I've known torzsi for a long time. I believe that even at the very start of his career, when he was still in the MOUZ academy, he was already one of the brightest new stars in the world. When he later advanced to the main roster, he continued to demonstrate extremely high potential.
I feel that torzsi relies heavily on the atmosphere within the team. If there are people in the team with whom he cannot truly connect, he struggles to perform at his best.
In the previous lineup, when his performance dipped, he actually had good relationships with everyone, but I think it was more related to his own state and happiness at the time. Perhaps during that period, he was going through some difficult stages in life.
But now, I think he clearly enjoys the game more. My relationship with him is also very good. I believe he is undoubtedly the best teammate I've had in my career so far.
Having someone so hardworking and passionate about CS around feels truly great. So seeing his success now, I feel both relieved and happy.
My taking over the command position may have also slightly helped him. After all, I've known him for a long time and know how to use a sniper like him. However, I think most of the credit belongs to him and our sports psychologist.
Q：I want to talk about MOUZ as a whole. You won the BLAST event in Malta at the start of the season, then faced a bit of a setback at the EWC, but it feels like people quickly took MOUZ out of the conversation for the "best team in the world." Where do you think MOUZ currently stands globally?
xertioN: I actually don't like ranking myself because I'm very confident. I believe that with our current form, any day, against any team in the world, we have the ability to win.
Especially now, that previously dominant Vitality is no longer as prominent. I think Spirit is playing exceptionally well, but we have already proven in Malta that we can defeat them quite decisively.
So I think any team has a chance right now.
To be honest, I think some of the names brought up for discussion as "top-tier teams" these days are somewhat ridiculous. At least in my view, teams that, in my opinion, shouldn't be there are being included in the list.
I think we are undoubtedly one of the best teams in the world, and now we are very confident in saying so.
Our team secured the champion prize in Malta, advanced to the quarterfinals in the EWC, and has now already guaranteed a spot in the semifinals. For a squad that some previously thought might even fall out of the world's top 10, I believe this is a very strong start.
I think everyone should give us more respect. I know other teams will respect us in the server, and I can feel this.
Whether the community, fans, or analysts choose to grant us the same respect is not something we can determine. What we can do is continue giving our best effort to prove we truly are one of the world’s best teams.
Q: Looking ahead to the semifinals, your opponents will be either Vitality or FURIA. What are your thoughts on these two teams, and how do you see the matchup between you and them?
xertioN: I feel good no matter who I'm playing against.
For Vitality, of course, there is a lot of history between us. Now they have a substitute player, so they seem slightly weaker. However, I feel that on a psychological level, they sometimes do have some advantage when facing us.
This is something I really want to test with this new lineup, so if we get to face them, I’ll be very excited.
As for FURIA, I think they are a somewhat inconsistent team. When they're not in form, it can look pretty rough; but when they're playing well, they can really dominate some matches.
If it were possible to compete against them in front of the Portuguese audience, I would also like to see how the match would turn out, especially to let our young players experience this atmosphere.
We previously competed against FURIA at IEM Rio, which was probably the wildest match experience of my life.
So I'm willing to play against either team. I think at the current state, both teams are pretty evenly matched. For us, it doesn't matter who our opponent is, because if you want to win the championship, you must be capable of beating anyone.
Q: Vitality now has jL as a substitute. Do you think their playstyle has changed significantly? Or is jL essentially a one-for-one replacement for mezii?
xertioN: I think their overall playstyle on the T side is quite similar, but on the CT side, jL adds some more aggressive elements to the team.
As they themselves have said, he didn't like staying in one place for too long. We saw this when we used to play with him.
He is a player with many excellent qualities and also a very good teammate. Now that I have been his teammate, facing him as an opponent will definitely be interesting. However, I haven't thought too much about it yet.