electroNic: "We had a great bootcamp!"

Interview with Denis "electroNic" Sharipov

 NAVI.GG.BET's first games in FACEIT Major are mere hours away and we thought it is the perfect time for an interview with Denis "electroNic" Sharipov! The player spoke about the pre-major preparation, the reasons for an unfortunate result in Stockholm and his impressions after getting matched against  Astralis for the first round.

— Hi! Could you tell us more about your pre-major bootcamp and things you mostly focused on?

— Hi! The bootcamp was great! We came up with some new cool things and focused mainly on our team play, communication and teamwork.

— Did other teams participating in New Challengers affect your training? Who have you been practicing against? What teams surprised you with their preparation level?

— Our preparation was good. We played against many teams from Russia. As far as I understood, we played against them because others did not want to play with us. We had many praccs vs Team Spirit and  Vega Squadron, also  mousesports and  fnatic... In general, we played three to four games with each of them.

No team actually surprised us with their preparation level. I don't know why, sometimes teams show incredible results on praccs, but this time everyone performed at an equal level. Maybe it's because we played against the teams who played in the closed qualifier for the major, and I heard their PCs weren't good. I don't know what the situation is now, but we've been told many times that FPS doesn't get higher than 180. Maybe that's why many teams haven't been able to show their best on praccs. Anyways, we're set to deliver our best plays at the tournament!

— Let's go back a bit, how did your vacation go?

— I got back home and then went to Cyprus with my girlfriend and s1mple. We had a 9-day vacation, although planned to stay there for 12 days. I had to leave early because of document issues, not to risk missing DreamHack Masters Stockholm or FACEIT Major. Overall, it went well.

— What's the reason for your unfortunate result in DreamHack Masters Stockholm?

— As I said, there were document issues, and I wasn't the only one having those. It's now problematic to get a UK visa as a Russian. We then had some additional problems with documents and very limited practice time before Stockholm. And you saw the result. If you do not practice, you're quickly shown your place.

— In one of the interviews, Zeus mentioned you have some problems with Dust2. What are those problems?

— The title of that article on cybersport.ru actually surprised me a lot. They didn't explain it was about Dust2 and it just looked like electroNic does not understand anything at all. It really upset me, don't think they could name it this way. It wasn't nice.

The problem is that I haven't played Dust2 for quite a while, but I had my reasons for it. First, I don't like this map. Second, I played with  B1ad3 who didn't play Dust2. Third, when I came to NAVI it was out of the active pool. It's not like I don't understand anything at all, but I'll have to put in some time to understand how the opponents may react and what they can do in some situations. I'm currently working on this – I watch demos and hope that soon Dust2 will be one of my best maps, so everyone will be scared of me and will watch my demos to learn how to play it.

— Concluding the DH Stockholm topic, let's talk about your match against North in quarter-finals. Why couldn't you do anything against on the T side on Train? Do you think picking this map was justified?

— Yes, it was the right thing to do, but the opponents could read us very well. Again, little practice and our subpar communication during that game played their role. We couldn't reorganize our game, hence the result.

— North won in Stockholm but then they failed to qualify for the major. What's the reason for their inconsistency?

— Sometimes you can simply gain the momentum and do great. But I don't think that's what happened to  North, the guys really practiced a lot. I think because of the Stockholm win, they didn't have enough time to prepare new things. To win such events as DreamHack Masters Stockholm, you have to show all the tricks up your sleeve. Other teams knew what they could do against them and were fully prepared for that.

— You'll be facing Astralis in the first round. What can you say about it? Isn't it absurd that first and second ranked teams are matched up against each other?

— I don't think it's absurd for one simple reason – it is the major and the best teams from all over the world are featured. That's why if you want to win, you don't have to look at this matchup as a bad thing. On the contrary, it'll give us a boost starting from game one and allow to get off to a quicker start. So yeah, I'm glad we're facing  Astralis in the first round!

— Do you think Astralis having to qualify through New Challengers will work in your favor?

— If I'm not mistaken, Astralis didn't have any problems there. Even when the score was tight, I think they tried not to reveal much. The problem is that Astralis is a team that wins not only with tactics. They make great map rotations and have the players that are very strong individually.

After all, Counter-Strike isn't only about tactics, right? Communication and individual skills are sometimes more important, like when it comes down to 3v3 situations tactics won't help you a lot. I think their strength is in the effective use of grenades and in how well they act both individually and as a team.  

— The format of this major has been changed: Buchholz system is used as a seeding tool in rounds three to five, round five is bo3, 0-3 teams don't get a direct invite to New Challengers of IEM Katowice 2019. What format changes would you like to see in the future?

— I like how they changed it for 2-2 teams who will now compete in bo3 instead of bo1 – it will allow a better team to advance further. I think the change with the 0-3 teams not getting a slot is also fair.

Personally, I would add more medals to CS. We now have only one, a gold one, and all the rest are the same. Coaches don't get any at all, although they contribute a lot to the success of the team. As for the tournament organization, I think it's fine for now.