After coming to the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Europe RMR B as underdogs, the Polish roster 9INE has booked a spot in the Paris Major as Legends; completing a spotless run. In a group stacked with heavyweights, 9INE found themselves facing off the likes of G2, BIG and Vitality and yet came out victorious on all fronts.
Olek ‘hades’ Miskiewicz, who joined the team at the outset of the year, stood head and shoulders above the rest of the teammates, making the RMRs a success for 9INE. In his conversation with BLIX, he discussed their preparations for the event, tales of their RMR conquests, and their future plans.
Saumya ‘Sapporo’ Srijan, BLIX: Congratulations on making it to Paris in such a prime fashion. How confident was the team in practice before heading to the RMRs? Were you expecting to go 3-0?
Olek ‘hades’ Miskiewicz: At home the practices were ok but nothing special, when we arrived to Copenhagen we played 4 praccs on the day and those went really well so we were a bit shocked ourselves but it gave us the confidence to go into the first day but we definitely didn’t expect to go 3-0 in such a group
BLIX: Do you think the other teams are going to be watching you more closely? Does that put any pressure on you?
hades: Yes for sure more teams will pay attention to us and what we do but I don’t think it adds any additional pressure for us we just need to continue to do what we do
BLIX: You really popped off individually this tournament. As someone who has the most tier-one experience, did you feel the responsibility to carry the team forward?
hades: Yes and no; I realized when I hype myself and the team is hyped both play better so I just wanted us to enjoy every moment every round
BLIX: Kylar also had a really impressive BO3 against Vitality. How was the team environment before the match knowing you are playing against someone like ZywOo?
hades: To be honest we don’t care who we play we just focus on the game because every opponent is beatable and even goated players like Zywoo can be taken down
BLIX: A really interesting stat shows that you had a 100% success rate in getting opening kills out of 16 engagements. And we are talking about facing the best of the best: NiKo, m0nesy, ZywOo. Yet you were unfazed. What mindset did you head into the tournament with?
hades: I was actually shocked myself when I saw that statistic haha, I just played like I usually play, just wanted to make sure I played my best with the best attitude and it worked but I prepared for each game a bit differently depending on the opponent so I’m really happy it worked.
hades was the driving force behind 9INE’s successful run as he recorded 1.31 rating across 4 maps (Image: PGL)BLIX: What do you consider your team’s greatest strength that made this flawless run possible?
hades: This tournament everyone’s mental was on point all the time even when we had our backs against the wall, everyone was hyped, everyone gave ideas and everyone gave their all to win so I think that was the biggest factor
BLIX: You told BLIX earlier that this is going to be your best year in terms of your individual performance. The major is a few weeks away. Do you think you have finally tapped into the form just at the right time?
hades: I hope so but I can’t take this tournament for granted; I need to carry on working on myself and keep focused
BLIX: About the storyline of a Polish team failing to make it to the major since 2018, have you set any sort of nominal goal for Paris with which you could be content with?
hades: We haven’t thought about it yet, of course playoffs would be great but it will be much harder there so we just need to take one game at a time again.
