It might have happened quietly, but David “frozen” Cernansky is one of the best players in the world. One of MOUZ’s key playersbefore Robin “ropz” Kool left, he has really stepped up since the Estonian’s departure to become a superstar for the German organization.
Now playing under a new IGL in the form of Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek, MOUZ have started strong here at IEM Cologne 2023. After picking up a win against NAVI in the opening round of the Group Stage, we sat down with frozen to discuss his form and what siuhy is bringing to the team.
Sam “AN1MO” McKenzie, BLIX: Another good win for the new team there against NAVI, how are you feeling?
frozen: I feel amazing. I don’t think it was an upset because they have a new lineup as well, so I think we were pretty confident coming into the match and they veto was pretty good for us.
BLIX: You’ve made two changes to the team, let’s speak about siuhy first. Everyone else on the team has already had him as an IGL, but you haven’t, what’s he like? What’s different about him to your previous IGLs?
frozen: Honestly, for me, the changes aren’t so big. Even though I have to get used to him in some way, but I think in terms of calling, maybe he is a little more direct in some sense. For me it was never different to play with different IGLs, so at the moment I’m just still getting used to it.
BLIX: Jimpphat has had a somewhat shaky start so far, are you looking to get more impact out of him as a team?
frozen: I think he just needs to get used to playing the tournaments. He’s been hitting very hard in practices. I think he’s playing pretty well for his first tournament, we can’t expect that he will instantly destroy everyone, he’s sixteen years old. So I think so far, he’s doing very good.
BLIX: dexter made the joke recently about shackling AWPers, have you noticed a difference between dexter and siuhy and how they’re utilising torzsi?
frozen: Personally, I would say no, but I think it’s more about the mental aspect of having siuhy on the team again. I think torzsi feels more confident and comfortable with siuhy, and maybe he just fits his style a little more, but I do think the mental aspect is the biggest factor.
BLIX: What about yourself? You’re having an incredible year, but in terms of stats, as a player, is that something you’re even aware of? Do you even look into it that much?
frozen: Not really, to be honest. Every year I’m trying to be better than I was the year before and I don’t really look into the stats. I’m just giving my best all the time.
BLIX: What’s enabled you to be doing so well? Is it just down to general maturity or the role change when ropz left?
frozen: I think the role change that happened when ropz left helped it a lot, but also, as you said, maturing over the years and just analyzing what I need for the matches to be perfect. I think I just learned what I need over the years and I don’t think I’m still at the level where I want to be.
BLIX: In terms of learning and improving, is there anyone in particular who you try to learn from?
frozen: Obviously ropz is one of them. I think there’s many great Lurkers in general so it really depends on the positions that I play and the players whose style I like. ropz is one of them, but there’s a lot more too.
BLIX: You guys came close to winning in Dallas, siuhy came close at the Major, combined, can this roster become a tournament-winning team?
frozen: So far I think we’ve been showing decent results. We don’t have that much stuff prepared still, we had a bootcamp, but it wasn’t that long and you can only do so much in that amount of time. But I don’t think with the stuff we have, well, I mean, okay [laughs], I’m always confident and I always believe in what we can do, but we’ll just see how we develop. I think momentum can have a big impact on it. If we keep this up though, we can definitely make a deep run.
