m0NESY: "I can see myself growing as a player"

Hugo “TheSwedishJoker” Nilsson Meier, BLIX.GG: So, m0NESY - 7th on the HLTV top 20, you won rookie of the year and highlight of the year on the HLTV Awards, BLAST world finals trophy, and Katowice fina all in your rookie year. How would you describe your whole first year in top-tier CS?

m0NESY: I mean, it was just an amazing year for me and for my team. I mean, it also could have been even better, I think, for us. For me, this year was just my experience here at tier one. I started with the BLAST tournament and Katowice on the big stage this year. And after those tournaments, I got a lot of experience because we made the grand final and just played many games. And that year shows me that I could do better in all aspects. So just in general, it was nice. Also nice, we finished the year with a victory. I mean, with the trophy. It also gives us a lot of confidence.

BLIX: Is there a favorite game you played that has etched into your mind from last year?

m0NESY: Over the last year, maybe my favorite game was in Katowice against Na'Vi because I just remember when we made the playoffs. We played the first game against [...] I think Virtus.Pro. And the second game I just wanted to play I saw Na'Vi because it's my ex-organization, like also my friends, you know. I'll remember this game, maybe.

BLIX: Many people often compare you and s1mple. Simple being the GOAT and you the baby GOAT. Would you say that the feelings are different now, coming into your second year of pro-CS, than in the beginning when people started comparing you two?

m0NESY: Yeah, I saw also, like, James [BanKs] calling me "baby goat" or something like that. It's just nice to hear it from people. Maybe sometimes when they're just saying that you're good, that you're a baby GOAT. But I don't know, I can't express my feelings sometimes in English, but I just play the game that I enjoy. And even with people comparing player to player, I mean, they can do it, but you just always see on the server what’s happening; you can win or lose, but I don't know, it's just tough on it.

BLIX: Coming into the end of the year before the HLTV top 20 list was released, did you actually think you would get in?

m0NESY: I thought, of course, after I got MVP in Abu Dhabi, yeah, I thought I will make the top 10, top 20. But I didn't think that I would make the top 7. I thought I'll maybe be in the top 12, top 10, or something like that. But the top 7 is really hard to say high; good feeling to make it. It just shows me that I can do even better.

Even though I always repeat the same words, like I can do better or something like that. Because every time when I play, for example, an official match, every time I do something, every time I do something in clutch situations or just situations happening, I can see myself growing as a player and I'm doing mistakes. And I like to do mistakes because you need to fix them after. And also, like, my friends and my team, they're helping me fix it, which is really good. You cannot become a really good player if you don't fix mistakes.

BLIX: We spoke about Anubis at BLAST fall finals, but you hadn’t played it in officials and practice back then. What are your thoughts on the map now?

m0NESY: I wouldn't say it's bad. It's good. You need to play it more like in officials. And I want to say that I think this map is not ready for competition. I think it's ready for maybe 60% and the other 40%. They need to fix something. Because just playing this map; it's just weird sometimes. It's not ancient. When Ancient came out, this was like a much harder map, I would say maybe. And just people just playing how they know to play.

BLIX: So it needs a lot more updates too?

m0NESY: Yeah, and obviously, this year, they will make more updates on this map like it was back in the days when ancient came out, and they fixed something. It's just weird sometimes because when you play CT on Anubis. You don't see areas to fight for, and it feels weird.

BLIX: What is it that you would like to see be changed?

m0NESY: As I said before, you don't see areas to fight for when you play CT. Maybe they can close the window somewhere on the bridge. Maybe they will close the window or something like that because it feels weird sometimes because you're CT, and you don't see areas to fight for. But on T, it was much better to take areas to control something like that. They're taking a lot of control and space, maybe. I don't know. I don't see anything to fix, but there's something.

BLIX: Should Valve continue on this road of adding new maps, or would you rather see reworked old maps coming in?

m0NESY: I think I would rather see reworked maps because it's already been five or six years since they removed Cobblestone or cache. They removed Cobblestone maybe three years ago, and then they removed Cache, and I don't know what they're doing, but maybe they can rework Cache or Cobblestone. It's going to be much better than with the new map. For example, when it was with Anubis, I expected to be Cache, maybe, but not Anubis or Train also. I forgot about it, and also Train like it was an insane map, like maybe they need to rework it. But putting the new maps in, it's also good, but I would rather see maybe updates with guns, for example, or with the meta or maybe fix on some maps, you know, like just some hotfixes. And it's going to be much better than putting the new map right before the tournament, you know, like it's also it's just been crazy.

BLIX: They also nerfed the AWP. So far here at BLAST, you’ve been playing as you did before when you had 10 bullets. Has it had any effect at all on your playstyle?

m0NESY: I mean, it doesn't affect my playstyle; it just affects some situations when you're in. For example, I remember today NiKo was 1v2, and he was on B behind Pillar on Inferno, and he shot with AWP and didn't have bullets. He started reloading. But I think if he would have like 10 bullets and AWP, I think he would clutch this round, you know, so like, sometimes it affects not your position now, it affects the situation you're in.

BLIX: Do you think it was the right update by Valve, or do you think they maybe should have done something else?

m0NESY: I don't know if it's right or not. It's just like the idea of changing some meta, some guns, some weapons like maybe they can change silencer or A4. A4 will be a much lower price than now, and it will be better for CT, for example. Maybe they can change something with AK, just for example. It's going to be much better than the new map.

BLIX: My last question is about the new major ranking. I don't know if you've seen Valve come out with a ranking system for future RMR, and you guys had some troubles at the last RMR. Do you think this is good, or should they maybe have waited and seen if we'd have seeding issues again in Paris?

m0NESY: First of all, we worked a lot after that major that we lost and we didn't qualify, and I think we found a lot of mistakes that we've made before, and I think now we are confident that we will play better at the major. And first of all, we need to qualify on RMR because we're in close qualifiers and don't have RMR invites like a direct one. So it's going to be much like we'll have to play closed qualifiers from home. And yeah, after that major, everyone was frustrated. But I don't want to promise something, but we will play even better than before, and you will see. We need to wait.