Still a new figure in the biggest organization in his region, Andrii “npl” Kukharskyi has been thrown in at the deep end of tier-one CS:GO. With an IEM Katowice semi-final appearance now under his belt, we caught up with the young Ukranian at the event to discuss how he feels he is settling in at Natus Vincere.
Sam ‘AN1MO’ McKenzie, BLIX.GG: You’re still very new to NAVI, how would you say you’re adapting to the system?
Andrii ‘npl’ Kukharskyi: I think pretty well, we just need more time and then we will play better.
BLIX: Are you happy with your time so far with the team?
npl: Not at all, I’ve had some good moments but I would say I’ve had a lot of bad moments and the good moments are fewer. I’m working on it, I’m trying to stop those bad moments from happening again and trying to fix my mistakes.
BLIX: Do you think some of it is the positions you are playing on each map?
npl: I have a couple of new positions on some maps and it’s a bit hard to play them, but I’m trying my best.
BLIX: How much better do you think you can be?
npl: A lot better.
BLIX: As a team, are you guys happy with your performance here?
npl: I don’t know, I think it’s a good result but it could be better, for sure.
BLIX: When are you hoping you guys will be good enough to win a tournament?
npl: I don’t know, time will tell. We need more time as I said.
BLIX: By the Major?
npl: I don’t know, we will see, we will see.
BLIX: What do you think about Anubis as a map?
npl: As I said before in previous interviews, Anubis is a T-sided map and for CT players, many positions are hard to play. You always have to push something for information, and because of that Ts can just sit and wait for you. It’s a new map, maybe teams will still find new ways to create gaps soon too.
BLIX: Do you find there’s a lot of pressure coming into this team?
npl: No.
BLIX: So you were instantly comfortable stepping in with the likes of electroNic and s1mple?
npl: Yes, for sure.
BLIX: Is there not an expectation to perform that creates pressure, or do you just feel like “I can do it”?
npl: I do what I can do.
