torzsi: "Personally, I don’t like CS2"

During the Europe RMR, we had the chance to talk to Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás of MOUZ about his experiences as a professional CS player, including his journey from the academy team to the main team, the challenges of being away from family while traveling, and the team's recent results. He also shares his thoughts on the upcoming CS:GO Major in Paris, the recruitment process at MOUZ, and the highly anticipated release of CS2.

Hugo "TheSwedishJoker" Nilsson Meier, BLIX.GG: You did an amazing job at the last Major considering the little experience that your team had back then. Do you think that we can expect to see an equally strong MOUZ coming into this Major and RMR?
Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás: We had a really good Rio Major and I really hope we can make the same run, or maybe better even, at the Paris Major, but if I will be honest we really put the ceiling high, you know? It’s true what you said, we were not an experienced team and we made it to the semifinals, it’s hard to do, right? But I trust the team that we can do it one more time in the last CS:GO Major in Paris. It will be a hard one, every team is really hyped now, but I trust the team and everyone that we can do it.

BLIX: It was the first Major for you, you came from the academy team straight into the main team, made the semifinals in your first half-year, and now you’re here. Do you think that that has maybe put a little bit of pressure on you to do as well as you did last time individually?
torzsi: No, I don’t think it puts any pressure on me. I mean, in Rio we were just enjoying every moment of it, as I mentioned it was not expected that we’d go that far. We were just hyped in every game, enjoyed it and just lived the moment. We did not put any pressure on ourselves, and also if you focus on the pressure then it’s not going to be good for you. So we just have to deal with it, and it’s not pressure on us.

The recruitment process and getting called up

BLIX: How would you describe your first six to eight months in professional CS? It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it?
torzsi: Yeah, I've been with MOUZ for more than two years, almost three maybe. I joined the main team at the beginning of last year. So it has been a while and yeah, I’m enjoying it. It’s a lot of travel, I’m not home a lot so sometimes it’s hard, you know, staying far away from the family, but this is our job, this is our passion. I love it, and every event is a new challenge, you have to always make sure you bring your best. You have to face a lot of challenges, but yeah, I like it!

BLIX: You mentioned being away from the family a lot, have you gotten used to it now? Do you think that it will take a little bit more time to get used to traveling so much, being away from home?
torzsi: Yeah, I mean it’s hard to be away from my family, to be honest, but in time you get used to it. It’s always […] sometimes a little bit of homesickness happens, it’s not that bad but you have to get used to it. So it’s fine.

BLIX: I want to talk to you about the recent results that you have had since the Major. It hasn’t been the best considering the top four at the Major, people expect a little bit more, what do you think has happened? Why do you think the results have been the way they have been?
torzsi: In Katowice, we had a really poor result, we lost both games and we just went out instantly. The team chemistry was not there, we were not connected and everyone was just separated, you know? And our team relies a lot on connections, hyping each other up and things like that, it’s really important for us. It was just not there in Katowice, and we talked a lot after. After that it was Pro League, we made Playoffs and I think that was a really good run. We lost to Cloud9 which is like […] they’re a really good team, right? So it’s an alright result I’d say. And also the chemistry we brought to Pro League after Katowice, and how the team improved, was amazing, so we were kind of satisfied. And now it’s the Major, so yeah.

BLIX: I’m curious about the recruitment process that MOUZ have, I don’t know how much you can talk about it, but during the last year or so you’ve taken a lot of players up from the academy team, you included. When a transfer happens, would you look more at the academy team or other tier-one teams and players? How do you guys in MOUZ do that?
torzsi: To be honest, I have no idea. I just got the message that I would be promoted but I don’t know how it works. If we would change, I don’t know if we’d look to the academy or other teams, but it’s not the case. I just don’t know how it works, it’s not my job and I can’t say anything about it.

BLIX: How was the promotion process for you? Did you just get a call saying “Hey, you’re coming up to the main team”, or how did it go?
torzsi: Yeah, they just gave me a message asking if I would be down for it. And I mean, of course, it’s every academy player’s […] it’s their dream to come to the main team, so it was a really good feeling. I was really happy about it and excited, and that was it.

torzsi on CS2

BLIX: I also wanted to talk to you about CS2. This will be the last CS:GO Major as you have said, but have you played a little bit of CS2 before coming here?
torzsi: Yeah, I played one or two hours of CS2.

BLIX: Have you been able to spot any big differences so far?
torzsi: I think the movement has changed, and I don’t think it’s going in a good direction at the moment. It’s in beta still, there’s a lot of time to work on it, so if they can make it better I think it will be a very good game. At the moment I don’t think it’s in a good place, and I think there is a lot to work on. They need to work on movement, shooting […] Yeah, personally, I don’t like CS2.

BLIX: Have you managed to gather some thoughts about the game? Do you think that when we’ll be closer to the summer you’ll be playing more CS:GO, or more CS2? How would you divide the time between them?
torzsi: It’s a tough question, I don’t know how we feel about that at the moment but I do think in the summer break we will play CS2 more, yes. And we have to focus on that because the events will probably be played on CS2. So yeah, I think over the summer break the players have to get used to CS2.

BLIX: What about before that? Now we have Cologne, which will still be on CS:GO, but then you have CS2 coming in the summer. Have you guys talked about how you’ll manage this? As you don’t want to fall behind heading into a new game.
torzsi: To be honest we didn’t talk at all about going into CS2. We don’t know, I don’t know how it will work on our team, so we didn’t discuss it yet. It’s in the future!

BLIX: Do you think that it was the right time to release CS2?
torzsi: I don’t think it was the right time, I think CS is at an insanely good point, it’s the best version of the game since it came out. There are a lot of players and organizations in the game. I do think it’s a really good game at the moment and I don’t think it was good timing.