26-year-old Emil "Magisk" Reif is a four-time CS:GO major champion (FACEIT Major 2018, IEM Katowice 2019, StarLadder Major Berlin 2019 with Astralis), as well as the winner of the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 with Team Vitality and MVP of IEM Katowice 2019. The Falcons players spoke to Telecomasia.net about:
- joining of Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen;
- playing with Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev;
- his opinion on young talents: m0NESY, donk, and ZywOo;
- the language barrier in international teams;
- who he considers the best team;
- the dialog between players and Valve;
- which young player will become the best in 2024
"We speak English. I think mixing languages all the time is very difficult"
- A month and a half ago, dupreeh joined the Falcons. How has the team's game changed since then?
- He has done lots of good things for the team. First, he transformed the team's structure and brought stability. As a player, dupreeh brings good vibes and charges team with positive energy; he is very consistent, and it brings us confidence.
- Currently, Team Falcons has three Danish players. Do you switch to speaking Danish when you play as a trio?
- We speak English. I think mixing languages all the time is very difficult, and other teammates can help us understand the situation, even if they are already dead. So communicating in English is much easier, especially since everyone speaks it well because we speak it all the time. Of course, if something critical happens, we may say some Danish words, but we mostly speak English.
Bet on esports with 1xBet"Virtus.pro will also be a dangerous team in the group at BetBoom Dacha"
- How was your preparation for BetBoom Dacha? What is your goal for this tournament?
- We had a long preparation before the tournament; we learned lessons from our past games. We had time to return home after Malta [where the ESL Pro League was held]. I think, for the first time, we feel like we could build a 'good foundation' for the team before the tournament. We also want to prove through results that we have the same high level as in practice. But we are still a young team... I think creating a new international team is always difficult because we have players from ENCE and Vitality, and we need to create something in between their playstyles.
- At BetBoom Dacha, you are in a group with MOUZ, Virtus.pro, and BetBoom Team. Which team do you consider the most serious competitor?
- I believe at the moment, MOUZ is the strongest team in the group; in theory, they are a very strong and structured team, especially since they won the EPL. And, of course, Virtus.pro will also be a dangerous team.
"Lately, we haven't traveled much because we haven't shown good results, so we are ready to travel a bit more than usual"
- After BetBoom Dacha, you will have to play at IEM Dallas and ESL Challenger. How do you plan to prepare for these tournaments? Is it difficult to play multiple tournaments in a row?
- We would like to have the opportunity to go back home and analyze our mistakes. Sometimes it's hard to travel, but lately, we haven't traveled much because we haven't shown good results, so we are ready to travel a bit more than usual.
- Are there any opponents you wouldn't want to face in the upcoming tournaments?
- In the end you have to beat any team at the tournament to become a champion. Of course, I would like to play against the best teams in the finals, but it doesn't always work out that way, so you have to beat any team in the group stage, quarterfinals, and semifinals.
- Which team do you consider the strongest at the moment?
- I think it's hard to say who is stronger right now. It depends on which team is having a better day today. FaZe has been a very strong and consistent team for a long time, so if you consider the whole year, FaZe has the best results, and Team Spirit, MOUZ, and Vitality have also performed well.
Bet on esports with 1xBet"No one likes to come home after work and play against cheaters”
- Lately, Valve has been regularly fixing problems in CS2. Do you think the developers take competitive gaming seriously and listen to the feedback from pro players?
- I believe they always try to listen to players, but sometimes their goals differ from the goals of pro players; they need money, so they try to make the game appealing to casual players. It takes Valve a long time to fix certain issues. Obviously, we have a big problem with cheating in regular games, and we all want to fix that because no one likes to come home after work and play against cheaters.
I believe the developers are trying to fix this problem, but it takes time. I think they listen to the feedback from players, and some pros have had meetings with Valve. Sometimes company representatives come to tournaments and talk to players.
"International lineups are the future of Counter-Strike now"
- Let’s look back to the days when Astralis dominated the pro scene. Do you think you could compete for first place today if you had kept that lineup, or is now the time for international lineups?
- One of the players hasn't played CS for a long time [referring to Xyp9x[, and it would be hard to compete against the best players at the moment, although we still have four strong players. It was a different time then, a different era of the game. I think now is a new era of the game, and international lineups are the future of Counter-Strike. It's hard to put together teams from one country now because you need to find 5 high-level players.
It's much easier to find a player for a specific position if you just need him to speak English, that’s why so many teams are forming international lineups. But if you have the opportunity to find 5 players like we had in Astralis, that is, the leaders of a region, you will have an advantage in terms of communication.
- Can you say that there is a language barrier in the team?
- It is always more difficult to communicate in an international team, but I believe that international teams plan and communicate more before games to understand how to react in certain situations. Sometimes some players may pronounce some words with a different accent [in a critical situation], and sometimes it may be triggering. In Astralis, it was easier for us to agree on what we would do in a specific situation. So sometimes it is harder to communicate within an international team.
"I spend more time with my “Counter-Strike family” than with my actual family”
- In one of the interviews, m0NESY mentioned that due to the language barrier, they do not communicate as much in the team, and sometimes they have to plan specific times to talk to each other. Do you experience anything like that?
- We don’t speak Danish if there are other teammates in the room who do not speak Danish. We speak English 24/7. In Vitality, we had many French-speaking players, and none of the players spoke French if I was in the room. We had this rule that everyone should be involved in the discussion, no matter what you are talking about, even if you are talking about your girlfriend or mom. We are a team, we win and lose together, I spend more time with my “Counter-Strike family” than with my actual family. I want to know what's going on in their lives, how they feel, if they have any problems with their girlfriends and moms.
The more open we are with each other, the better we can support each other not only in CS but also off the server. We need good relationships in the team because it is easier to go through tough times: it is easier to react to each other's raging moments. We don't want to leave anyone behind, so we speak English and give any teammate the opportunity to join the conversation.
"If s1mple wants it, I hope he finds the right team for himself and achieves success"
- For some time, you played in the same lineup with Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev. I can’t help asking if you had any issues with him in terms of rage?
- Honestly, we didn't have any problems with Sasha. He gave his best. Perhaps if we had played together for a few years, we would have seen his other side. But during that period, I didn't see any issues, and it's great. I hope he finds a good team and achieves success again; he is a very skilled player. He is one of the most skilled players out here, and if he wants it and keeps improving, he can come back. We all know that Sasha can do it. And if he has the desire, I hope he finds the right team for himself and achieves success.
"Donk, ZywOo, and m0NESY are the three players who have the potential to be the best this year"
- Lately, young players like ZywOo, donk, and m0NESY have been regularly becoming the MVPs in tournaments. Do you think that in the coming years, we will see more new young players emerging on the CS2 stage?
- It's a pretty natural process. Young players who play all the time understand that the game can become their job, a hobby that can grow into a profession. When we were growing up, Counter-Strike wasn't like that. Back then, there wasn't a career or future in CS. Individually, young players are very skilled, donk, ZywOo, and m0NESY are exceptional. We see young players who have skill but lack a deep understanding of the game and make many mistakes, which means they may never go that far.
All young players grow up, they are still very young, but they have been on the scene for a while and are gaining more and more experience. It's interesting to see what young players appear next in the world of CS2.
- While playing on Faceit, have you noticed that young players tend to tilt more?
- We are all just players who love to win and can scream and say some sh*t to teammates for fun. I play in a stack of 5 players, and when you're losing, you start to try harder because everyone wants to win. Anyone can tilt, even on Faceit.
- Do you think young players like donk, ZywOo, m0NESY, can become the best players in 2024?
- Donk, ZywOo, and m0NESY are the three players who have the potential to be the best this year. I think it will be an interesting battle of young guys, I believe each of them can reach the top if they have a good period. Currently, these three players are worth keeping an eye on. I think donk is still one of the best, even if he hasn't played much until the last few months, but it's hard to show good numbers (the kill-death ratio) when you're a rifler. If he continues in the same spirit, he has a chance to be the best during his first year on the tier-1 scene. We've seen very little of him during IEM Katowice and PGL Major Copenhagen, but I believe he can become the best player in the world.
