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The Gfinity Elite Series had its first Melbourne derby this past weekend, with Melbourne Avant taking the spoils after triumphing 16-13 in CS:GO and 4-3 in Street Fighter V.
But – no disrespect to the Street Fighter players – it was the thrilling come-from-behind win over Melbourne Order on Saturday that proved to be the main talking point from the weekend.
Avant CS:GO captain Mohammed “MoeyCQ” Tizani spoke exclusively to The Roar post-match about his team’s thrilling come from behind victory.
The Roar: That was certainly the match of the season. Does it feel extra special to come out on top?
MoeyCQ: It feels special because obviously we’re a new team. As I said in the on-stage interview, it really tested our mentality. We had a few tech issues in the last couple of rounds that we shouldn’t have. We do have young players that are still on the way to being more experienced. In terms of being happy to come out on top, happy because it tested our mental fortitude. We came out strong, so happy for the team.
The Roar: Absolutely. Is it more a feeling of elation or relief when you do finally come out on top for your first win of the season?
MoeyCQ: Yeah, it’s a relief because it was a game we shouldn’t have lost. I believe last week against Perth Ground Zero, we also should have won that game. We just made a few silly mistakes which we ended up fixing a lot of. It’s a relief because we are working on our mistakes and working on getting those consistent results and not giving up leads.
The Roar: Last week you did have that big first half deficit and your comeback just fell short. What do you think clicked for you this week that didn’t a week ago?
MoeyCQ: I think this week, we showed a lot more mental strength. Last week, we got most of the nerves out, as well as the players like hazr, for example, played really well this week. We lost a round near the end where we shouldn’t have lost at all. It was a really bad call by me, and Pecks comes out in the next round with a one-on-three [win]. In terms of what clicked, I would say generally less nerves, more fire power, and game play going forward turned out real good.
The Roar: A bit like last week, it did look like, in the first half, the game was getting away from you a bit. How do you turn it around in situations where you’re just dropping rounds? How do you get back into the game and get it back in your favour?
MoeyCQ: The thing is, when we do go into deficits, we know what we’ve done wrong. Counter-Strike’s a very economy-based game. So, as soon as you go down a couple of rounds, the game starts to get out of reach. Definitely being best of one, we can’t afford those mistakes.
This week, we lost two rounds in the same fashion. Last week, we lost two rounds in the same fashion. It really screwed with our economy, so the only thing to do is to understand that you’ve lost a round for such a basic reason. It wasn’t anything complicated, it was just a simple mistake.
Once you put it into that perspective and you realise that you’ve lost around because they’ve done one simple thing, then it becomes a lot easier to come back.
The Roar: It looked like a server dropped out in that second pistol round. How did that affect things?
MoeyCQ: The server dropout was pretty tilting, to be honest. You know, we had a strategy in mind, I had the utility on myself, on my person, and couldn’t throw the smokes and flashes and things for the team. Being down, already in a deficit, it was pretty tough to swallow.
Thankfully, we came out strong in the next round and we won the full eco-round and we didn’t even have armour. Winning that round, kind of [felt] like justice, I guess. It was tough because, as I said before, last week we should’ve won that game. It almost felt like this week was gonna be a repeat where the dropout would affect the game, but thankfully it didn’t.
The Roar: Just how big was Pecks’ effort in that round? The one-on-three to get you to match point?
MoeyCQ: To be honest, Pecks’ effort was amazing because it didn’t make me look so bad. The previous round, we had a really bad call where we were running back to the bombsite. We didn’t have enough time, so Pecks coming out on top there was, again, I guess justice for our error.
So, just the same as the pistol round, Pecks turning that around was a good momentum swing. It helped us close out the game and get over what happened the previous round because Counter-Strike’s a game where emotions fly. A simple mistake, a simple word, or a simple call can really change the outcome.
The Roar: And finally, you’ve got Brisbane next week. How are you going to prepare for them? What are you on the lookout for?
MoeyCQ: We’ll just continue to prepare as we have been. We’re preparing for multiple competitions at the moment. Gfinity’s great for our learning experience and for our on-stage experience. We’ll keep practicing during the week. We’re gonna keep playing, and we’ll come out firing.