We got into an interview with Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander amidst the BLAST Pro Series Madrid first day to get his opinion on the economy in the game and about what Astralis has recently been up to.
After a miss at the final at BLAST Pro Series Miami, Astralis have closed the first day of play in Madrid with a 2-0 record by beating NiP, 16-8, and Giants, 16-7. Tomorrow they are scheduled to go against ENCE, Cloud9, and Natus Vincere for a spot in the best-of-three grand final.
In the interview, gla1ve talks about Astralis' latest events, getting their Inferno streak broken against BIG, not being pressured as Liquid closes the gap in the ranking, the new economy, and how the team is doing after today's first two matches, among other things.
The last thing you played before coming here was the Pro League group stage, where you finished first dropping just one map to BIG. How is the team doing as of late?
About the latest event they attend, Pro League group stage where they topped the group, losing only one map to BIG, the IGL got much to say. They felt pretty confident there and were just trying to improve their maps. They also started with the new map, Vertigo and got a good grasp of the map. There are still rooms for improvement though, as they felt a bit shaky on some maps at Pro League and Miami. They did give credit to BIG as a team with good tactics and players but thought they should have won easily against those teams. Though got a hard time, gla1ve still felt they were decent, still #1.
The Astralis IGL shared that they sometimes got a hard time on the CT side of Inferno. It happened many times before, like the time against Cloud9 where they just won by a narrow margin 16-14. It relied on the way they adapted to the opponent’s playstyle, as they could get punished much when doing so. Also, individual performance played an important role in the game, as gla1ve specified one case where device missed some shots in key rounds that saw them missing the early win.
About the unsuccessful second day in BLAST Miami and the missed shot to play in the final, gla1ve took it for the reason of an off-day. They did not retain their high performance to fight well. It just happened sometimes and they IGL said they had to accept it.
To talk more on the recent IEM Sydney’s champion Liquid and they attempt to dethrone the Astralis era, gla1ve said that he did not feel pressured at all. He said that it only mattered only if they got defeated by Liquid in a big tournament. That would mean a real shift in people’s mind that Astralis is no longer #1. With that thought, the IGL think even if they lost here in Madrid, as long as they did not lose to Liquid, they could not be denied of their throne.
Talking about the money system, the young Danish IGL opened up about his viewpoint. He liked changes, but it should be more balanced. He felt that Valve should ask for pro players’ opinions a bit more. There have been talks going on recently regarding the money system. He hoped to avoid double eco all the times and felt that “you shouldn't be punished for being in front, or for having a big lead.”
Regarding the economy of the game, gla1ve gave his view on the meta of CS and most ideal weapons in the game. He felt that the AUG and the money are the most important things to look at. Moreover, he thought it was important to get some new stuff up our sleeves when coming to big tournaments. That would bring hype to the crowd as they got the chance to see amazing tactics. Old stuff could work as well as he talked. Astralis were indeed always evolving and adapting to the game, making them the #1 team in the world.
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