NiKo: “We kept fighting, and this is what I'm proud of.”

Falcons haven't recreated their Major form this season, and BLAST Open Porto has been no different.

In these semi-finals, the dragons of Spirit burnt the birds alive. There was no fight from karrigan and co on their own map pick, Nuke’s T-side, and while map 2 looked close, they only re-activated late in the second half.

After the game, we talked with NiKo about the T-side struggles, the harsh reality of momentum in CS2, and Cache. Here is what he said:

First question. Of course, commiserations. Nuke T-side, it just never got going. Could you tell me why it's so hard on Nuke T-side right now?

Yeah. We struggle as of right now on this side. We obviously tried to make some adjustments. We had a clear game plan. Didn't really work out.

I think you could argue that we should have won some of the rounds because we had some five-versus-threes, four-versus-threes that we could have won or should have won. We didn't, and the momentum just went to their side.

And with Ancient, it took a while for you guys to get momentum. How hard is it in CS2 when you lose a pistol and when you don't have the momentum in a half to recover, and then when you're down, in MR 13, to be able to close a game again?

Yeah. I mean, I think this CS2 is a lot about mentality. You know? It's so important to stay always fresh, you know, clear-minded, because you can come back from any result, you know.

This is what we tried to do. We didn't really care in the end about the result. We just tried fighting everyone. You know, we haven't played perfect. We haven't played good. But we kept fighting, and this is what I'm proud of.

And then my final question for you is about the veto and your map pool. You guys have been banning Cache for this event. Is there any consideration to bring it back, since it used to be a very good ground for you?

No, no thoughts yet.