Kjaerbye: "We should have won the game against NiP"

Our Danish CSGO team made their way to Jönköping, Sweden, to attend the BYOC qualifier in order to qualify for the main tournament with a 40,000$ prize purse. After the event we sat down with Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye to talk to him about the event and the team's performance. 

"We had good preparation for Dreamhack with a winning streak of 10 maps, this included a really crucial win in the GOCL which secured us a top 3 finish in the tournament," Kjaerbye says. "So we felt in good shape, especially after having been in a sloppy period, with a few unnecessary mistakes in games against teams that are not in the top tier." Their mindset proved solid as they qualified from the BYOC tournament with two wins over Exertus and Team 8.

This meant that the team was going to be one among seven others to fight for the Dreamhack Champion title. Their first game was against NiP on Mirage. "We were really confident in ourselves and chose to play NiP instead of Na’Vi. Unfortunately NiP had some hard counter on us in the Mirage game." Kjaerbye says. The game went in favour of the Swedes who won 16:9, leaving Markus in a disarray. "I felt shattered after my performance in the first game."

The next match put them in a do or die situation against Kinguin. Despite coming out on top, Kjaerbye wasn't satisfied. "We made too many mistakes in that match, and only won it 16-14 even though we were leading 14-8." Reflecting on the map, they knew how the enemy would play, but they couldn't stop Kinguin from getting crucial entry frags and mounting a slight comeback. "Thankfully, we showed some experience in the end and managed to win the game, which was a big relief."

Working past the trials of the day, the young Dane knew he could his performance wouldn't falter any further. "In the first half I was really focused and happy that I contributed more than in the first game." Though Kinguin nearly usurped their lead, Kjaerbye managed to kept a cool head. "I was just focused and tried to outplay my opponents. I didn't think that we might lose the game," he says.

Up against NiP once again, he and his teammates went in with a motivated mindset. For Kjaerbye this game was also his favourite of the tournament. "Honestly, I think we should have won that, it was a decider match which went back and forward and at some point we were tied 11-11, with them winning a 2v4 or something. That made it really intense and even more enjoyable to play."

Unfortunately the team was bested were forced to exit the tournament early, tied for the 5-8th positions. Though tough, through loss comes progress, especially when the team competes together. "We learn much more from our mistakes at LAN events because we’re able to discuss them while we’re sitting next to each other, and by doing that it only gets easier to improve yourself and move in the right direction."

Follow @dKjaerbye to keep up with his career, and @TeamDignitas for the latest news on our squads and players.