Post-Gfinity interview with dignitas MSL

The Gfinity Summer Masters LAN tournament in London came to its conclusion at the end of last month; the event was the first in a series of four new tournaments being held by the UK based organisation. The LAN contest saw eight of the world’s top teams competing against each other for a first place prize of $40,000. We caught up with Team Dignitas in-game leader Mathias 'MSL' Lauridsen following the teams’ participation and their highly respectable 3rd/4th placing.

Team Dignitas enjoyed some good results at the event, including convincing wins over Titan and taking maps off of Ninjas In Pyjamas and Team EnVyUs. What goals did you set together as a team before the tournament?

MSL: The most important thing for us was to get out of the group stage and show everyone that we are better than Titan. We proved that two times and even won a map against NiP, so we were pretty happy about the group stage.

It has been a few months now since you took over as the in game leader for Team Dignitas. How happy are you with the progress that the team has been making so far?

MSL: I’m very happy with our progress. We have been playing better and better and that’s actually without much practise, it’s with official matches every day. So I am really happy about the fact that we are getting better and better all the time! If we get time to practise a lot more I think we can do even more damage than we do right now.

You beat Ninjas In Pyjamas on De_Mirage in an impressive way, winning ten rounds on the terrorist half and the team has also had good results on this map in the past. Could you elaborate on the reasons behind it being such a strong map pick for you?

MSL: I think that we are really good on mirage because we have a pretty decent Counter-Terrorist side, we can either own the opponent as CT or we can at least get seven to eight rounds. If we do only get seven to eight rounds it is enough, because we can easily get rounds as Terrorists if we get the gun round. I just think it’s a good map for us because we can be really good on both sides of the map.

In general the teams terrorist side performances have been strong, do you spend more time working on terrorist strategies than counter-terrorist, or does practice remain balanced between the two?

MSL: I spend a lot more time on the terrorist side. In my opinion I have to deliver as the Terrorists, I have to know what the opponent is doing and try to read them as well as I can. So all my work is on the Terrorist side, I use a lot of time on both anti-strategies and making tactics for that. As for Counter-Terrorist, I let people play a bit more loose and let them play as they want to. Of course I still call things as a Counter-Terrorist and I find tactics for that side as well, but not as much as the Terrorist side at all.

The pistol rounds across all maps were particularly impressive, with the team winning seventeen and only losing five during the entire tournament. How much practice did you put into them before the event?

MSL: We have of course practised our pistol rounds, but on LAN it’s all about what the opponent is doing, so I’m calling a strategy around the opponent and hoping it works. It worked at this LAN and I’m happy about that. Also the fact that we have really good pistol players on our team is a reason behind the many pistol round successes.

What (if any) element of your own personal game could you hope to improve on before the next major offline event?

MSL: The main problem I have right now, because I’m also a new in game leader, is to focus on my own game while I’m calling. I could frag a lot more than I do now, if I was better at calling and shooting at the same time, so that’s the one thing I really want to become better at. 

You have a good track record playing against Titan and had to face them twice at this event, how do you approach games against teams that you have already beaten at an earlier stage of a tournament?

MSL: You look at what maps you should play, because they have an upper hand when they have already lost on two maps as they can fix their faults. So first you look at what maps you should play again and which maps you shouldn’t play again. After that, it’s all about getting warmed up and basically playing your game as well as you can. We also think about what they did previously and what they didn’t do so much, because they might do it more in this match. It’s actually a pretty big mind game, which I love! 

In the second half of the game against EnVyUs on De_Overpass the momentum was swung when the French team won a force buy after losing the pistol. What are your thoughts on the current force buy meta?

MSL: I absolutely hate it, I hate that the pistols are so strong and that you can win force buys quite easily. It’s probably more fun for the spectators, but I think it has ruined a bit of the game.

With the team contracts renewed, ever improving results and the ESL One offline qualifier in Cologne fast approaching, what are you hoping to achieve in the coming months?

MSL: I hope that we qualify for the major as well as get a top two finish at the Acer Masters LAN finals. If we do qualify, I hope we can show up to the major and show them what we got; I want a top eight finish at a major! 

Are there any closing statements or shout-outs that you would like to make?

MSL: Thanks to Dignitas for having us, we really do appreciate it and thanks to all our fans that support us, it means a lot! 

Thank you MSL for taking the time out to answer our questions and we wish you and the rest of the team the very best of luck in your upcoming matches. Hopefully that top eight finish is waiting in Cologne!

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