Post ESL One Qualifier & ELeague interview with Rubino

We took a moment to interview Ruben 'Rubino' Villarroel Brødreskift on the team's qualification for the majors, Eleague run and how he manages to pull of those crazy clutches. Rubino has been part of the roster for almost a year and is the only non-danish member of the team. He has been a reliable clutch player since his first appearance as part of the team and here's what he had to say about the recent tournament runs!

 

A big congratulation to you and the team for finally making it into the majors! What was your feeling and the rest of the team's when you guys secured a major spot at the ESL qualifiers?

Rubino: Thank you! It was a relief for everyone I think. Last time we failed pretty hard (at MLG columbus) so getting into this major was important for us, atleast for me it was everything since I have not been in a major since ESL katowice 2015.

Despite a tough road to get into the top eight and securing a spot at the major there were a lot of highlights at the tournament for the team. What was the most memorable play, win or anything that happened at the tournament?

Rubino: I think the most memorable was when we got 16 rounds versus tyloo to qualify or msl's four kills with mag7 on inner (nuke) that was really important versus empire.

Your first match was against the arguably strongest team at the qaulifiers, Faze. Did you expect the match to go as it did?

Rubino: We knew it was going to be hard since they are all strong individuals, but we knew that if we play our A-game anything was possible. Unfortunately they played really well. I think they have been improving a lot after adding Kioshima to the team!

After the Faze game you went onto play Empire. Was the team happy to play an easier opponent and how important was it to win?

Rubino: Of course we were glad to play them but you can never underestimate anyone, everyone is ready and will give it their everything to qualify. We played nuke since we felt pretty confident on it, but it may have been the wrong decision to do if you think about it now, but who knows! We won and that is what matters :D.

Your third game was against Hellraisers, the team that you bested in the qaulifiers for this event. What was different between this encounter and the earlier one?

Rubino: I think this game is the perfect example of an "underdog". I think we have never lost to Hellraisers at any tournaments/maps, so they knew that they needed to do something special to beat us. Playing nuke versus us after the shaky game versus empire was the right thing and of course we had a lot of miscommunication this match, but they played really really well and outskilled us.

The team was one loss away from dropping out of the tournament and you drew renegades for the fourth match. What went on in your head when that happened, considering what happened last time you played them?

Rubino: When we were going to face renegades we felt pretty confident, I would say. We knew that we lost to them last time but that wasn't a problem it just gave us more motivation to beat them to get revenge. I also think that the last time we played them, we played probably the best map they had which was inferno (due to the 3 map randomizer) at MLG columbus and now we banned down to the last map and we knew on every other map we should have the upper hand!

What did the team feel after beating Renegades and being one step away from getting that major spot?

Rubino: We felt good but we needed to stay focused because we had one more game to play, so we just stayed in focus and calm for the last game.

You played all the way up to the final day to secure the spot, were you nervous going into that last game? Did the team feel confident going up against Tyloo?

Rubino: I think everyone was more pumped than nervous. It was in our heads that we needed to qualify for this major, that was the most important thing. We've been travelling a lot for the last seven months so I think everyone in the team has got the experience on how to not get nervous and always perform when it matters.

About when we drew Tyloo, we didn't really know which maps they played/which playstyle they had, but it was the same for them. I doubt they knew how we played and which maps we played after adding cajunb, since we removed cobblestone versus every team at this qualifier + played dust2 and nuke. They probably thought we haven't been playing cobblestone, but I think that was a huge miss for them to pick it, but thats experience they have for next time:-)

Were you satisfied with your performance at the qualifiers?

Rubino: I would be lying if I said we were satisfied with our performance, it was really unstable and random, so no we weren't too satisfied with our performance, but then again everything that was important was to qualify and we did that!

After the qualifiers the team flew straight to the U.S. to play in the ELeague. Did the team have enough rest and time to prepare for the tournament?

Rubino: I would say it was pretty nice, we slept for some hours on the plane, then we arrived in the US pretty early, went to bed at a good time, so everyone had got enough rest and had 100% energy.

Your first opponents were Faze, again. Sadly, both games ended in the same fashion as the one from the qualifiers (0-2 loss). What do you think was the reason behind the team being unable to perform well against Faze?

Rubino: I think the playstyle we had versus them didn't work well, they like to take the duels and they have strong individuals as I said before, you cant just surprise them all the time. They played well with each other so they were simply just shooting better and took the better decisions!

Next up it was Fnatic. Did the previous loss against Faze have an effect on the teams performance or were Fnatic just more perpared?

Rubino: I just think that fnatic is a hard team to play against since they also have strong individuals and play a way that they like to take duels. They always played two and two so it was hard, they know how to play and take advantage of the situations, so I just think they played really well and we didn't have the recipe to stop them.

Your two last group games were against TSM in which ou won both maps securing a better seed in the playoffs. Was this a relief for the team? Did you approach TSM in a different manner to how you had against Faze or Fnatic?

Rubino: I think TSM played pretty random, they also had a step-in player, so you don't know what to expect from them. They took us off guard too many times, but we managed to close it in the end on mirage. I also think that they played without pressure and just did random things that worked versus us. If it was a relief? I wouldn't say so, that's a team we should beat pretty easily, so that was just expected from us!

You played your final ELeague match against Faze in a best-of-three in the semi-finals. It looked like the team finall figured out how to play agains Faze, alas it was not enough, but nevertheless a 2-1 loss and very close games especially on the final map. What did the team do differently this time which allowed you to play better against Faze?

Rubino: I think just the mindset was better. We looked at our previous matches versus them, how to approach the maps better, rotates and everything like this, we had a better plan from the start which we probably didn't have the previous times.

Personally you have been a very solid and reliable player and in the course of the two tournaments you pulled of a number of ridiculous clutches. When you are in situations such as the 1v3 clutch against Renegades, what do you do and are there any tips you would give to players who wish to improve in clutch scenarios.

Rubino: I really don't know. I've always felt calm and confident in clutches, I just feel I see the game well in the right times, of course sometimes you gamble on what your opponents are doing. How to get better at it is probably always to try to think a step ahead of your enemy and try different scenarios you may have been doing in practice/scrims and just continue doing it. Also if you lose a clutch, think of what you can do better next time to improve your thoughts in clutches.

Any shout-outs ou would like to make?

Rubino: I would love to thank everyone that supported us through the major qualifier and E-League, it really means alot for me and my team, and of course thanks for the interview and Team Dignitas and their sponsors for being awesome as always:-)

Thank you Rubino for your time. From myself and the staff all the best of luck for the upcoming games and especially the majors, hopefully the team will secure a legends spot at the majors!

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GL&HF