magixx: “Heroic were an inspiration for how to build our game”

Spirit made it through to the IEM Rio Major playoffs at the final hour, locking down the last spot in the bracket stage with an upset win over Liquid. The favored North American side fell at the hands of magixx and company after a thrilling series that came down to Ancient, where the Russian squad prevailed 16-13, 2-1.

Following their qualification, HLTV.org spoke to magixx about the Liquid match and Spirit‘s upcoming quarter-final bout against Heroic, which will take place on Friday at 18:00 . Speaking on the topic of the Danish matchup, magixx revealed that Spirit modeled a lot of their game after Heroic‘s when the team was overhauled at the beginning of the year.

“We were all watching Heroic a lot. They were kind of an inspiration for how to build our game,” he said. “We have quite a lot of stuff taken from them. We respect them a lot, and cadiaN is chopper’s favorite IGL.”

The 19-year-old also talked about how he thinks Igor “⁠w0nderful⁠” Zhdanov has dealt with the pressure of playing at his first Major, the possibility of repeating an Antwerp-like run, and a potential rematch against FURIA in the playoffs:

Congratulations on making it to the playoffs for the second time in a row.

I can say it is insanely great, once again beating good teams through the tournament. We played five games, we beat the teams we are better than with great scorelines, and we lost to teams with a super close scoreline that are pretty equal to us, maybe some a little bit better.

Liquid is a team which is super good, we’ve been practicing against them more than anyone else before the Major. We played them so many games, I can’t even count. They’ve been playing well, super well, even on the last practice match I got fucked by them. But it’s great to beat them, they are a well-playing team, and making the top eight is a great result.

Was it difficult for that reason, that you played them so much in practice beforehand?

Well, naturally. Sometimes teams are trying new stuff, maybe playing defaults only, or trying something you never tried before, so the practice results don’t really matter at this point. The teams are going with their best stuff to play in the official, especially at the Major, so we just went through their demos and not really rely on the practice games we had before. We made a great plan that worked for us.

Tell me about this crazy finish. At some point it was looking like Liquid were going to run away with it on the Terrorist side – how did you finally stop them?

It was a close game. I think we went to the CT side, we won a couple of rounds, they won a couple, we won a couple, and at some point the scoreline was 12-12. We had a pistol, chopper got a double entry, it was a crazy play, but we lost the round and I saved the AK. After that, it was the moment where we needed our coach. He called the first timeout and he told us the only one thing that we’d been doing wrong. We were giving them too much space and he told us the exact area that we should go and fight for. We believed in him and we went for what he called, and it paid of well.

I don’t know if you’ve heard yet, but you guys are going to play against Heroic. What are your thoughts on the matchup?

It’s gonna be a banger of a match because Heroic is a great team. When we made the new Spirit roster at the beginning of the year with all these young kids and hally, we were all watching Heroic a lot. They were kind of an inspiration for how to build our game. We have quite a lot of stuff taken from them. We respect them a lot, and cadiaN is chopper’s favorite IGL.

What made their style so inspirational?

Some teams, they’re not really doing plays on CT, and Heroic’s playstyle is more about doing stuff, going for info, going for plays, setup some combinations to go for entries, go for info, so you get some info on one part of the map and you stack the other to get the advantage. While, if you’re not moving or doing anything, you’re just waiting for the enemy to come and fuck you up.

How do you see your chances in the playoffs, repeating the kind of a run you had in Antwerp or even going further?

Well, last time it was a great run, a great performance from us. This time, we’re doing the same, we’re playing our game, we’re enjoying the momentum, and now we’ll face the biggest crowd we’ve ever experienced. I hope that we’re going to enjoy the game, enjoy the momentum, and whatever is gonna happen is gonna happen.

w0nderful had some great performances throughout the tournament. What do you think about how he was handling the pressure at his first Major?

Some players have good headshot ability and some players can lose a bit of their communication skills under pressure, under the pressure of the crowd. Some players are also able to lose their aim confidence, not making headshots when you’re pressured.

w0nderful is the player who, I think I felt him a little bit pressured in terms of communication, he was a little bit more silent than usual, but in terms of headshots, he’s hitting more than before. Like, wow, that is insane, some flicks, some headshots with the AK, it’s impressive. It was so beautiful to watch.

Do you see it as a good thing that you’re not going to meet a crowd favorite?

Honestly, I wanted to play against FURIA. It’s a bigger crowd. And last time we played them, it was Cologne, we won the first map, we lost the second map from 13-7 and we just got fucked on the third map. It was a bad performance from us, and at this tournament we also played FURIA, we had like a 10-1 lead, and we also threw the map. Again, Mirage, we gave them the comeback.

I just wanted to make the playoffs to meet them in the playoffs and beat them. You can lose some matches in the group stage, but when it comes to the most important match, which is in the playoffs, I think we could have defeated them. I was looking forward to beating them, because we lost some games against them and it was painful.