”Devilwalk” about EMS One: I think the pressure suits us

At Dreamhack Winter 2013, Fnatic went from being a good CS:GO-team to being top three in the world.

Now Jonatan ”Devilwalk” Lundberg and his team enter the EMS One Katowice tourney with a new kind of pressure on their shoulders – as one of the favourites.

– But I think that's good, it feels like we're always playing better under pressure, the young Swede says.

Dreamhack Winter 2013 was supposed to be Ninjas in Pyjamas' glorious comeback. The most prestigious CS:GO-tournament ever, with an unprecedented $100 000 prize for the winner. ”The Ninjas” had racked up one victory after another during the year, but come fall french Team VeryGames put a dent in their winning streak by eliminating the Swedes in one tournament after another. At Dreamhack Winter, this would change. Or so the plan was. When Ninjas in Pyjamas finally beat their french adversaries in the semi finals, someone behind the curtains had probably already started writing their names on the cheque.

”We realized what we had done”

But instead, early in the morning of december 1st, a 22-year old stood on stage with his pants down in front of the huge, quiet and shocked, crowd – raising his hands into the air in a triumphant pose.

His team jersey wasn't adorned with the NiP logo, and on his back it didn't say ”Get_Right” or ”Friberg”. It said ”Devilwalk”.

– We realized what we had done, but it didn't quite enter our heads that it had actually happened. We knew what it meant but couldn't process it until maybe a week later, he says now, four months after the fact.

”Quite a breakthrough for us”

The major upset boosted Fnatic from being a promising team to the upper echelon of the CS:GO-community. They went from entering every tournament as an underdog to a serious contender.

– It was our first major tournament win, so that was quite a breakthrough for us. But we're not content with it and we're still fighting to become even better. You can't just win one tournament and think you're the best. You just have to keep trying equally hard.

But the victory still must have changed things for you?

– Yeah, we have a bit more confidence. We might think we're better than other teams which we didn't think we were better than before. But that probably happens with everyone who wins something big.

”Katowice is gonna be completely different”

Fnatic has now put their winter triumph behind them and are looking forward to a weekend in Katowice, Poland. The EMS One tournament is on the horizon, equal to DHW both in terms of cash prize and contending teams.

– We're not gonna think about how we won Dreamhack, this is gonna be completely different. The 16 best teams in the world are gonna be there and on a good day anyone can beat anyone. We shouldn't even expect to make it out of the group stages, so we have to take every game equally serious and really prepare.

Who are your biggest rivals this weekend?

– NiP and Titan are the two obvious ones. Plus I really think Virtus.pro have been playing really good lately. Those are the top contenders in my opinion.

”Gonna be exciting to see the tactics”

Even though all of the teams have been playing various tournaments lately, no conclusions about their form can be drawn from those games. Tactics are being covered up so as to not give anything away to opposing teams, giving them an edge in the race for cash and glory.

– The only thing you can really make out is how people are playing individually, so it's gonna be really exciting to see how teams are gonna handle various tactics being thrown against them.

It seems the CS:GO-scene is "evening out" more and more. What's your view on that?

– Yeah, it's been doing that for the last year really. Earlier, it was almost unthinkable that NiP would a single map, even against Titan. But with time the gap has closed and people are getting better and smarter. It's a lot more even between all of the teams now, and it's gonna show in Katowice.

Fnatic have been bootcamping the last couple of days, renting a villa in Stockholm together with australian team Vox Eminor, also travelling to compete in Katowice. In other interviews, the Swedes have talked about having ”aces up their sleeves” which they intend to show in Poland.

– We're gonna play our game with a little ”twist” depending on who we're facing, Devilwalk says without going further into tactics.

– It doesn't have to be advanced stuff, just that you always have to think about what you're doing and what you need to do in a game. I think everyone is really psyched and spend as much energy as they can preparing for the opponents.

”Feels better to be a favourite”

And for the first time, Devilwalk and his teammates are jumping into a major tournament as one of the absolute favourite teams as reigning Dreamhack champions. But that added pressure isn't something he thinks is gonna faze them.

– We're not exactly used to it. We've had a different kind of pressure on us before, when people didn't believe in us and we wanted to prove them wrong. Now I actually think it's good that we have this pressure on us, it feels like we're playing better then.

– We're not used to being favourites in a tournament, but for me it feels better.