ForZe Fierce: “We focus on building a stable MECHAFORZE.”

This time around, we caught up with Coach Artem “Fierce” Ivanov to discuss forZe’s recent results, how is the team preparing for the upcoming BLAST.tv Paris Major European RMR, building a stable MECHAFORZE, and we also touched on the current situation on the Russian CS:GO scene. 

“We need more confidence and calmness,” says the forZe Coach.

Focus on individual shape ahead of RMR

Fragster: First of all, congratulations on qualifying for Paris Major EU RMR. What’s the atmosphere within the team now?

Fierce: Thanks, super happy we made it from 0:2 score, it was quite thrilling actually. We are also excited to attend some future events before RMR to see what we are capable of and gain some LAN experience for our new line-up before we come to RMR itself.

What was the key to your team’s success in the closed qualifier, and how did you celebrate your victory?

We played a qualifier being on another tournament in Malta, so we had a crazy schedule on the first day: we started at 10AM and finished at 3AM the next day. And as soon as we were (unfortunately) eliminated from LAN, we could focus only on the closed RMR qualifier. We also did some conclusions from previous matches and came back stronger to take the RMR spot. The victory was celebrated in a restaurant making some laughs and eating Italian and Japanese food 😛

What are your expectations from the upcoming RMR, how do you see your chances there? You didn’t manage to qualify for the previous Major, do you see yourself going to Paris?

I believe we have enough time to do some basic preparations to make our team play better, but we are gonna put the main focus on the individual shape of each player, so everyone would hit shots and make quicker and better possible decisions. Overall I hope we can surprise some teams to get momentum and it would be enough to make it through. In the end, it’s kind of roulette when you play the swiss system, so will see.

Building the MECHAFORZE

Looking ahead to future CS:GO tournaments, what are your team’s goals and aspirations for season 2023?

We are definitely going to take part in as many tournaments as we can, both LAN and online. But mainly we focus on building a stable MECHAFORZE — a machine that can work as a five and also chaotically bring some presents by one of the players. I mean if you play strong overall, you can take some trophies. We just need to get our confidence back.

forZe has kicked off the new season by adding r3salt, how is his adaptation going? How’s the chemistry working for the team now? 

R3salt is doing his best to fit the team and to feel comfortable enough to use his crazy aim. I must admit that our chemistry is not on point right now, cause we had that long tryouts period for like three months or so and we need some time to bring us back on track. We put all efforts into breaking it through, bootcamps are incoming as well, so we will fix it asap.

You recently completed your run in CCT West Europe Series #1 where you finished in the quarterfinals after a defeat against iNation. What are your impressions of the event? And what went wrong in the match against iNation? 

We were just glad we were invited to compete, but it was pretty hard to play to be honest, cause of the long trip a day before (we were coming back from Malta). Anyway, we could finish that bo3 series with 2:0 score actually, since we had won their pick Anubis, and lost our pick Nuke. Usually, we get fewer rounds on T side, but in that game we got eight. However, that was not enough and we were totally outplayed being the CT side on Nuke and on decider Inferno as well. We had worse communication, decisions, and aim than usual, that’s pretty much it.

You also recently kicked off your BetBoom Playlist. Urbanistic run. The first two matches against HEET and Falcons were 1:2 losses, but there’s still one attempt left to remain in the game. How do you see your chances in this event? 

Good teams, a comfortable schedule, nice prize pool. I believe we will recover and get to the semi-finals at least, we really need some confidence and calmness. Hope by the time we get to playoffs we gain needed experience so we can finish those bo3 series by winning.

No signs of CS:GO ban in Russia

In recent weeks, there were reports that the Russian Government aims to ban CS:GO as a part of its move to “lessen the alleged negative impact of violent video games”. Is this true? And if so, what kind of impact, in your opinion, this could have for the Russian esports scene?

Woah, didn’t hear anything about it. If so, teams would change the location of their headquarters and bootcamp and that’s it, I guess. Anyway, hope nothing like that happens.

And how’s the current situation on the Russian CS:GO scene looking?

It’s kind of the same, but sometimes you can meet with some pressure from world society.

Last question, if you could change one thing about CS:GO, what would it be?

Ha-ha, let it be one of two: the possibility to knife with a headshot or the possibility to buy a Glock being CT and a USP being T.