GODSENT ztr on Paris Major RMR Open Qualifiers: “With one month of being together, we were just not ready.”

After the previous venture to the Brazillian CS:GO and a following six-month-long hiatus from professional play, the Swedish esports org GODSENT finally made its comeback to the scene in early January when it revealed its brand-new all-Swedish roster. Being together only for a little over a month, the GODSENT line-up since demonstrated their competitive spirit and good chemistry in multiple official showings.

However, they will have to wait a little longer for trying their chances in BLAST.tv Paris Major RMR, since they didn’t manage to qualify via Open Qualifiers last week.

In this interview, we spoke with GODSENT IGL Erik “ztr” Gustafsson to find out how’s the team getting used to playing together and to their new roles, what goals they have for themselves in 2023, what’s the atmosphere within the team after the attempt to qualify for the Major, and more.

Still learning each other

The current GODSENT roster has been together only for a little over month, however, you already had multiple showings in official tournaments. How would you reflect on your time together so far? How are you guys getting used to playing together? Is the chemistry working well?

ztr: I think we’ve shown some pretty good highs and played very well at times. But with that, we’ve also shown some very low performances. We’re still learning each other more personally and how we want to approach the game better every day, but I think that our chemistry is quite good, considering we’re playing together for one month.

With the formation of the new roster, you all also switched roles. How are you guys getting used to the new roles in the team? 

I think everyone has had to adapt to how we want to play, including me. I would say that we are still finding our style but I feel like everyone is getting more comfortable every day.

And what are the team’s expectations from season 2023? Did you set any particular goals for yourselves? 

I think both me and all of the team/organization have high expectations for this team, I expect us to be able to contend for victory at all of the online cups we play and qualify for some decent LAN events as well.

We lost to ourselves

How would you describe the current atmosphere within the team? GODSENT’s recent attempts to qualify for Paris Major RMR didn’t end up with success, do you guys feel disappointed? What’s the mood in the team? 

I feel like the current atmosphere is okay, I think we all felt a bit disappointed because we definitely could’ve come further than we did in the RMR qualifier, but with one month of being together before the qualifiers, we were just not ready.

What do you think was the main reason for defeat in Round of 16? Was it simply because Eternal Fire were too strong, or were there any particular struggles you were facing as a team? 

We started off good against them on Inferno and then we choked at match point and eventually lost in overtime. And then on Mirage, we failed to adapt and lost pretty convincingly. I feel like while they played pretty good, we failed and lost to ourselves.

You will also soon kick off your BetBoom Playlist. Urbanistic run. Unlike the quick formats in recent events, this tournament consists of three stages and spans over a month. What are your expectations and how do you see your chances in this tournament? 

I think there are some really good teams in this tournament, but I still expect us to at least make it through the Swiss Stage and onto the second stage, that would be good for us.

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

I would definitely bring back the old deagle, I was one of the best bodyshot abusers