Hi everyone it's Max! We're back for another interview with SmithZz, G2 Esports' coach
We asked you to leave questions for him on twitter and we got many, so thank you
Let's start with a question from KaluCs who's asking "how are you?"
Well, I'm great
Cool! So you just played against Team Liquid
Who had to play with their coach, zews
Does it change anything for you to face a team that has to play with their coach, regarding the analysis?
Yes, because of that the demos weren't very relevant
But yesterday we also watched a few demos of this tournament
And we noted that they made a very good use of zews
So in the end we managed to find some counters
We were hesitating between picking Cobble or Inferno
And because they didn't use zews as well on Inferno, we chose this map
But I think they'll go even further in the tournament
He's not a typical coach, he used to be a player, and they've managed to make very well use of him, so I think they'll make it
Yes, we also saw him use the CZ ans take three kills
Easy kills of course, because he didn't have to make the entry on a bomb site
So now he's taken the lead, and thanks to that nitro can focus back on his own aim
He's been very strong since the Major started. Did you prepare something to counter him?
Not really, we did nothing special
But of course when a leader stops leading and focuses back on his aim
He'll make more frags, like Richard (shox) is doing right now
But then again he wasn't very strong during our match if I remember well
But he's still a good player no matter what
And it's no surprise... well, he'll make it
So you ended 12-02 at the end of the first half, on T side
On CT side there were some mistakes, Liquid managed to win a few rounds when the second half started
After Liquid won 5 rounds on the second half and you won 1, you took a tactical time-out
What did you tell them at that point? Did you tell Richard (shox) to one-shot everyone with his deagle on banana?
No, actually I gave them a solution, but they executed it the round after this one
The solution was to make them throw their stuff, to be more aggressive and scare them a bit
Now what Richard (shox) did wasn't really part of what we had planned
He should have done it the next round, but he tried anyway and did the headshots, so great!
Final score of 16-08, congratulations
Another question now: we often se you fistbump every player after each round
Is that something important as part of the team's cohesion?
Yes, the team's cohesion is very important
It's also important for me to have a good relationship with the players, because I'm always behind them
That way I also make sure they listen to me during the time-out
And even as a player I liked it when people went to fistbump me
Actually I don't do it after every round
But when things go well I do it
When things aren't going well and we need to get back on track, I do it
And yeah, everyone like it in the end
Even Nathan (NBK), it's just that he doesn't see me because he's so focused, so I have to put my fist in front of his eyes
But he also does it. And I think it's a great thing, for the team's cohesion
It's a little boost for them, I help them any way I can
Now I'll ask a few questions from the community
Oni Link asked you if you still played the game often, in case something happened like it did for EnVyUs or Liquid
And you had to replace someone within the team
When we started with this team
I was still playing one-on-one with the players
For fun between two maps, or to warm-up
Also do some aim maps... it kinda stopped later
Because we decided to stop training on aim maps
So I haven't played a single pickup since I retired
I played during a party a few months ago, I like I said in an interview
I was actually pretty strong
I when I play some deathmatches for fun, my level is still here, the mecanism is still here
So now if I had to train to be... well if I knew I had to play on the very same day I'd probably be crap
But if I could prepare for a week or two like zews did
Of course it's normal to show a pretty good level then and not be completely lost
On the contrary, Damien (maLeK) who only knew about it the day before
Had it hard, because it's not easy for a coach to take the mouse back
But I think that if you get to traine like any player for a fortnight
If you were already a good player before that, you still have some basis and mecanism, it's pretty easy to comeback to a good level
You were talking about Damien (maLeK), EnVyUs' coach
He probably spent a terrible night when he learned he had to replace RpK, so it really wasn't easy for him
Now a question from P1, who asked you if, looking at this morning's results, you were surprised by some of the new rising teams
Like Quantum Bellator Fire or Vega Squadron, who are more and more surprising after each match
Like for example when QBF won against Virtus Pro
QBF against VP, yes... but actually we weren't sure what VP would show us
For years they've been really strong during Majors
This time they weren't
Then about their victory against Gambit...
It surprised me a little because Gambit was very strong the day before
I thought it'd be a close game but I didn't think they'd win, so we'll see how far they can go
And Vega showed a really good level during the qualifier so I'm not surprised
But today they played against FaZe on Train
And I think it was a bad pick to chose Train and start on T side
That was really ballsy
It didn't work, but I think they can still qualify
Now for you next match at 2-0 are you feeling confident? You'll have mouz, SK, FaZe or QBF
We talked about it for a bit this morning
Even if it usually brings bad luck to talk about it beforehand
But personnally, I wouldn't like to play against QBF
Because we've watched them play, and...
Their play style is very atypical
Usually this kind of thing would only work online, but they actually are ballsy enough to play like that during lans, and it works
I think the whole team would prefere to play against SK
... I wouldn't like mouz as well, FaZe or SK would be great matches to qualify and get the Legend spot
Now if we have to face QBF, we'll give it our all and we'll probably beat them
but the match will be kinda strange
Now about Space Soldiers, who first lost against SK on Mirage and today managed to beat Cloud9
What do you think about the Turkish team?
They're showing a beautiful play, I watched their game against SK yesterday
I don't remember how it went exactly
When Richard (shox) came into the room and asked me how it was I told him "they're clearly above"
"they're gonna win for sure"
In the end they lost because of some messy rounds
But they really were above SK, they can have some regrets
There was a mistake during a 2v1
Because one of them went catwalk instead of trying to find some headshots from connector, ven though Fallen only had 1hp
So Fallen difused the bomb with 1hp
The only bad rounds were like that, they had the advantage but weren't able to close the round
But they're really strong, and I'm happy for them and for MAJ3R
I hope they'll go even further in the tournament
We know that Richard (shox) has a little ritual before starting a match, he always drinks coffee
Do you also do something special before going on stage?
Richard (shox) actually drinks like 10 coffees before a match
And that's for when we play at 11 in the morning, otherwise it's 45 coffees
Joke aside, he really drinks a lot of coffee, it's not even a ritual
It's just that he likes it, sometimes he's got a "coffee phase" where he drinks a lot
But sometimes when he drinks too much, he loses focus, so we're being careful on that
I don't really do anything
I just like to go outside with Richard, smoke a cig and talk about the game
I just make sure the players are all ready and focused
I also read our analyst, Niclas' (enkay J) notes one last time to avoid any surprise, and that's all
Now another question from Val
who said "we know that G2 is a team that depends a lot on the players' confidence, espacially kennyS' "
Are you going to hire a psychologist to help the players parepare mentally?
We've talked about it, because we know our mental isn't always stable
But everyone has a different way of preparing for a match
I know that Nathan (NBK) already has a kind of coach that prepares a program for him
We still haven't found a French mental coach that is interested in esports and would like to help us
We have an English-speaking mental coach, but the language barrier is actually too important so it doesn't feel natural
But I think the Kenny got a lot better since he came to G2
We haven't really seen him give way during a match or anything like that
And that's also why I'm here, to help him raise his head when he's not feeling good
So I think a mental coach would be a plus, but we don't really need one right now
Right now we're showing a good mentality, we're not only relying on individual confidence
We've been training a lot, so our game plan is steady, we're pretty strong right now
Of course being confident is always better for anyone
But right now we're not relying on that
Next, Winter_game asked you "how is you daily life at the Major?"
Well... first be bootcamped for a week in Tours, in order to get focused
to train a lot and maintain a good cohesion
Then the qualifier started, and now, so we've actually been together for three weeks
So we're trying to...
I don't really know how to explain...
We're trying to spend time together of course, but not too much, because it's already been three weeks
Now if we get to stay here for another week it's gonna become hard to stay with the same people all the time
But on the days we have a match, we stay together before
We eat together, leave together, but after the match it's free time for everyone
And of course we've been practicing
During the qualifier, right now for the Major itself we haven't had a day to practice yet
Because it kinda went bad during the qualifier,
And things were still working great during the games so we didn't want to ruin everything and lose confidence
So as long as it works it's alright, but for the fourth week we'll have to do something of course
Ok. Now Raiskill asked you "What's the best restaurant of Atlanta?"
We all really like the Fogo de Chão, a brazilian BBQ
You can't find any in France, and it's really good
Everytime we come here, on the first night we're all tired because of the jet lag, and everytime we eat at this restaurant
So we can have a good meal and then a good night of sleep
So we go like twice a week
Else we go to a steakhouse, the meat is very tasty here but a bit expensive
Another question from SunnyDF: "Could you give a public recording of your TeamSpeak during a match, like zeus from Na'Vi did?"
I didn't even know that zeus was doing that, it's probably among his VoD
We don't have the necessary equipment to do such a thing, so I don't think we'll do it
But I think it's a shame that the big events won't do it anymore, giving the VoD with the players' voices recorded
They did it a few years ago, when we were within Envy, and it was pretty interesting, even for us players
Listening to it and see how we communicated
Se what was good and what was bad, I really liked it
I don't know why they're not doing it anymore, maybe we should ask them
Isn't that because the players complained that it prevented them from communicating properly
And also because sometimes in the heat of the action, you could insult someone?
Well, it's pretty normal for everyone to shout some insults
It's a kind of mental boost
I don't remember that the players were complaining... at least we didn't
Ok, now another question from Indeed "Have you been working on your pistols? It seems that the curse of the lost pistol round has disappeared during this Major"
After... I don't remember when exactly, but yes we worked on them before Christmas
It was my responsibility to do something about them
It was actually me who was deciding on the pistols at some point
But then Richard (shox) felt that he was sharing too much of the leadership with other people, so he took care of the pistols again
So right now, I'm deciding for most pistols on T side, and he's deciding for most pistols on CT side
Sometimes I do some on CT, he does some on T... well, we're sharing them
So yeah, we've been working on them a lot
We always win them during practice, we always do the same thing... well not exactly the same
But we have two, three different moves per side and they're working well
That's why we were confident about it for this event, and it always feels great to win the pistols
Ok, now LTX is asking "Where would you like the next Major to take place?"
In France it'd be really cool
So yeah, in France... I also thing that the EPICENTER could do something great
They have a really good production, so an EPICENTER Major would be great, in Russia
JeanAbdelouche and other people asked you if seing zews play again
and also maLeK play again
Kind of made you want to take your mouse and comeback as a CS:GO pro player?
Not really... sometimes I kinda want to play again
Not like on MM, I mean as a pro player
But I'm actually feeling pretty satisfied right now, because I really like my job
When we play well and when I manage to communicate my view on the game
When I'm behind them and they win thanks to something I taught them
When they do it perfectly and win, it's a bit as if I was also playing with them
So yeah, compared to the last time you asked me during an interview (note: at the PGL Major) my desire to play came back a bit
But it's not back enough that I'd take the mouse again
Thanks a lot for the interview, last words are for you
Thanks for everyone supporting us at home
It feels great to see all the French fans
And I really hope... I don't want to jinx it because we're still at 2-0, but I really hope we'll get out of the group stage
Now we have three chances, we have to lose three times to be eliminated
So we'll give our all to become Legends, and then we'll see
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