Speaking with Falcons coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen prior to the beginning of Stage 3 of the Budapest Major, the Danish coach gave his candid take on their matchup against B8.
“They come in maybe a bit more hot, a bit more used to the environment, but a team like us has to deal with it.”
B8 have come all the way from Stage 1, going 3-1 in both stages. That gives zonic some gameplay to look at ahead of their opening match.
“From my side it helps that they have recently played, we can see their tendencies and the new strats they are using.”
But zonic also knows that the Major is special, not only in feeling but also in format. Starting the Major in a best of one against a team who has already played five of them is tough.
“I hate best of ones… I do not want games to be random.”
Falcons mentality
zonic’s focus has been on the gameplay side for Falcons, but we have seen them falter a little bit in the mentality department. Placing top three nine times this year with only one trophy is rough, even for a lineup with this much experience, but their team is undoubtedly skilled enough to compete for the title.
“I feel like we are unstoppable if the players hit the A game.”
The obvious follow-up is how you make sure they actually hit that A game. For zonic, it starts with letting his stars play their own way.
“With this team you have to give them freedom and sometimes it will look stupid, but when things are not working the players need to take a step back and rely more on the team.”
Stepping back might be hard for some of the players, as they are desperate to finally lift a trophy as a five-man squad. The bumps on the road have not been for nothing though, as the team has been working hard to respond to every setback.
“Every time we have lost or identified an issue, we have gone home, worked on it, fixed it, and then improved immediately for the next tournament.”
This Major feels very open in terms of candidates to win it. Vitality, FURIA and Falcons are the obvious top three, but even MOUZ, Spirit or an in-form NAVI could do serious damage. For Falcons though, success is not defined only by lifting the trophy. While that would be the dream, there is a bigger picture for zonic.
“If we can show the same face we have been showing for the last four months, then we have a shot at it, the result will come by itself eventually.“
Watch the full video interview here:
