RUSH: "I think I proved myself"

OpTic completed their underdog run in Atlanta, defeated Astralis in the finals and took home the $400,000 first place prize.

In their playoff run, it was William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba who had the most consistent contribution to the team, with Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic's grand final performance following close by.

After handing him the HLTV.org MVP medal, we talked to RUSH to hear his thoughts on the match and receiving the award.

textYou won the tournament in prournament in one of the wildest underdog stories we've seen in Counter-Strike. Are you surprised at all, were you expecting this coming into the tournament?I'm not like super surprised, we've good showing at Northern Arena and then we had a bad showing at DreamHack. But overall I'm very happy with how we played. I didn't expect from myself even to play this well because I've had some pretty rough showings in the past few months. I think I proved myself a bit here and I'm glad all of my teammates could show up.You let Train in and it didn't end up well for you - do you feel that was more you playing bad or was it a bad decision to even let it through, considering they beat SK on it?I don't necessarily think that we played bad, I think that we weren't sufficiently prepared, we had no idea how they played the map so we went into it with no idea what they were going to do. It didn't work out, but I didn't think we played that bad but they played extremely well - I give them props for that map.What do you think was the hardest thing to stop that they did, on the T side mostly?They had this mix of aggression and then they would slow down. Like, they would go aggressive one side of the map, then they slow down, they take a kill and go somewhere else. We just had no idea where they were going basically, they just shut us down pretty hard.Moving on to Cobblestone, that's probably your strongest map, did you expect them to let it through?No, actually I don't think we did. I didn't did the vetos obviously because stanislaw does them, but we were expecting them to veto it. So when it went through we were pretty happy because they don't play it that often and are not that good on it's our strongest map. You moved on to Overpass, you started OK but then they started with the clutches and almost tied it up. Were you scared at that moment that you were letting the match go?I don't think we were scared, we were more disappointed that we lost so many close rounds, stupid rounds that we never should lose, especially in the grand final. But we mentally reset at the halftime and went into the next half with a clear mind and I think we showed that it didn't affect us, losing all those rounds.The second half of Overpass seemed like an all-out brawl, did it feel like that? Less of a tactical game?I could tell that they kinda new how we play B because in the last part of the second half they kinda abused me and stanislaw, we played double long B and they abused us pretty hard. For me honestly, NAF was the MVP of the final, even the tournament because he carried us on his shoulders. +33 (Kill-Death Difference in the grand final) is pretty insane.Your feeling on winning the tournament and winning the MVP?Like I said I appreciate the award but for me personally NAF is the MVP because he was massive in the grand finals, and even in the whole tournament. But I want to thank the tournament organizers because it's the best tournament I've been to basically, production wise. And thanks to GreenWall for all the support.Going forward, you have ECS, the Major qualifier - what are your thoughts, what can you do?We have ECS obviously next and that is when we get back almost, but I think we can have a good showing there, depending on the groups we get. There are certain teams, Virtus.Pro for example, they have a pretty good map pool against us. But I think we will have a good showing, I don't know if we will win it, but I hope for at least Top4 there. And the Major Qualifier is going to be the hardest qualifier yet. So I don't know what's going to happen there, I don't know if we are going to make it, but I hope we do. Wait and see.

You won the tournament in one of the wildest underdog stories we've seen in Counter-Strike. Are you surprised at all, were you expecting this coming into the tournament?

I'm not like super surprised, we've had a good showing at Northern Arena and then we had a bad showing at DreamHack. But overall I'm very happy with how we played. I didn't expect from myself even to play this well because I've had some pretty rough showings in the past few months. I think I proved myself a bit here and I'm glad all of my teammates could show up.

You let Train in and it didn't end up well for you - do you feel that was more you playing bad or was it a bad decision to even let it through, considering they beat SK on it?

I don't necessarily think that we played bad, I think that we weren't sufficiently prepared, we had no idea how they played the map so we went into it with no idea what they were going to do. It didn't work out, but I didn't think we played that bad but they played extremely well - I give them props for that map.

What do you think was the hardest thing to stop that they did, on the T side mostly?

They had this mix of aggression and then they would slow down. Like, they would go aggressive one side of the map, then they slow down, they take a kill and go somewhere else. We just had no idea where they were going basically, they just shut us down pretty hard.

Moving on to Cobblestone, that's probably your strongest map, did you expect them to let it through?

No, actually I don't think we did. I didn't do the vetos obviously because stanislaw does them, but we were expecting them to veto it. So when it went through we were pretty happy because they don't play it that often and are not that good on it - and it's our strongest map.

On Overpass, you started OK but then they started with the clutches and almost tied it up. Were you scared at that moment that you were letting the match go?

I don't think we were scared, we were more disappointed that we lost so many close rounds, stupid rounds that we never should lose, especially in the grand final. But we mentally reset at the halftime and went into the next half with a clear mind. I think we showed that it didn't affect us, losing all those rounds.

RUSH feels that Astralis' clutches on Overpass didn't affect them

The second half of Overpass seemed like an all-out brawl, did it feel like that? Less of a tactical game?

I could tell that they kinda knew how we play B because in the last part of the second half they kinda abused me and stanislaw, we played double long B and they abused us pretty hard. For me honestly, NAF was the MVP of the final, even the tournament because he carried us on his shoulders. +33 (Kill-Death Difference in the grand final) is pretty insane.

Your feeling on winning the tournament and winning the MVP?

Like I said I appreciate the award but for me personally NAF is the MVP because he was massive in the grand finals, and even in the whole tournament. But I want to thank the tournament organizers because it's the best tournament I've been to basically, production wise. And thanks to GreenWall for all the support.

Going forward, you have ECS, the Major qualifier - what are your thoughts, what can you do?

We have ECS obviously next and that is when we get back almost, but I think we can have a good showing there, depending on the groups we get. There are certain teams, Virtus.Pro for example, they have a pretty good map pool against us. But I think we will have a good showing, I don't know if we will win it, but I hope for at least Top4 there. And the Major Qualifier is going to be the hardest qualifier yet. So I don't know what's going to happen there, I don't know if we are going to make it, but I hope we do. Wait and see.

Professeur writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter.

Astralis #8 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzMarkus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye Keith 'NAF' Markovic Age: 19 Team: OpTic Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 434 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.65 OpTic #13 William 'RUSH' WierzbaOscar 'mixwell' CañellasPeter 'stanislaw' JarguzKeith 'NAF' MarkovicTarik 'tarik' Celik William 'RUSH' Wierzba Age: 22 Team: OpTic Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 420 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.68

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