TeSeS: "Everyone on the team is really hungry for more than just a Major"

Falcons are hoping "to build something that is lasting longer than just one tournament," according to TeSeS.

Falcons endured a difficult start to the season following their IEM Cologne Major victory, suffering an shock defeat at the hands of 100 Thieves to crash out of BLAST Bounty before even reaching the LAN finals.

"Of course everyone celebrated during the holiday," René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen admitted to . "[We] had no warmup going into the practice or when we started for the game, so that was also why we didn't do that well."

At Esports World Cup, however, they have bounced back with aplomb, four straight map wins seeing them make the playoffs with relative ease. TeSeS feels that, although it was not the way they wanted to start the season, the tough result against 100 Thieves ended up helping Falcons .

"It was a tough match to lose and it was very annoying," TeSeS said. "But it kind of made us grind this much harder to come back. So maybe it was, all in all, a much-needed thing for us to wake up again."

With Falcons ' season now back on track, TeSeS says a big part of the team's motivation is the desire to build upon their Major trophy. "Any trophy, any tournament, I want to win it. Of course we have tournaments in mind that are way more important than others, but I think everyone on the team is really hungry for more than just a Major."

Congratulations on reaching the playoffs. Two victories, over K27 and now Astralis. Give me your thoughts on the way the team played in the group stage. It felt like this Dust2 game was the only one that was very close, and that was mostly because you struggled financially in the second half towards the end and you were maybe a little too eager to close out the game.

Well, I think our first game against K27 was really good. I think we had a good mentality going into the game, way better than our first game at the start of the season. We knew this couldn't happen again, what happened in the BLAST tournament, so I'm happy that we are back on LAN and everything is feeling a lot better. As you said, today against Astralis on the last map, we struggled a lot in the end. We had some rounds we needed to close out where we could be four or five alive and we just kind of threw it away, and a lot of people died without any reason. They also played really well and very direct, which kind of caught off-guard us in some of the rounds. So props to them, I guess.

Let's talk a bit about that first loss in Bounty to 100 Thieves. What did the team make of that result? Were you worried at all, or not so much because you wanted to take things slowly after such a long season?

I think everyone gets a little bit worried. It's like a slap on the wrist, and it's definitely not how you want to start off a season. No matter if it's an online game or not, you care about these games, and when you are in it, you don't want to lose. It was a tough match to lose and it was very annoying, but it kind of made us grind this much harder to come back. So maybe it was, all in all, a much-needed thing for us to wake up again. And this is what we kind of took away from it, and we just move on.

After the Major victory, which was such a big goal for everyone, how was the atmosphere when you got back to work? And would you say that the team has been able to reset and stay focused and motivated for the second half of the year?

Yeah, this was one of the talks we had when we came to the bootcamp. I think everyone was there mentally and everyone was working as hard as before the player break. But I don't know what kind of happened, I don't think I can pinpoint one specific thing. I don't think anyone did anything wrong or anyone slacked or anything, I think we just kind of needed a slap on the wrist to get these maybe last two percent of our mental to come into the game. But that was kind of it.

Of course everyone celebrated during the holidays and had no warmup going into the practice or when we started for the game, so that was also why we didn't do that well. But yeah, this is where we are now, and we put a lot of hours into it before this tournament especially. A lot of practice. We hope that everyone will see it pay out, including ourselves, of course.

When you were planning the season, how important was EWC? Did you guys treat it as something as special as a Major, or something close to it?

As players, you consider the Majors way more important, but we know the importance of this tournament for the Falcons organization, and we really want to do our best and make sure to give them as many points as possible. And of course I think in the future this event is going to be a lot bigger for every organization, and everyone is going to get more games under their organizations. We cannot deny with the prize money that is for the whole organization and all this kind of stuff, it's impossible for it not to get bigger in the future. Also for the CS tournament, I think the prize money is as big as it has ever been, so of course it's important.

And with Falcons being currently in second place in the Club Championship and being the defending champion of the Club Championship, does that bring extra pressure for you to win the tournament, knowing how special this is for the organization?

I don't think we really think about it that much. Maybe it pops in our heads before or after the game, but it's not like we're sitting in there playing and we're like, 'Oh, shit, if we don't win this, then everyone's going to be mad at us.' No, I think from their side they are also just telling us to just go in and enjoy it as much as possible, and just have fun with it. I think also that's where we kind of thrive the best, just going in there game by game and playing our game.

Looking at the season as a whole, what would you say are the main goals, and who do you think are the biggest threats, especially with Vitality having to go through the stand-in situation and Spirit still having some question marks over their heads?

Yeah, it looks a bit mixed right now. It's tough to say what's going to happen with the other teams. There are a lot of unknown factors, as you say, with the Vitality and Spirit roster. Also I think NAVI, it's a big question mark how well they will perform and so on. So yeah, I'm excited to see what the season's got in store for us, but I don't really care about the other teams, what's going on for them. I just care about us and I want to win as much as possible. Any trophy, any tournament, I want to win it. Of course we have tournaments in mind that are way more important than others, but I think everyone on the team is really hungry for more than just a Major, and to build something that is lasting longer than just one tournament.

And now you have a six-day break before your next playoff match. What are you going to do with that time?

Definitely practice, but also an off day or two, I don't know. It's up to the coaches. Definitely just put some hours in and get comfortable and do what we can to get ready for playoffs.