As the first day of CS:GO competition during IEM at Gamescom comes to a close, LA Renegades are in dire straits.
But despite putting them in a situation where they’re facing possible elimination during the second day, Luke ”Havoc” Patton enjoys the brand new format.
– You can’t prepare anything which is exciting and I don’t mind it. We just wanna win a game so we can play more matches, he tells Aftonbladet Esport.

During the Intel Extreme Masters at Gamescom, ESL are trying out a new format for the CS:GO tournament. Six teams fight for a prize pool of around 70 000 dollars and they each have four lives left. After facing each other in BO1:s, the last team with lives left will go home as the winners. The winning squad gets to decide who their opponents face next, and the fans decide the maps via Twitter votes.

”We could’ve put them on eco”

And as the smoke cleared after the first day of competition, LA Renegades stood alone with two straight defeats after being smashed by both Mousesports and Team SoloMid. In the first game against home favourites Mousesports, the australians suffered a 16-2 loss.
– Dust2 should be a decent map for us but Mouse were too sharp, and as soon as we stepped out into their aim we were just dead. Mouse won so many rounds in a row, but they all came down to one versus ones or two versus threes, so when we won one round they had to eco even though they were nine rounds up. That’s how close the rounds were, so I think…
— Personally there were a couple of rounds where I missed shots where if I had made those shots we could’ve put them on eco or double eco and it could’ve been a completely different half, Luke ”Havoc” Patton tells Aftonbladet Esport.

”Mirage isn’t prepared at all”

Their next opponent were Team SoloMid on Mirage, a map that the ex Vox Eminor admittedly aren’t comfortable on.
– Mirage is not one of the maps we play, I’m pretty sure that’s common knowledge. But we got six rounds. Our Terrorist half was really bad but we managed to take the pistol round as CT and won a couple of extra rounds but they were just too strong. And our Mirage isn’t prepared at all, it’s just lack of practice, Havoc says.

”Can’t prepare anything this format”

Now, Renegades will find themselves with a bullseye on their backs as the other teams will try to eliminate them.
– I think all the teams are gonna pick us because we’ve lost two games. For them, us going out first means they get more prize money and get placed higher.
But he still seems to enjoy the format.
– You can’t prepare anything with this format, which is exciting. I don’t mind it. But we can’t put ourselves down too much regardless what happens. It will be great to win a couple of games, but if we don’t we have to look ahead to the major. We just wanna win a game so we get to play more matches.