The dust has settled on the french CS:GO scene and the new teams are ready for their first LAN event at DreamHack Stockholm.
And as LDLC and Titan face off in the first game in Group A, there’s more at stake than a good start in the tournament.
– It will be a strong fight about who made the right choice, Nathan ”NBK” Schmitt says.

After the dramatic turn of events when Titan announced their lineup change early September, dismissing Nathan ”NBK” Schmitt, Adil ”ScreaM” Benrlitom and Edouard ”SmithZz” Dubourdeaux for LDLC trio Dan ”apEX” Madesclair, Hovik ”KQLY” Tovmassian and Mathieu ”Maniac” Quiquerez, the main question on a lot of minds has been regarding which team got the better end of the deal.

And as DreamHack Stockholms CS:GO tournament kicks off tomorrow, the new lineups face each other right off the bat. For NBK, who decided do drop out of Titan when they wanted to fire his friends, the game will be a special one for sure.
– It’s gonna be a strong fight about who made the right choice. We all want to prove we’re the best team, he says days before the tournament.

”Still early to compare lineups”

But according to him, it will take some time before we truly know which french team will be at the top of the food chain.
– Both teams are completely new so it’s still early to compare lineups. I’m not even looking forward to the game against Titan because I think the teams are both young and can always change. But I’m looking forward to the results and how the teams are looking for the next tournaments, more long term.

There was an article at Vakarm.net detailing, from Titan’s perspective, what happened when you guys split up. Do you agree with their view?

– The chronology was the right one. I got called by my manager, explaining what they wanted to do, their plans and how it was going to go for the team. I already pretty much knew what I wanted to do and go, I had a precise idea what I wanted to do with a new team. Everything went pretty much how I wanted, I’m really happy with my choice and don’t regret anything. Now it’s just gonna be about who’s gonna win in the long term , that’s the main point.

”Any person can have their input”

In the beginning of the new LDLC squad, NBK took the role of in game leader. Something he quickly realized he wasn’t cut out for.
– That changed pretty damn quickly. Although we’re a new team and look at this long term we need to be efficient as soon as possible because tournaments and qualifiers for tournaments are coming up quickly.
– I noticed that I lacked the experience of an IGL. I had the ideas but didn’t know how to express them to my team. We decided to go with Shox, because our game style is pretty open and any person can have their input and call something. We changed it the day before we faced NiP, and we managed to win 2-0. We have the basis and the ideas, we just need the team play and get ourselves together. Then we will show more consistent results.

More and more teams are starting to use coaches, is this something you’ve considered?

– Having a coach is useful when you have an established team. A new team needs to find comfort zones when it comes to positions. Everyone need to find what they want to do. We changed positions five or six times already before everyone got what they wanted. But a coach helps in the long run, so I think everyone will have one eventually since it’s important with an outside input.

”I think we can reach good things”

Before Dreamhack Stockholm, LDLC have been mixing great results with some less than great performances. One of the issues they’ve been struggling with are the pistol rounds, where they’re yet to find their form.
– They’re the basis of the game and we’ve lost a lot of pistols and anti ecos. If you can’t win them you’re gonna be in trouble, so we’ve talked about it. We’ve lost both pistols against both Epsilon and Titan, and still the games were extremely close. If we can work on that basis, I think we can reach good things.

What kind of results would you be happy with in Stockholm?

– It’s gonna be a pretty tough event for us, but on the maps we have prepared I feel confident. The only thing I would be happy with is a win. That would show that we have the potential even without being ready. But realistically, passing the groups. My expectations are really high, but it’s gonna be hard with the preparations we have.

Read all about DreamHack Stockholms CS:GO tournament on the official site.