tiziaN: "I've actually practiced it 3 or 4 times, but I wasn't planning on doing that shot"

We interviewed Tizian "⁠tiziaN⁠" Feldbusch after his team, BIG, breezed past Renegades on the first down of the FACEIT Major New Challengers Stage.

The German side was in control of the game on Overpass start-to-finish, with Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik and Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz leading the fragging as they took a 16-6 victory. BIG are therefore in the 1-0 bracket, with two more wins needed to reach the top 16.

In the post-match interview, we spoke with tiziaN about his role on the team, his individual development, time off and preparation for this event.

I wanted to start off by getting your initial feels, I know it has been a while now, but joining BIG, the biggest German team at the moment, they have a Major spot and all that. How has it been to join them?

Joining this team was the biggest accomplishment I had in CS:GO I guess, they are all really good players, they already had some achievements, it was the biggest opportunity for me to go big (laughs), not literally of course. I'm just super happy, I'm so excited to play with all these good guys and I'm excited about the future.

Tell me about the role you have in the team, and how you have been fitting in on the server.

I'm more of a versatile lurk, I have to fill in any position at any given time, but if I have to simply describe it, I'm just a lurk.

You had a great run in Cologne, after that the player break came, the offseason was there... was it hard to get back into the groove, get back to practice and all that after having such a good result? Did that demotivate you at all?

No, not really, because after Cologne we had a big vacation with all of the players together. It was really chill, we could all cool off, and after that, we had four weeks of preparation I think, we just had the perfect plan for how we were going to use the time. We are going into this tournament really confident.

Coming to the Major, what was your goal, what did you think you could do with the preparation you had?

I think we can do anything, it just depends on us, how we are feeling on the day, because we have a lot of off days sometimes, and some players individually have off days as well. I guess we can do anything... I don't know (laughs).

Some of the off days you have, what are the issues you deal with? Is it communication, stuff like that, can you tell me a bit about that?

Communication problems, people tilt, and communication gets harder. Sometimes people don't give important callouts because they didn't make a kill or something. It's just simple tiltness.

Talking about the game you had here, it started off with that kill you had from barrels. How does that happen, is it something you actually practice, because it seems so fluid, or did it just happen at the moment?

I have actually practiced it, I don't know, three or four times, but I wasn't planning on doing that shot, you know. But I guess that it's easier for me to land the hard shots. (laughs)

Playing in this team, you obviously have the role that is kind-of plug-and-play, you support and fill in the gaps. How have you been satisfied with the performances you've been putting in for BIG so far, individually?

I'm not at my peak at all, when I joined the team I was really, really bad, I didn't understand a lot of elements of the game. So I sat down with gob b and tabseN and every time I didn't understand something we just talked about it. We talk a lot about CS. I learned so much at this time, I think I became a 50% better player since I joined this team.

You've been around for a pretty long time actually, from the start of CS:GO, you played the second Major with mousesports. For the younger players, who have come into the scene and think they have learned a lot in maybe a year or two, how would you explain to them that you can advance yourself so much more three or more years into your career? What is it that happens that makes you click and understand the game on a higher level?

I think the reason I got better is just gob b's game philosophy. All my others in-game leaders didn't have this philosphy about the game. They are more kind of set-go kinds of IGLs. gob b just lifts the game, he has so many reads, he is calling so much on the fly, I've never seen any other IGL doing that.

More interviews from the FACEIT Major New Challengers Stage:

Day 1
BnTeT: "We're confident in our skill, but I'm not sure we're confident in our team play"
Lekr0: "I think I learned the most about [in-game leading] from pronax back in the day"

Media Day:
stanislaw: "We have all the pieces to really do some damage"
B1ad3: "We still haven't found the perfect in-game leader"
crush: "We didn't play much [officially] because we wanted to find our game"
Hiko "American teams are dependent on the momentum they gain"
NEO: "byali wanted changes even before Snax told us [he was leaving]"
DavCost: "The main goal is to show who we are"