torzsi: "I was a little bit scared to make the move up, but sycrone helped me a lot"

After making a successful tier 1 debut, Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás spoke to HLTV about making the move up to MOUZ from the academy roster and expectations at IEM Katowice.

MOUZ headed into IEM Katowice as one of the biggest question marks, ready to make their debut with the new lineup after bringing in torzsi and coach Dennis "⁠sycrone⁠" Nielsen from MOUZ NXT and veteran Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt during the off-season.

Just days before the event, the team found out that they would have to play the opening stages without Aurimas "⁠Bymas⁠" Pipiras after he tested positive for COVID-19, and they brought in Jon "⁠JDC⁠" de Castro from the academy squad to step in.

Despite the stroke of bad luck, MOUZ have passed their first test, beating GODSENT in their opening best-of-one match in the Play-in stage while their stand-in was at the top of the board in a convincing defense on Nuke.

As they await their opponent in the second round, where they'll face the winner of FaZe vs. Sprout, we spoke to one of the newest additions, torzsi. The Hungarian AWPer discussed making the move to tier 1 and his nervous debut, as well as the team's expectations moving forward in the event with a stand-in.

You've had about a month to process everything, how are you feeling now about making the move up to the main team?

I'm feeling confident right now, we just played the first match and we won. Obviously, we played without Bymas, and we're a little sad because practice went really well and we were really confident before the tournament, but he tested positive, so we're playing with Jon until the playoffs if we get there. But Bymas plays a lot of the lurk positions, and that's the easiest to replace, and we're still confident to play our game. I'm confident on tier 1. The first game was insane, I was shaking a little, but I think it went well.

Were expectations high, then, before you found out that Bymas wouldn't be able to play?

No, the expectations weren't high. We were just confident because the practice went well, as I mentioned. We had no expectations because it is our first event as a team, also it's my first tier 1 event, and we're just here to gain experience first and to get used to each other more on officials.

How has it changed now that you're playing with JDC? Is there just no pressure on you guys?

Yeah, kind of no pressure. It's hard to play with a stand-in, and he just arrived yesterday, so we didn't have any time to practice. We just played two practices yesterday and went through our things, so no expectations right now.

JDC played well in the first game, he was even top-fragging for a while in the first map against GODSENT. Was it a surprise to see how quickly he was able to perform?

No, for me no because I know him and I knew he would perform really well, and I trusted him. He played insanely well, can't wait for the next game.

Going back to the start of the team, although the core has remained, this is a very new lineup. How has the dynamic evolved in your first month together and how has it been trying to mesh together?

As I heard from the last MOUZ lineup, it wasn't the best atmosphere there, so even when we built this new lineup, our coach, Dennis [sycrone], asked them, and we asked each other to be open. It's a new team, we replaced three people, Dennis, NBK, and me, so it's a totally new lineup. Everyone just reset their mind and, as I mentioned, the practices went really well, the atmosphere is insane, so I think we will have a bright future.

You made the move alongside sycrone, who was your coach on the academy team. Has that made things easier on you to make the transition?

Yes, it has made it much easier. I was a little bit scared to move up to the main lineup, and Dennis helped me a lot because I wasn't alone. It was much easier to get them and give myself to the others, so he helped me a lot, and everyone is really nice. Everything's cool.

In one of our interviews at the Academy League, you talked about being ready to make the move to tier but that you needed some LAN experience. Now that you've played your debut here, is the weight off your shoulders?

I will see in the next game, but in this game I felt a lot of pressure, but it was fun, I enjoyed it. I think I played okay, it was fine, so I can't wait for the next game.