TeSeS: "Trash talk is a part of every sport"

The Dane backs his in-game leader's attempts to get into the minds of opponents.

We caught up with Heroic's René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen after they beat Monte on Sunday at IEM Cologne to secure their presence at the LANXESS arena. The Dane, happy for his coming debut at the Cathedral of Counter-Strike, also spoke about the close match against TheMongolz, trash talk, and the upcoming bout against ENCE for a berth straight past the quarter-finals and into the semis.

The first thing I want to do is talk about the topic of the moment, the trash talking, especially a guy like cadiaN trying to get into the other team's head. What do you think of it?

I think it's great, it's a part of every sport and every situation. If you could listen to football players on the pitch, then you'd think they're complete psychos. What Casper [cadiaN] said in that game was nothing compared to other athletes.

This is life for us, we have so much passion for it, and we'll do everything to get a small percentage over our opponent. Sometimes it works and sometimes it has come back against us in the past. It can go both wrong and good, but on Sunday it paid off and we'll keep doing what we think is best.

Especially against TheMongolz, a team that is a bit less experienced on LAN and at an event of this stature. Do you think it got into their heads and they got a bit shaken by it?

There's a chance that might happen, and there's a chance that it was true that they were a bit shaken up by it. That's the game. The studio is made for this, it's made to yell at each other and get into each other's heads. If they wanted a clean way then they'd put both teams in different rooms, but that's not the case.

Speaking of that TheMongolz match, it was one of the most exciting matches we've seen at the event so far. It was pretty close with a lot of good moments in it. What do you make of them as a team?

They literally had us on Overpass. Techno was coming from behind us on Heaven and he had the round in his hands. We could have lost right there, but we made the comeback and made it in the end. I think they're a great team, they've been developing a lot. We've met them in the past and I think this time they really showed up and pushed us to the limit.

Good victories against TheMongolz and Monte. You made it a bit hard [against Monte], you had to come back from 11-14 on Mirage and then a 5-10 on Overpass. How was getting through those two maps?

It seems like we have to make comebacks all of the time. It's quite annoying, but at least we're winning and that's what we're focusing on — taking the positives —, and also knowing what we need to work on, which is getting a better start on both halves. It's something we have been through before and we'll definitely fix it again.

We have a day off to try and look at the games and improve even more. But we have confidence and know that until they hit 16 it's not over. We always have the confidence and the calmness to come back no matter how many rounds we're behind.

You've at least secured passage to the LANXESS Arena, such a storied venue for Counter-Strike. How excited are you to play there?

Yeah, we've never been there before. We've never been in that arena, it has been a bit of a cursed tournament for us. Now we finally made it and I'm super excited. Everyone is hyping it a lot and as you said, it's one of the most prestigious arenas to play in so I can't wait to experience all of that.

One more match before you jump into the arena. You have to play ENCE for the playoff seeding. What do you make of them and what are your thoughts about this seeding match?

I think it's going to be great. They were the winners of IEM Dallas and we were the winners of BLAST Premier Spring Finals, so the two winners from those tournaments are meeting each other.

Even though it's not a playoff match and it's not do-or-die, the match is just as important for us as anything else and we'll do all of the same things, the same preparations, we'll do everything we can to win that game because we know how important it can be.

Getting to the semi-finals is perfect. If you end up in the quarter-finals it's also great because then you have an extra match and can get used to the stage. There's always advantages and disadvantages in both scenarios, but we'll do everything to win.

After such a crazy silly season with so many teams making changes, new identities... Do you think you have an advantage with an established chemistry?

Of course it's going to be important, it's something we've tried before with the group, we have all of the routines set down. Maybe some other teams and other players have to get a new guy into it all and know how they do things.

It's an advantage here at the beginning when they haven't tried it that much and have to build a new player into the roster and all of the tactics and thee outside things. So yeah, I'd say it's an advantage and everyone will probably say that it's true and we'll take every advantage we can take.