Xizt talks about the upset exit in the Autumn Resurrection Tournament: We played timidly

In the first match of the BLAST Premier Autumn Resurrection Tournament, NIP faced AMKAL. Under the brutal single-elimination format, both teams faced a test of survival. In the end, AMKAL defeated NIP with a score of 2-1. After the match, NIP coach Xizt gave a post-match interview.

“We need to figure out how to play online matches. Usually, when there are young players, the situation is quite the opposite. But now we are indeed struggling a bit.”

For NIP, they had a poor start on map one, Inferno, losing by a large margin of 3-13. This result was quite surprising because Inferno is not a map that NIP avoids; on the contrary, they have had impressive performances on this map several times.

“Honestly, I think they ( AMKAL ) didn't play any tactics at all. They were just constantly fighting and looking for opportunities to shoot, and I think we played a bit timidly. Of course, AMKAL also has some excellent players. As you said, we usually perform well on Inferno. But today we played just average.”

On map two, Ancient, NIP came back with the same score of 13-3. Xizt shared what he talked about with his teammates between map one and map two.

“Basically, it was to get everyone to relax. In the Inferno match, I felt very tense. So, believe in yourself, take on the fights, don't doubt yourself. It was mainly about focusing on our game. I just wanted to cheer them up, saying things like they are good at CS (laughs). After the crushing defeat on Inferno, the players really needed some confidence.”

As for the chaotic situation in the decider map, Xizt also had his views.

“Honestly, everyone was under a lot of pressure. We lost two or three 4v3s while on defense. We started off well but then lost all our advantages. The players played very timidly, AMKAL could be in mid, could be at A, or could be hitting B, very unpredictable. Then on the attacking side, I think we had some good situations, but we played a bit too aggressively, which backfired. We also messed up things like grenades, which benefited AMKAL because they were playing with their coach. This match was really bad, and I think losing made the team look bad. I thought NIP had a high chance of winning, but the players just didn't perform as expected. That's it.”

At the end of the interview, Xizt was asked whether this loss was just a bad state or would become material for the team's study. Xizt also admitted that the team has been struggling, especially in these online tournaments.

“I would also like to think that this loss was just an accident. But the fact is we have been struggling in online matches. In offline tournaments, we have achieved good results, most of the time losing to strong teams. In the BLAST arena, we even defeated FaZe, although FaZe was not in good shape at that time, they were still a strong team. We need to figure out how to perform well in online matches. Usually, when there are young players in the team, the situation is quite the opposite (performing mediocrely in offline tournaments but shining in the pressure-free environment of online matches). But I feel the team is indeed struggling in online matches now.”

Next, NIP will participate in the ECL Atlanta European Closed Qualifiers on the 29th of this month, where only the champion can advance to the ECL Atlanta.