bobeksde: Our goal is for Alliance to qualify for the Major

Alliance were knocked out by MIBR in the opening quarterfinal match at FISSURE Playground 3. It was a fairly one-sided series, with the South American side winning both maps.

Jonatan "bobeksde" Persson, Alliance's newest addition, said the team didn't feel ready for the match, as the more experienced MIBR controlled the series and left Alliance looking out of their depth on the arena stage in Suzhou.

Still, the Swedes can take some comfort from making it out of the group stage, picking up valuable VRS points by beating FaZe, TYLOO, and magic, which laid the groundwork for a push toward the Major.

Interviewer: What do you think you were missing in your match against MIBR?

bobeksde: I don't know if it was confidence or something else, but we were missing a lot of initiative. It felt like we just weren't ready to play.

Interviewer: You've already made the semifinals at similar events before. Did that make you expect more from yourself here?

bobeksde: I think our goal is the Major. So we came here hoping to win, and pretty much anything else would have been a bonus. Overall, it was a good event, but right now it obviously feels terrible.

Interviewer: That boosted your VRS ranking. You're now 15th, and you're also projected pretty high. Do you feel like you're in a good position to make it all the way to the Major?

bobeksde: Of course. I think we have a really good chance. Obviously that's our goal, but I don't think we should focus on it too much. We should treat every event as just as important as this one. But yeah, I think we definitely have a good chance.

Reporter: You’ve got a few smaller LAN events coming up next. Do you think you really have a chance to win one of them? Do you have that confidence?

bobeksde: Of course. I think we've improved a lot from the experience we gained at those two events in China and everything around them, and I believe we had a really good chance to win at least one of them.

Interviewer: You only recently joined this team. What's your impression of it so far?

bobeksde: I think this is a very good team. It's very stable, and there's a great support staff around us. I think we can also get a lot of good help from outside the game as well, not just in CS. But overall, in-game we have a great AWPer, a great in-game leader, and they're both very creative, and we also have a strong rifler core.

Interviewer: Speaking of your support staff, it's quite unusual that while you do have a coach, the person standing behind you during matches is the performance coach or the general manager. What's the reason for that setup?

bobeksde: Generally speaking, Hawk handles more of the analytical work. He was with us throughout the event; that's just how it was.

Reporter: If Pontus isn't really the analytical type, then what is his role during matches?

bobeksde: His main role is to calm us down during matches. During timeouts, he might not say too much about the game itself. Obviously, he has some understanding of what we're doing and what's going on, but I think his main job is to keep us calm in the match and make sure we stay focused on the moment, so to speak.