rate: Our opponents thought 5star was a weak team and easy to beat, but we destroyed them.

Although they ultimately failed to make the playoffs, 5star still left a strong impression at FISSURE Playground S3. The Mongolian side came all the way through the qualifiers into the main event, then pulled off back-to-back upsets in the group stage by knocking out The MongolZ and Astralis, producing two of the most unexpected wins of the tournament.

“Honestly, we didn't expect it ourselves,” rate admitted in an interview with HLTV after the team wrapped up its trip to China. “Against The MongolZ and Astralis, we just played our own game, and we really caught them by surprise.”

Looking ahead, rate hopes 5star will get the chance to bootcamp in Europe and practice against more top teams, so the squad can keep raising its overall level.

Q: You came through the qualifiers all the way to the main event, and in the end you were just one step away from the playoffs. How satisfied are you with that result?

rate: We're really happy because this is our first time playing in an S-tier event.

Q: You beat The MongolZ. What does it mean to you to defeat players like bLitz and 910?

rate:Of course, The MongolZ are a very, very big name. They're also Mongolia's No. 1 team, and top 10 in the world.

So for us, this was a really strong showing, and it gave us a lot of confidence. We're really happy.

Q: But did you really think before the event that you could beat The MongolZ and Astralis back-to-back?

rate: Honestly, we didn't expect it ourselves.

We just played our own game, and The MongolZ and Astralis were definitely caught off guard by us. That's pretty much it.

Q: How did you manage to surprise everyone at this event? Was it because you were especially well-prepared, or were you just in really good form?

rate: Because we had a really good period of practice back home in Mongolia, we've been training hard the whole time.

They probably thought, "This is a weak team — 5star will be easy for us." But in the end, we smashed them.

Q: Your ranking has gone up as a result. How important is the VRS ranking to you?

rate: We want to qualify for the Major, so the VRS is really very important to us.

Of course, we'll keep doing our best going forward. And beating The MongolZ and Astralis this time really gave us a huge boost in confidence.

Q: You are currently based mostly in Mongolia, and the region is relatively remote. Do you think the current practice environment is enough to help the team grow, or will you need to bootcamp in Europe in the future?

rate: To be honest, we need to improve as quickly as possible.

We really hope we can bootcamp in Europe, because there are a lot of very strong teams there. We're based in Asia, so we don't get many chances to play against those top S-tier teams in Europe.

So this tournament was a really good experience for us. Going forward, we'll just keep doing our best. It's a shame that we couldn't get a better result against G2 in the end.

Q: Do you think your performance at this tournament can help you get more support, such as funding for a bootcamp in Europe?

rate: Of course, I think we can.

There are really a lot of people in Mongolia who like watching esports, especially CS2, and that is largely because of The MongolZ.They have had a huge impact on Mongolian esports.

We're flying home tomorrow. Maybe after we get back, some people will be willing to step up and support us.