mTw 's captain and tactical mastermind Alexander 'ave' Holdt gives his thoughts on the daunting group A his team will face at the IEM IV Global Finals as well as the changes his side have undergone in the last few months of using stand-ins and now bringing back their star AWPer Sunde.

Your team managed to sneak into the Global Finals despite a bad European Finals. Yet at the same time one could argue you should have had Sunde for that event if the event hadn't been brought forwards. How do weigh all of that up?

We are really grateful we managed to sneak in to the global finals since we had a really bad event at the european finals. I'm sure it had something to do with we were missing Sunde, even though I feel like we performed well without him at previous events.

Looking back I think we were a little lucky at previous events (Arbalet, DH) cause our standins had really limited amount of time with practise with us, and at ESL European Finals we really felt that missing practise

What is your analysis of the mix teams you took to DreamHack Winter and Arbalet Cup Europe in terms of how they played? The style employed was significantly different to the feel of the classic mTw so how did your approach differ?

I think we played really loose tactics which surprised some of the teams who thought they knew our playing style. We might be one of the teams who usually use most flashattacks so when we changed that up I think it helped us in a way. I still believe it feels kind of random how rounds turn out when you're playing without much of an agreement on what you're trying to do

As CT it's really limited what you can change up, but I think we did a pretty good job being prepared for the different teams habits and it certainly helped us in some matches

With your performance at the other two events being so good in stark contrast to the European Finals outcome was it the case that you didn't have sufficient time to practice due to thinking you'd be using Sunde? Was there are any psychological factor of having to go without him for that event?

I believe we had sufficient time to prepare for IEM European, but we might have gotten stuck with some bad ideas of how to attack. I mean, against KerchNET we were ahead 13-3 with a pistol round win as T on train and we managed to throw it away 14-16. A win in that match would've put us in the playoffs so it was that close really.

We didn't think much about we could've had Sunde in the lineup, we just tried to do the best with who we had.

Explain the lineup people will see at the Global Finals. Should one think of the team who attended WCG with a little room for improvement or has the period without Sunde altered any aspect of how the team will operate? Many noticed trace's abilities with the AWP so will his role incorporate that now? How strict are you in terms of the roles people are required to play?

Surely trace had an impact with some really solid AWP'ing, but I still feel like it's most natural with Sunde doing the job. If he can get back to the level he had before his vacation I'm sure there won't be any dropoff. As far as our style I think we're trying to balance the element of being as unexpected as possible while executing tactics we feel we're good at.

I'm not really sure about how it'll look at Globals since it's still a work in progress in our preparations. I think we're somewhat strict with players roles during the match. Before some matches we already settle what we want to do, and in some cases it could include trace AWPing. We might not have had that idea if it weren't for his AWP'ing at the previous events. You usually learn something new about your team during each event and try to use it to help you improve.

What were your first impressions of your group (A) upon hearing of it?

I consider mouz and fnatic top3 teams right now, so it's definitely not what I hoped for. It's probably the most competetive group I've ever been in. We really have to mentally prepared to reach our best games at the finals so we can qualify for playoffs.

Let's go through each team in your group one by one.

mousesports

Mouz recently had roman join them which I think improved them. They play really disciplined and make few mistakes. At IEM Europe they had some really close games that could've gone either way, but they found a way to win so that makes them top 3 in my opinion.

Frag eXecutors

I haven't really thought of anything new since they brought pasha in, so I guess I believe the keys are the same to beat them. It seems like pasha is playing LUq's position on every map, but I've noticed some other players changed up positions as CT which will be interesting.

Evil Geniuses USA

I know they've been bootcamping for quite a while in Germany, so they should be red hot. I could imagine their biggest problem is to find decent practise opponents in USA, and now when they had a lot of top team practise I believe they could do some damage. They're not to be underestimated for sure!

fnatic

By looking at the recent result they should still be considered the best team. It seems like the switch to threat hasn't slowed them down, but as I thought of the old fnatic lineup I'm looking forward to see if they can keep it up. They're the team to beat.

oXmoze

We got to get beaten by them at IEM Euro and we were definitely surprised by their skill. They've got a good mix of some old school players and new faces, so I don't see why they couldn't upset some teams and with some luck qualify for playoffs.

With the superstar talent you'll be facing in every single game in your group can you get out of the group on the strength of your teamplay and tactical execution or will you have to hit most of your shots?

It doesn't matter how well you execute if you don't capitalize on your opportunities by hitting your shots or doing what you're supposed to in the clutch. Both aspects have to be done right in order for us to qualify for playoffs.

Final thoughts?

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