YEKINDAR: "For paiN, it's a great opportunity to go at the godfather of Brazilian CS"

Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore caught up with Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis once again ahead of the playoffs at the BLAST.tv Austin Major.

YEKINDAR commented on FURIA's preparation for the playoffs, the coaching staff's impact, and FalleN's return to CS's biggest stage.

You can watch the full interview below on YouTube, or read the full transcription underneath. All questions and answers have been slightly edited for clarity.

Congratulations on making the playoffs. We already talked about your qualification so I wanted to ask you, what's the team been up to for the last two days since we last spoke?

We had one free day and every other day we were practicing. We played five scrims on different maps against teams that are in the playoffs. We're preparing for the game, we have our understanding of what the maps will be and we're getting ready for the game.

Do you feel the practice went well? Are you feeling confident ahead of your run in the playoffs?

Yeah, I think the practice was good. I think the practice was really good as we were playing against really strong opposition. We were making it really close, winning, or one map we lost. Other than that, I think everybody's slowly getting into shape again because these five days of break between stages can doze you off.

When we talked to you, and we had a chance to talk to FalleN as well, you've said the big part of this team's success is the introduction of new ideas, especially taking FURIA in a more European direction with you and molodoy on the squad. An understated element of that transition is the addition of your two assistant coaches, KrizzeN and Hepa.

Starting the focus on KrizzeN, someone who comes from the same neck of the woods as you, how important is he as an assistant coach to the squad, and do you think that he's helped ease this transition to a more European style of play?

Yeah, I think both Hepa and KrizzeN were great additions. I think they're sharing a lot of analyst responsibilities. KrizzeN has been doing a lot of behind the scenes work with sidde and focusing on things that sidde needs as a coach. It's always easy to talk to them and ask for something and it's gonna happen in half an hour, they're going to do it really fast. They're a super supportive element of the staff that can help you at any moment. For me, the best things that they were pointing out is, for example, you're missing this grenade.

Sometimes, when you're practicing, you don't notice something that you're fucking up. They're doing an amazing job with that. In terms of stylistical play, or a more European way of playing, I think it comes a lot from molodoy, FalleN being open to ideas from me. KrizzeN and Hepa have some inputs in that, but it comes more from the newer players. But both KrizzeN and Hepa are amazing.

Looking towards the big story of this tournament for FURIA, is the fact that you are going to be taking on paiN, who is another Brazilian squad, in the playoffs and it's obviously a big moment for the Brazilian scene. It's the first time since 2017 that we've seen two Brazilian teams in the playoffs.

However, you're completely separate from that as a Latvian player, you're not really a part of the Brazilian civil war storyline. I was hoping to get a more objective assessment of how you're feeling about that match. How is FURIA feeling about the showdown with paiN when you strip away all of the narrative and cultural elements of it?

Both teams are ready. For paiN, it's a great opportunity to go at the godfather of [Brazilian] CS. At the same time, for FalleN, after six years out of the Major playoffs, qualifying into and playing a Brazilian squad. Maybe in the first couple days after figuring out the seeding it's like "Oh, we are playing paiN, how will it go?" Now, we've already practiced a lot and it doesn't really matter who we are going to play. It's important how we will be, how we are going to show up. That's the most important part.

Speaking about that seeding, I think a lot of teams are on the lookout for Vitality as the team that always rises to the occasion in playoffs. They are able to come back from poor starts or a map down in a best-of-three. Was it a relief for you guys to be on the opposite side of the bracket? Or was that something you even considered when you saw the seeding for the playoffs?

If I were to win a Major, I would rather win a Major by playing Vitality, NAVI, Spirit, or all the strongest opposition possible because that would be more dominant. You can't control the bracket, especially because favorites lost in the stage before and we went 3-0 when we were not supposed to do that. Vitality lost to Legacy when they were, in theory, not supposed to lose to them.

Everything that happened goes into making the bracket the way it is. I think it is, of course, easier to be on the lower side of the bracket. But, it's the Major, all teams are dangerous and anything can happen.

FURIA takes on paiN in the quarterfinals of the BLAST.tv Austin Major tomorrow at 07:30PM.