“It’s always a nice feeling to stomp another team”: Heroic’s Jabbi on making HooXi upset at IEM Dallas

Just before the final three matches of IEM Dallas, WIN.gg caught up with Heroic rifler Jakob “Jabbi” Nygaard.

To little surprise, Heroic clinched an advanced spot in the semifinals of IEM Dallas after a dominant group stage run. The tournament favorite cruises past 9z, MOUZ, and G2 Esports to secure a top four placing. On day one of the playoffs, WIN.gg caught up with Jabbi to learn more about his in-game performance, stomping G2 hard, and if CS2 is ready for tournament play.

An interview with Jabbi at IEM Dallas

WIN.gg: Jabbi, you’re playing quite well at IEM Dallas so far with 87.2 damage per round and a 1.14 HLTV rating. DId you do anything special to prepare?

Jabbi: No, actually not. We’ve just been grinding a lot lately, there have been a lot of tournament to be played. We’ve all been playing the game a lot, and I think that helps individual skills. 

Speaking of individual skills, you picked up a nice 1v3 pistol clutch on Mirage against 9z to start your run. Did that play help give you some momentum? 

All the good plays give a lot of confidence and momentum, so it was a good start. Also, for me personally, it’s certainly good to know you are capable of doing these kinds of plays. 

HooXi of G2 Esports was a little salty on Twitter after losing hard in the group stage. How does it make you feel to see him get angry?

I mean, you can obviously see that that team right now is not the best at body language. It’s terrible, but it’s nice to break them this hard like we did. It’s always a nice feeling to stomp another team.

You’re scheduled to face either Astralis or MOUZ tomorrow. Which team would you rather take on?

It would be a fun game to play Astralis. It’s been a long time since we actually played them. Also it’s going to be on-stage, and we’ve actually never played them on the stage before, at least I have not. So that could be a fun experience.

With the Paris Major over, do you think there’s a loss of motivation for top teams such as Heroic?

Actually not. As we say in the team, there are always new opportunities. We have all the top teams here, not Vitality but all the other top teams. If we don’t take this opportunity there will be another one next week and after that, it will keep going like this. If you just think its over because of no major, you won’t have the right mindset. 

Still no Anubis play for the team, aside from that one map against Na’Vi at Pro League 17. Any plans to add it to your team’s pool?

 We still play it, its just too… We’re just waiting for the right moment to reveal it. 

Assuming new maps were added, do you think Counter-Strike 2 is ready for tournament play?

No. I don’t think so at all. The servers are all so really bad when I tried it at least. I don’t really like it as much. It has to be fully ready before releasing it, so  I hope they wait more time so it can be ready.

Is Heroic practicing Counter-Strike 2 at all?

No, not at all.

Do you have a favorite skin?

M9 Sapphire. That’s the best.

Expensive choice.

Yeah!