x3o had their fair share of ups and downs this weekend. They started off extremely strong, advancing from their EM group following a strong showing against fnatic. In Day One they also were undefeated in their WCG group. However, everything seemed to change as day two began. They started off with a disappointing loss to SK, followed by elimination from EM by PoV.

Then they moved over to WCG and got their first loss in their WCG group with Guardians holding them to 11 rounds played out. With their heads buried, they slumped out of the tournament area, realizing that they had put their WCG future in jeopardy. After returning two hours later, x3o picked up their game, winning enough rounds in their match with FD in order to advance to the brackets.

Their game seemed renewed in the bracket stage. While their match against 50cal was somewhat close, the team looked reinvigorated and poised. After another great match where they got some revenge against PoV, x3o had found themselves in the finals, where they took down tournament favorites, EG. Afterward, GotFrag sat down with the team to review their roller coaster ride of a weekend.

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You guys got off to a pretty terrible start on day two, getting knocked out of EM by PoV and losing to Guardians and barely making it out of group play for WCG US. What was going on with your team, and how were you able to turn things around?

Ediz "Goodfornothin" Basol: Well we started off the day super poorly. Against SK, we just weren’t playing our game at all. We just got run over. That match was no where near close and they played really well and we played pretty bad. After that we were really down, and we lost to PoV, which just added insult to injury. It was pretty much the worst day of Counter-Strike I’ve had in my life. We were really upset after that, and I didn’t know if we would be able to come back from that. Fortunately we had a break for two hours, and then played our WCG match.


Alright. Let’s talk a bit about today’s finals. It seems like every time there is an American qualifier for an event, it comes down to you and EG. You guys have struggled in the past in those matches, and Matt you’ve come extremely close to getting to WCG a handful of times. How does it feel to finally beat these guys in an important qualifier like this?

Matt "PaTyoJoN" Iantosca: It feels pretty good. I mean the WCG US finals two years ago we were beating 3D like 15-4 and then ended up coming back and beating us in like triple overtime. So to finally be able to actually win and be the only team representing the country is pretty great. I think we’ll do a good job at the finals.


This event as a whole has had some really great moments for US CS teams. The struggle for the top spot seems really close now between you and EG. Do you think your win in the finals of WCG US is definitive enough that you can proclaim yourselves as the best North American team at the moment in light of EG’s performance against some of the top European teams?

Matt "PaTyoJoN" Iantosca: Well I think WCG was the most important tournament at this event for any of the US teams. There are many of these ESL tournaments and you’ll get other opportunities, but there is only one team that is going to be representing the US for WCG, and that is gonna be us. We’ve consistently beat them lately. We won the Dust Off tournament against them, we won this, we placed better than them at ESWC, GameGune, anything. So I think we’re a pretty heavily favored team over them right now.


Despite the fact that you used a ringer for the CEVO-Pro Playoffs, your performance between that event and this one are almost night and day. How do you go from doing really poorly there and then coming here and making a strong case for yourselves being the top US team?

Ediz "Goodfornothin" Basol: Well, I happened to be taking a nice vacation in Hawaii, trying to rest my nerves and get ready for this event, mainly just laying on the beach and drinking, but anyway. CEVO didn’t mean a whole lot to us, I mean obviously we would have loved to have won. I know whenever we put a ringer in our lineup, since we’ve all be playing so long together, just one ringer really throws us off. I’m not trying to talk myself up or anything, but especially when you replace the strat caller and have someone like Matt strat call things are going to get sloppy. So doing poorly in the playoffs didn’t worry us a whole lot, we just tried to get our practice in before this event.


Okay. Let’s talk a little bit about the mustache you’re growing, because I really think everybody at home wants to know what the story is behind that, if there even is one. Are you being serious with that thing and are we completely mocking you, or is there a joke or bet behind it?

Ediz "Goodfornothin" Basol: It’s not serious so I hope nobody out there thinks I’m a pedophile or something like that. I just decided that at some point in my life I wanted to have a mustache. It’s not going to happen when I’m older and right now I’ve got some free time, almost a month and a half without a job that forces me to shave, so this was the perfect time for me.


Do you think your mustache can compete against the eSport greats such as CuZ?

Ediz "Goodfornothin" Basol: You know, since he is Cambodian he is just not able to get the same thickness that I can get. I think that since I’m Turkish, I get a much bushier (strokes mustache), and more like a pornstar mustache. His has thinner growth, but it’s not really his fault, it’s just my culture.


Gotcha, I guess some things are just out of your control. Well speaking of things that are beyond your control, I heard you guys are interested in heading to Montreal. Has anything been ironed out with getting to that EM event?

Ediz "Goodfornothin" Basol: Right now it’s up in the air. We want to go but unfortunately there are some other events that we are also interested in attending. We are just trying to decide if we can do all of those things this year. We want to go because it’s close by and we definitely want another crack at an ESL tournament because we did really poorly at this one.

Nick Fitzsimmons: We’re still trying to figure out the logistics of going to Montreal. Obviously we’d like to attend as many events as possible. At the same time though, we had some problems practicing for this event, and only managed to get two weeks of work in before two major events for us. That’s a lot of sponsored money to be throwing around when people aren’t able to commit the time to prepare for them. So we have to kind of plan out what’s more important to us and what kinds of events we need to get to in order to appease the sponsors and get us the most exposure. We would like to see them in Montreal, and should be deciding within the next three days.


Let’s talk a bit about the other teams who were competing at this event. Did anyone really stand out to you guys, or was it pretty standard stuff from them?

Ediz "Goodfornothin" Basol: I think PoV really stood out to us. They had a great event. At ESL, they did pretty decent, placing above us and beating us. But they also beat mTw. They did well in WCG too, so I think they proved themselves this event. I think they stood out more than anyone else as far as unexpected wins.

Matt "PaTyoJoN" Iantosca: I think MoB was probably the most disappointing team for both tournaments. They didn’t really get close to winning anything.


Ok Matt. That’s an interesting point. What do you think is going on with them other than just working with a brand new lineup?

Matt "PaTyoJoN" Iantosca: Yea I don’t know. I don’t think the five they have right now have played a lot together. And just I don’t really know that they even care. It kind of seemed like when they lost they were all like “Oh well, It wasn’t our day,” and things like that. So maybe it just wasn’t their day, or they are having some real problems.