FalleN: "No point in cold on 2nd AWP"-case battle cs2

Shortly before his match against dignitas, we talked to SK Gaming's Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo to hear more about the fox pickup, adjusting the team and their legacy.

SK defeated their countrymen Immortals 2-0 in the elimination match of Group B, but had a tight map on their own map pick, Train.

The big talking point for Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo's team is obviously Ricardo "⁠fox⁠" Pacheco, so we caught up with the Brazilian In-Game Leader to learn more about the move.

It might sound like an odd answer but we are not here to be the best team in the world and that's all. We are here to have fun. If we are not playing the game to have fun and dedicate ourselves we wouldn't be here. The saddest fact is that we were a very good team with fnx, but we were not having the same fun because of things that are related to the team. So we wanted to have something new for the next year. We don't like to play any tournament with someone we don't think will be with us in the future. So as soon as we couldn't handle the situation anymore, even though it's close to he Major and close to ECS. Right now we are looking to play these two tournaments with fox and then we will be looking for a new player. We don't know yet who that is going to be, we are looking for some possibilities, but it's too early to talk about that.Short comment for the next match, you will be playing dignitas, you have a little bit of back and forth between the two of you at recent tournaments. What do you expect from the match?dignitas are a very good team, they are playing with a stand-in right now. I think it's going to be interesting, it's a BO3, we have some maps that we want to play and we think we know which maps they are most likely going to be looking forward to as well. Let's see, I think it's up to who will have the best day.

Let's start with the pickup of fox - tell me about the decision making behind it. You probably knew fnx was on thin ice for some time, so were you looking at some other players? Why did you decide to pick up fox, not maybe some Brazillian player for example?
We picked fox because he was the only player available to that didn't play the Major, Minor or even ECS. I think he was a nice pick, we could get someone from Brazil, there are a lot of talented players in Brazil but some of them don't have a visa, it would put us into a lot of problems, so we decided to go for fox and give him a chance. I think he is a good player.
Talking about him, did you have any experiences from playing with him before or was it just based on his performances?
We've always been talking a lot, at each tournament, because we talk the same language. So I was really close, for no special reason, we just like each other and it's the same for all my teammates. He was the best opportunity and the best fit at the moment. And I think he is doing pretty well, we had a bad first map, we are fixing it and, with more time, more practice, it will be better.
Before you picked him up, what were you expecting in terms of roles and fitting him into the team, replacing fnx?
The first thing was trying to help him, setting him into the system, doing fnx's roles, (learning) a lot of T rounds, getting to know the way we like to finalize rounds, which smokes we like to use. After that we are trying to make a transition to fox doing what he thinks is good so he can perform a little better. So it's a mix of having fox playing in our system and us letting him have some freedom so he can do his good plays as well.
Let's start with your first map here, that was Overpass against dignitas. It wasn't really good for you, fox was struggling maybe the most. What was te biggest issue there?
First pistol round we lost because I took too long to flash monster and they did a rush monster so they won the round. First gun round I was picked long A, so it was my fault. Then at 5-0 we won for 5-1 and then we go to the second round - that was fox's mistake - he should have showed his shoulder and baited for TACO.
But fox has been working on Overpass, that's a map he hasn't been playing a lot because of his old team. We tried to make preparation, he was playing with TACO there but it didn't pay out too well. We are making some changes in order to put fox in other positions that are going to be better for him and the team as well.
Moving on to the match against Immortals, the first map seem pretty straightforward for you, do you feel like they give you maybe too much respect and that will always be the case seeing the relationship between the teams?
I don't think it's about respect, but they struggle to play against us because they didn't have any good win against us yet. So they need to find this confidence. We know each other, how both teams play, so it's hard to do that.
Over the series we saw fox picking up the AWP a bit more, we didn't see coldzera on the AWP at all. Is that an adaptation you are trying to do to fit fox a bit better in the team?
That's one of the thing's we've been doing, there's no point in coldzera being the second AWP, only if he has a good spawn or he really want's to make some play. Because we have fox now and coldzera is really good with every weapon, he has a high level. So having him on rifles and fox on the AWP sounds better.

SK moved the secondary AWP role from coldzera to fox

On Train, it seemed at the beggining, on your CT side, they were hitting some fast rounds and you were struggling. What was the problem on that side, it seemed that if you didn't have those clutches that it would be a pretty bad half for you?
I think it was a bad CT side and we had some mistakes and I think Immortals played super well as well. They were playing a very fast pace, getting some kills and playing good - so I think it was both things. And I agree with you, the clutch rounds saved us a little.
You've been probably the best team of the year, winning two Majors - now you have a big roster change, playing with a semi-stand-in, how do you feel your legacy will be going on from here?
It might sound like an odd answer but we are not here to be the best team in the world and that's all. We are here to have fun. If we are not playing the game to have fun and dedicate ourselves we wouldn't be here. The saddest fact is that we were a very good team with fnx, but we were not having the same fun because of things that are related to the team. So we wanted to have something new for the next year.
We don't like to play any tournament with someone we don't think will be with us in the future. So as soon as we couldn't handle the situation anymore, even though it's close to he Major and close to ECS. Right now we are looking to play these two tournaments with fox and then we will be looking for our fifth player. We don't know yet who that is going to be, we are looking for some possibilities, but it's too early to talk about that.
Short comment for the next match, you will be playing dignitas, you have a little bit of back and forth between the two of you at recent tournaments. What do you expect from the match?
dignitas are a very good team, they are playing with a stand-in right now. I think it's going to be interesting, it's a BO3, we have some maps that we want to play and we think we know which maps they are most likely going to be looking forward to as well. Let's see, I think it's up to who will have the best day.

Professeur writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter.