Acend cNed: “The team is much more important than I am. As long as we win, I don’t really care about frags or picks”

Congratulations on the victory! I just wanted to start off by asking if the team is enjoying their stay in Berlin so far?

cNed: I think it is a really nice city. It has a lot of wide streets and wide open spaces so I’ve enjoyed it a lot.

This is Ascend’s first time on LAN, how comfortable was the team feeling on stage?

cNed: I think we were really comfortable and we felt no pressure. I believe my teammates really enjoyed playing on LAN.

You guys were facing off against a very familiar opponent in SMB. What was your initial reaction to getting this group?

cNed: To be honest, we were expecting different teams. We were not expecting the teams in this group to be this strong. We have two EMEA teams and the strongest team from Korea as well. The fact that one of those three strong teams will not be able to qualify for the next stage is really disappointing.

2-0 @supmassblaze gg wp

DeBaTaBLe

— Mehmet Yağız İpek (@cNedf0r) September 10, 2021

Acend had a very strong game one on Bind. What do you think allowed you to keep a lead for basically the whole map?

cNed: I think our team composition and the way we used our skills and utility allowed us to play a really strong map. Because of those two things I think we appeared really strong on Bind.

Map two on Ascent was significantly closer, what was the game like from your perspective?

cNed: Our opponent, Supermassive Blaze, has a really strong Ascent. We were expecting a close match. We used to not really trust ourselves on Ascent but we studied really hard to improve on our mistakes and we made our own Ascent gameplay stronger. I think that’s why the matchup was much closer this time.

You had a great individual performance on Jett. Can we expect you to pull out your signature pick again?

cNed: To be honest, the team is much more important than I am. As long as we win, I don’t really care about frags or picks. I’ll do whatever it takes and play any Agent if it means I can help my team win.

I almost don’t want EU 4th seed to beat Sentinels today, because you know that I gotta stay up all night making memes when it happens. https://t.co/LfutjEBVK3

— Acend (@AcendClub) September 12, 2021

After this first match, are you more confident that Acend can make it out of this difficult group?

cNed: I wasn’t really thinking about this match in particular. Ever since we came here we already had our eyes on the playoffs stage and I believe that we can become the champions if we keep playing like this.

It is a bit early to tell, but who do you think will join you from this group in making it to the playoffs?

cNed: It is really difficult to comment on because I haven’t really had the chance to watch many Vision Strikers games but I believe that Supermassive Blaze can defeat Vision Strikers. I think either of those teams, but probably SMB, will make it to the playoff stage.

Are there any teams outside of your group you are excited to potentially play against?

cNed: In the finals, if we make it, I would definitely want to play against Sentinels. Before then I would like 100 Thieves and Havan Liberty.

Thank you for the interview cNed and best of luck!

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