Brollan on becoming IGL: "I did not expect it to be this tough"

Brollan says he has been putting in the hard yards following his transition to IGL, and it's paying dividends for MOUZ.

MOUZ have continued their dream start to life since Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi joined and Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin became IGL, following up their trophy-winning campaign at PGL Cluj-Napoca with a run to the grand final of ESL Pro League.

Not only have they made back-to-back finals, they also claimed an important win over a top-ranked side whilst doing so, taking down Spirit in a hard-fought semi-final bout to seal their shot at the Pro League trophy.

"I think it's a huge thing for us, especially for me as well," Brollan states. "I'm really happy that I proved for myself and for many others that we can beat these top teams."

Brollan spoke with HLTV after besting Spirit to talk about the series, MOUZ's improved fortunes in close playoff matches, and his adjustment to his new role.

Congratulations, how are you feeling?

I feel pretty good. Obviously it was a tight game, a tough game, there were a lot of comebacks and these things. We managed to close it out, so I'm really happy.

What was the atmosphere like during some of those Spirit comebacks?

I think our mental is always good when people comeback versus us, obviously it's really rough when people do comebacks, but I think our headspace is really good. People could, for example, go in their own head when they are losing, but we are always in the right headspace as I said. I think we don't get too affected by it. It's something we need to work on [giving up leads], of course, because we had many leads in this tournament.

It seems like you are better at dealing with those tense situations this year than you were last year. How much of that is just growing as a team, and how much of that is having Spinx in and having a new voice?

I think we have often been in these chaotic situations, and I think we are now more comfortable in these situations. Spinx is bringing much more firepower of course, but besides that I think there is nothing special about it to be honest, I think we are just more comfortable, and at the moment we are playing really good. We always try to believe in 2v4 situations, there's so many rounds that can get flipped instantly, you know?

You had rough CT sides on Nuke and Dust2. Why do you think that was?

I think on Nuke we maybe did not play the best, but at the same time they played really good, they had a good game plan I would say. Overall, especially on Nuke, we were a little bit too sloppy in some situations. At the beginning of the CT side they got the pistol and the first weapon round, so it's going to be really tough then, so they got the comeback, but we closed it out in overtime.

On Dust2, we were ready for it and I think we had a good game plan, but they are really sharp on that map to be honest, I give it to them. We can of course do some improvements on that map, and we are really good on it still, but Spirit are really sharp on it. Besides that, I think we could have played much better.

What does a win like this do for the confidence in the team? You won Cluj, but there weren't all the best teams there, and now you have won against a top two team in the world.

I think it's a huge thing for us, especially for me as well. After Cluj, everyone was just talking about this, it being a small event and a lot of things around it. I'm really happy that I proved for myself and for many others that we can beat these top teams, but of course it's maybe a honeymoon period, I don't know. But I think we are playing really good at the moment, and I'm just really happy we managed to beat Spirit, and maybe Vitality tomorrow, we will see. I'm just really proud, and want to get it tomorrow as well.

Now that you've had a bit of time, had a lot of games, how has adjusting to the IGL role been for you?

There's a lot of sacrifices of course. There's a lot of work outside of the server, but I try to manage it pretty well I would say. I try to work on it every single day, try to improve as much as possible. It can be with our playbook, my calling, freeze times. Me and sycrone are working a lot together, we always talk about things we can improve on, especially for myself, and he helps me a lot. He's one to credit, of course.

I did not maybe expect it to be this tough, especially with the individual level. I think I'm not bad, but sometimes you can't focus on your crosshair, it's just like that. Overall I'm just trying to improve as much as I can, and it's really fun of course.

You have a lot of vocal players on the team, torzsi, xertioN and Spinx. Is that helpful, or does it make it harder as a new IGL to deal with all these different voices, who maybe have different ideas?

No, I think it's always good to have voices in a team. Of course maybe not too much. On CT sides there's xertioN and Spinx who are talking a lot. Of course I can comm with the boys sometimes, but I am playing more of an anchor role on CT sides, so these guys are the main two.

Of course everyone has the freedom on T side, but it's just more because of the game, I would say it's the space-creator role, for example xertioN. Sometimes maybe Spinx is going to talk, sometimes maybe Jimpphat is going to talk, but it's mostly me and xertioN who are leading the calls in freeze time, because I think everyone does it with the space-creator roles and IGLs.

Like you said, you would like to get the chance to play Vitality tomorrow. The MongolZ, considering that game against NAVI, are not to be underestimated. How are you feeling about playing either of these teams? They are sharp individually.

We played The MongolZ in the Major, so we knew how they were playing and how they are playing now. I think they are really sharp individually, of course they play a good way of CS, and they are maybe in the same spot as us, improving all the time. It's gonna be tough no matter what, but with Vitality it's maybe the same situation as when we played Falcons in Cluj-Napoca. We lost versus Falcons in the group stage and then managed to beat them in the final, maybe it could be the same here with Vitality. I hope so, at least.

For example in the group stage, we maybe know coming into the game how they are playing, but when you've played them once, you know the energy and how the feeling is when you play them, when you need to step up. If you want to win against Vitality you have to step up, because we didn't play our best in the group stage.

Now you've won a tournament, gotten to the final of Pro League, and beaten Spirit, are you a top two team in the world right now?

No, I wouldn't say so. It's not nice to say, I think we're a top team of course, but I would not give it to us that we are a top two team, because we only beat Spirit once. They won the Major, won BLAST Bounty, got to the final of Katowice, so I think it's not fair to put us in the top two. But I think we're a top team.