Seleri about jokes on Crystallis and the failure of Chinese teams at Blast Slam V

After being absent from the LAN in Romania, the captain of MOUZ finally returned to the big stage. After the victory over Natus Vincere, we decided to talk a bit with Seleri to learn about the best, in his opinion, fifth position players, recovery after illness, relationships with former and current teammates:

— Great game from you guys, congratulations on reaching the semifinals of Blast Slam V! Did you expect to go further, or were the chances 50/50?

— Probably 50/50. I try not to think too much about it, but I believe we had good chances. By the way, I was drafting again at this tournament together with our analyst dpms. Recently, ImmortalFaith was drafting, but since he is not feeling well and is not here, we are doing it together now. I used to be responsible for drafts often, but it's been a long time, so I'm getting used to it again.

— By the way, during the previous tournament, you were sick, and MOUZ played without you. How did you feel when they became champions without you? Was it difficult to return to the lineup?

— Well, I was very happy for them, for their victory, although it felt a bit strange. I had no problems returning after the illness... But still, I felt a bit out of place. I never had such an experience before, where the team wins a tournament without me, so it's a new experience. We just needed to discuss it a bit because it's very easy to feel a bit out of place if your team wins without you. I definitely felt that. But everyone was happy to play with me again, so we just continued doing our thing. Besides, everyone was a bit exhausted after so many tournaments. Fatigue takes its toll, but I think we managed it and are now happy to be here!

— By the way, how do you rate Quinn's work as an analyst?

— I'm not sure about my assessment since I couldn't watch the broadcast during my own game, haha. But I played with him for a long time, so I know he is very, very good at talking a lot. So, he probably does well. He can finally use his vocabulary to the fullest, haha. Yes, I think he is very happy. So I'm happy for him too, we are all happy for him.

— How did you cope with leaving Gaimin Gladiators? Did you think about ending your player career?

— At first, I didn't know what to do. I wanted to take at least a small break. But ImmortalFaith lured me to MOUZ. Because we, in a way, grew up together in Dota — started in Fighting PandaS, then in Team Tickles, then in GG. And playing with him again, trying to create a team — it's just very pleasant for me. It took some time to gather a good team, like we have now. Having a joint project with him again — it's very fun. So we are just happy to be together, even though I wasn't at the last tournament, and he is not here now. But we still communicate every day.

— There are a lot of jokes on the internet about Crystallis's game, even today he had a couple of funny moments on Huskar. Do you joke about it in the team in a friendly way?

— No, not really. Because I think he plays really, really well almost always. He always says when we play Counter-Strike: "I never miss!" Although he, of course, sometimes misses. Nothing much to joke about because I think he just plays very well, it's fun to play with him.

— Can you compare him to dyrachyo in playstyle?

— Yes, I think they have a lot in common.

— Who, in your opinion, are the best fifth position players right now? And do you think you are on that list?

— Well, it's a bit strange to talk about myself in the top 5. I can say that I hope I'm there. As for other people, it's Sneyking. I'm not very good with names... Whitemon is definitely there too. And who else, actually? I think Malady is also very good. I think he does great with watson. And it's worth mentioning tOfu. I don't know if he is in the top 5, but he tries.

— Why didn't you have such synergy with watson as Malady has with him?

— Just different playstyles and heroes we like. Also, we were very tired when watson joined the team, so we didn't even have a chance. I think if we tried again, I and watson could play normally. Although I think Malady suits him better, they should continue playing together.

— Okay. And the last question: what do you think about the fact that no Chinese team made it to the playoffs of this tournament? Do you think this region is in decline or will it be able to recover soon?

— I'm a bit sad about it. I think Chinese teams were a bit unlucky because recently they have been performing quite, quite well and showing better results. They took second place at the last TI in a very close series. But now they are not in the best period, and unfortunately, it happened during the tournament here, in Chengdu. It's quite sad, but I'm sure they will come back. And even Team Aster too, I'm sure they will all try their best in the coming year.

The playoffs of Blast Slam V take place from December 5 to 7 in Chengdu, China. The tournament prize pool is 1 million dollars.

The tournament bracket after the first day of the playoffs looks like this: