EP Magnum: "If we beat Gentle Mates, I think there's an 80% chance we'll go to Champions"

"Even if Fnatic are not in form, it's still a rewarding feeling to beat them"

Facing high expectations in their VCT EMEA Stage 2 Play-Ins debut after a successful year in the VCL, Enterprise Esports made a strong start to the competition by defeating Fnatic. Their performance further underlined the level of the Tier 2 teams competing in the Play-Ins, with three of the four teams securing victories in their opening matches.

Returning to VCT EMEA with a new team, Martin "Magnum" Peňkov once again defeated his former organization, this time with a third different team, and will now face Gentle Mates on Sunday against a few of his former teammates. Before then, he spoke with Sheep Esports about his team's chances of competing at the highest level in the region.

What is your first feeling after the game?

Martin "Magnum" Peňkov: “I am super happy, obviously. I was a bit scared, especially since we had only won about two scrims during our three week bootcamp in Prague. We hit the bottom, and we didn't know how to bounce back. But since we arrived in Berlin, it's been like a second wind for us.

Yesterday was one of our first good scrim days, so we were like: “Okay, we can actually win.” I got super scared after the first map because I thought it was fake results. But then we bounced back, we had a talk, everyone stepped up, and yeah, we beat them, so I am proud and happy.

What are your impressions on the game in general today? What was the key to victory according to you?

Magnum: They key was just finding a way to "activate" this team. Props to paTiTek (Patryk Fabrowski)—he gave a lot of important talks, and he activated the players, especially our rookies. And then everyone stepped up. Iluri (Ilari Puranen) had insane calls. I think all the coaching staff helped us a lot. And yeah, we were like our enemies today.

Fnatic might not be the easiest opponent to face for a first game in VCT EMEA. How did you feel about playing against them for your first game in the play-ins?

Magnum: I would say Fnatic were the hardest opponent we could have gotten. Even if they are at their worst right now, they still have players that are among the bests in the league. There wasn't really a team I wanted to play more than the others, because if we had beaten another team like GIANTX or NAVI, we would have been like: “It’s good, but it's a fake result.”

With Fnatic—even though they are not in form—it's still a rewarding feeling when you beat them. And to be honest, I feel like they've been way stronger since they did some swaps: they swapped crashies (Austin Roberts) to Sentinel and Cloud (Kirill Nekhozhin) to Fade. They actually understand what to do. I just think they need more time, and they still have a chance to come back.

With your victory, three teams from VCL actually won their first games during those play-ins. Do you feel like there is a big difference then between other VCT teams and the ones who qualified for the Stage 2?

Magnum: I think all play-in teams have what it takes to qualify. Still, there are obviously some favorites. There is a big difference between the top-performing teams and the rest—Liquid and KC, they are fully primed up, and it will be hard to play against them.

But I think every other team is kind of playable. You can win, depending on what your form is like on the day, and theirs. Every year in VCT ends up like this, because there are so many bad managers and coaches building teams. For example, NAVI did many roster swaps already during six months, and I'm pretty sure if they can change again, they will do it. For me, this is not how you build a team, and I think this is why they are struggling against the tier 2, because most of these teams are together for eight months, nine months. I think this is causing them a lot of problems now.

Many looked forward to Enterprise's debut in VCT, because you had a really successful year in VCL. How do you evaluate Enterprise's chances of qualifying for Champions?

Magnum: It depends. We have to take it game by game. As I said, every opponent will be hard, but we took a good step forward. Starting with a win is really important. We'll already be much more confident going into our next match, because we now know how it feels to play on stage. Pati and I have already had this experience before, but the other three did not. It's very important that was can get used to this feeling and understand what we need to do in order to win. But I think if we beat Gentle Mates, I think there is an 80% chance we will go to Champions.

Among your teammates Denis-Stefan "kozzy" Aionitoaei is 16 and was playing his first games in VCL a few months ago, now he's playing his first game in VCT on stage. So how did you find him today?

Magnum: He has a problem that sometimes he goes into autopilot, and he shuts down his comms, even if his aim never shuts down. But if you pull him out, and you make him activate it, it's insane. Being 16, honestly, I can't describe how talented he is. He is just insane and needs to be focused on his personality and his work attitude towards comms. But it feels insane to play with him. It's his first game, and it feels like I can't feel the difference between him playing online or at home. He's super comfortable when he plays, and he’s a super nice guy and talented player. And there is nothing bad to say.

It was also your first game on the stage since you left the league last year. What does it feel to be back?

Magnum: Now I'm in a team where I'm the most experienced player, so it feels very different. I don't feel stressed. I felt stressed during our Champions qualification game last year, but I don’t feel any pressure today. When I feel that my teammates are under pressure, I'm trying to help them, but it's a new experience for me, so I just need to get better at this.

It feels rewarding to play the game on the stage. Each kill really matters, and you have a different feeling, and the impact isn’t the same on the stage compared to online. Online is not as rewarding, but for sure online is very easy as well. I can say that because you can warm up for six hours prior to the match, and then you are at your peak here. Today, we didn't even warm up before the first map. Like, we had two minutes to set up, and we go into the game instantly.

Is there any teams that you would like to face during play-ins or playoffs during this campaign?

Magnum: I would like to face Eternal Fire, even though they are a great team in my opinion. There are some personal things, or not, because I don’t feel bad, but they keep typing in scrims in a special way. I think it’s just the Turkish nature, but I would love to play against them. Cause I think they are like the only team that is playing fully YOLO, and it's super annoying and hard. So I would like to see how it feels to play officially, but other than that, no. I wanted to play Fnatic, and we beat them.

So your next game will be against Gentle Mates and against your former teammates Yusuf Emre "Proxh" Tunc, so how do you feel about going into it?

Magnum: I'm super happy to see Proxh in real life because we haven't even met yet, so that's the first thing. But yeah, I'm feeling pretty good because I think they are a very similar team to Fnatic. They as well are struggling with roles, like they have a new player now, and with only one week with him, it might be hard for them. But during scrims, they were kinda close opponents, and I think they won more scrims than us, but I think the chances are like 50-50. I think it's just who starts up and bounces back better. But I'm excited to play them. They are a great team.”