r3salt: “A match against Aurora would not be personal for me”

How would you describe yourself psychologically? You often use black-and-white profile pictures, but you do not seem like someone who has completely closed himself off from the world.

That is a difficult question. I do not think one person can always truly understand what is happening inside another person’s head. In society and social situations, we can present ourselves in any way and wear many different masks. For a long time, I barely had any close people with whom I could share something genuinely personal. Only recently have I found people I can speak to about things like that. If others draw conclusions about me based on my profile pictures or behavior, I generally do not care.

— r3salt

What or who helped you reach a new level in 2022? Your statistics improved significantly, and FORZE eventually noticed you.

My statistics were not actually that impressive at the time. When I joined FORZE, the only thing I could genuinely do well was aim. They would send me in first, I would find a couple of kills, and sometimes it worked. I was probably signed because of my aim and a certain amount of luck. FORZE then taught me how to think, account for different variables, and make more deliberate decisions. I improved especially quickly during the summer of 2023. That was when I realized how weak I had previously been in terms of understanding the game. My mechanical skill came from an enormous amount of practice. At VP.Prodigy, I would sometimes get around a thousand Deathmatch kills per day, and occasionally even more. Flash_1 and RuFire helped me develop that work ethic a great deal.

— r3salt

Do you still spend the same amount of time playing Deathmatch now?

No. Nowadays, I usually play it before practice or an official match simply to warm up. At this bootcamp, for example, I have been getting around 600 kills per day. It used to be closer to a thousand.

— r3salt

Do you have a lucky charm or a particular ritual that you perform for good luck?

I used to have a small spider that my subscribers gave me for my birthday. But after finishing second at the tournament in Australia, I stopped bringing it with me. I also had a small iron-shaped souvenir that I sometimes held in my mouth during the event. After finishing second, I decided that those charms had not worked. Now my main ritual is simply playing a great deal of FACEIT and Counter-Strike in general. It is also important to spend time with friends, walking around Saint Petersburg and playing other games together. Counter-Strike, friends, and a good atmosphere are probably what make my life feel happy.

— r3salt