Hey mixwell. It’s now been more than seven months since you moved to North America to join OpTic Gaming. You weren’t really famous back then, can you come back with us onto your career before OpTic Gaming?

Before OpTic Gaming I played in several Spanish teams and organizations, but gBots and Epsilon were the ones that are relevant in my career. I had economic problems before and was hard to play sometimes but at the end gBots owner Adrià helped me and I lived for one year in a team house close to Barcelona, thanks to him I was able to play consistently and focus more on the game.

I won 3 times in a row the national title LVP and several other national LAN tournaments but never succeeded with a Spanish lineup outside of Spain... even though I think that the gBots lineup of ESL Expo Barcelona was really strong we had no time to prove it after the lan because loWel left to PENTA for a good salary and a team that was playing on bigger leagues, I don`t blame him at all. Then I got some offers and decided to leave and cross the ocean.

My time in Spain was hard as a player because our scene is very undeveloped in many aspects and for the most part you play because you love the game without any real reward other than you enjoying the game. Luckily I had the chance to prove myself now.

How did the American organization approach you?

Daps scouted me after we played vs. Fnatic, Dignitas and EnVyUs at ESL Expo Barcelona, he watched demos of me and then contacted me on Twitter/Steam. He asked me if I would move to North America to play with them and gave me some contract information, I needed time to think about it. I watched them play because I didn`t know too much about them and I got impressed because they had a lot of potential, I wasn`t getting paid back then and the upgrade was insane, plus my economic issues were not solved so... I ended up accepting the offer and moved to Daps`s house for some months and after that to the CS:GO house in Chicago.

Did you hesitate before leaving (because of the different language, the distance, …) or did you think that it was your unique chance?

I hesitated more because I lived with my teammates for a long time and we worked hard and I knew that me leaving was a really hard hit for them, the organization and Adrià, I told them in person when we were in a Portuguese LAN and it was extremely hard but everyone supported me and encouraged me to go, they were happy for me, I will always be thankful for that.

Apart from that... no, I had no fear whatsoever.

How is your life going in the USA? We know that s1mple wasn’t really comfortable there, have you been facing some problems since you moved to NA ? Does it help to live in this kind of gaming house?

Well, when they contacted me they said that everyone was going to move to the gaming house with me but that is not the case, sometimes you feel loneliness and a bit homesick, especially when things are going wrong in the team. Thankfully RUSH came to the house to live with me, thanks RUSH.

Hector treats us really well and I'm glad to work with him.

What are the main differences between OpTic and your former organizations? Are you more supervised, is the organization better, more professional?

The difference is that OpTic has a huge fan base with solid sponsors and power to do whatever they want, they achieved that because of hard work and they care a lot for their fans.

As soon as you joined OpTic, you’ve been doing great online games. How did your integration go? Were you expecting yourself to perform that well?

My integration was easy because they knew how I played and they helped me having a system where I had a lot of freedom so it's easy to preform if you play well.

How was the transition from little-known Spanish player to highly promising player, suddenly revealing yourself in a big American organization? How do you handle your new status?

It is great to have recognition for your work and I like the feel of the OpTic fanbase they are great. How do you handle my new status? I don`t even think about it to be honest.

When you played in ESL One Cologne, you became the first Spanish player to attend a tournament of this caliber. What kind of memories do you keep from this event? Are you proud to have represented your country, or do you feel regretful for failing during the preliminaries?

It is great to be the first one, everyone in the Spanish esport scene supported me and were proud of me, it is a great feeling. I am sure that the next one will be loWel soon. It was a good learning experience, we didn`t play like we expected but we knew that it was going to be hard.  

mixwell during the ESL One Cologne 2016

With your team always being at the top of the American hierarchy, you often get to meet the best teams in the world. During the first months, you managed to pull off some great matches against these top teams, but were a bit lacking in regularity. How did you work on it? Did Devilwalk help you about this issue during his short stay as your coach?

When we had daps the system was more built around me and I had to awp almost full time, I think we lacked firepower and experience. Now with Tarik and Stanislaw, I'am more of a role player, I rifle/awp entry and we play more as a team. I think we are better now because we have a stronger lineup and we don`t rely too much on individuals like before. Devilwalk helped a bit during the bootcamp prior to the Cologne major and we didn`t continue with him after.

Since the new season began, your results seem to be getting better, even if still a bit irregular. Was tarik’s arrival a key element in your current team dynamic?

Yes, like I said having a strong lineup and playing more as a unit helps because you never lose against worse teams and you can go deeper in tournaments. Tarik helped us in that sense.  

When you won the Northern Arena Montreal, you obtained your first international trophy (after the US Minor in May). What were your feelings after your victory? Did you think that all the efforts were worth this kind of moment? That this victory was the first of a long series?

I felt better because of how we played than the fact of winning the tournament, really calm and collected comms, reacting fast and playing well. I had fun playing that final. I don`t know if this is the start of our success, we have a lot of things to work on.

Your team is participating in the qualification for the Atlanta Major . We know, looking at the surprises we had in Cologne, that this will be pretty high level. Are you going there with some apprehensions? Do you think they should reconsider the invitation system?

We know this is the hardest Major Qualifier of the history of CSGO, but I never think about how hard it will be, we have to do our job and qualify, I don`t care about the others.

There seems to be a huge shuffle oncoming on the NA scene, and a lot of teams will change after the Major in Atlanta. Do you think yours will be safe from it?

Right now our goal is to make the major and get better, having useless thinking before the challenge doesn`t help.

What are your main goals as a team and as a player for the next year?

I want to play to win tournaments and have fun, get better as a person and as a player to be able to help my team succeed. We will see how it goes, you never know.

The desire to win

Are you considering to pursue your career in the USA, or are you thinking of going back in Europe? It seems you can speak French, so could it be possible for you to join a french team in the future?

I'am contracted in North America and I like it but obviously I would like to play in Europe close to my family and friends, plus I can get better from playing in a stronger region. Yes I speak French because I have french family but I lost it a bit, its been years without using it, I would need time to recover my level.

This summer, you played in Spain again with a mix during the DreamHack Valencia, a great occasion for you to assess the level of your fellow Spanish players. Now that you have gained more experience and with some hindsight, what do you think is missing in your country for it to permanently settle on the European scene?

We don`t have as many players as other countries and most of the players think that all their efforts are useless, motivation is low, we need more players that can think outside of the box. My dream is to comeback and form a Spanish lineup that can compete and win tournaments, but I still have to learn a lot of stuff before.

loWel also went to an international team, first with PENTA and now with mousesports. Did you share with him your feelings about that? What do you think he can bring into mous?

I wanted loWel to join our team but it wasn`t possible and he ended up joining mousesports. He is a team player, we think the same way. We would do everything we can as long as its beneficial for the team, he is really talented and young. He will add firepower and someone to always rely on.

Last question, how do you make 68 kills in a match?

You have to be insane at the game, hahahaha.

Thank you for the interview, any last words to finish?

Thanks you for the interview, I used to watch VaKarM every day in css! Thanks to the #GreenWall and all our sponsors that let me play this game as a professional.