We interviewed TyLoo's coach, QiFang "Karsa" Su, about the team's road to quarter-finals at DreamHack Masters Malmö, defeating Luminosity, his contribution to the team and more.

It's fair to say TYLOO became the surprise of the tournament, as they defeated Liquid and Luminosity to make it to quarter-finals against all odds and expectations.

TYLOO's coach QiFang "⁠Karsa⁠" Su answered questions about the Luminosity match, explained what his contribution to the team is and shared plans for the future. We would like to extend our thanks to Marshall Ceong Law, who translated the interview.

Starting with the veto process before the Luminosity match, how much could you have predicted it and how happy were you with how it turned out?

We have done a lot of research on their map picks and bans, so the veto was actually really going our way and we have already known what they would pick. We just expected to pick Cache and Inferno, so we were just kind of thinking "Will we first play on Inferno or first on Cache?" and I was thinking that Luminosity is not doing very well defending on Cache, so we just picked it as the first map. And the second map, Overpass, there was no chance for us to train it in Asia, so we just kind of gave up that map and tried to push the game to Inferno.

Karsa put in an extraordinary amount of work prior to their matches

I heard that you put in a lot of preparation during the night, how much have you prepared for Luminosity beforehand?

Before the tournament we didn't really do too much preparation, we just trained. Each day before the game I would just try to pick like three maps of the opponents and watch the demos and VODs to try to do research on them. It's not like the whole nights without sleep, I just went to sleep at 4-5 AM.

On Cache you already mentioned the defensive positions from Luminosity weren't the greatest, and you did have seven rounds in a row towards the end, so what have you changed from that point on?

The first thing is, TACO always opened the door on A, so we prepared for that. Also, Luminosity like to push a lot to A main, so we were prepared for this too and we just tried to defend the A main to not let them push. They also don't really control middle too much, so A wasn't good for attacking, we just tried to push middle with smokes, flashes and molotovs. Other players, FalleN and fer are just defending B site. Firstly, we just left FalleN on B and didn't go there, but when FalleN didn't have the AWP we would just go there and try to control the bombsite.

Then on Inferno, I noticed you had a setup where AttackeR was on graveyard a lot, what was the thinking behind the whole CT setup against the slow-paced Luminosity?

We expected Luminosity to play fast, so we arranged AttackeR there to defend apartments. But they didn't play so fast, they played slow, so this really benefited us. We just left him there to defend quad and apartments and Mo to go to different places to get picks. On B we tried to find information and if Luminosity went there, we would fall back and try to retake. But Luminosity's T side didn't give us too much pressure, sometimes they just came in and it was easy to retake.

"We will not relax, we will keep going and try to improve" says coach Karsa

Have you ever looked at Luminosity as your role models, seeing as they managed to work theirselves up very quickly?

Yes, we have seen them as a role model and we learned so much from Luminosity. Especially in the game, in some tactics. Most importantly, it's the spirit and the mentality, I hope one day we reach that level.

From the first placed teams, Natus Vincere, Virtus.pro and dignitas, which do you see as the best option for you and who would you rather not play?

Anyone would be OK, we don't expect to win against anyone, we just want to try our best.

Talking about yourself as a coach, how much do you have a say during the rounds? How much do you participate in calls and what is your overall role in the team?

Mainly I can't say I'm the key person in the team, I just want to do the brain work and let the players aim and shoot. But in some middle rounds, when the in-game leader doesn't have a good decision on where to go, I tell the players to follow my decision. 

Lastly, what is there to accomplish for you in the next six months, seeing as you don't have too many opportunities to compete internationally?

I think we didn't prepare enough for this tournament, and despite that we won versus Luminosity. We will not relax, we will keep going and try to improve a lot and enhance our practising. We hope to get a chance to get a bootcamp in Europe and get to participate in these world-class tournaments.