Monte defeated Vitality in the ESL Pro League Season 18 match and thus guaranteed themselves at least a top-4 finish at the last big CS:GO tournament. The main star of that quarterfinal was Serhii "DemQQ" Demchenko. He received a rating of 7.3 and completely dominated his opponent.

BO3.GG journalist Kostiantyn "Siemka" Smal conducted a short interview with Serhii, in which he told us about his successful T-side on Anubis, the adaptation of the team's newcomer Alexander "br0" Bro, and his expectations for the EPL S18 semifinals.

You look very confident in the playoffs, did you have any special practice after the group stage?

No, everything was the same. We just played our game and won.

You finished 20-6 for the Ts on the first map, it seemed like you knew every next move of the opponent. Was it due to good preparation or did you just feel the game?

I felt a lot and made very good midcalls. Also, I had mind games with Magisk, I felt him: where he is where I am, that's it.

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You were giving Vitality a hard time on Anubis, not even letting them save in peace. Did you get into the spirit or were you trying to put pressure on your opponent?

It was in the moment. I just felt that that was it, they couldn't retake anymore and they would go 100% for the save, and I felt that moment. I just ran and told the guys that I was going to look for it. Like, if I die, don't die, save the economy.

In the moment, it happened that I was killing one or two people at a time, and it was only to our advantage because they couldn't save the economy and continued to play with one or two guns during the eco round.

br0 has gained confidence lately and is playing better every time. Has something changed or is he just getting used to Monte's game?

I think br0 got a little bit used to our game, got used to our play style. It became a little easier for him. And during a very important game, he turned on and that's good, of course. It was very cool, he did everything he wanted to do and basically, everything was very top.

What do you expect from the game against NAVI?

Nothing, I'm just going to play. Let's hope for a win. The strongest will win.

You won Heroic in the third attempt, Vitality in the third attempt, and maybe you'll win the Tier 1 tournament in the third attempt?

I think so. It's time to win something.

Cover image: Twitter ESLCS