Ahead of the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 in CS2, we spoke with BIG player Jon "JDC" de Castro. In an interview for Bo3.gg, he shared his thoughts on the rule changes introduced mid-RMR, discussed the rivalry with Passion UA, and revealed how the team is preparing for the upcoming Major.

In what mood you are finding yourself on the eve of the tournament?

Yeah, the mood is pretty good. We recovered very well from the news with the ranking system and all of it. And after all, we realized that we went 3:0 and we did a really good job. So for us, I think the mood is at a very high now.

Do you think it is fair or you are robbed of the Elimination stage?

Well, I think it's not fair. My personal opinion is that you don't change rules while a tournament is running. I'm not against any rules that are made before the tournament starts but I think it's just unfair to change in mid-tournament. For me, there are a lot of things that have to be done correctly, and if something is played out on a given rule set or something is done when like you just don't change rules while there is a tournament going on. 

You don't start a game of chess and then randomly just change the rules and how the pieces move. That's not how you play chess, right? And for me, the same goes for a tournament. Like the tournament is set this way and you act this way even though there was a miscommunication. You cannot just adjust it. And yeah, it's unfair. But on the other hand, we live with it. It's how it is.

Now you have to play a lot more. How did you spend the time between the RMR and the Opening stage?

Yeah, I mean, first we had a couple of days off to just relax, you know, like we, we were just thinking about how to spend time and we had a good time with each other just chilling. After that, we straight up went back into practice and working on what we need to fix to be a better team so that we come prepared for the actual Opening stage now. And yeah, it's just that we instantly went back to practice and played and focused on improving.

You beat Passion UA, Heroic, and Sashi. Some might say your path to the Major was a tad lucky. What do you think about it?

It depends on how you look at it. I think a run can only be cheesy if you can have any impact on choosing the opponents you face. For me, if the opponent you draw is random, it doesn't matter who I have to beat because I just play the game, you know? Of course, if you look at it on paper, the teams are not top-ranked. I agree with that. 

I'm not gonna say that the Passion UA way is as good as the Spirit or G2 in no world. I'm very realistic on this topic. But on the other hand, the opponent we get we have to beat. We did that. So now the Opening stage is going to show how good we really are. I believe now we will probably get better opponents if you want to phrase it that way, and we will just see our level there.

What work have you done over yourself after the RMR?

I will not go into super detail, of course, but we had a very good boot camp before the RMR where we were focusing on our strong maps, our priority maps, and just overall that all of the players feel comfortable in the role and that they feel comfortable on the server. We put a lot of work into that. We felt ready, and we still do. 

We still reviewed all the games we played already, even though we won them and it looked like it looked good from our side. There were some mistakes we worked on, but the most important parts for us are the focus on the things we practice and that we play the game without fear.

How are you feeling about this playmaker role after periods of more of a supportive player?

Yeah, I'm a big fan of that. Especially on Ancient where I'm the full playmaker in middle. I go crazy a lot. =I'm a guy that likes a lot of chaos. I want to say sort of a high-intensity games where I'm not too static. But for me, it's it's a learning process. 

Overall, I think transitioning from the supportive guy I was in MOUZ to becoming more of a playmaker now is it's a huge step for me. And it's just now I have to relearn and like grow into the position itself. You know, there are a lot of decisions I have to make. There's a lot of pressure on my shoulders. At least I put a lot of pressure on myself. So in a way, I'm developing overall into a new human that can fit that role.

Does it take a lot of time to switch the playstyles?

I think since it's more natural for me, I'm more natural of a playmaker than a supporter. I think it was not that it didn't take me long to feel comfortable, but it took me, or it's still taking me a while. I'm not at all finished, you know, not at all the finished product of the play. I'm like really confident in myself. When I play, I believe that I'm the best on the server. This is how I think every time I go on the server, no matter anything, I believe that I'm the best.

But I have to be as well realistic as an athlete. There is so much to learn, there are so many good players, and I'm not the best player in the world at the moment. So there is. I'm definitely not there yet where I want to be because I know what I have done in some games, and what I'm capable of. But I just need to get it done consistently on the server with the big shots and then we'll see.

You will be having a game against Passion UA again. And what do you think about this particular matchup? What can you say about Passion UA in general, they surprised a lot of people here.

Yeah, I think Passion UA is a very good team and they've shown it on the RMR as well that they are capable of beating good teams. They play very well. They have a unique style that is sometimes very annoying to play against. They like to play slow, calculated rounds, especially in a high-pressure game, this can get very annoying. 

But overall I have a lot of respect for the guys. I congratulated them on Twitter for their success in making it through the Major because I think they deserve it. And coming into the match, I think we can beat them. I'm very sure that it will be a good game, but I see us winning. But like I said, I think they play very good Counter-Strike and their Anubis is definitely something to look out for.

What is the main stronghold of the BIG right now? Some teams have their strengths in firepower, some teams have a versatile map pool. What is your go-to for coming to this tournament?

Yeah, I think our go-to strength at the moment is that we all understand the task of each other and that we are playing well as a team and we understand the map synergy on the whole map very well.

Which result at the Major will be satisfying for you?

For me personally, I would love to see top-8. My personal goal would be achieved if we played in the arena and reached the top-8. That will be my goal. Obviously, I want to win the tournament of course, but I think you need to set goals step by step. Of course, I believe we can win, of course. 

Have you already filled your Pick’ems? What teams you will put like for 3:0? And 0:3?

I have not filled my Pick’ems yet. I will do it tonight, probably all. Yeah, it's very close to ending. 3:0, I think The Mongolz will make it.

For 0:3 it is tough, actually. I think 0:3 might be Wildcard Gaming, even though I like the guys or it might be GamerLegion or Rare Atom, one of those two.

Are you satisfied with the whole design of your stickers and how they came up

Yeah, I think they did a good job. I like that you have to do it on the tournament itself and that you just don't hire an artist or something. I mean, I did hire an artist before myself, but I like that it's more personal now. Although my handwriting and everything is pretty shit. So it's tough to get the perfect sticker done, you know? But overall I like the idea. I just think it should be an actual autograph because a lot of people were doing emojis, etc, which kind of defeats the purpose of it being an autograph, you know?

Always wanted to ask: did you have in mind that if you do your handwriting a bit differently, you will benefit a bit more?

No, I don't think it's that deep yet. I think there you might make you get maybe a bit more attention on social media, especially if you post it and you have a very nice sticker of course, but I think it's a very small margin of improvement you have from that. So it's not that big.

What can you say about the local CS2 fans from China? Have you had any experience interacting with them?

The fans here are pretty crazy, I have to say. Way, way more than I thought. The people here are very, very happy, and very open, and I think it's one of the most polite fan bases I've ever seen. There are a lot of people waiting outside of the hotel and like getting signatures and pictures, but they are very, very polite people. They ask if you have time, and sometimes they don't even want to ask at all.

There is a certain expectation towards the mappool changes after the Major in the community Do you have any preferences on your own?

I think Vertigo is a really bad map at the moment and no one is really playing it. So it's kind of boring to have a map in the map pool that no one wants to play. And yeah, I think something new is good. It keeps us fresh as well, you know, so we get to change the way we practice and play. But overall, I don't care too much about it. I just want to play the game.

Speaking about your preferential enemies during the Opening stage, do you have any preferences? Maybe some teams you'd like to avoid?

No, actually I want to play everyone. I hope that we get very strong teams because. First of all, I want to see how good we are, and I want to show the people who are doubting our 3:0 run and are adopting our performance that we can beat the good teams. And it's not to see it for fun, you know. So I would like to play Passion UA and the next game should be either Complexity or whatever one of those guys and then we play them, you know, because I think we're capable of beating them.

My last question to you: do you have particular traditions or rituals you used to do before the high-stakes games or just official games at all?

Yeah, I do. I mean, on the Major it's not allowed, which kind of sucks. It broke my routine up a bit. But most of the time I do 15 minutes of aimbots with a certain music I listen to. It's German rappers like Kollegah and Luciano. Before the game, I always listen to the same three songs to get me into the zone, and from there, it is just the get-go. It started in 2023, in Dallas. Those are from Luciano Hustle and Vorankommen, and Du bist Boss by Kollegah.