Mock-it are a team that need little introduction. Having been in the competitive scene for long, they qualified for the Six Major Paris through the host country invite slot after they won the Coupe de France (CdF) tournament. During this, Mock-it made their way through the losers bracket, beating both Millenium and Team Vitality who will also be present at the major. Following their victory, we had interviewed the Mock-it captain Panix about his win.
Two months later, it’s finally time for the Paris Major to begin. We caught up with Panix once again, to pick his thoughts about the upcoming tournament, and how he and the team think they will fare in the group stages.
How has Alive fit into the team?
Yes, Alive has fit well into the team, as the week after his arrival we managed to qualify for the Six Major Paris by winning the CdF. Alive brings calmness to our game and good game sense as he’s the ex-IGL of Supremacy.
Your team started off with two bad games but have since climbed to mid-table, winning 3 games in a row; what changes did you make to secure this winning run?
Vitality managed to surprise us by taking their revenge for the CdF, and we had no information on IDK's (now Team Secret) playstyle, whereas they had all of our CdF games to analyse us. Starting from PENTA (now G2), we have been able to play much better, however some mistakes at the end of rounds, either executing or in clutch situations, cost us the map. Working together and gaining insight as a team let us come back from DreamHack with more experience. Analysis and teamwork are key.
Last month your team narrowly lost to NiP at DreamHack Valencia offstream; how do you plan on defeating this team during Paris now that you have had a chance to play them?
We were able to get a feel for their playstyle in-game and to understand how they thought in Rainbow 6. That gave us a taste to better understand them at the Invitational. We love getting revenge, so we'll be at ease, but don't count on me to tell you our plans!
You have competed in a number of countries over the last few months from Canada, to the US, to Spain and now back home to France; how has the team been finding each of these countries?
We didn't really have time to visit, but Montreal is clearly our favourite trip. People are nice, the city is really cool. Austin and Valencia were a bit emptier, but both were great to party after the tournament. Despite all this, the US is where the team gained the most weight...
How have you prepared for this LAN?
We have been able to bootcamp in Paris for a week before the LAN, with a specific focus on improving our gameplay, extending our map-pool, and discovering the playstyle of different regions thanks to the teams who also came to bootcamp in Europe. And of course, any time spent together as a team is good.
Your first match will be a rematch of the opening match of the 2018 Six Invitational against G2 Esports (ex-PENTA); do you think you can improve on that scoreline of 10-2?
Taking 3 rounds should be doable. It will be our first objective. The latest world champions are a good appetizer to start off the Major and will let us show other teams that we aren't the Host country invitee for no reason. We want to play on the big stage.
Panix’ and Mock-it’s first match of the Paris Major, against G2 Esports, will be on Monday morning on the official rainbow6 Twitch channel.