M80's player Michael "Swisher" Schmidt shared his thoughts on the expectations he and his team had when they arrived in Riyadh for the Esports World Cup 2024. In an interview with HLTV, Schmidt reflected on the team's performance, describing their results as decent.
"You always come to a tournament with certain expectations, but to be honest, they weren't particularly high this time, especially with Vitality in the first round. We knew Vertigo would be the most unpredictable map for us against them, because they had little practice before the break, and we assumed they hadn’t trained during it. We could have won that map; it was within our grasp.
Winning against Complexity was pleasing, and we could have won that game. We lost both pistol rounds. There was also an important 9-8 round that we could have won, which could have changed the game, but The MongolZ were good, they fought hard, and we couldn’t keep up. Still, it was a decent performance from our side."
The American esports player also shared his thoughts on Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa’s move to G2. Swisher feels that the current role distribution in the team does not fully showcase the Guatemalan player's potential.
"It was quite obvious that he would be watched – he and donk were the top two in entry frags, both making a huge impact.
Of course, we were unsure if he would stay with the team for the next season, so when he told us he received an offer from G2 and was going to accept it, we were all very happy for him because it’s a huge step forward. So yes, we kind of expected it.
I hope for the best, especially for him, because he is one of the best friends I’ve ever had and the best teammate I’ve ever had. In my opinion, he doesn’t deserve such supporting roles. He should have roles where he can shine. I think he and NiKo have quite a bit of overlap, but I think he would excel in roles similar to huNter-’s on the defensive side.
His roles on the attacking side are almost identical, so he shines more there, as was evident when he played for us, but of course, he will have less impact and fewer duels in which he excels, especially in holding specific positions."
M80 finished in 10th-11th place at the Esports World Cup 2024 and received $15,000 in prize money. The team lost to Vitality in the first stage, then eliminated Complexity in the Play-In, but ultimately fell to The MongolZ.