Bhavi: "We’re aiming for international success"

To conclude the grueling double-elimination at the eXTREMESLAND India Open 2024, Gods Reign took on True Rippers in a bo5 LAN final at the LXG Arena in Bengaluru, India. After trading the initial maps, Gods Reign locked in dominant victories to close the series 3-1 and book their eXTREMESLAND 2024 slots as the Indian representative.

Dust2 India had a short conversation with Gods Reign's IGL Bhavi after the game. He shared his experience on his team's journey in the Indian qualifier, the Indian IGL also went on to talk about the rivalry in the server and how his team aims for international success.

Let's start with something a little off-topic. So, TR denied you a slot at Skyesports Championship, and now you’ve denied them today. Have you come full circle?

I think we have. Even after losing the Championship, I think we've beaten them 4 or 5 times. But we’re still not satisfied, because beating them is a national goal, but going international is something else. So, we’re aiming for international success.

Let's talk about the Qualifier journey, first of all. You started strong and maintained your upper bracket status, so how has this journey been for your team?

I think it’s been really fun. There weren’t really any issues along the way. The only problem we had was on Mirage against TR in the Qualifiers. But now, we’ve worked on it and it's better than before, at least.

Bhavi spoke about the mental reset Gods Reign went through after dropping the second map, referring to previous occasions where the came back from worse situations on the big stage. Speaking about individual performances Bhavi commended Ph1NNN and f1redup for their consistency.

Let’s talk about this series. You took the first map, but then dropped Nuke. How did you reset mentally after that?

I think I’ve said this before: even if we’re down 0-2, we can still come back. And that’s what we did in Skyesports Masters, if you remember. We were down 0-2, but then we won the third map and reverse swept them. So even though we went one for one here, we knew it was going to be 3-1.

Who do you think has been the most consistent player for your team throughout this qualifier?

I think the guy standing right beside me (Ph1NNN). If you look at all four matches, it's him, and overall, it’s him and f1redup who have been the most consistent. Even though f1redup isn’t playing the star roles, he's right up there with Ph1NNN.

I’ve been asking a lot of people the same question today. Our Indian slot has been reinstated at eXTREMESLAND after 5 years. What does it mean for our scene, and for you personally, to be going there?

I think what happened last year was really unlucky. This time, we want to go there and show that Indian CS can make its mark on the world stage. At least do some damage and beat some teams to gain recognition.