Masanet: Gentle Mates’ 2-1 win over K27 broke mental barriers

Alejandro “alex” Masanet described the 2-1 victory over K27 at PGL Astana as the team’s first such result since February and said it helped clear lingering mental barriers after failing to qualify for the IEM Cologne Major.

Gentle Mates began their Astana campaign with a loss to MOUZ before recovering in a close match against K27. Masanet called the win a confidence boost and acknowledged the squad felt they had “thrown the Nuke away” in the earlier match but overall performed well.

The team entered a difficult stretch after missing Major qualification, followed by an early exit at IEM Rio and a loss to SINNERS in the Barcelona final at the LOGAR Ranking event. Masanet described that period as tough and noted the roster has had to reset goals and expectations.

On plans for the remainder of the season, Masanet said the team will focus on its own play and take events one match at a time. He added, “We are going to go game-by-game,” and emphasized steady work and persistence as the approach moving forward.

Gentle Mates’ VRS ranking has fallen into the 30s and PGL Astana is currently its only scheduled event. Masanet said the immediate aim is to win matches to climb back into the top 20 or top 15 in order to regain entry to higher-tier tournaments. “We are going to try to do everything we can to win, to be back at least in the top 20, top 15,” he said.

Masanet also highlighted the mental side of competitive Counter-Strike, adding, “CS is full mental, so I think we need to keep fighting, even if it’s tough as it was yesterday.” Gentle Mates will play the rest of their PGL Astana matches with the goal of converting the K27 result into further wins and improved ranking positions.