Everybody is starting to respect more of what we’re doing: Team Liquid Redgar speaks on the close series against Fnatic

In a stirring Bo3 Upper Finals between Team Liquid and Fnatic, both teams had their mettle tested with an exhausting close series. Fnatic eventually emerged as the champions, but it wasn't for lack of trying from Liquid, who have proven themselves to be one of EMEA's top teams. They now prepare for their Lower Finals match and a shot of a rematch against Fnatic. After the loss, Strafe Esports had the opportunity to speak with Team Liquid In-Game Leader, Igor "Redgar" Vlasov. In this exclusive on-to-one interview, we spoke about the series against Fnatic, their explosive growth over the course of the season and their mentality as they take on challengers.

 

Sorry for your loss, that was a close series for both of you. In your opinion, what were the positive and negative takeaways from the series for you?

I think the things we talked about, that we found solutions for, not giving up and playing our own style. That was the good thing. The bad thing was that sometimes there’s a situation where we were maybe over-hyped, and we lost the things that we should win.

 

As a positive, you looked incredibly competitive and those infamous ‘eco rounds’ especially. What were the main positives that have helped Liquid achieve such a strength?

I think in this tournament, maybe also in other leagues, we have the most success rate in the eco rounds (my guess, not sure). But I counted just for myself, we have about 100 ecos and we have about a 48% winrate from it. It’s a pretty high winrate I feel, and I think it’s because we have a lot of good aimers like “Jamppi” and “nAts” with the Ghost, Sheriff shots from “soulcas”, “Sayf” and me to secure the round.

I think we’re just punishing players for their mistakes, but just in general, I feel like we are trying to train our mentality during this series. When things are not going okay, we never give up and we’re just trying to play our playstyle and other stuff. It’s really good experience right now and right now we’re preparing to face them again in the Grand Finals.

 

Speaking of this series, did you prepare anything special against Fnatic?

I think we just watched how they played; we know what they’re going to do. We try to play our playstyle, adapting based on what they’re doing. I think it was going pretty good. On Bind on the Defense side, sometimes maybe we overthink, maybe overpeeked in some moments, and we just lost the momentum when we can win. Overall, I think that our match was really nice from us. And like I said, we’re aiming to win the Lower Finals and then a rematch against them (Fnatic).

 

Could you tell me specifically about the second half of Bind? Because you were so competitive against Fnatic, it was such a close series, up until that point. Something switched apparently, was it something from their side? What happened?

I think it’s both. Like they played good, what are we going to do but we just didn’t do the things properly that we usually do and it’s all snowballing. They 100% played really well and we just didn’t do the things we’re supposed to do and we lost. Need to find out the mistakes, the comms and other stuff, and move forward.

 

How was it like playing Fnatic again? The last time you played each other in an official was in Week 3, so that was quite a while ago. How different did it feel to play against them compared to the last time (stylistic/strategic difference)? Have you both gotten a lot stronger?

I think so. I just think in general; they’re still doing the same thing that they usually do. They’re playing their own playstyle, not full adapting to the opponent. They just do their style and try to counter their opponent.

For us, we are starting to have more experience as a team, we train more, we have more confidence and other stuff. Because of that period of time, we’re sick, it’s easy to go into the bad mental and start losing. But its not excuses for why we lost, they won because they were stronger today. But things have changed a lot for us, how we play, how they play. And I think they’re starting to not like, and everybody is starting to respect more of what we’re doing. And it was hard serious for them, I think. The first three sides especially, not the last side.

 

You guys were also phenomenal in your series against NA’VI. Could you tell me more about that series?

We do our basics really well; we know how they play. I played versus them for three years, I know what “ANGE1” likes to call, how he likes to play, and he knows what I like and the other stuff I guess. But every time they like to play in their playstyle, not a lot of anti-stratting, even if they’re on Attack side. On Defense, even if they tried to anti-strat us, we can still respond. If we do our things properly, it doesn’t matter what they are doing. We just trust each other, and we just follow my ideas and the coach’s ideas. And we won because of that.

We were confident. And even now, we’re still confident. But I think, I will revise what I think on Bind, because maybe it’s a bit overaggressive. I just remember the one time I aggressed a little bit more than needed and died needlessly.

 

Despite the loss, you guys have already qualified for Masters and now you’ve qualified for Champions! How do you guys feel?

I think it’s not high percentage if we win right now in Playoffs, that we’re going to get 2nd seed. It’s guaranteed us a spot, because nothing else is guaranteed, anything can happen, and we can even get 4 EMEA teams in the top 4. I feel like we prepared well, we’re training right now, even on things in officials. We still want to win but we’re also training on the thing we have been working on. We need to polish these things, gain the real experience, and it’s a great opportunity to do it right now.

 

You’ll be facing the winner of the NA’VI vs FUT match next. That may be another potential rematch if you end up facing NA’VI. How are you feeling about this upcoming series?

It’ll be a fun best of five, that’s all I can say. We know how they are playing, and we know how we are playing. It’s going to be a really rough match in my opinion. But it doesn’t matter what they are doing, it matters what we’re going to do, how we’re going to be mentally ready, how we’re going to be physically ready, if it’s going to be all 5 maps. It’s a challenge to play 2 best of fives versus a team, you know? I’m just thinking in general; it’s going to be a really interesting match for me.

 

Speaking of interesting matches, which team has been the most fun to play against so far? In terms of calling against, playing against.

I think it was Fnatic. I mean, yeah, I had fun playing even though we lost. They’re my friends and I like to play with my friends. And they’re the strongest team right now. It’s really fun to play against the strongest teams if it was your friends. For me it was a great series, and I want to find out what was the reason we lost; to make my calls even better and win the next time. But first, we need to win in the Lower Bracket.

 

Final question, you guys are headed to Masters and Champions next. Are there any teams you’re looking forward to facing in particular on the international stage?

I’d like to say I want to play against a lot of international teams. Not from EMEA (laughs), because I play with them already for the season and going to play with them again in the next season. I have a lot of friends, like for example in DRX, PRX. I want to play versus them in official games.  

Because I haven’t played against DRX in a very long time. I’ve also never played against PRX in an official game. Versus LOUD is going to be a really fun experience, just to watch how they are playing onstage and other stuff. NRG, versus FNS. Also haven’t played against him in a while. I just want to play versus every team not from EMEA, and I really want to have fun versus them.

 

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Credits: Colin Young-Wolff // Riot Games

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