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"I Want to Qualify for Champions Again" GIANTX Head Coach pipsoN after win against NAVI in VCT EMEA Stage 2 Playoffs
Following an electric back-and-forth series between GIANTX and Natus Vincere, the former has now successfully advanced to top 3 in VCT EMEA for Stage 2 Playoffs – the deepest run GIANTX have had since qualifying for Champions 2023 via Last Chance Qualifier. However, the job’s far from done. Turkish opponent BBL stands between them and a shot at the Grand Finals and the crown.
Ahead of today’s VCT EMEA Stage 2 Playoffs Lower Finals, Strafe Esports sat down with GIANTX Head Coach Daniil “pipsoN” Meshcheryakov to hear his thoughts on their previous series, their upcoming match against BBL, their run throughout Stage 2, and so much more in this exclusive interview.
*The following interview has been lightly edited for readability.
Congratulations on advancing to the Lower Finals. I’d like to start by asking how you’re doing following what I imagine was a fairly exhausting series.
pipsoN: I’m doing alright to be honest. We’re happy to play a lot of games and it’s much better than not playing. So, we’re feeling good.
What were your thoughts on the team’s performance in this series?
pipsoN: We expected it because [NAVI's] Icebox is really good, and I don’t think they’ve lost a single time on it during the full EMEA stage. So, we knew that it will be a super rough map, but then we knew that the other two maps, we are really, really confident against them. We knew how to play. We knew what we want to do, how we want to play against them. So, it was not like a super big surprise that we started the game like this.
The last time we spoke, you had just completed the LCQ in 2023 and qualified for Champions. Since then, you’ve had ups and downs with the team, but now you’re one step away again from qualifying to the biggest stage. Not only that, but you’ve also made it to the top 3 of EMEA playoffs. How do you personally feel about all that the team has accomplished this year?
To be honest, I feel really, really good. And it’s not that we had ups and downs, we had only downs. So, I don’t know, it feels insane and I want to qualify for Champions again, so I can make 2 out of 3 Champions with GIANTX/Giants, which I think is going to be like a super good achievement.
Can you talk me through this season? Looking at your transfers, it’s been a bonkers ride. Starting out, you brought in ara and Flickless from UCAM after Kickoff to replace purp0 and tomaszy. GRUBINHO also joined your lineup midway through the year for runner. What was this transition period like for your team?
To be honest, it was fine. It’s just, again, I think that both of these guys you mentioned, purp0 and tomaszy, they’re really good players and I always thought like that. And especially, I think that purp0 is like a super big talent and I think he will do insane. It just, didn’t work out for us with him, not in 2024, not in 2025. My assistant coach and I, we need to have certain traits in players. Again, it doesn’t mean that the player is bad, it’s more about that it just doesn’t fit. Even though I think that purp0 is the biggest talent in Europe, to be honest, and I think his mechanical skill is absolutely insane, like on another level. So, I wish him all the best and I do think that he deserves to play in Tier 1 and he will return to Tier 1 100%. It just didn’t work out. We tried so many different things and it just didn’t work.
With regards to the volatility of roster moves, you guys had a lot to adapt to mid-season. How did the team handle it?
It completely changed the course, the way we played, thought, and did things. But when we came for Week 4 and 5 after picking up GRUBINHO, we just played, to be honest. We didn’t have anything prepared with the new two guys. We just wanted them to show themselves, to prepare ourselves for potential changes and stuff like that. So, we were just like, just do how you do, how you want to do, and then we will see – just feel free to play.
Heading into tomorrow’s match against BBL, what are the initial thoughts running through your mind that you want to address to your players within this short span of time before the next series?
To be honest, I want them to understand that Bo5 is different to Bo3. Completely different games. The first 2 maps matter a lot in Bo5, because if you start 0-2, it’s super hard to come back. So, I just want them to switch this mentality that starting strong in Bo5 is much more important than in Bo3. And, at the same time, there are certain things I want them to keep in mind when they face BBL – about their playstyle and about certain mindsets we need to have when we’re facing them.
Before heading into tomorrow’s series, just reflecting on the entire season as a whole, was there any particular move, any particular change, any adaptation that you did over the course of this season that you were particularly proud of?
Honestly, a lot of things. First of all, Westside started to do better. He learned a lot of things, he started to be much more active in the game, started to take much faster decisions because he had a problem with this, and we were discussing that. And I’m really proud of Flickless and I think his improvement is really, really big. I remember when he came first time, the way he played the game and the way he was looking on the game was completely different to the way he plays now. And ara, he made really, really big progress. He was always like super, super good mechanically, he had no problem with mindset. He’s always confident, he more like had a bit of, knowledge gap let’s say, because he was coming from Tier 2, but not even Tier 2 because he played only like 2 months in Tier 2. So, it’s a lot of things I will be proud of during the season.
From a fan’s perspective, 2025 has looked like the most competitive VCT EMEA has been since its inception. This is in terms of how many teams have looked like true title contenders this year. You have Fnatic obviously, Heretics, Liquid, resurgence of GIANTX and NAVI, BBL, Vitality at the start of the year, Karmine Corp… So many EMEA teams looking super competitive. From a coach’s point of view, do you agree with this?
Yeah, I think currently, it’s the most competitive because it feels like everyone can beat everyone. Again, most competitive doesn’t mean the best region right? It’s just that the average level of all the teams is closer to each other. And I don’t know the exact reason why this is happening, but, as you said, there were a lot of teams who stepped up this year, like including us, NAVI, and BBL, for example. For them, it’s also insane here right? And they’re doing really, really good. So, I don’t know like why exactly this is happening, but everyone just like started to play better.
Obviously, this would be guesswork because you’ve not had the opportunity to play internationally this year. But where do you think EMEA fairs in terms of the pecking order of regions compared to the other 3?
To be honest, it is really, really hard to say because I do think that the main issue when you go to international events is that you are facing certain playstyles which you have never seen before, and you don’t really have a lot of time for adaptation and it happened similarly in other games. You would need either a lot of international events or one super league where all the top teams of every region face each other to really say which region is better. It looks like EMEA is doing great this year right?
Bangkok, Vitality got top 4, second tournament, Fnatic was in the Grand Finals. EWC it was Heretics and Fnatic in the Grand Finals. So, it looks like we are looking strong, but again, you never know what will happen. You can come to meta shifts, Tejo, map changes, teams developing. Going into Champions, you will be surprised with certain meta or certain things which was developed in another region and you will not be able to adapt.
Personally, for me, I think the strongest region is a pack like Pacific. I think they have so many strong teams and I like the way they play. They have T1, DRX, GEN.G, Paper Rex, Rex Regum Qeon, TALON. If we are saying that EMEA looks competitive, the Pacific region also looks really, really competitive. So, from my personal view, I think that they are the strongest region, and then below that, it's hard to say.
With all the changes and meta shifts this year, how have you adjusted? What are your thoughts on the current meta?
To be honest, it is sometimes a bit complicated to figure out. What I mean is that, you don't have enough time to be able to, to prepare for everything and that's why a lot of teams are struggling with map pool. Even like, teams who played for a long time, I don't know if it's good to rotate that much map pool for the development of the game.
What I mean by that is that every time you do these shifts, it decreases the level, because like, let's say you spend 3 months practicing certain map and then it's out and then you have to redo the things. And about the agent, I do think that right now there is no clear meta, and it really depends on the players you have on the team because I saw really good teams playing like double initiator. I saw really good teams playing double controller with Viper and Astra. I saw really good teams playing double duelist, right? So I think it depends on your players and the stuff like that.
For example, if you're like Liquid, let's say if you have Keiko plus Kamo, you are really comfortable playing double duelist. There are some teams who are not comfortable doing it, like, for example, us, yeah, who are you going to put on a second duelist? I don't know.
I don't think that there is a one certain composition in that way which is much stronger than others. I think right now it’s very balanced, that you can play double initiator and win, you can play double controller and win, and the stuff like that.
Final question, one bold prediction for Champions 2025.
Dragon Ranger Gaming is winning Champs.
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Featured Image Credit: Michal Konkol/Riot Games
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