Memoir of a comeback - The Chamber: KRU Daveeys after KRU Esports triumph over FURIA

After winning over MIBR, KRU esports was looking really hot. FURIA was inarguably a bigger threat for KRU. But as mentioned by Atom and Klaus, it’s about playing their own game. In their previous encounter, KRU lost 0-2 to FURIA after failing to close out Split. In the game, playing Split with Chamber, KRU secured a map point but once again failed to close the map and it felt like the old troubles were starting to haunt KRU once more. But when the second map rolled around KRU showed a different face, won over the FURIA on Ascent and forced a third map. On the final map, despite being in a deficit, KRU came back to win the map 13-11, winning the series 2-1. 

The win now gives KRU esports a room to breathe. After their win over FURIA, Strafe interviewed KRU’s Sentinel player Santiago “daveeyS” Galvis Ruiz. In an exclusive one-on-one interview, KRU daveeyS talks about the game, facing Leviatan and the future challenges. 

Q. Congratulations on your win. How are you feeling?

KRU daveeyS: “I wouldn’t lie, It was one of the hardest games we have played as a team. The first map was truly a challenge because it was like a throwback to what we went though league because we couldn’t close the map. It was pretty frustrating but we dealt with that, we said we cannot allow it to happen again, we have to have more fun, we have to be less stressed and take more calm decisions. So that was our focus for the second and third map.

The second map was really fun to play, keznit was popping heads so it was good for us. I particularly couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t contribute a lot, I just tried to give my best to the team. On the third map, I feel like the whole team had a lot of resilience, that’s something that I take from the series and I was really happy to close out the series.”

Q. After the unfortunate loss in the first map, How did you guys reset your mental to ensure you don’t lose the next map?

KRU daveeyS: “Like I told you we said to ourselves, we need to have fun. Whenever we lose, we lose against ourselves, we make weird decisions or really hasty decisions and they aren’t the best decisions, just the first ones that pop. We just have to be more calm, and also communicate better. I feel sometimes we had the read, we had everything but we didn’t talk enough. We were in an important match and everyone was feeling a little bit anxious. It is sometimes hard to have good communication, and that’s what we told ourselves. Be more focused on the comms and also have more fun”

Q. What was the one thing or one player that was troubling you the most against FURIA?

KRU daveeyS: “Of course for me, the whole first map was a challenge to play against dgzin. He is a very dangerous player, he takes a lot of risks, He just likes to take fights. It was the first time for me to play Chamber on stage so I didn’t know how it’d feel like, I didn’t know how the peeks will feel, how the op will feel so that was a challenge for me. I think I did good enough but I think I can do so much better”

Q. On Split, Chamber isn’t a conventional agent pick. What was the idea behind choosing Chamber?

KRU daveeyS: “We knew that the map is played in two sections, There is A and then there is mid and B. We just wanted to control the whole A with me in the front and then everyone else rotating out. But they had a lot of protocols to play around it so it was of course hard, props to them, they had good map preparation. I think they didn’t allow us to play our game and it was mostly because they prepared really well. They probably knew we are going to play Chamber and played accordingly”

Q. What do you think about Leviatan, your next opponent?

KRU daveeyS: “We know a lot about them. We are friends with the players, some of us are ex-teammates so we know them pretty well. We cannot allow them to play their game. We know how they play, we know what they do but we just cannot fall into their game and try to control them. We just have to play our own game and that would eventually control them. They are a strong team of course”

Q. Any specific player you are looking out for in the team?

KRU daveeyS: “Obviously kiNgg, he is a beast. He’s just really good mechanically and he’s an IGL, there are a lot of tasks for him, there are a lot of things he has to do but he does them well so yeah I really admire that guy”

Q. Anything you’d want to change about today’s game that you’d want to change before facing Leviatan?

KRU daveeyS: “I am not sure, I feel like every single match is going to depend on us, on our mentality and how we approach the game. Every single team in this tournament will be a struggle mostly against ourselves. Every single team is a challenge for us and a revenge game. We wanted to beat MIBR in the league, we wanted to beat FURIA, we were so close but we couldn’t. We have a history with Leviatan, we play a lot of scrims with them, also with Sentinels. There was a map we couldn’t close with 100 Thieves so I feel like the whole tournament is a challenge and every single team poses a different question but it is mostly about how we approach the game as ourselves.”

The win secured the double-elimination bracket and top four for KRU esports, but this is not enough. KRU will face Leviatan, one of the tournament favorites in the next game. We have two of the most important players of KRU that’d be featured in the next part of the series. The players will help us go over the game and how they felt after a critical win.

Credits: Riot Games // VCT Americas