FURIA have followed up their victorious run at Thunderpick World Championship by making it through to the playoffs of PGL Masters Bucharest, but it was not without difficulty, as the majority-Brazilian side had to squeeze by with a 3-2 record.
"It's great that we qualified for playoffs. This is the bare minimum for us," Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis told HLTV after a win over Liquid.
"Of course it would be nice to go finals, maybe win this tournament after Thunderpick. Of course it's stronger competition, but even, for example, Spirit, which is considered the favorite this tournament, we were very close to beating them."
Despite the shaky journey through the group stage, YEKINDAR still believes FURIA are feeling the benefits of their Thunderpick win and, more importantly, are headed in the right direction.
"I think we're playing better, definitely better after the win, and everybody got a little more confident. But life is like that; there's always things that you want to be better at, and you want to improve, and we are doing that."
You can listen to the interview here.
Just give me your thoughts on that series. Nuke in particular was pretty close, a bit crazy at times.
I feel like any game against Liquid is quite crazy. The style that we play and what I was seeing when I was rewatching their games is completely different, especially CT sides. I feel like they are playing so dynamic and, in some moments, gamble-ish. But they're okay with that. They know which risks they're taking and whatever.
So it was important for us to control the game, show them that we can also play fast and gimmick and try to put them a little bit into this state of overthinking in a way. Like, "Oh, we cannot leave this spot open because they rushed it," or whatever. That was kind of our plan, and it worked very good.
We got seven rounds on Nuke on T side, which was very good. On CT side we lost a couple situations which were a little bit... In the moment, we got a little too hyped up in a way. "Oh, rah, rah. Rah, rah, rah, rah, rah." Everybody wanted to close the map out, and there was a specific round where other players, yuurih and KSCERATO, were not in a position to react on them doing A split while FalleN and molodoy are running out heaven.
In hindsight, in a perfect situation, you wait a little bit, try to understand, make a plan together. But this is part of CS, and it could've worked as well, so it is what it is. Thankfully somebody higher up wanted us to win, because the Five-Seven rounds that we got is something that doesn't happen too often.
Is there anything extra to a game with Liquid for you? Because obviously you and FalleN both have history with the organization. Is there a little bit of extra spice when you play against Liquid?
I don't at least treat it that way. Maybe in the back of my mind it is something like that, but I don't come into the game thinking, "Oh, I want to destroy them," or whatever. No, that's not my priority.
Looking at this tournament overall, you are through to the playoffs but it wasn't the smoothest journey. How do you rate how FURIA have been playing so far at this tournament?
I think we're improving. Specifically this tournament we have a goal in our mind in terms of what we need to fix: this is starting the game quiet and sloppy and a little indecisive. This is haunting us for a very long time, and we're focusing a lot on playing the first map instead of warming up into the game, coming into the first map already talking about making plans.
This is something that we're trying to make everybody's responsibility, to come into the best of three, because I don't know if... we're probably losing a lot of first maps in best of threes, and then we have to come back from a one map deficit. And this is something we're focusing on.
About the placements for us, it's great that we qualified for playoffs. This is the bare minimum for us. But of course it would be nice to go finals, maybe win this tournament after Thunderpick. Of course it's stronger competition, but even, for example, Spirit, which is considered the favorite this tournament, we were very close to beating them in group stage. So everything is in our hands, but some things we cannot control. So that's what we're dealing with.
I think some people would've been expecting to see you guys have a bit of a bounce after winning a tournament, right? Maybe find better form. A, do you think that's happened? Do you think the tournament win has had any effect on you? And B, if not, is it tough when you're so busy, with so many tournaments?
We're definitely playing better after a win. Before Thunderpick, we played a lot worse. And nowadays we cannot be mad about our form or our performance. Yes, there was one specific game this tournament, which was against NaVi, but that game was a little unfortunate because we saw a problem coming beforehand, and we didn't fix it, and then the problem happened again during that match, and everybody got a little frustrated.
So that game I don't really take into account, but thankfully NaVi's now qualified for the Major. Not intentional, but it's a good thing. I think we're playing better, definitely better after the win, and everybody got a little more confident. But life is like that; there's always things that you want to be better at, and you want to improve, and we are doing that.
You guys are probably the busiest team in the tier-one circuit, right? I know it's been talked about to death. Is there any element with you where you're trying to peak for the right moment, probably specifically the Major? Because I think for a team that's as busy as you, it's nearly impossible to be in top form every single tournament.
I think the only way to plan a peak is when you specifically make breaks which you can control, on how your body feels, before coming into the Major. Here it was kind of not in our power, and we don't control it, so we are basically overcoming ourselves. In China, at FISSURE, we were complaining. After FISSURE, it got to a point where we're already dealing with it naturally. And everybody's trying to do maximum of taking responsibility for themselves in terms of their body and their attitude, and sometimes it's hard.
Already in EPL and here, for example against NaVi, we have trouble keeping frustrations [in check], which is completely natural with how much we're playing. But it is at the end of the day our path, and this is not something we can change already. I think everybody right now has already overcome it and is instead searching, instead of complaining, for solutions on how to make yourself not so tired and make yourself better.
For example, last two events as well, we're playing practice before official matches, so if the match, for example, is an evening match, we usually play three, four scrims the same day. And I don't know, you can ask the commentators or the fans, is it good to play four scrims before a match, or is it better to have a kind of rest day, getting ready for the match mentally and everything?
The problem is we don't have this option because we have to fix the seven maps we're playing. We have to fix other mistakes, not only system mistakes and in-game mistakes, but also outside of the game things. And there's so much things that we need to focus on that we just don't have time, and that's why it's very packed. But to some degree, it's very cool. It reminds me a lot of my VP days when we were playing a lot, and nowadays when I'm 27, it's a little harder, but it's cool.
Liquid
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Georgi 'Jorko' Mitev
Viktor 'flashie' Tamás Bea
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisPast 3 months
FURIA
Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo
Yuri 'yuurih' Santos
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Sid 'sidde' Macedo