Astralis still plagued with role and individual problems came into this event attempting to challenge their regional counterparts Heroic but with the crowd behind them they were unable to claim the title. GrimyRannarr was able to catch up their in game leader, Gla1ve, after victory against Imperial to secure them a place in playoffs
It was a close win against Imperial, but a win nonetheless, how are you feeling now you have made playoffs?
Yea it feels really good, Imperial have shown that they are a good team and have shown that at the major, so really happy that we are able to beat them. We are really close to them on the world rankings so it is an extremely important win for us. Overall just feels good
Looking at performances, blameF has been playing so well in Astralis, and especially within this tournament playing out of his mind. Is it still worrying if he performs this well and the team still struggles?
Yes I think it is worrying to be honest. Some of us could perform a little bit better, for me personally I feel like I can do better than I am doing right now. I honestly just do not understand what is going on right now. In practice I am playing pretty good, but in everything official I am playing like a bot and it is really haunting me right now, something that I have to really sort out and figure out why that is. When I figure that out hopefully the team will be better. Usually I go first a lot, especially on the T side, and then on the CT side I like to make plays where I can. If I can get the kills we have an advantage, but then if I lose the dual we play 4v5 or 4v4 all the time then it will be tougher for us.
Looking at those entry kills, in the first map against Imperial Fer and Vini had 13 opening frags combined, second map was similar and then on the third you owned it actually with the opening duals. How big of an impact is if for the team if you do not get that opening frag?
I do not think it is that important. We usually try to do our rounds so I first frag and then K0nfig goes second, sometimes K0nfig is really hard to control so he just runs first. That is what I want to do because K0nfig is really good at re-fragging me 9/10 times. So with our setup I prefer to have me running in first and then him trading me. So we shouldn’t be at a huge disadvantage, but if I die without a kill then it gives us a hard time in the round.
Especially looking at K0nfig, is it the same problem he may have as you? He was consistent on Complexity and did very well, but now he doesn’t seem to have that same spark especially in this tournament.
I think he’s a bit like me, finding it hard to find his true level consistently at least. That is maybe why I am only good in practice because I am struggling to find consistency. Some days it is really good and some days it is not good at all, I cannot just hit that flow. Whenever I speak to K0nfig about it he feels the same, however, he is still a really talented player and wins some huge and important rounds, meaning that I am still happy with what he brings to the team.
Do you think these problems you are talking about fixable, or are they going to stay recurring?
I think they are being repaired, but the problem is, it just takes so much time. We have switched some roles on different maps and are trying to figure out what is going wrong. It just takes some time to put the guys into new tactics and figure out how we want to play. We are still doing some pretty stupid mistakes and that is one of the main reasons for us losing these games.
Looking at the roles of the team, blameF came into this roster after being a IGL, does he prove to be a good second voice or does it sometimes get in the way if he has a different view on the game?
No I do not think so, I think that blameF is doing a really good job with performing individually and helping me when things get tough. It feels good for me to have him on the other side of the map to me, he is really good at communication and understands the game, so is a great asset to the team.
