Raptors EC had a disappointing LAN. Seeded #7th coming into the tournament and topping UKIC Division 2, they had a lot of expectations over their head. With experienced duo of Alex “PALM1” Palm and Rudolf “Rutk0″ Kovalčik joining their ranks recently, it felt like they could make a deep run. This however was not the case. Struggling outside of LAN in ESEA they continue that into EPIC.LAN 41 as they drop out in 9th-12th. However, the LAN was not all a failure.
UKCSGO talks to 17-year-old rifler Igor “igorek” Kochany about their team’s performance, why having a multi-culture roster isn’t an issue, how he deals with mistakes, and some spicy roster news.
What are your overall thoughts on this LAN and your team’s performance?
We had high expectations coming into it. Overall we expected to come to the HLTV stage or at least one BO3 away from it, but that didn’t happen. We had a good time and everyone had fun, we should have won the games we should have won, but BO1s are rough. Having BO1s versus K10, The Neighbours, and then Royals to make up a bracket is pretty rough.
You end up getting placed up early against good teams, for example, we played K10 in our second game and used up a lot of energy. We won versus Godku’s team and got placed versus The Neighbours. That didn’t make sense to me. We should have won the game versus ghil’s team. BO1s are rough overall, especially with how the economy works. In CS:GO you could win a round or lose a round and still have that focus. But here you make one silly mistake and it can cost you the whole game due to the economy and other factors.
What was your experience playing this LAN with an actual team and not with a mix?
I think it is pretty similar if you have a good vibe of players. Some people will say going with mixes is more fun cause the team is not serious. But if you have the right mix of players like we do with PALM1, Fin [Finui], me, and Midgard we are a nice bunch of players. Overall as a team we have fun with it, some other teams take it very seriously, and don’t smile as much or scream. I am bringing a lot of energy, PALM1 brings a lot of energy and shouts.
On that note, overall LAN is so nice as you don’t have the excuse of the internet, and also feels way better shooting. Overall the passion is unmatched.
You have a very diverse team, is there any issue with all the different cultures you have in your team?
Coming into it I thought it would be a problem. Maybe people do not understand each other, but looking back at it, it is not a problem, it is just about how people approach the game. Other teams might have the same culture but they do not bring up mistakes when made or talk about how they will improve. If you have a great mindset as a team that is how you move forward. For example, after we got knocked out we went to the bar and talked about the team and the future for four to five hours. This isn’t something we had done before, going this in depth. The culture is not a part of it, it is people’s mindset.
Maybe culture affects mindset. Some people might be more tilted when mistakes are pointed out. I think if you are serious about getting better in CS and getting to that next level, culture should not be an issue, it is just about how you approach the game.
Speaking about moving to the next level. You are maybe the youngest player at this event [17] and you naturally have quite good aim. What are you doing now to progress to the next level?
I think talking to the team overall about the team and how to improve with everyone pointing out mistakes helps. I try to be aggressive about approaching my mistakes, asking what I am doing wrong. Watching demos on CS2 Lens in school as well [laughs]. After that you can just figure out stuff, it is just simple stuff like looking at how people move around the map, it just helps you realize how people react.
For me, I am trying to develop a game sense as I am not as experienced. Right now I am trying to ask a lot of questions and learn as I have experienced players such as Rutko and PALM1, I am trying to unlock them to teach me what they know. I don’t want to play five scrims for something that could have been taught to me in 1 minute.
Speaking of PALM1 and Rutko, they have a lot of experience. How important is it that you have joined a team with this much experience early on in your career?
I think it is a crucial part, I wouldn’t get it anywhere else right now. The only reason PALM1 is on the team is that him, Rutko, and relax were pugging, I saw on his Steam profile he was LFT so I sent him a message. He had no other offers and he had fun with us so he joined.
I think it is really great that now even when I talk to him on train rides and outside the game, I know more about how he thinks and how he approaches the game, all of this adds up and helps me understand who. I am now trying to tell him to tell me if I make a mistake straight away, there is no point beating around the bush. Especially for me where I don’t really care if someone tells me I did a shit play.
You used to AWP and now you are a rifler. Talk me through why you changed and what role do you play as a rifler?
So right now I am a rifler and I have been most my career. I tried to AWP towards the end of CS:GO because I felt like it was very easy to maneuver with the AWP and it was very AWP heavy. The meta now has shifted massively and rifling, especially with my mechanics I can abuse harder.
The AWPing meta is to be more supportive than aggressive, so you cannot really be making flashy plays.
Looking past this LAN, naturally, it was a little bit disappointing, will there be any changes in the roster to reach your expectations?
At the start of this team the goal we all set was Advanced. It was clear that everyone had that goal and wanted to make it with the caliber of players we had. We didn’t make that and went 9-12th at LAN it was very disappointing, everyone was very sad and emotional after that game.
Moving forward we have already spoken about the team. So far it is looking good, there will not be many roster changes. Right now there is a roster change. It is not a kicking but someone exploring other paths that were already pre-planned before the season. We finished the roster mid-season, four games in, playing the first four with our coach. One of the reasons we performed badly I could say is that heading straight into officials without practice definitely did put us back. Every day we would go in, play prac, and then go into official and get off.
You don’t have much time to take it all in discuss where to improve and figure out what is working. In the off-season, we are going to try to get an IGL.
So are you removing Finui?
No that is not the roster move. Heading forward we are going to try to find an IGL that suits the way that we play the game. If not we will explore other options with other ways in terms of how we approach the team. Of course, we will try to continue practice as much as possible in the off-season. Right now ESEA isn’t looking too good for us, if we win all our games we might make playoffs. But that is not what is on our minds right now, we are just looking at what is best for the team.
So who are you replacing?
I am not allowed to say right now [laughs].
