The last six months for Sebastian “volt” Maloș have gone from 0-100. After the Fnatic Rising project got scrapped the rifler found a home with Into The Breach, coming into the year no-one would think they would make the Cinderella run to the playoffs of a major.
After their major run, the ITB players’ stocks increased dramatically, and with this recent success, all eyes were on them. With GamerLegion making roster changes due to their own newfound success, volt slots into a new star player role.
During the ESL Premiership weekend UKCSGO spoke to volt about his experience playing at a consistent Tier 1 level, how he is finding his new roles, and why he changed his flag to Romanian.
Firstly, looking at GamerLegion, how has it all been with the new squad?
Personally, how we have been playing has been pretty rough. We had a few good results in the first few events when you look at how much time we had to practice. I think it started off pretty well, it was really disappointing how we did at Pro League, we expected to make playoffs so that pretty sucked. Right now individually I want to say I am very happy.
You guys haven’t had much time to practice, you have an extended break leading up to your next event which is IEM Sydney, are we going to see a whole new GamerLegion on the basis you actually had time to practice?
I hope so, I don’t know but we do have a few weeks to practice alongside a bootcamp before so that will be at least something. The good thing is we know what we need to fix, we know what is going wrong, so we are just trying to work on that and make sure it doesn’t happen again like it did at Pro League.
Is there anything you can share with on your new system that has been implemented, what are some of the problems you are trying to fix?
It is mainly just being out of sync as a team, there are a lot of times we are not on the same page, we are not playing together and I think our strength is and will be teamplay. Working more as a unit rather than focusing on individuals to carry the game. If you look at teams such as G2 and Vitality, they have these superstars that can drop 40 every game. NiKo, ZywOo, whatever. When you look at teams like Heroic they don’t really have someone that can carry the game, but they try to play smarter and more as a team to win off that. We are trying to go for that. Right now we haven’t had enough time, it has been a bit difficult for me to fit in with my new roles. I am playing completely different to what I used to play before. I am finding it a bit harder than I would have expected. Right now it feels like a period of getting used to most of these roles. I am super uncomfortable. Once I get past this stage I think we will be good, but for now, it is an uphill battle.
In ITB you were quite a big second voice, is that still a thing with GamerLegion? Can you also break down some of the roles you have changed?
I feel like I could be more vocal in the game. In ITB I don’t want to say I was very very vocal, but I did have some say in mid rounds for example. I was trying to give my input wherever I could. In GamerLegion with the roles that I have now which are mainly the star roles, for example A Overpass or Inferno A short, if you want to call that star role – roles where you have more action, and are expected to get better stats. In those roles, you are expected to have a voice, but I think right now I am still lacking in that and I will say also due to the fact I am uncomfortable. I think I can do better for sure.
You have gone from Fnatic Rising to ITB, to now with GamerLegion travelling all over the world. How does it feel to make that leap into tier 1?
It is a big jump for sure. It has happened all in half a year I would say, literally the start of this year the Fnatic team disbanded because they didn’t want to continue with the academy team. I was looking for a team and then ITB came along, we had that crazy run at the major that no one expected, even though that was a big step for everyone in the team, to make the major playoffs. That boosted everyone’s individual reputation. That was crazy as well, but now having played more Tier 1 events I would say it is nice but it has been thrown in my face very quickly. Especially with the fact I am trying to fit into a new role, it is kind of overwhelming in a way. It is nice but it is not nice at the same time. It would have been nicer to have warmup tournaments with weaker teams, but it is like boom, you have to play against good teams and perform in roles you are not used to before.
You have this break coming up, will you be playing online tournaments?
Right now we are just focusing on Tier 1 events we have invites to. Pro League didn’t go that well but to maintain good rankings, and with that more invites come. We are just trying to make as much of the Tier 1 tournaments as possible.
You mentioned you are struggling, is it really nice to have someone like ash in the team to help you out whom you would have known before within the UK scene?
International or not, I would say I am used to playing with international teams now. I don’t feel out of place if I do not play with UK players. With ashhh of course it is super nice to have him, we have Bogdan who is that assistant coach who has been helping me. We have two people who help a lot and have a big voice, outside the server, during practices, all the time they can help me and give me tips on my positions. I spent a lot of time with Bogdan especially outside of practices going through my games, and my scrims, to see what went wrong and try to fix things. ashhh is obviously trying to focus more on the team, but I would say he has been very supportive and encouraging even though I feel like I haven’t really gotten off to a good start.
Is there a world we see you back in a UK roster in the future?
Well, the flag isn’t getting changed. When I changed it to Romanian, I was told this would have to be a long-term thing, I couldn’t switch it back and forth, so it is going to have to stay. So if I play in the UK team we need to have three other UK players. Right now with the UK scene, it is hard to get a good core, having to get another three would be very hard.
At the moment I wouldn’t say so, in the crazy crazy future maybe. I feel like I have completed the quest in the UK, it is now my time to move over to the Romanian scene and try to take a Romanian core to the major. Maybe I will get a Romanian team instead.
Did the Romanian scene support you during the major?
I would say there is more support coming from the Romanian scene, the Romanian scene engages more online. Every single game we have I get a lot of messages, Romanian streamers have also been watching our games. There was a lot of support from the UK, especially during the major, but it was pretty much just that, on the other hand with Romanian, with any game they are always there.
