343: “When you feel comfortable playing the role you’re in, you’re able to think a little more about the game as a whole.”

I think we just haven’t been in top form since DreamLeague Season 28. It seems to me that the team has actually gotten much better compared to how we were during PGL. Maybe it’s a matter of our mental toughness or, let’s say, our self-belief. You know, it was as if something was constantly wearing us down. I think it was coming back from BLAST Slam VI... That was, I think, only on the 10th day of bootcamp. And since there was a very long break between the group stage and the playoffs, when we got back from Malta, I felt like we’d already been at boot camp for two months. On top of that, the scrims leading up to PGL weren’t particularly encouraging. We played about 12–14 scrims, and every single one ended 1–1. Literally every scrim—1–1. And there was never a moment where we were like, “Hey, guys, we’re really nailing this.” You know, it always felt like everything was cast in a negative light.

I just had the feeling that we couldn’t do enough in the game. I don’t blame the team, the draft, or anything else. I’m saying that we just couldn’t find enough angles to attack from. It seemed very difficult. ...> If the team is going through a rough patch, I’d prefer a 40-60 draft, but I’d want them to play their comfort picks. Because when you’re comfortable playing the champions you’re used to, you’re able to think a little more about the game as a whole. And I think that as soon as you get your brain working that way again—essentially, when you can play your own game and think about all these things—it builds a good habit, a kind of focus. You get on a roll, you get into that zone. And that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to strive for.

When we arrived at our first boot camp before BLAST Slam V, which was our first tournament, I think Nikko wasn’t quite ready in terms of his form. So we spent the first three or four days before the tournament getting him back into shape. And then it seemed like the scrims were kind of… I’d say very inconsistent. But scrims are usually like that. It just felt bad because the other four were ready. So it was probably frustrating for them. Well, they’d been working hard during the offseason, you know? And then one guy turned out not to be ready.