CHIRA_JUNIOR on the group stage of BLAST Slam VII: “Our games actually went really well.”

Malady: Our training at home didn’t go as planned, and at the last tournament we finished in the top 16. Overall, our expectations for this tournament were very low, but we got off to a solid start, going 3-0 on the very first day. We thought, “Here it is—first place in the group stage,” but not without some slip-ups. A couple of losses, and we’re in the top 5.

I’d say we lacked diligence in the drafts. Those four games we lost, I think we lost because of the draft. Poor hero picks.

Saksa: We had some not-so-great results at times, so we were probably a little less happy. We were probably a bit emotional about the matches, but now we’re trying to just look at things clearly, not let our emotions get the best of us, and understand why we lost some matches and why we won others. So overall, it’s fine, I’d say.

I think the strategy is to have good patterns in the game and build confidence that we can win any match, as well as understand who our opponent is, how they like to play, and how we can play ourselves to counter that. I think that in the bo1 format, we might not have been ready for some opponents because they can play different types of strategies. And I think that now that it’s going to be bo3, we’ll prepare for each opponent individually. And I think we’ll be better prepared, at least.

watson: I’m tired. I just want to sleep for three days and do nothing else. Eat and sleep.

[Question: “Is that even possible?”]

No, because today we have media, tomorrow we have a flight at 8 a.m., then media again—this time at BLAST—and then we have an early match. There’s no way I’ll get any sleep.

[Question: “What does your day look like when you’re resting?”]

When I’m at home, I wake up around five, or maybe six in the evening. The sun’s already down. I drink some coffee, have breakfast, and sit down at the computer.

CHIRA_JUNIOR: The games actually went well for us. We started off strong, but then people started preparing well against us too, making the right bans—it got tougher.

DM: You could say I decide who to play. I suggest a hero, and the coach usually says, “Well, that sounds fine.” It’s never been the case where I said I wanted a certain hero and the coach said, “No, that’s total nonsense.” You could say I decide who to play, and the coach gives the go-ahead.

Malady: First of all, I wouldn’t call myself a skilled Clockwerk player. And second, I’d say that right now, the co-op abilities are working kind of weird. Relatively speaking, in the last patch it seemed like their synergy with other heroes was much weaker than it is now, so it’s much easier to land hits with them now.

[Question: “So, did Valve quietly tweak something?”]

Yeah, I think they did that and didn’t mention it anywhere.

DM: I believe the team wins. Obviously, in some games I contributed 20%, in others 21%, and in some less than 20%. Either way, the team wins, and the team loses together. In some games, the early game was really tough [Early stage. — Ed.], and there, I probably managed to contribute less than 10%.

Saksa: I think LGD is the most toxic because they pick completely non-meta picks and try so hard to out-draft you. They’ll pick anything and try to make it work. They’ll play Axe in position 5, Gyro in position 5—they’ll try anything to gain a slight advantage over you.

[Question: “What do you think of Team Spirit?”]

Sometimes they might look like they’re getting back on track, but then they somehow mess it all up. I think it’s a little too easy to draft against them. They don’t try to do anything crazy. I think the team lacks drafters. You can see that the supports they had probably weren’t drafting, so now it’s up to Larl. But I think they lack that leadership, I think, in the support role. And I think they need that to succeed.