Interview with zonic
Q: First of all, congratulations on winning the major. How does it feel to be on the team that gives NiKo his first major?
A: To be honest, it was part of my goal working with him. I always said it. I remember back just before I joined Vitality, I had signed with Vitality and we started talking a bit about working together. I said, “Now is not the time because I already signed the contract, but let's see in the future.”
So it's always been my goal because it's been such a big topic. To challenge myself, hopefully I can be — and let's be honest, a small part — in him getting a major, because he deserves everything himself. He has been so phenomenal this tournament, both mentally, but also as a leader, stats-wise, everything. He has just been a different character, to be honest.
Q: Your road to the final was pretty tough, with teams like Spirit and Vitality. Does that make this win feel extra special?
A: Yeah, of course. I mean, now also being part of a major journey where people started criticizing us because we didn't have a tough road to the grand final, I think it couldn't have been written better, this journey that we have been on.
Changing the IGL in the middle of the season, losing two finals — one where we had absolutely nothing to do against Spirit, and then one where we sat with the feeling that, “Hey, this was our game to win.” The last tournament we won before this one was PGL Bucharest one year ago, and now we won the major.
And in that fashion that we did, beating Na'Vi, who had been hot just before the major, then Vitality, Spirit, and then FURIA. I mean, this is the top of the top. And then to win the major in that fashion, I'm just super proud and also relieved that we actually had a final where it didn't go the full distance with overtimes and whatnot.
Q: If you had asked anyone two months ago who would win the major, nobody would have said Falcons. What did karrigan bring that other IGLs couldn't?
A: Leadership. Leadership first and foremost.
We knew getting Finn that obviously it's not going to be on the server. Stats-wise, he's not going to bring anything. But what he doesn't have on aim and all of that, he brings as a leader. I think you can also see throughout this tournament that both René and Maxim, TeSeS, and kyousuke have been playing outstanding throughout the tournament.
He brings a direction. It's tough as a coach. Of course, we need more time and we need to work on certain stuff. But at the end of the day, it's the five players who have to make it work. It's just good that they have a leader who is so present and so aware of all the pieces that he has.
But also credit to the players. Leadership — you need to have followership as well. And they are buying into everything he's saying, and that's good.
Q: You might disagree with this because of your Astralis past and working with gla1ve, but do you think this major win cements karrigan's legacy as the greatest IGL of all time?
A: I mean, there's no doubt that I've worked with very good IGLs: apEX from Vitality, karrigan first in Astralis and now here in Falcons, and also gla1ve. I think it's different. It's how you see it. Maybe at the end of my career I will come with my point of view.
But the redemption that he has done here, I mean, it definitely puts him all the way up there, I think.
Q: Everybody has been talking about this adjustment period for this new lineup. Do you think you're reaching the end of this period?
A: Adjustment period, you're talking about integrating? No, I think we're far off, to be honest.
I think you've also seen on the map pool, we didn't really know about our map pool. After the bootcamp, I've evaluated with Eamon(?) and Finn — my assistant coach and Finn — and I was like, “I think our Anubis, there is something with our Anubis.” We talked about that. This has not been bad, looking through the stats and how we were playing and some of the things that we have. It was just, we have to go for it.
Because, yeah, we knew it was going to be tough in the best of five, map-pool-wise. So I was just happy to see that mentally we were there. And then, when you reach that far, it's not necessarily about the maps.
But in terms of what you're asking, we definitely need more time still.
Q: Thank you very much. Congratulations again.
A: Thank you so much.