Boaster: “This is probably the best vibes team I’ve ever had”

Historically EMEA’s best team, Fnatic’s forgettable Kickoff finish meant that they were underdogs coming into a series against holders Team Vitality. However, an underwhelming performance from Vitality and their former-Fnatic star Derke meant that the two-time global event winners found victory over the French organisation. We spoke to Fnatic’s main man, IGL Boaster, after the win.

Hotspawn: You’ve had a lot of praise this series, particularly on your Haven performance. Were you feeling it on that last map?

Boaster: Oh, I was definitely feeling it. I just felt like I had the read. I just felt like I knew what we wanted to do and we were getting the perfect picks. And when you get a 5v4 advantage in Haven, the map is yours, you can do whatever you want. As long as you punish the pushers, you’re looking juicy — that’s what we were looking.

Lee Jones: On the broadcast, Alfajer discussed how you were making predictions on how Derke would react to Fnatic’s strategies.

Could you explain a bit more about those calls around Derke’s play?

Boaster: Derke is a long-time teammate of mine, so I know his tendencies. I know when he’s not having a good game, what he likes to do. I know when he’s having a good game, what he likes to do. And I just felt like Haven especially was a map that I was supporting him a lot on on defence and I saw him like run down middle a lot and stuff like that. I just felt like I knew when he’d want to do it and I knew when he’d want to do other things, and they were giving us a lot of map control which kind of played to our favour.

I was sad for Derke because I don’t think he had the best performance and I know what he’s like if he really cares about winning a game and it’s not the best one, but I’m sure he’ll bounce back and I hope he does.

But you know, a win’s a win. I’m really happy, I’m really happy with my performance. F****** hell — goodness me — I had a banger series.

Was it a statement to show that Fnatic is still a top team to have beaten the Kickoff winners?

100%. Kaajak, is a really good duelist. The reason why we picked him up is because we saw potential in him and we just have immaculate vibes. Crashies is really finding himself in this team. Milan and Scuttt are really nice additions to have as a combination as coaches.

This is probably the best vibes team I’ve ever had. Even on bad days, we’re still trying to make positives out of it. So I’m just really happy and I’m playing well as well. So it’s like a wombo combo.

Talking of the coaches, part of the changes saw d00mbr0s join but then have to go inactive shortly after. Were the chances a bit hectic overall?

Boaster: A little bit, because we obviously expected d00mbr0s to be our assistant coach, but as soon as he started to get some health problems, we were like; “Oh, my goodness, we need another assistant coach”. These Swedish people coming into our team, they just don’t want to stay.

And so, yeah, we had to find Scuttt, and he was friends with Milan. Milan trusted him. And then I interviewed Scuttt as well and some of the stuff he was doing, the stuff he made, it made it obvious to me that he obviously knew about the game and knew what was going on. He’s been a really good addition and both of them just get along quite nicely.

I just think the whole team has a really nice atmosphere right now. Even when we lost after Kickoff, we really improved with it. And our performance coach as well, that’s a new addition to us — Phil (Szed) — he’s like a ray of sunshine as well, so it’s really refreshing.

What did you think about the head coach changes? Was it as simple as Fnatic needing to be amongst the top of the competition and that not happening during Kickoff?

Boaster: I’m not entirely sure what the changes were, but I spoke to all the team players and stuff and we spoke about it and it just felt like the right thing to do. I just think Kickoff was an event, like start of the event, it’s always the teams that have just individuals and good prep. Like it’s either one or the other.

We had decent prep but not enough prep for Tejo. But now I feel like we understand the Tejo meta and we know which maps we’d want to use him on. And also Vyse, it took me a while to get used to playing against Vyses. I didn’t have to play against any today.

But yeah, there’s so much in this meta. But the more we practise, the better Fnatic gets. And I think that’s kind of how we roll is we’re a slow burner team, we’ve got really good players and once I get used to calling and the strategy of stuff, it’s looking juicy.

Lee Jones: Fnatic seems to have been written off already as one of the global powerhouses, but now you’ve beaten the EMEA superteam and EMEA Kickoff winners.

Do you think it’s too early to start thinking about global events?

Boaster: I think everyone is looking at Fnatic and thinking we have a chance. So I feel like we should too, like start believing in ourselves. Just because we’ve lost Leo and Derke, it doesn’t mean that we can’t be top contenders. And we’ve had history with — even without the best players — making it to these events.

So I just think we just got to believe in the process, keep working hard, keep the vibes positive and we can win with team spirit and good preparation and that’s kind of what we’re doing. Whereas when it comes to the global events, that’s what we play for, you know, we want to get to these events. So this year I’m not really focusing on winning anything trophies-wise, I’m just focusing on qualifying and if we win, then that’s nice. I want to go back to that style of not expecting a win, but working for it. And if you lose, there’s no problem with it.

Lee Jones: Going back to Derke’e departure, I feel like the Fnatic core has a unique experience of having spent so much time together everyday for years, presumably forming strong internal bonds in the process.

What is it like going from having such an intense working relationship with someone like that to, overnight, starting to hardly see them?

Boaster: So I’ve met up with Derke since, and we’ve played some games online together — League of Legends, mainly the fun game modes. I would never forget the team that I won LOCK//IN with or Masters Tokyo with — it was such a big moment in my life and such a great comeback.

I was thinking about it like two days ago, actually. I was like:

“I wonder when we’re older, Alfajer might have kids. Am I gonna go to Turkey go visit his kids?” and be like “yo, what’s up? I’m Daddy- not Daddy Boaster- I’m Uncle Boaster, how you doing?” Kind of thing and stuff.

I’ll have to remind him to make sure his kids learn English, stuff like that. So it’s an interesting thought. Obviously Derke was a pivotal player, pivotal friend of mine. And so I think we definitely will — once this is all gone — I’ll see him. Just like dudes do, you know, you don’t see your mates for like six months and you’re back on it, kind of thing.