NAts on leadership: “I’m just trying to be me… doing that stuff when I feel it’s needed” – VCT EMEA Stage 2

Team Liquid’s return to regional competition saw them matched up with KOI for their opening VCT EMEA Stage 2. What seemed an easy tie on paper proved tricky for TL, with KOI much improved following a roster overhaul, though the side was still able to secure a 2-1 victory. Following the win, we spoke to Liquid’s IGL Ayaz “nAts” Akhmetshin for an interview.

Hotspawn: KOI played quote well today despite having been poor for most of the year, however they have made sweeping changes before Stage 2.

How do you prep for an opening game like that, where it is almost like facing a brand new team?

NAts: I would say we were surprised by their playstyle a bit. We were not expecting that they will be that aggressive. I don’t think Bind they played like that, but I think Icebox and Lotus, they played very aggressive and we were a bit surprised. But yeah, I mean, first game of [a] new tournament, it’s always like this. You don’t know what to expect and you need to always adjust, you need to always add that because you don’t have any anti on the enemies. So that’s kind of how the game went today.

For Team Liquid, it was trexx’s debut.

How do you think he did?

I think he did good in terms of helping the team in micro adjustments overall during the maps. Individual, I didn’t really pay attention, but I think for the first game he did fine and it’s going to be better and better and better, because he’s already [a] very experienced player.

He’s been on the stage so many times, he played so many official games. That’s why he’s already just experienced. I think the experience talks for for itself.

Did you see any of the off season stuff with him and Derke?

What was your reaction to that?

I did. So, I honestly don’t have really any reaction on that kind of thing because I don’t know what is happening inside of the team. That’s why. I’m not really thinking [about] what’s happening in the other teams, what’s happening inside. And I’m focusing only [on] what’s happening in our team. I’m not focusing [on] what’s happening with the other ones.

Just going back to Masters Toronto, where you were unable to travel during the start of the tournament.

Were you still able to give any remote support?

Unfortunately it was hard to implement something since they lost [the] IGL. They lost the person who would speak and have ideas during the server. That’s why they were doing most of the stuff by their own, so to understand how they wanna approach all of the stuff. That’s why I couldn’t honestly do much there.

So it was kind of like this. And when I came, we just started doing the stuff that we were doing before.

I imagine your leadership would’ve been a big loss. I saw on The Spike Drop that you mentioned how, in your opinion, the job of an IGL should primarily be being the leader within the group ahead of the in-game decision making, and you’ve become famous for your speeches and team talks.

Is there anyone you learned from to become such a great leader?

I don’t think I watched someone specific. I do watch some interviews and all of that stuff, and I’m the person who is taking the stuff from all of those interviews that I see, from what I hear, and I remember that kind of stuff.

But I didn’t have anyone who would I just watch: “Okay, I want to be as him”. I’m just trying to be me and I’m doing that stuff of feelings when I feel it’s needed. That’s how I see it.

Given TL’s first match against BLG was quite close even with your absence, it’s not wild to imagine that the team would’ve gone further in the tournament if you were there from the beginning.

Is there any frustration that you could’ve had a good run if the visa issues hadn’t happened?

I’m not sure frustration. I mean, we don’t know how it would be even if I would be there, but I think if I would be there, at least it would be a bit better benchmark. Because Bangkok was [the] first international tournament for most of the people in the team, so that’s why people were adjusting — just [a] new experience. And for Masters Toronto, it was already: “Okay, one international event passed, now we already got experience, now we’re going to use that experience”.

Unfortunately we faced something new that none of us faced. I never faced, they never faced that, I think. So that’s why maybe in terms of just the benchmark to see how we would actually perform after Stage 1. Maybe just for that.

Going back to Stage 2, and, as mentioned, KOI look much improved based on today’s game. Apeks also looked a lot better in their loss to NAVI as well.

How do you evaluate your group at the moment?

I would say there are two things. First thing [is] that we’re going to be improving match by match with the new player, because we also didn’t have much time to implement all of the new stuff. So that’s why we’re going to keep evolving.

And I think most of the teams, honestly, with the new people, people didn’t have time to understand: “Okay, this is going to be the direction [the] team is going to be taking, this is the direction we’re going to be playing the game”. For example, KOI — this week, they play like this, maybe they will do the VOD review and next week they’re going to come with a different approach. So first week, especially when you do roster changes, it’s always to see how it looks, how the map will look, how everyone is feeling on the roles.

So I’m actually not sure how it will be. I think after [the] second or third week is you where you already start understanding and what kind of understanding and idea they have. Because [the] meta [is] also shifting and it depends which meta people will go into.

Since VALORANT recently celebrated its fifth birthday, there’s been a lot of discussion around top 10s, top 5s, and all-time GOATs.

If you did a top five now, who would be in it?

That’s going to take a while, 100%. I’m very bad at that kind of thing. The issue is, I would love to do that, I would be sad if I forget someone who deserves to be in the top five. That’s why this thing, from my side saying that, I just don’t want to do it on random. I think I would love to think before.

I didn’t do that [already] specifically because I wanted to think. But I mean, it’s funny, and there is some obvious names. But for me, I would say other names also. I don’t want to just say to say whoever will come to it, because if I’m saying top five — I’m from [the] start of the game, there is people who deserve to be in top five. And it’s not good if I just forget that they exist because there are so many players.

Also on The Spike Drop, you mentioned how your ID partly came because you like eating nuts.

If you won’t give a top five players, will you at least let us know your top three varieties of nuts?

I think for the first one I would put pistachio. Actually I might as well struggle with the English names. Is it walnut? That looks like a brain. The third one I don’t have. I would actually eat the rest of them, but these first two I’m eating the most.