FrosT: "The biggest reason we lost is because we were too nervous"

Note: This article is a text port of our live interview with FrosT. The video interview can be found here.

LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Rank #1 Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena C0M Corbin Lee subverted doubts of an upset with a 2-0 victory over APAC's bottom seed TALON TALON Asia-Pacific Rank #16 Crws Thanamethk Mahatthananuyut JitBoyS Jittana Nokngam primmie Papaphat Sriprapha ban Joseph Seungmin Oh Governor Peter No in Group C's first match. Following the match, VLR.gg had the opportunity to speak to Talon's Hector "FrosT" Rosario regarding the defeat. For FrosT, today's match had plenty of reflections, both good and bad.

You've had just about three weeks of downtime ever since the end of your run in VCT Pacific. While the team's results following the Team Secret match didn't look phenomenal, what, if anything has changed regarding primmie's role in the team, and what have you since been able to implement as you headed into the match today?

"In playoffs, we were even picking maps that we're not supposed to or ones we wouldn't normally simply because for him we picked his comfort maps. DRX picked Ascent on us the last time we did that because simply put, we just wanted to put him in the most comfortable spot. Since technically playoffs didn't matter for us we had already qualified at that point we were simply just trying to do the best we could to try to let him play agents and compositions that he was comfortable with. Now, I basically have him on anything and everything since he's basically fully integrated into what we want to do you know. The largest change is we're no longer stuck with picking specific comps or maps, and now we can just do whatever we feel like we need to do."

Heading into the match itself, and retaining the theme of comfortability; today was the team's Champions debut. Even with this being the first international event for Governor and primmie, were there any first-match jitters or nerves that you noticed amongst the players?

"One hundred percent. I have no problem saying it, but I think largely the biggest reason we didn't beat Leviatán is simply because we were just too nervous. We were too nervous and we kept making mistakes, we're forgetting plays, you know? That's just how it is."

Talon entered Bind with a bit of a shocking comp. You opted to completely change every player's agents. To what degree did you deliberate on the composition over the last few weeks, and what led to some of the picks, most notably putting Governor on a new Neon map?

"I think for us what's interesting is that it seems like people get shocked about these comps, but if I think if you've watched us all year, we've consistently done this. Most of these guys can play every agent, so I have carte blanche basically on what ideas we want to run. We certainly found a lot of things we can exploit and we thought that we would have been able to do that and execute on that much better than we did. That comp seems unusual to people but there's a bunch of reasons why we felt like it was both the right thing to do against them. I think it would have given us the edge of the matchup. It didn't work out, and it is what it is."

Judging by the fact that Bind was your pick, how did practicing this comp play out for Talon to make you confident in choosing it as the first map?

"Frankly we were just destroying everybody, but again, you know it it just is what it is. Some of these guys are very young, and as you mentioned it's their first time. It's sort of the growing pains that happen with people experiencing something for the first time, they don't always get it right. But if they stick with it long enough, obviously with the more experience comes more comfort and being able to play in these moments. I honestly think that we were just not as good as we should have been in particular moments and those swing rounds could just carry."

Even after a bit of a slow start on Bind, falling early 0-4 and down 7-5 by the end of your attack, what did you discuss during halftime and onwards to keep the team's spirit up?

"In the pregame, I basically told them that the team that is often the most calm wins predominantly. Especially because as the stakes get bigger, and the tournament goes deeper, the game matters more to everyone else. If you can keep your head about you and you can do the things you're supposed to do, you take advantage of your advantages, you normally will win those. I kept trying to tell them like, 'Guys relax. You felt them now, they had a big lead, they threw it away, you're good, it's still winnable.' I wasn't really coaching, we pretty much knew what we were going to do on the other side. You talk about that 0-4, that should have been 0-4 for them, but it's unlucky. If we chain the rest of it that half could have gone the other way."

What issues from Bind did you make known to the team to try and fix before heading into Ascent, especially seeing that you were initially up 11-9 on map one?

"The same issues that happened on Bind happened on Ascent. The truth is, it just comes down to being comfortable in these moments and dealing with the pressure, remembering the things you're supposed to be doing, and communicating effectively. Often times, those breakdowns happen when you're not ready. After we lost Bind, I basically said, 'Okay, we probably threw threw so many rounds away and still had a chance to win." I felt like we should be confident enough going into the second map, so I basically just tried to tell them that it was fine and to just through the second map, we'll win on Sunset and it'll be no problem. But ultimately, the same issues happened, it's just unlucky.

On Ascent, you made the choice to return to the Nine Lives comp that had only been shown off twice throughout Split 2. Previously, you lost 6-13 to ZETA and narrowly won 13-11 to DRX with this comp, but you brought it back today for the LEV match. What made you bring it back and, in theory, what makes it good in your mind?

"Without getting too into it, there are specific advantages that comp has against what we saw. It was just kind of unlucky because on Ascent, I don't even think we gave ourselves a chance to win. The communication breakdowns, the mistakes with our util, it was just a mess. It was actually a miracle that at one point, it was like 7-9. We won four rounds in a row on defense and we basically thought that we can just control the whole thing, but then it's just mistake after mistake after mistake and. These things happen, it's all good."

In North America especially, it seems like most teams have shifted their Ascent picks towards the new Deadlock comp. Seeing as this is not something that was seen at all in VCT Pacific, you've received your first experience against it in an official today. With your revival comp, what is it like to play against Deadlock on Ascent and what are some of its particular strengths and weaknesses you've noticed so far?

"Exactly what I thought the strengths would be. That comp has a lot of weaknesses; it does have its strengths for sure, but it has a lot of weaknesses. The biggest weakness is probably that if you play slow against it, it's actually really good to play against, because they don't have enough util. Small example, without KAY/O, you don't have the extra info. When you don't have the flash to reclear middle, you have to fight for it. Our comp, we have the counter util to be able to stop it, so it's like you definitely have advantages. I'm sure they have advantages. It's harder to go fast because of the Deadlock Cypher util. Deadlock's wall is really good if you're not really aware of it. You saw one round, Deadlock had full kit on the A retake and we still completely destroyed them. Her util is absolutely broken if you get into post plan situations on attack, yet we still came out on top. We felt like the comp has its merit."

Overall, Ascent was yet another loss and the series ultimately fell 0-2. What do you think were some of the main problems with how Ascent played out?

"I think honestly, at the end of the day, we need to be able to play a clean game. If we can figure out how to consistently play at our best, we are going to be good. But if we consistently just give up and throw rounds, I don't think we're going to be very good. If this is the best that we want to be, we're already there."

Lastly, with your loss today, you'll now have to face one of either Team Vitality or Trace Esports. Which of the two are you expecting to go against?

Probably Trace? That's the expectation. I actually think Trace is pretty underrated coming out of China. I think Trace is the most macro heavy Chinese team, they have their chance to beat Vitality. do I think they're going to do it? No, I don't think they're going to. If they play like they do in scrims, they'll win actually. I expect Vitality to be able to play a pretty solid game. By the way, I just want everybody to know Vitality is sitting in the room next to us at the hotel practice room. So the two roommates are basically about to play against each other, which to me is insane.