Note: This article is a text port of our live interview with d4v41. The video interview can be found here.


Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #3 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov started their journey in Champions Seoul with a dominant 0-2 defeat against G2 Esports on the opening match of day four. VLR.gg had the opportunity to speak to Paper Rex's Khalish "d4v41" Rusyaidee following their loss.

I'd like to start off by asking about how the last few weeks have been for the team. Leading up to Champions, the team had an unfortunate finish to VCT Pacific, ending the season as the third seed. After the split ended, what were some of the things that the team has been working on to come back into form?

"I think we were trying to improve on our teamwork coming to this tournament. I think in Shanghai, we didn't really play well as a team. I think that's the path that we are going for right now."

It's been pointed out before that ever since the addition of your new assistant coach bulb, the team has been putting more emphasis on coordinated team play rather than solely the signature W Gaming playstyle. Now that the team has had more downtime since the conclusion of VCT Pacific, how has making some of these adaptations played out for the team in practice?

"His role right now is just pointing out mistakes in-game, mostly individual mistakes. I think he's doing well in practice. I mean, today I guess I would say we weren't really playing our A game. G2 also played really well, so I guess it's not really showing up to the level that we play in practice. Hopefully by the next matches we do show how we play in practice."

Today's match against G2 marks the third time you've gone against their core, with a 1-1 record to date between the two of you, most recently losing to them in Shanghai. Did you have any initial thoughts on the rematch before taking them on today?

"I think our goal was just to win against an NA team coming to this match. After seeing the bracket, we've been losing to NA teams couple of times, I believe. I think our goal is just to break our streak, I guess, and unfortunately it didn't go well for us.

It was a bit of a new look for the team coming into Icebox. Previously, throughout the entire year, the team opted to pick KAY/O as the primary Initiator for the team, However, coming into the G2 matchup it was switched out for Sova. What led to the change?

"I think it was because recently, we struggled a lot against the Operator, which is why I think that's how we changed to Sova. I mean, today's game I would say was a little bit different because they a ran no Duelist comp, so I guess we weren't not synchronized enough to stop their retakes. We kind of knew their game plan and I guess we kind of crumbled in a few rounds. Leaf managed to flank us and even almost got an ace."

It seemed to be a slow start for PRX's defense on Icebox, ending the half 4-8. What were some of the main concerns the team addressed before heading to your attack?

"I think we were very bad at dealing with their retakes, such as with the Gekko flashes. I think they combo it pretty well. I would say team-wise, I mean personally even myself, I think I haven't been hitting shots as well today, so I think that's probably on me."

That translated over to your attack as well. On your attack side, it then seemed like PRX had a notably tough time fending off G2's retakes. What do you think went wrong on the team's postplants?

I think with this specific comp, maybe when you're not hitting shots and having to deal with util such as Wingman and Harbor's Cove, I think it pretty much added more problems to our postplant. I think we weren't fast enough or not synchronized enough to stop the retakes.

In hindsight, did not having KAY/O kind of hurt your Icebox postplants even more?

"Yeah, kind of. Could be, I mean, since they surprised us with this comp, maybe we should have swapped back. I mean, who knows, right?"

After map one, alecks made a comment to the main stream about there being a “game plan” that wasn't followed through by the team on Icebox. If you're able to, what about your initial game plan for Icebox went wrong as a whole?

"I think what he meant by that is probably that we should have tried their B site as well. There were a lot of rounds that we ended up going A, so I think what he meant was maybe we should have tried going B and see how it goes rather than hitting our head against the wall and trying to go A again and again."

Unfortunately, a similar slow start theme seemed to continue even into Lotus. Both timeouts were taken by the end of the first half, only to be down 9-3. What issues did alecks discuss throughout both timeouts and the halftime to try and stop the bleeding?

"He pretty much talked about stopping their retakes. I think we all needed to be on the same page in terms of destroying their utility. That's pretty much what he mentioned, that we should be more vocal about it, who was going to destroy or try to shoot their stuff together. We weren't on the same page."

The series ultimately ended 0-2. Looking back now, do you think G2 played differently from how the team initially anticipated, and if so, what changed from what PRX initially prepared?

"I don't think so. I think they played pretty much how we expected. So yeah, I think it's whether you can stop their game plan and their flanks, I guess. I mean they played quite different from other teams. I would say some teams from Asia don't really play like that very often. Today they played differently and I think they were being quite creative with their Harbor walls, such as to stop our Killjoy turret from supporting us. Props to them."

What are some of your key takeaways from how the team played during the series as a whole?

"I don't know. I mean, maybe we should have been less readable, I would say. Maybe we should work more in terms of our tactics. I think we were quite obvious today, I think that's why especially on Lotus, they had stacks every time we hit the site. They always had an extra one or two people. Maybe for our coming matches we would try to be less readable, I think."

You'll now have to face one of EDG or FUT in the lower bracket in the coming days. Which of the two are you expecting to go up against?

"I think it's hard to say. Both teams are very good teams, and EDG is looking good as well. FUT is also looking good in EMEA. I'm not too sure, I think it's a 50/50 game, but I think if I had to choose one, I think it probably would be EDG due to their new roster."