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


The first question I'd like to ask is regarding the downtime you've had since your opening match. Your victory against FPX was a little muddy, to put it lightly. With five days of off time ever since your first match, what mistakes or lessons from the FPX match did you try to improve on in practice in the days following the match?

"I think a lot of it was just the fundamentals, like basic stuff, peeking together, communication. I think all of those things are easy to do but hard to master. The point that we were at our best in those things was in Shanghai. I think it dropped a little bit towards the end of Stage 2 playoffs, and that's why we were doing badly. We've just been building it up over time. The break we had between Stage 2 and Champions starting made us improve a lot, and it was just because our fundamentals have gotten a lot better. I think that's also why we won today."

Today was your rematch against Gen.G. You last played them in the Shanghai finals and fell 2-3. What initial thoughts did you have going against them once again, this time with Champions playoffs on the line?

"I knew it was going to be a very hard game because they are a very good team, but I was feeling really confident. I could feel the improvement we had between this game and the FPX game. I could feel us improving in scrims, practice, and our mentality, which I was really happy about. That's the reason I was feeling super confident. You can't control if you win or lose a game; you can just control what you do inside the game. I think we did the best we could, and that's why we won."

By playing today's matchup, you went against the home team who are also overarching favorites to win the event as a whole. How did it feel on the stage playing against the overwhelming crowd favorite?

"I never really get nervous anymore. The pressure is always higher when the crowd isn't on your side, but we've done this so many times now. In Shanghai, we played against all Chinese teams. We know what it feels like to have the crowd against us, but I actually feel like the crowd here was also kind of supporting us, which I was happy about. We had some cheers, so I was happy. I think some Gen.G fans are also fans of us, which is nice. It must be kind of hard for them seeing us play against each other if they are fans of both, but it felt good. The crowd was loud, which is what I love. I like being able to hear the crowd. If I do something sick, hearing the crowd scream through the mics is a really good feeling. I don't really care if it's against us or with us; I just like having a loud crowd."

Today's match marked Gen.G's debut on Abyss and was your map pick. In contrast, Heretics is one of the few teams to have played Abyss three times ever since its addition to the map pool. How is playing or practicing Abyss different in Asia compared to what you typically see in Europe, and how, if in any way, do these differences reflect in your approach to the map?

"The big thing is just the Asian play style. Playing and scrimming teams here is different than scrimming teams in EMEA. Some teams in Europe play the same as APAC teams. If I had to name some, probably CGN and Acend play like an APAC team. They have crazier play styles and comps, so I think it's just getting used to different comps. We've played against Yoru in scrims before, and it prepared us well for this game against Gen.G. Before coming to APAC, we had never scrimmed against Yoru on Abyss, so yeah, people like Yoru here."

Even after gathering some great momentum in the second half of map one after a 1v1 by Boo, Abyss ultimately fell out of your hands. Overall, towards the end of the map, what do you think were some of the things that started to go wrong?

"It is hard playing against a team that you have no info on. They had info about how we played, but we didn't have info about how they played. I think we lacked some balls and confidence. We were playing a bit scared. If we played with more confidence, we probably would have won map one. We started gaining confidence over the next two maps, and that was a big help. You've got to have confidence against a team like this because if you play scared, they are just going to beat you."

Did anything about Gen.G's comp or the way they work around and play Abyss stand out to you?

"They are just crazy. They are an APAC team, a coordinated APAC team. They take one versus ones and do crazy stuff like swinging through smokes. They are a lot more coordinated, swinging through smokes together with util sometimes. They are very coordinated, which makes it so hard to play against them. They do unpredictable stuff but do it well and together. It's hard to counter sometimes. We found ways to counter it, but in general, if they do it well, you'll just die."

Moving onto map two – even though Gen.G stole the anti-eco away from Heretics, you didn't let their advantage get out of hand despite being down 10-5. What changed on Heretics' attack approach to steal Lotus away from Gen.G?

"First of all, it is an attack-sided map. We knew that. Defense is difficult to play on Lotus. They also have a good attack. It came down to confidence. Part of the timeout at halftime was just saying we need more confidence. If you play scared, you're just going to lose. We played with a lot of confidence and played together. We had some clutches that went our way as well, and that always helps. We played a lot more together and with confidence, which we lacked on defense and also in Abyss."

A massive curveball comp came for Heretics heading into Bind. You flipped the switch and swapped out Raze, Fade, and Brimstone for Yoru, Astra, and Skye. How was this agent combo decided on?

"We played similar comps in Kickoff with the same idea of a ton of flashes. We did it mainly for comfort picks. All of us are comfortable on the agents we play. We knew Gen.G would have anti-stratted us because we've played so many times with the same comp and style. It was getting very anti-strattable. We swapped it up, and we knew if we spent time changing the comp, they wouldn't know what to expect. They wouldn't have watched our Kickoff games from Stage 1 to figure out how we play this comp. We played it quite similar to then, with some changes. It was mainly just because we knew they would anti-strat us, and we weren't super comfortable with our old comp anymore."

Off the back of your Lotus comeback, Heretics got off to an incredibly strong 8-4 lead. What do you think went right on your starting side on Bind in contrast to how Lotus began to get to such a commanding start?

"It felt good being in the lead. For me, I don't really think about the score too much. Momentum is a lot more important. I focus on each round at a time. I don't think about what's going to happen next round or worry about losing the game. If you focus on that, you'll lose to yourself. I focus on the present, and it's something I've been working on a lot. It obviously felt good having such a good attack side. It gave me confidence because I was also playing well. Going to defense, we just went with the same confidence."

Even with Gen.G inching forward with a comeback of their own, you were able to keep your cool and stave off disaster. Did you have any real worries of a comeback on the second half of Bind as the scoreline got closer and closer?

"As we started losing rounds, I could feel the momentum slipping away, but I wasn't worrying too much because I knew if I was feeling good, we would win the game. I knew we were going to win the game."

You went through a well-fought and incredibly close victory today. How does it feel to get revenge from your loss in Shanghai?

"I was really hoping to win grand finals, so it definitely felt good. I think also the fact that they were kind of like the favorites of Champions, and I mean they were the favorites to beat us as well. We were kind of underdogs. It kinda reminds me of when we first made the team, to every team we were just underdogs. It felt good being an underdog again after so long of being just a highly rated team. Obviously people still rate us, but they didn't rate us higher than Gen.G. To become underdogs and win again brings me back to early days of the team."

FPX, Sentinels, and Gen.G remain in your group: three incredibly strong teams, but only one can qualify. Which one of the three do you think will make it, if you had to pick just one?

"If Gen.G don't qualify, that would be something crazy. I want to be honest. The thing is, it is a group of death, right? Everybody's really good, but I think Gen.G is still on another level. I'd be really surprised if Gen.G don't qualify, so yeah, I'd just have to go with Gen.G."

Lastly, during map one, you seemed to be looking at your mom and brother on the stage as they did the halftime interview. How does it feel for you to be playing with the support of your family? How significant of a difference does it make to you, especially in the most important event of the year?

"Yeah, I mean, it's super important for me. One of my goals at the start of the year was, I had a little notes page on my phone, and one of them was to have my family and friends watch me at an international tournament. First of all, it was to qualify to an international event. So now it was to kind of let them watch me play. For Shanghai, I had two of my friends coming out, and now this time I've got my mom and my brother. So yeah, it feels really good. It's really nice to see them in the crowd. Being able to see them after games or before games, whatever, it's just a nice sort of break from how intense everything is in the VCT. It's a big relief. I'm too happy that they're here and not back home in England, so yeah."