C0M: "We just have to go back to the drawing board"

Note: This article is a text port of our live interview with C0M. The video interview can be found here.

Your match was against one of the biggest unknowns of the tournament, Trace Esports. Have you had any prior experience playing against Trace, such as practicing against them during Shanghai?

"No, never played against Trace before. I think going into this match overall, we looked at what they were doing, and they were doing a lot of good stuff. And yeah, they played really well today. Honestly, you could just tell they were playing well."

Did you have any other initial thoughts about going against Trace heading into today's matchup?

"Yeah, that's pretty much it. They weren't like other Chinese teams, I would say. They were a lot more slow and thought out in the way they were playing, whereas most other Chinese teams are very run it down, like W gaming, you know."

Some teams have said already that Trace is very, very macro heavy. Do you think that kind of reflects in today's matchup?

"Yeah, they had very good macro. We sometimes gave away our full macro in a matter of like the first five seconds of the round, so it was a lot. We kind of need to look back at the VOD for sure. I think again against Talon, we didn't play too great and today, I'd say it's the same. So I guess it's just about finding our overall form again."

LEV began the map veto by letting Bind stick through the veto. Whereas Trace pulled off somewhat of a clean sweep against Vitality on Bind to get to today's match, LEV had a bit of a rough first showing on the map, narrowly taking it 13-11 against Talon. How confident did the team feel against Trace's Bind initially?

"We were pretty confident going into it. To be honest, I felt like we had a lot of advantageous spots and they just, it felt like we just died randomly, honestly, whether it be from spam or whatever they were doing. I wasn't too sure. But I mean, that's how the cookie crumbles."

What is it like playing against Trace's double sentinel Bind comp? Are you able to point out any particular weaknesses or strengths from just a cursory glance?

"I think it's good, but also I feel like we didn't stick to our game plan at all. Whenever we went into it, we kind of gave them all the space they needed to execute, and then on defense we kind of just stayed stagnant for the most part."

Map two took you to Sunset. It's a map that you've had fairly good performances on throughout split 2. On the opposite side, Trace also lost the map to Vitality in their previous match. Would you say that Sunset was kind of a comfort pick for the team heading into today?

"I feel like our map pool overall is very good. Maybe we have to look at it a little bit more after this, but I think our map pool is good overall. Even if we went to the Grand Finals and we had two map ban disadvantage, we'd be fine. But I think it's just essentially figuring our map pool out. I think we know the general direction we want to go now, but I don't know, time will tell."

On that note, were you kind of more prepared to play your own game, not just for Sunset, but through the series as a whole?

"Yeah, I think again, we didn't really follow our game plan that well and it became very individualistic. It's just about, I mean, we just have to go back to the drawing board on that."

While you did eventually win on Sunset, a lot of it came to momentum. You had a 4k on a 4v5 retake on round seven off the back of your team's timeout, and LEV went on a hot streak of rounds after that. How important do you think getting that initial round from your performance was in getting the team spirit back on track?

"I think it was big because whenever people have individual pop off rounds, it kind of gets people back in the flow of the game. I'd say these last couple games, we were not fully in flow. People are here and there, kind of lackadaisical in some ways. But I think it's pretty normal, this game has that and it's just about working through that as a team and keep growing."

On both sides, at one point it seemed as if something clicked to give LEV full steam ahead to set the tempo and win streaks of rounds. Especially on defense, what clicked for the team to gain such momentum?

"I think people just started giving all their ideas. As soon as we started flowing with our ideas and filling in gaps perfectly and doing everything that we can do to win the game ultimately, that's when our team becomes unbeatable. But I think whenever we're lacking ideas, then it becomes very 50/50."

Moving on to Ascent now. Things, to put it mildly, definitely didn't go in your favor, especially in the first half. You took both timeouts by round 11 and at that point, you were down 10-2 before eventually falling at the half down 10-2. What did you discuss through both timeouts and even at halftime to try to get back on track?

"The first one was figuring out what we should do to counter what they were doing. The second one was just reassuring the game plan, which even for me, I probably didn't follow all the way to perfection. And yeah, we just didn't work the map as well as we wanted to in previous times. I think it was just reinforcing the game plan, trying to figure out what we could do and then try to win some rounds."

Ascent eventually fell 13-5. Overall, what went wrong on the map as a whole?

"Every time we went for some sort of little execute, they were perfectly just holding their utility out for that. They would be holding a lot of utility and baiting out stuff perfectly. It was just overall good. They played well, I'm not going to take that away from them, but we definitely underperformed."

Were there any specific players that you think were troubling or hard to play against today?

"I would say on map three, Kai, just because Kai had an Operator. Every time we tried to push him off, he just kept getting a pick. I think we ended that map with some crazy amount of first deaths on everyone, like 13 or 14 without a trade, which just cannot happen. So yeah, I would say Kai."

This is also your first match against a Chinese team this year, whereas previously you did win against EDG in Champions 2023. A lot of time has passed since then. Since then, how much do you think the region has caught up in the year since?

"I just think they have a lot more diversity in their region. I think especially this year, there are slower teams that know how to default out the map and just know exactly what they need to do to win the rounds. They know their win conditions, which is respectable. They're progressing. I said even before this tournament, I think China will be very good. I think all regions are pretty even right now. And yeah, I just think they played really well."

Your chances aren't over yet. You and aspas still have the chance to become two-time world champions in the lower bracket, and it starts by getting to go against one of Vitality or Talon. Which of the two are you more excited to go against?

"Either one. I think our team is pissed off. We want to put our best foot forward and not go out of Champions like a former version of ourselves. So yeah, either one we play, I'm excited to play. It doesn't matter who, just I'm down to play."

Lastly, just to forget the loss for a minute, you were able to have your family here to watch you play in Seoul. Putting the loss aside, how does it feel to play Champions with their support?

"It feels really good. I mean, they haven't been able to go to a lot of the VCT Americas games, so it's definitely nice to see them here and watch me compete. But something I want more than anything is just to have them see me lift a trophy. If I'm not able to do that at this tournament, then honestly, I consider it a failure."