What do you think about Armut and his first week performance?
I think overall Armut had a good performance. Against Astralis especially. I was very happy with the way he applied a lot of the concepts we have been working on. In that game he snowballed and extended his lead very cleanly. Obviously there are still a lot of things to work on and I think we are still adapting as a team but I’m confident that Armut will be able to show consistent strong performances at an LEC level.
How was scouting and transferring process of Armut?
The process was fairly simple to be honest: after speaking with him it was very clear to me that he was someone who would fit the MAD team environment and culture very well. The team all felt the impact that Armut had on the map when playing against us at Worlds and I was sure that his play style would be a good match for the existing MAD identity. Armut himself also showed a real hunger and passion for improvement and his old team SuperMassive were very accommodating in making the process easy for both us and him.
What should be expected from MAD Lions for this season? What are your goals?
For now, I just want us to focus on improving a little bit every day. As long as we can do that then we will certainly be a good team by the end of the year and that’s when it matters the most. In terms of long-term goals, it goes without saying that all of us are very motivated to make the World Championship in China again.
Humanoid’s performance is being criticized on the social media? What are your opinions to that topic?
Humanoid is a player who will always try to push his champion to the extreme edge of its limits: he is aggressive, fearless and utterly confident in his own ability to execute. Sometimes that means you’re going to make mistakes but sometimes you’re also going to win games and more often than not Humanoid comes up big in the moments that matter most. Everyone on the team understands this and embraces it as part of the core identity of MAD.
What was the main reason for the losses on the previous week?
I think in day 1, G2 just held their composure better than us, which is understandable for the first game of the season. Our loss to Misfits I would put mostly on myself, as I think our draft was very suboptimal.
What is the mentality of the team after losing match? Could they maintain their mental stability?
Our mentality as a team will always be that as long as you take something from every loss. Losing doesn’t matter.
What is your opinion about potentiel of the current roster? Do You have plans to keep the roster same for long period of time?
I think this roster will be a more varied and adaptable team than the previous year’s MAD Lions. Elyoya and Armut are players that we have committed to for the long term, both of them having signed 3 year contracts — I’m very much looking forward to working with both of them over this period and I believe the rest of the players are as well. I enjoy working with this roster immensely and I hope that we are able to stay together next year.
How is team synergy? Could team manage to get along with each other besides the game?
From what I’ve seen so far, the players are getting on very well with each other both in and outside of the game: we have a lot of fun together, always making jokes and laughing. We also aren’t afraid to talk about mistakes and ways to improve openly, which I think is very important.
Renekton win rate last week was 2/6. You also picked renekton but couldn’t manage to win. Regarding that what is the problem about renekton? Does renekton is really weak or team/players do not know how to play around renekton?
I think it’s a mix of factors: Renekton is a very strong champion in the early game but at this stage of the season teams are usually not coordinated and decisive enough to snowball aggressively with him. It’s also a champion that requires a lot of conditions to be met in draft. For example in our game against Misfits, we didn’t have any of the key components required to support a Renekton and snowball the game so the champion looks very bad.
“I would like to thank our fans in advance for their patience and support. We may take a little while to adjust but I assure you that soon enough you’ll be seeing a lot of great performances from the MAD that you remember from last summer. During this adjustment period, I would like to ask our fans to please send lots of love and support in the direction of our players, especially Armut and Elyoya.”
Interview: Nazlı Özmen
