YEKINDAR: "You don't have to be smart to entry frag"

Ahead of the start of Liquid's match against Heroic in the final knockout stage of the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis spoke with interviewer James Banks to discuss his relationship with Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski, his thoughts on role versatility, and how Liquid has improved him as a player compared to his time on Virtus.pro.

So YEKINDAR, the first thing that I want to touch on is the fact that things are obviously looking better with you inside of Liquid, but I want to see how the system and style that they play and how you feel that benefits you.

I mean, actually, when I first came into Liquid before Cologne we literally started from a new start because when shox was there had been some problems and a lot of practice had been skipped and people would not play a map for three months. When there is that type of game you need to structure everything from the start, especially when — I like to secondary call and bring ideas, since there hasn't been a lot of things on these maps I started from the start so it's easier for everyone to understand my way of thinking, especially for Nick and Damien.

We were thinking heavily about our maps, how to improve, and having different ideas. I think I gain a lot of different approaches to the game that I didn't have in VP especially now with some of the role changes. I am now playing, not necessarily an entry fragger — I aggressively lurk, I take space, I'm in the back, right? In some situations, nitr0 is entry fragger while I'm somewhere behind, so I think that improves me as an individual and as a player.

I was just about to ask you about that — in terms of your individual performance, do you feel like you can reach a higher peak here than what you did with Outsiders?

Yeah, I definitely can. Entry fragging is... you don't have to be smart to entry frag. You have to know what grenades are thrown behind you and how your team will support you while lurking and throwing the necessary utility and staying in the clutch situations is something you need to gain experience in.

Since I was basically a dedicated entry fragger before, that valuable experience I am now gaining from Liquid. I think it improves every player if you are able to play any role - if you are super versatile — I think you are much more valuable than if you only play one role.

I've always said you're smart YEKINDAR and you gave me the perfect answer. I wanted to touch on your relationship with EliGE, because he talks so highly of you in interviews and you do the same as well.

I think with Jon it's been the easiest because he's the most experienced in the team. He understands the game really well and his way of thinking is really similar to mine. It was super easy to get new things in that he understands instantly, you know? In some situations, he helps me with micro-details and his thought of the game because it's not fully the same and I give my side as well.

Liquid defeated Heroic in a dominant 2-0 match today and have now qualified for the BLAST Premier Fall Finals.

(Editor's Note: The BLAST interviewed experienced a weird technical issue at the conclusion of YEKINDAR's answer. We are unclear on the exact wording or if there are missing quotes.)