Umar on Advanced move-ups: "You can really feel the difference in skill level now"

Advanced side Electrify Steel won Fragadelphia 17: Philadelphia in July, at the time under the banner of Take Flyte, securing the squad a place in the group stage of the main event. Although the players have since gone their separate ways, the group banded together to compete in the important domestic LAN. Their reunion was rewarded with a quarterfinal finish that saw them best ECL sides Vendetta and Detonate, while nearly taking a map off European heavyweights BIG Academy.

Shortly after Electrify Steel's loss to BIG Academy, Umar "Umar" Qaiser spoke with Dust2.us' Samuel "Draik04" Popkes to discuss the team's results this event, why the members of the squad opted to split, and the state of ESEA Advanced this season.

Can you tell me about the team's expectations for this event with your direct group stage invitation?

When we headed into yesterday we were looking at our group, we said, we definitely have one of the easier groups. There was a group, Group B I think, with oNe, Apeks, and Phantom Troupe, that was a really tough group, but I think we had the easier end. Losing to Detonate at first, choking that 14-1 lead, was really hard for us. We did not mentally come back on the second map. But we reset, took a fifteen-minute break, walked around, got some food, and then we got back into it with the Vendetta game. We were super confident in that game, so that was fun. We expected to definitely win our group, whether it be 2-0 or 2-1. I kinda expected us to win this game, at least a map, but Mirage settled really badly, and then Dust2 was good but we just choked a few rounds that we shouldn't have. We have a problem with trading too, the other person always gets two.

You weren't worried when you saw the BIG Academy matchup? Did them taking down Apeks not scare you?

No, because I looked at timbermen, and they got put down on Vertigo. Even though they won the other maps, they still won like 16-14, 16-13. So I looked at them and I was like, we beat timbermen plenty of times, especially with this five, so what's the problem with BIG? I wasn't scared coming into it, and I'm not even gonna lie to you, what they were doing was smart but it was also so readable, I just wish my teammates were able to hit their shots at the end on Mirage there. But I mean at the same time it was a team game; I definitely didn't hit my shots on Dust2 at the end, but not much that we can do there.

LEARSI, ayy, and Jason played on Heroic for the Rotterdam qualifier, while you're now playing with Take Flyte with farg. Can you tell me what's going on with that?

Me and farg, he was already on Take Flyte before, he was never a part of the actual league team while I was. We weren't winning, and I had a better offer. At the time they were 7-1, and they were winning, and they won against a couple good teams in Advanced so I was like, alright, this is good. Then I was like, alright I'm gonna try and take this offer, I'm gonna sit and see if I can get my contract either completely voided or if I could get some way out of it. The owners were super nice, everyone at Electrify Steel was amazing when it came to that, especially the owner. The owner was like, "Go ahead man, I know it's been rough", and they allowed me to take the better offer. With the ten-mans, we're still in talks to see if I could somehow still be a part of the org to run that.

Personally, I was surprised to see you guys split; you looked like a promising team, winning FRAG 17: Philadelphia and making some deep runs in some Cash Cups and qualifiers. Did you not feel the same way, did you think something was missing?

There was definitely something missing. We were having roster changes every two games. We started off 1-4, we won the last game before I left. But it still didn't feel right with the team, we weren't playing with that five, we were playing with KEL and Yerlo at the end. They aren't bad players, KEL especially is a really good player, but at the end, the team just wasn't chemming, we weren't doing anything properly. It was just rough. So what happened was we just swapped, they went to IM and I wanted to stay with an Advanced team, so that's it.

Can you tell me about your new squad? I know you're reunited with zander, so what's that like?

I love it. zander is a good IGL. We got some kinks to work out since I am still new and I'm probably the more impactful player since I'm the AWPer, so we need to start figuring out things we can do together. We're still figuring those things out, we're playing well, so I'm not worried. Griizz is an amazing entry, he's a great player. farg is also a great player, that's another reason why I joined. Penguin is a good player too, he's a good anchor.

You guys are doing great right now, 7-3 in Advanced. What do you think your shots at relegation look like?

I think our odds are high, especially if we fix some of the kinks that caused us to lose these last two games. If we can fix those kinks our relegation chances are high, finals chances are high too, but we just have to make sure we play proper CS. Gotta start playing a lot more together and start comming a lot more as well.

This season there was a lot of move-ups of Advanced teams to ECL. Have you noticed a change in the quality of Advanced this season?

The teams that got moved up were like the "better" teams of Advanced, so you can really feel the difference in skill level now. It's either even-skill level or decent-skill level. There's no high-skill level, everyone can beat everyone.

PoseidoNN described it as having no more smurf teams.

Exactly. There's no more smurf teams, everyone can beat everyone. Maybe not the lower teams, but you know what I mean. That's good for the Advanced scene as well. The Advanced teams should only be Advanced teams, not Premier, they should only be Advanced and now it feels like that.

This event concludes Electrify Steel's brief reunion. Umar will now be spending the remainder of the Advanced season with Take Flyte, where the squad will be looking to improve upon their current 7-3 record to lock down a spot in the postseason.