Vorborg: "we need to keep working and push ourselves maybe a bit harder"

After exiting the IEM Rio Major with a bitter 1-3 record, Evil Geniuses coach Daniel Vorborg talked with Dust2.us' Ryan Friend about the future of the roster, the obstacles they are facing, and the off-season opportunity to get more practice.

Incredibly tough loss. Definitely not what you guys were looking for here but one win out of four matches here. What are your thoughts coming away?

Obviously we would have liked to have more than one. If you isolate where we are at right now, Cloud9 is, to me, a really strong team, even though they have struggled a little bit here. So we lose to #5 in the world, we lose to number #9 in the world, and then, of course, we lose to 9z, which if you want to go through in the Challengers Stage, no disrespect to them, I think they play good, we have to be winning those tight games. Overall, result wise, underwhelming but that's not really my focus, we are learning a lot from these games, and that's the most important.

You come in during the second half of a very tumultuous EG year. There has been a massive change and an overhaul. What's the team been like kind of growing up since the incidents from earlier this year?

It's hard for me to speak about before I joined but since I've joined I think we had a good atmosphere in the team. Even now, after a tough loss, exiting the Major, it's not that we take it lightly but there's a good atmosphere, we can still joke around a little bit. We are of course sad but every time we get back to the practice room we are learning new things, everyone is participating in discussions, everyone is being constructive, and no one is giving up or anything. I think we've had a full seven practicing weeks or something like that, that's still not a lot, it's just about to keep learning. The mood is still good, but right now, of course, a bit sad.

I talked with Brehze a little bit earlier. He was saying how this is a team that he finally really believes in and he feels he can get back to the form that he had a number of years ago. Do you get that same feeling from the squad?

Yeah. So far we are progressing every week and so far no one is being not-constructive, everyone is willing to take criticism, and give criticism. I think what we need more than anything is we need to keep working and push ourselves maybe a bit harder. It's important everyone keeps taking initiative, because we have CerQ and Brehze that have been used to having a lesser role, but coming in with Jadan [HexT] as a rookie, neaLaN is of course our IGL, but he is also less experienced, so I just think everyone needs to be more of a unit of five where everyone is bringing in everything that they can. We are getting there, we are learning, everyone is taking their responsibility, taking their role, and when we get there, then I think this team will really flourish.

The EG organization has been under a lot of scrutiny from media, pundits, and journalists, and everyone has been questioning what EG is doing. Do you feel now, towards the second half of this year, that this is an organization and a team that has a clear direction?

Yeah. One of the big reasons why I joined EG is that I feel, especially valens coming in now, we share a long-term vision. Things aren't rushed, we have taken some chances on some players here and it's about giving them time. Right now I think we are very level-headed, and we are evaluating as we go, figuring out. We need to be, long-term, meddling in the top five, it's one of the biggest esports organizations in the world, being where we are now, about #20, that's not good enough as a final product. It's not about we need to be there now but let's build this outright. I think that's also what's been giving me and the players the freedom to still also be in a good mood and be in a good atmosphere and just take it step by step.

You were a co-founder and co-owner of Copenhagen Flames and turned into the head coach. Now you have since exited from Flames and you are now a head coach at EG. Can you talk to me a little bit about that career path for you?

I joined Flames initially because I got tired in a lot of the previous esports organizations I have been in, that the reset button was hit a lot so I got to be a part of a project where I had a little bit more say, so if things didn't go well I can only blame myself but in the end, in Flames we had to rebuild a lot of times to get to where and organization like EG is already, so for me it was about I loved being in Flames but it was the personal motivation of not starting over, but I felt that I had proven that I can build underdog teams, I can get more out of less, but now it was about challenging myself to "can I also build championship-level teams?" and that's what I'm trying to do here with EG.

You guys are now headed into the off-season. What are the plans for that? Is it rest, relax and refocus as you look towards Katowice?

We might have a little surprise, we might be playing one more tournament this year, we will see. It's been a lot for us all at once and we are also trying to build a bigger coaching staff. We have been getting to know each other and how we want to work. All of us coaches and players have very different approaches. Now we have more of an understanding of our terminology and how we view the game, so I feel like the off-season is about evaluating, now that we understand each other better. We have three weeks going into the next season only practicing but we are spending the off-season of course relaxing but also getting more on the same page and figuring out how to launch the start of the next season.

You had the displeasure of playing against 9z when the crowd was very loud. How have you and the team dealt with this?

We definitely felt the pressure, but honestly, it's an incredible experience. When we were up 15-14 against 9z, the crowd pushed us to the limit, we felt it, they definitely helped 9z as well, but having that experience, only very few people in the world get to live that ever and that we have had that experience I feel honored. It's an amazing crowd, and even though they weren't rooting for us, I still commend them.