EliGE : "I love the tournament runs where we get and beat the hardest teams"
Liquid's Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski took to reddit and posted an AMA a few days ago during the build up to ESL One New York. He was met with many intriguing questions, and answered quite a few, giving insight into his own mindset, and thoughts on the team's dissapointing Major result in Berlin.
We have compiled some of the most interesting questions and responses from the thread below.
Anarchyz11: How does nitr0 compare to other IGLs in Liquid's past?
Nick has combined the best parts of all of our previous IGLs into a way that we are comfortable to play. Stanislaw was a leader that was really good at micro managing people and having these unique ideas from spawn. Adren was really good at defaulting and then going into something mid round. Since Nick was under both of those IGLs we took the best of what we got from everyone and that's where we are today.
Anonnameaccount: Kreig nerf needed? (Price increase? Weapon stats changes?)
Yes I think that, even though the spray is tough, it is something you can get used to within 2-3 months and the novelty of how hard the spray is wears off fast. So let's get into why it's so good: 666 fire rate (same as M4a4 compared to 600 of the AK) Best first bullet accuracy in the game. Those two factors make it hands down the best gun in the game because it takes the strength of the CT weapons, which is fire rate, and combines it with the best accuracy possible. So for me, I would suggest the same thing I thought for the AUG (which I think they nerfed too much where it is past it's use) : nerf the fire rate BUT ALSO change the spray pattern of when you are scoped in. The gun becomes easier when you scope and I think that is way too much for a game like CSGO. Scoping shouldn't be a net positive and I think there should be some tradeoffs. Make the recoil of when it is scoped in harder for both the AUG and KRIEG and lower the fire rate in between what they have now.
Blitzkrieg_Booes: Do you think you were heavily Anti-Stratted by Astralis in that Vertigo game or was it just a case of missing aim? Does that game force you to relook at some of the strats you have adopted in vertigo?
Wasn't either actually. We didn't have a strong enough default and couldn't get into many late round situations with an advantage in our favor. It's hard because a lot of people aren't good on vertigo so when we play it in practice we aren't exposed always to what some other teams are doing and we haven't put in a protocol that would help us against x,y,z so it's pretty tough just because of how new the map is. If we played against what we did there before and we knew how to react and we've already played against it it wouldve been a different game, but we didn't and they were way ahead of us.
foldglish: You've stuck around the NA scene for so long, improving statistically and personally the whole time. What has kept you going throughout the down years in Liquid? Congrats on the success btw, great player.
Throughout the whole time, I have always felt like Liquid was the very best team that I could be on and I have loved the management as well. I think Liquid does a lot for our team structurally whether it be from our manager Steve, our sports psychologist Jared, our CEOs, just everyone has been great with us and has always been open to helping us.
Even when we were at our lows, I still think we have always had more potential than other NA teams and had a higher chance of being the best team.
Pr3vYCa: What do you do when the tilt is starting?
I have some techniques that I have went over with our sports psychologist where I have learned to detect when I start to tilt or get angry and then I just have a way of injecting logic back into myself to calm myself down and make sure it doesn't develop into anything more.
WebberCOD: Which event win meant the most during your Grand Slam win?
Cologne 100%. Had the very best teams playing and we had a hard road to beat all the teams as well. I couldn't have asked for a better bracket and win than we did there. I love the tournament runs where we get and beat the hardest teams there because it makes the story all the more sweeter.
Reimaku: Do you think the pistol meta needs to change? Buff or nerf certain pistol(s)?
In my opinion, pistols are really balanced and I haven't heard any pro say anything otherwise as well. Changing anything with pistols will just fuck things up because I can't see anything glaringly wrong and there's a good balance.
deaththecat: What do you want out of the new cache?
Cache got really stale towards the end of it and I would like something structurally new about it. Not anything too big because I want the same map but for CTs options got really limited towards the end and it was too hard to take map control because Ts got too good at not caring about what you took (which the only option was A main).
Epicallytossed: How do you feel about the green screen picture?
I'm a fan of the meme lmao.
Komplex_: What are your goals as a player and as Team Liquid as a whole?
My goals are to win as much as possible and for as long as possible. I would love to win a major for the coin in game, but that's it I guess in terms of individual tournaments. I want us to be the best team ever and before this year that would be a cliche answer, but I think it is attainable for sure.
EliGE and Liquid will face fellow North American squad eUnited in their opening match of ESL One New York, taking place on September 26th.
