NAF: "After my first game... I needed to find a come-to-God moment"
After a grueling 0-2 start in the BLAST.tv Paris Major Challengers Stage, Liquid clawed their way back to a 3-2 record to qualify for the Legends Stage. Moving into the Top 16, Liquid quickly shed their poor performances and have now secured their spot in the playoffs with a 3-1 record after a 2-0 victory over British side Into the Breach.
A slow start on Liquid's pick of Overpass soon delved into an overtime brawl, which saw the Americans edge out their opponents 19-17. Liquid had a similarly slow start to ITB's pick of Anubis, being down 2-6 at one point, but Liquid soon rallied twelve rounds in a row to retake the lead, eventually closing out the map 16-9 to make their way to playoffs.
Speaking with Dust2.us' Ryan Friend after the game, Keith "NAF" Markovic touched on the closeness of the match, playing against ITB's aggressive playstyle, the changing dynamic of Josh "oSee" Ohm in the team, and the importance of self-confidence in NAF's own stellar performances. Watch the full interview below:
The two first spoke about the closeness of the first map, especially considering the fact that playoff qualification was on the line. NAF pointed out that the team's initial confidence was soon overturned by Into the Breach's aggressive playstyle.
We started off strong on the pistol round, won the first gun round, and a lot of us were just confident that we could just snowball and carry the momentum and win. Unfortunately, we ended up getting ecoed and we ended up getting caught off guard with a lot of push plays.
On the back foot on their own map pick against a team they were fully expected to beat, NAF discussed what the process was like clawing their way back on CT-side in the face of the Brits' aggressive plays.
It was mainly trusting our game. At B we were feeling pretty confident; a lot of times they were coming B and we were able to shut them down. They were able to find some entries and openings at A and I think they were feeling a little more comfortable on that bombsite. Some mishaps and some misplays and all that, but I think they were able to find what was weak for us and they kind of exposed it. With experience and all that, we were able to take it over the line.
Shifting gears to Anubis, the two discussed the impact of oSee in the match, with the AWPer posting a 1.65 rating on the map. NAF highlighted one change to oSee's playstyle that he thinks has helped him reach these peaks in individual form.
A good thing about oSee, what he's learned to do a little bit better, is that he's more vocal. Especially with AWPers nowadays like s1mple and degster and all the top AWPers, they're usually the most vocal, saying how they want to rotate and what they want to do. I think he's improved on that lot, whereas before when he was on our team last year and earlier somewhat this year he was more passive and quiet and not giving himself the freedom. When you're the AWPer you need to be the player that talks and have a lot of freedom in your mind and run around like you're the best because you have the big dick gun.
The two then went on to discuss NAF's own stellar performances, as the Canadian has been an important element for Liquid recovering from their 0-2 Challengers Stage deficit and subsequently reaching the playoffs.
It just comes down to a lot of growing, and playing Counter-Strike as long as I have I think the biggest thing is making sure you have a strong mental. After my first game, I had a terrible game, and I needed to find a come-to-God moment, I needed to find something. I'm very hard on myself when I don't perform, and when I do I really feel like I let myself down, my team down, and everyone down.
Revitalized, confident, and ready for more matches, NAF and the rest of Liquid will kick off their run in playoffs this weekend, with their quarterfinal opponent set to be determined tomorrow following the conclusion of the 2-2 matchups.
