Banner image: Ubisoft/Kirill Bashkirov
Week 5 of Stage 3 took place last week, as all four regions continued to feature battles for the top-four and safety from the relegation zone.
Following most of these games were interviews with the victorious teams, so for those that missed them, we've summarised the best quotes and responses from the players below.
Jump to:
- EU League -- “We completely dropped the 'normal' playstyle we have on Coast... and it worked”
- NA League -- “It’s just been a tough learning curve for us, it’s just unfortunate it hit us in the last stage”
- Brasileirão -- “They got their round which is a shame, we wanted a 7-0”
- APAC Leagues -- “Some of those mistakes are catching up with us and it’s just about cleaning them up”
EU League
This week, Europe saw two play days; one last Thursday and the penultimate day last night, Monday Oct. 11. Thursday saw three big results: Heroic’s loss to G2 meant they were auto-relegated, BDS dropped points for just the second time this Stage following an 8-6 win over cowana, and NAVI fell even further behind the top-four with a loss against Vitality.
Following this BDS game, Bryan "Elemzje" Tebessi spoke about the match and more specifically, how Coastline played out differently this time:
I think [the reason the defence fared well] is the way we play the map, Cowana and us. Cowana played it very aggressively by denying the entries so it makes it very hard to enter the map. Obviously, when you enter the map you need to face someone who can fight so you either win it or you lose it and I would say Cowana won the gunfights at the start.
Then on the defence, after we saw how they play we decided to play more aggressively and we completely dropped the “normal” playstyle we have on Coast and tried to be a lot more aggressive like they do and it worked.
[...]
What happened [during the timeout] was like “oh my god, they’re so aggressive on us, what can we do, blah, blah, blah”. The worst part is we were expecting the rush but just got destroyed on gunfights.
On Monday, meanwhile, the biggest result saw NAVI very narrowly beat Heroic, 8-7, to lock in a spot at both the 2022 Six Invitational and the 2021 EU League Finals. After the game Jack "Doki" Robertson said this about their final EUL Stage 3 game next week against Empire:
I’m good friends with the Empire guys, I’m going to be playing for absolute kills that game, that’s my plan. I don’t know if you saw my tweet but my ping was really bad, Scottish internet is really not good. I know the Empire guys really hate high ping so I’m already in their head so I’ve probably already won the game, that’s the way I’m kinda feeling about it [...] I actually am playing on wifi, that’s probably something I need to fix.
[...]
To be honest, I’m just happy to be on the interview again cause we’ve had such a dreadful and embarrassing season as a team...
NA League
Astralis, meanwhile, got a very important 7-4 win over beastcoast last week. After the match, the team’s in-game-leader David "iconic" Ifidon came on and after some initial technical difficulties, said the following about their stage so far and their focus moving forwards:
Going into that game we’re just going to be focusing on just playing well ourselves cause it’s been a rough stage for us this whole time and we’ve just learned a lot about ourselves, we’ve grown a lot as players. Even with me coming up and trying to IGL, it’s just been a tough learning curve for us, it’s just unfortunate it hit us in the last stage. So we’re still going into this last game optimistic about wherever we can finish and then Invite quals after that.
[...]
I think for us [we’re focusing] on our team play. When we’re all playing as a team we’re working well, we’re small-talking in rounds and keeping our comms alive. We just play better than when we don’t and when we lose we just let our gun skill shine through. We just have to keep working towards that great team play. So that’s what we’ll be pushing for during this off-time.
There are now only two weeks left in the NAL. One point separates the bottom five teams, meaning we’re heating up for an exhilarating finale to the 2021 season.
Brasileirão
This past weekend was the final weekend of play in the BR6 League before the Elite Six Cup starts on Tuesday. It was also a super-week for the league, with three days and 13 games of play rather than the usual eight.
Starting with the Friday games, the two big results saw MIBR smash FURIA 7-1 while BD beat Liquid 7-4. With both these teams in a fight for the final CES spot, these were crucial wins for both of them.
Following the MIBR victory, the team coach Matheus "Budega" Figueiredo said the following:
We actually played two splits against FURIA on Clubhouse. On the second split I played and with me playing I got a clutch, I had a great game so I told the boys if I can clutch and get nine kills against these guys we’re just going to go for 7-0.
They got their round which is a shame, we wanted a 7-0 but, yeah, it was a great result.
The following day, W7M escaped their looming relegation lock-in with a 7-5 win over FURIA, continuing FURIA’s bad weekend. Afterwards Dimas "Panico" Junior said the following about their struggles:
We changed the lineup three times this year. This lineup we have got now we have everything we need. We just need time to get things the way we want and we’ll start winning matches.
[...]
We are working like 12 hours a day and we’re trying our best to stay here.
The day of the BR6 League then saw FURIA finally get their win as they took down the rebounding FaZe Clan lineup with an 8-7 scoreline. Marlon "Twister" Mello came on the broadcast after the game and made it clear what this win meant to the team:
I think this win against FaZe Clan shows the other teams that we can beat anyone. As you said we already beat Liquid, already beat NiP, MIBR but we never beat FaZe Clan so this first time just shows how we are improving and what we are capable of for the Elite Six.
The same sentiment was also expressed by FURIA’s Miracle in our pre-CES interview with the player:
APAC Leagues
APAC North this week saw a crucial victory from GUTS over mantis in a dominating 7-2 scoreline.
After the game, Naoki "Yura" Takamoto (via a translator) said this about the win this week and their loss against T1 last week:
We didn’t take that much time to prepare for mantis but we did know how they were going to play and eventually when the game started most of the matches were gunfights and relied on individual skill which led us to win today.
Last week against T1, the pick and ban for maps was not good for us and we weren’t really prepared for that but if we were to do it now we could beat them, obviously.
Also of note was T1, who got their second win in a row against Talon this week. After the game Minho "CrazyBoy" Choi came on and spoke (via a translator) to the casters which, considering next week they face DWG, may be the last time we hear from the team till relegations:
Pressure never goes away, there’s always going to be pressure for us but we are looking forward to relegations and that’s why we won’t let the pressure affect us too much.
In APAC South the biggest result was the Chiefs taking down iG to take first place. Now, the Australian team is within an inch of qualifying for the Six Sweden Major.
After the 7-4 result on Kafe Raine "Dgtl" Wright stated the following about the pickup of their newest player, Ethan "Ethan" Picard:
Obviously when you bring on someone like Ethan it’s gonna upgrade the team in some sort of way. Just experience and his leadership brings a lot, he’s an asset to all of us and really enabled us to do even more. I’m feeling good with him and am excited for the future.
Chiefs were also really helped out by the third-placed team, Elevate, losing their game against the Knights in a close 6-8 on Clubhouse.
Afterwards, Broden "Juicy" Dean stated this about Knights' fall off since Stage 2:
It’s just inconsistency it seems. In that game there’s some rounds where we do everything perfectly, we hold everything we need to hold but then some rounds we make a small mistake and it costs us a round
[...]
Some of those mistakes are catching up with us and it’s just about cleaning them up and the good stuff is looking better, so as long as we get rid of those mistakes we’ll be looking better.
Later tonight, the Elite Six Cup will continue on with its second day, the NAL will have its penultimate day on Wednesday, while APAC North, APAC South, and the EUL will end on Wednesday, Thursday, and Monday.
SiegeGG will be covering all these tournaments as usual, so check back for stats, news, and highlights for your favourite teams!
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