gla1ve: "I'm not as good as I was on Astralis"
Despite a strong start to life on ENCE with a playoff run at IEM Katowice 2024, gla1ve and his squad faded into the background as the year progressed.
However, after roster changes saw the arrival of sdy and a trio of young stars, ENCE look set to capitalise on a strong end to 2024 that saw them lift a trophy at their home event, Elisa Masters Espoo.
Ahead of the draw for BLAST Bounty, we spoke to the legendary IGL to discuss rostermania, the Bounty format, and the changes to his individual playstyle in the past few years.
"If we want to get invites for some tournaments, then we need to get points on the board"
We're coming up to the first event of the new season, how are you feeling about it?
I'm feeling good, it's always crazy going into the new season, especially after the shuffle that has just happened, I've never seen anything like it, but it does make it more exciting.
Are there any teams who have made changes you think are particularly interesting?
I think that the Falcons project is pretty interesting, it's going to be fun to see NiKo play in a new team. Also NertZ to Liquid, I think that will be nice too. There's even more I don't remember, but of course, EliGE in FaZe and ropz to Vitality, too.
We aren't sure how you're going to look to pick your opponent for the Bounty, but have any of these roster moves changed the thinking at all?
I guess so, because a roster move can make you much better from the new energy, but they can also set you back. If you're a well structured team with a lot of strategy, you can't go over all of that in the first week of practice.
We have to think about that, but in the position we're in it will be hard to pick an opponent no matter what.
What is your strategy for the Bounty picks?
I don't think we'll have much of a choice, to be honest. We're the ninth team to pick, so we'll probably be left with the top eight teams to pick from.
The bounty can make a difference, but no matter what we'll be picking into a good team.
Photo: Michal KonkolIf you were the first team to pick, what strategy would you go for?
That's tough, we talked a bit about it and if you see a bounty on a team that you don't think is too good, or if you think they made a bad change, maybe you try to pick into that team. I wish that would be an option for us, but I don't think it will be unless people are headhunting the bigger teams.
It's the beginning of the season, so maybe people will be creative and try to pick someone that had a longer break.
Let's talk about ENCE, 2024 may have been a difficult year until the end of it, what have you taken from that last year?
At the end of the year, things started to click more, but we're still only a new team and we do have a trophy in our hands. That brings confidence, so we'll try to replicate that and achieve what we did there to bring it into the Bounty.
That's easier said than done though, so we'll have to work hard and we're at our bootcamp now to do that.
Do you think the amount of roster changes to other teams could be a benefit to you guys at the start of the year?
I guess so, because we were a new team coming from behind, and we need the points. Now that we might be a bit more set up than some of the other teams and have some more set rounds to fall back on, it could be beneficial to us.
I think that time will tell, all of the other roster changes could be really good and the top teams could still be really far ahead, but hopefully we'll catch up this year.
With how the ranking is looking at the moment, how important is it that you get a strong start to the year?
It's important for everyone, but especially for the teams between 20 and 30, they all really need the points and we're one of those teams. If we want to get invites for some tournaments, then we need to get points on the board.
You have some exciting young talent on your team, from your perspective and role, what's the most important thing to help them reach their potential?
The most important thing is that they know what they're going to do before the game, and that they feel comfortable within it. If there's something they don't feel comfortable with then we need to talk about it and change things around.
I want to sacrifice every round for one of those guys to go in and clutch, so it's about playstyle and making sure everything fits together.
In terms of playstyle, how have you seen your own playstyle change over the years?
It's tough to say, my roles have definitely changed a bit, and I don't think I am as good individually as I was in Astralis, but I still see glimpses of it sometimes. It's all about finding consistency and delivering it most of the time, but right now it's 50/50 and we need to get that percentage up a bit.
I want to be a good stable player for the team, not just the IGL, and that's my goal for this year.
If you get these players to reach their potential, is there a worry about keeping hold of them as ENCE has in the past?
Only time will tell, I have no clue. If people are coming in and wanting to buy them, then of course, there will be opportunities.
What are your hopes for Bounty?
To leave the tournament with some money in our hands would be pretty nice, but we'll see. I think we're going to have a tough match up in the first round, but if we win that then we'll have won a bounty and have something on our heads, so we'll take it from there.
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