INS: "Our goal is to consistently make playoffs"
FlyQuest are looking like a whole new team after the arrival of nettik from ex-TALON.
Signed to replace outgoing IGL dexter, nettik has been in solid form so far for the Aussie team, and after a positive result at IEM Melbourne, new IGL INS says that he is "happy" with the new man so far.
Ahead of BLAST Rivals, we spoke to INS about nettik, adjusting to IGLing again, and FlyQuest's goals for the remainder of 2025.
"Sometimes I'll forget I'm the IGL"
We're now four months into the year, how have you found it so far?
It's been up and down, we just finished at IEM Melbourne and we're happy with our result there but the previous results before that we weren't too happy with.
Obviously because of that we had to make a change, so here we are now looking forward to BLAST.
You guys brought in nettik, what has he brought to the team so far?
He brings a lot of raw talent, a lot of firepower. Which was our goal when we brought him in. He's settling into the team well, we're happy with him so far.
regali was also brought in to raise the team's level, what has he brought in terms of the European influence?
Just him as an AWPer, he's very talkative and demands what he wants. We're just trying to give him the freedom to have impact, which is something we lacked in the past. He's great in terms of personality as well, he's adapted to our style well and it's been working out really well for him.
With the nettik change you returned to the IGL role, has it been hard to start calling again?
Not really, everyone here makes it easy for me. I was in the role previously with Vexite and Liazz on the team, so we have a lot of structure around that and there's some good staff behind me, that makes it easy.
It's obviously a little bit different than it was before, but it's been good so far, so I'm happy with it.
aliStair and dexter were benched after a string of disappointing results for FlyQuest. Photo: FlyQuestWas it harder to stop calling or to start calling again?
Harder to start calling again, when I stopped calling it was because I wanted to, and now I'm going back into it, I want to call again. That said, it's just different, sometimes I'll forget I'm the IGL.
People talk about how hard it can be to adjust to just being a player after being the IGL, so what is that adjustment period like? Do you find yourself looking at the mini-map more than you should? Do you go to call and remember that someone else has that job now?
It's just about learning when to step back and let the IGL have his say. Everyone can have their say during matches because you're still a team, but the main thing was that I was more focused on pulling everyone together rather than on my own gameplay, and that would effect me sometimes.
Let's talk about your own form this year, you've suffered a big drop compared to last year, what's the reason for that from your perspective?
I'm not too sure, I think we haven't had good results and that makes it hard for anyone to perform. Also, at the start of the year we had some changes in terms of CT roles and that definitely impacted it, the environment of the team was different.
Now that you're calling again, is one of your focuses putting yourself back in the positions to frag more?
Not really, I'd say I'm trying to make sure everyone has good output and that's the main goal, trying to make it more balanced rather than relying on one person. I have got some of my CT roles back, though, so that might help in terms of that.
In terms of goals, you guys won ESL Challenger Atlanta last year, what kind of goals did you come into 2025 with and have they changed at all given the roster move and the results so far?
The main goal is to just consistently make playoffs, we have the pieces to do it, so it's about putting the results on the board. We've had good practice, so we just need to translate that to matches and make sure our comms are all good.
We don't just want to go to events and bomb out of them, we want to make playoffs consistently and beat these teams. That's always been our main goal.
FlyQuest were hometown heroes at IEM Melbourne. Photo: FlyQuestHas changes regarding VRS and invites made that more difficult?
We just need to start winning maps against these teams at events, especially on LAN. The way the points work is that you just get so many from LAN events, and even winning that series against VP, our points went up so high.
It's about getting our points up, we do that and then hopefully our first games won't always be Spirit or Vitality. We can go from there to try and slowly build and keep going.
You mentioned first round matches against Spirit there, you'll be playing them first at BLAST Rivals this week, how are you feeling about it?
It's a tough match, we always play worse against Spirit compared to the other top teams. It'll be a good challenge, we're looking forward to it. We just got back from Melbourne so we're a little jet-lagged, but so are the other teams, we just need to focus on ourselves and do our best.
How are you feeling about the event overall?
It's a good event, it's a good opportunity for us to show what we can do. We have a good chance, so hopefully we can put on a good show, win some maps, and go from there.
The Major is also just over a month away now, how are you feeling about that?
We're looking forward to it, thankfully we qualified from the MRQ, so now it's just about getting the right amount of practice in before that.
You'll enter the Major in Stage 1, have you laid out any goals for what you want to do there?
Our goal is just to make Stage 2 and keep going from there. We're going to have a little bootcamp before, so we just need to take it day by day and hopefully do something good there.
