Boxi: "I’d like to see Insania enjoy his time off and try casting"

TI is always a really cool tournament to play in. We didn’t do very well this year, and I didn’t get to play in front of the crowd, which was disappointing. But I watched a lot of the games, and I thought the matches were really fun with long, drawn-out games, and that made our early exit even more disappointing.

As for our performance, we just weren’t quite synced up during the group stage. There was some nervousness, some pressure, but most importantly we were just off. Had we made it to the arena and played in front of the crowd, things could’ve maybe gone differently. But at the end of the day, we didn’t win. We lost some games we shouldn’t have, and we just didn’t play that well.

Honestly, we weren’t thinking that much about being the defending champions. It wasn’t like, “We won last year, we have to win again.” But I do remember watching the Grand Final and thinking, “For a couple more hours, I’m still the reigning TI champ,” which was kind of funny.

Well, they pressed the right buttons on their keyboards. I bet that helped a lot. But seriously, they played with a lot of confidence and their team team coordination was really strong. They tend to do the same things a lot, and they execute that to perfection. Also, they had a lot of belief in their playstyle.

Well, this is actually our first day of bootcamp without him, and it feels a bit strange. He’s a really fun guy to have around, and we all miss him already. The fun, the banter, and the lively atmosphere we had while he was around was quite something. We’ve played together for seven or eight years now, so there’s a gap now. After a game, there was usually a rhythm to how we used to talk, how we broke things down, but now he’s just not there, and it suddenly feels like there’s a bit of a void.

Not really, at least not in the near future. But of course, one day I’ll stop playing professionally. For now, though, I still feel like I have a lot to offer. I want to win a lot of tournaments, ideally back-to-back, and really be part of a dominant team. If I can accomplish that, then I might be okay walking away when the time comes.

We’ve scrimmed a little bit before, so it’s not our first time playing together, but it’s still early days. The dynamics are definitely different, and we’re still figuring out how to communicate and approach things together. For example, me and Ace were focusing more on playing safe and stable today rather than max efficiency. Tofu is tasked with drafting now, which is a big shift. As a core, it’s still the same team, but a lot of things are new, and we’re just figuring it out as we go.

That’s the plan. We want to be strong, and we want to win. There’s definitely a lot of potential here, and we’ll definitely want to be able to see it through. Tofu and Ace bring different perspectives and experiences, which is really valuable.

The Blast format hasn’t really been our best friend. It’s short, and the early games matter a lot, which doesn’t give us much room to warm up. But we’re focusing on building a solid foundation, focusing on how we want to play, how we want to draft, and fine tuning our communication. Hopefully in a few months, we’ll start to click.

It's always tough to know what you want after retirement. I think he’d be great as a talent. He casted TI10, the one Team Spirit won, and he did really well. He’s well-liked in the community, and I think casting would be a nice change of pace for him. Coaching is fine too, but in my opinion, coaching is basically still playing, you just don’t get to click the buttons. So if it were up to me, I’d like to see him enjoy his time off and try casting. But whatever he chooses, I’m sure he’ll be great at it.

I want to win a lot of tournaments. I don’t want to finish last at any of them. Maybe the first couple months we’ll take it slow, in the classic Liquid style. But seriously, I want us to be dominant and perform really well throughout the season. That’s the goal.