Slingshot’s Jarek “DeKay” Lewis caught up with Jake “Stewie2k” Yip after Cloud9 defeated G2 Esports 2-0 in the quarterfinals Tuesday of the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier. They talked about the matchup, preparing for the semifinals and Tarik “tarik” Celik’s performance.
Jarek “DeKay” Lewis: What was your expectation for your match against G2 Esports? Did you think you’d be able to 2-0 them?
Jake “Stewie2k” Yip: We went into the match with a lot of confidence. I felt that we have played them all so much at this point that we kind of know their play styles and all their tendencies. We didn’t expect to win 2-0 and expected more of fight. At one point, there was an argument going on within their team during the match, so the way they were playing was a little more aggressive and reckless.
JL: You’ll be playing Fnatic or Astralis in the semifinals, which team would you rather play and why?
JY: To be honest, I’d rather play Astralis. I still think they are a top team and I feel that we have been progressing so much that it’s about time we start being put to the test by the top teams. Beating G2 kind of proved that we can hang with these guys up top, so I’m hoping to play Astralis.
JL: Is there anything you’ll do specifically to prepare for that matchup on Thursday? Will you spend extra time analyzing their recent matches?
JY: We’ll definitely do more research for a team like Astralis if we play them. I feel like they have more tells than G2 because they play with more structure. To me, I feel like G2 plays much more “on the fly,” so we’ll definitely spend more time studying up.
JL: How many maps would your team like to play at a high level? Lately you’ve mostly played Inferno, Mirage, Train and Cobble. Do you have plans to strengthen your pool?
JY: Realistically, we have five good maps right now. We are trying to be a seven map team so we can ban a team’s strength instead of banning our weakness. We want to play to our strengths.
JL: What can you say about Tarik as a teammate and an in-game leader? He had a fantastic performance on Inferno against G2.
JY: As a teammate, I think Tarik is really reliable. When you give him criticism, he takes it well. Even during a match, if he disagrees, he is willing to drop everything and not argue. That keeps the environment positive. All of us on the team mesh really well, there is never any bad blood inside or outside of the game. Tarik as an in-game leader is still learning a lot but learning at a fast pace. I think we are just striding right now.
JL: How would you compare that to the previous lineup? When you say there is no bad blood, was that an issue previously?
JY: It’s a little bit different. With this lineup, I’m not sure if it’s because we are such a new lineup, but when it comes to disagreements we work it out pretty quickly. I felt like in the past, it always took more time than usual to work it out. People often were trying to prove “who was right and who was wrong,” but now everyone on the team is much more open to criticism, including myself.
JL: Everyone is talking about the new Dust2 Valve has been teasing, if it was up to you, which map would you replace in the pool and why?
JY: I’d replace either Cobblestone or Cache, I feel like they are both so stale. I can’t think of one team that is the best on either map. Both maps are just so random. Nuke is another you could remove, but could be better than the other two with some finishing touches.
JL: Is Dust2 a map you’d like to play with this lineup? Do you feel it matches your play style?
JY: If Dust2 was in the map pool for 2017, I feel like we would have been a top team on it for sure. In the past, we loved playing it and had good results on it. Prior to Valve removing it, we had been practicing it a lot.