Invictus ready if HysteRiX can not play – SiegeGG
Invictus Gaming is back. Mostly.
It’s still not entirely certain that Jeremy “HysteRiX” Tan will be able to attend – the player tries one last, hail-mary to be able to go, despite his Tweet November 3rd. But the Southeast Asian list finally looked like its old self with a strong APAC South performance at the top of the table in step 3.
The result marked the first time that the players succeeded with the feat in APAC South, despite going head to head with Cloud9 (now SANDBOX Gaming) at the top of APAC North 2020.
This recovery began at the end of stage 2, when team captain Glen “Lunarmetal” Suryasaputra had revealed to SiegeGG that a doubling of the structure had been the key to going from a possible eighth place, to the APAC playoffs, and to the Mexican major.
But the jury is still out on whether this style of play is superior, especially compared to aggression-focused APAC teams such as CYCLOPS Athletic Games.
“The four teams that come from APAC are actually quite interesting now,” Lunarmetal said in an interview with SiegeGG. “If you look at SANDBOX and us, we are your structured teams, and if you look at DWG KIA and Chiefs, they are your more ‘loose’ teams.”
The difference in philosophy comes from difficulties in maintaining structure in APAC, where Chiefs Ethan Picard also agrees that playing against teams like Dire Wolves or Elevate is completely different from playing against teams like Invictus Gaming or Knights. Many teams, says Lunarmetal, find it easier to fall back on their natural aggression.
“For us, we always have the vision to do well internationally and simply do not see a way to do it by simply relying on aggression,” he explains, adding that the team is happy to replace comfort in APAC for long-term growth on the international stage.
However, that trade-off cost almost iG, as the Chiefs took advantage of their alleged rigid structure on the penultimate APAC South game day and appeared to have stolen the major qualifier spot.
The players had also come before themselves, after being aware that a win would send them directly to Sweden, with Jose “Jo” Iman.
“We hyped ourselves because of it, and then we stopped playing a little nervous,” Lunarmetal said. “We are all humans.”
But the same infection of hype and nerves hit the Chiefs on the final day of play against ORDER, theorized by Lunarmetal and confirmed by Chiefs Ethan, and iG was back in the fight – even if they had no idea. After the shocks against Dire Wolves and Chiefs, the players implemented a blackout on social media and were unaware that the Chiefs had lost earlier in the game day.
“We did not even know if we won [against Elevate] would give us [auto] qualification or not, ”revealed Lunarmetal. “We all played with the mindset that this will give us a higher seed in the APAC playoffs … only [our coach] GiG knew what was at stake. ”
Despite this, iG almost failed, after ending up in a 2-5 situation with 7-7 on the scoreboard. But the players did not give up; the dead flipped through drones and fed information to the two remaining, Matin “SpeakEasy” Yunos and Jordan “jrdn” Cheng. One by one, the Elevate players fell and the Singaporeans went on to the Swedish major.
Sweden Major, however, comes with its own challenges. With HysteRiX, it is unlikely that he will be able to attend due to his obligations in the National Service. Playing in his place will likely be iG’s coach, Ellis “GiG” Hindle.
“We are still working to get [HysteRiX] to Sweden, we have not given up yet ”, Lunarmetal began. GiG steps in for [HysteRiX] will probably be the last resort. “
The Invictus Gaming captain drew some parallels to TSM’s problems at Mexico Major, when Bryan “Merc” Wrzek could not play. TSM coach Owen “Pojoman” Mitura had filled in instead, but a clash of roles and playing styles meant that the North Americans finished last in the group.
“It might just be better to have a total overhaul of our style of play,” said Lunarmetal, when asked what his team will do if forced to play with GiG. “I think like Dizzle for Fnatic [at the Pro League Season 8 Finals against Evil Geniuses]. ”
Despite the potential difficulties, iG is ready to roll with the blows. Thinking about the disadvantages, says Lunarmetal, is only counterproductive.
“It’s out of our hands at this point,” he concluded. “The goal has not changed, we still want to get out of groups. … Top eight is still a reasonable goal to have. ”
Both Lunarmetal and Jo also stated that they were eager to take on BDS Esport, which is with them in group C, as they are eager to find out how the two teams’ philosophies about structure clash.
Capture Invictus Gaming on November 8, as they take on Ninjas in Pajamas to launch their Sweden Major campaign.