Empire is back in Sweden after November’s group game disappointment – SiegeGG
Image via Ubisoft
Closed sun. Resistant to change. Easy to read. These are terms used to define the current list for Team Empire, a team that does not want to change or seems incapable of doing so.
It’s been a long time since we last saw the Russian cyborgs beat their opponents with the ease of stealing candy from a child. Believe it or not, the Empire’s golden age was three years ago, when the list finished second at SI 2019 and won the Pro League season 9.
A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then.
Team Empire’s most recent encouraging result at an international competition was seven months ago, at the Mexico Major. Even if it is a good result, if you read it between the lines, you realize that it could have gone differently.
The Russians were drawn into TSM’s squad, which was forced to play with Owen “Pojoman” Mitura instead of Bryan “Merc” Wrzek due to covid-19 complications. Two of the only three Empire regulatory wins at that stage of the event were against the North American side.
Danila “dan” Dontsov and Artur “ShepparD” Ipatov also carried the Russian team during the very first six matches of the event, avoiding another group stage disaster. The Russian duo kept the team alive as they were decisive in the overtime win against Invictus Gaming, and the first and second win against TSM. Despite losing both matches against Liquid, both players were the only ones to register positive ratings against the Brazilians, and the day was the best in their games at Consulate and ShepparD who led the charge two days later.
Later, the rest of the names in the squad would get back on track, which was the key for the team to reach the very last match of the event.
Last but certainly not least, the Russians reached Mexico’s grand final thanks to map closure stages. Empire played all of its group stage matches in Consulate (4) or Clubhouse (2), two of its flagship charts. The quarter-final match against SSG was played in Kafe (another of Empire’s best maps, 7-4) and Clubhouse (8-7), while the semi-final match against BDS was played in Kafe, Coastline and Consulate. The French’s mistake was possibly to ban Villa instead of Consulate, which would eventually end in a Russian win.
After all this, Team Empire Mexico lost the Major Grand Final against Team oNe 3-2 – with the Russians winning in Clubhouse and Consulate, and losing in Chalet, Villa and Coastline, which was the tightest map in the series (8 -6).
Empire players are aware of how evenly matched they were. “If BDS had won against us, they would have won the major,” he said in a pre-Sweden Major interview with SiegeGG.
Empire’s map pool was reduced to three clear maps (Clubhouse, Coastline, Kafe) after Mexico Major, when the consulate was removed from the professional map pool when Bank was added instead. Since then, the Russians have played seven times at Bank and won only two.
In Sweden, we began to notice how Villa was slowly introduced to the Russian map pool. The Italian map was selected in three of its six group games, while the rest were played on Coastline (2) and Oregon. Unfortunately for the team, the adjustment was not good enough and the roster could not make it to the final league.
One month later, the Empire used the European League Finals as a training ground for the Six Invitational. A 2-0 win over Natus Vincere (Oregon and Coastline) was followed by a 0-3 loss to BDS (Coastline, Chalet and Kafe).
“We are fighting in our map pool, both in the Russian Major League and in Sweden Major, we have to choose between Oregon, Bank, Chalet and Villa, and now we are preparing for Six Invitational, with our second goal being EUL,” said Danil “JoyStiCK “Gabov in a post-match interview with host and caster Ghassan” Milosh “Finge.
Overall, Team Empire is a big unknown. The Russians have practiced and adapted to other maps after realizing that the list must adapt to recent times.
If you look at the current map pool, Chalet will possibly be the team’s most banned map, as they have only played it twice at T1 events. From there, if the team manages to integrate Villa into its map pool, along with improving its performance in Oregon, we can face the resurrection of the cyborgs. One that can take us back to 2019.
Individually, we are talking about one of the most experienced and skilled teams in the room. Adaptation is the key, and while time has passed, the team’s mindset has been the same. The historical quality is there, but it’s time to do-or-die for Empire.