FNC Vladi on Fnatic's 0-2 start: "We're just nervous — we're just passengers"
Fnatic's Summer is not starting well. A 2-1 loss to Team Heretics, one of the league's weakest sides, leaves them 0-2 and searching for answers again. RFT.GG spoke with Fnatic mid laner Vladimiros "Vladi" Kourtidis right after the defeat to talk about the nerves undoing a team that scrims well, Soboro's arrival, adapting to a meta that doesn't suit him, and facing his old KC side next.
I imagine it's quite a disappointment — how are you feeling coming out of that one, and what do you think went wrong?
It obviously feels terrible, because I don't even think . You can say they just played well and we were worse today. I think we just lost ourselves, and it obviously sucks.
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Heretics
did something insane
How do you explain that a team with very good individuals is still struggling against lower-level teams right now?
I think we're just nervous, I'd say. The nerves are getting to us and we're making random plans — or we don't even have plans during the games. It shows in both series.
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In the first one, I kind of solo lost it with my individual performance, which, as I said, was the nerves getting to me and the pressure from the game against KOI.
But today, I think we just didn't really come to play. And I just didn't play the way I would in scrims, for example, or in a different game.
Empyros was replaced by Soboro coming into this Summer. Do you feel that change was needed to shift the team dynamic?
I think Soboro is pretty good, both as an individual and in terms of macro. He comes from a very strong LPL team, so he's got experience, and he's helping me and the team a lot on how to play the side lanes. It's got better, and it shows in scrims. But if you perform in scrims and don't show it on stage, then it doesn't really matter, right? I think he's a good addition.
After the KOI game, Upset said that compared to scrims, the team had a huge problem thinking on stage — a lot of autopiloting, players looking lost. Do you agree, and how would you explain it?
Actually, I don't think it's autopilot. I'd say we're just making the wrong decisions.
Because we're feeling nervous as a team, or some players are, we don't make the right decisions and we're just passengers, let's say.
Photo Credit: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games
How is the team reacting to it outside of the game?
Obviously there's frustration right now, and there was frustration after KOI too. But I think we all kind of knew that against KOI it came down a lot to individual performance, even if there were some big mistakes. Today we had high expectations, because our practice has been going pretty solid. So after a day like this, everyone's going to be angry with themselves and with how we played overall.
Fnatic's identity in recent years has been built on funnelling resources into the bot lane. This meta gives bot lane more independence with mages, but from your first games it looks like you've kept the same approach. Is that deliberate, or have you not adjusted yet?
I think if there aren't certain picks in the game, it doesn't really become a full bot-lane isolation. For example, if there's no Camille or Ziggs, then I'd say it's kind of the same game. So I don't think it impacts us that much. Mages can be good, but you'll have to play very well on the map with the support — because if you don't have a very good game, eventually the ADC is going to outscale and the mage won't do much. So I think mages are not the greatest, but if the team is good, it can be a good addition.
On a personal note, a skirmish-heavy meta feels suited to your playstyle — this seems like a meta where mechanics are valued more than before, and that's one of your biggest strengths. Do you see it that way?
For me, I'd say the opposite. [laughs] With the roaming supports, or with teams tunnelling on objectives more, the fights matter — but usually when there's a teamfight, there isn't much on mechanics. There's an aspect of it, of course, but it matters more how you play that fight as a team, where to turn, where to keep position. So it's more of a team thing than mechanics, even though those still matter.
How do you feel adapting to that meta?
It's all right. Obviously I prefer having more fighting champions and more fighting games, but as I said, the game is a bit slower and I'm doing all right. There are some cases where it's harder — for example, this last game I had Anivia and the enemies were playing Azir and Bard. When Azir is level six and Bard goes into the fog, a lot of the time I can't really walk up in mid, and it becomes harder.
More generally, do you feel the top two in the LEC are realistically unreachable for you, or that they're not that far ahead of the rest?
I think G2 and KC are the best in the league right now, by a long mile. And judging by our performance on stage, we're at the bottom. But if we can somehow manage — it's the classic thing everyone says — if we manage to play like we do in scrims, then I think we can reach the top. But we first have to do that.
Fnatic have always made Worlds. Does that add pressure, or do you try not to think about it and focus step by step?
I don't really care about their past achievements
Photo Credit: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games
I don't even have it in mind that they always went to Worlds. I want to go to Worlds and I'm just focusing on the present.
Next up is KC. As a former player of theirs, is it always special facing them, or do you take it as just another team?
Of course I know the players and we hung out a lot. But it's just another game. Of course it's my previous team, and I won with them and I'm glad I did — but for me it's just another game. I need to go game by game, and right now it's pretty tough being 0-2, so I need to take it game by game and not really think about who the opponent is.
