Caliste reflects on KC's MSI exit: "For me, it's a disaster"
Photo Credit: Riot Games
Karmine Corp's MSI is over. A 3-0 to Team Liquid ends it in Daejeon — no fifth game, no comeback, just a flat exit. Weeks earlier, this roster had reached the LEC final against G2; at MSI, by Caliste's own reckoning, they were nowhere near that team. The ADC didn't dress it up afterwards — he called the run a disaster. RFT.GG caught up with Caliste "Caliste" Henry-Hennebert right after the elimination.
How are you feeling?
Terrible.
Hard to find the words. I feel honestly very bad. This MSI Play-In is a disappointment. We won against DCG but I think they were a level below. We haven't shown anything. Whether it's gameplay, preparation, drafts... We never really knew what we wanted to play.
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I think we showed a side of ourselves that wasn't us at all.
Are you able to point the mistake the team has made, how did you get to that point?
I don't know exactly. We could have adapted faster to the meta shifts. What is certain is that we were not ourselves on stage.
There was way too much pressure — we were too scared to play our own timings, from start to finish.
There were very few moments where we went forward, and when we did, we'd misuse our spells, things like that. That's exactly the kind of thing that costs you far too much. At some point the games just get suffocating, and it becomes really hard to play.
You seem to struggle to find your identity the moment you face the big teams — to be on the same page in-game. Why is that?
I couldn't tell you exactly. When we talk outside the game about what we want to do, how we'd want to play a given situation or teamfight, there's no problem at all. But once we're in the game — this MSI especially — we just didn't manage it at all.
Things looked like they were improving in the playoffs — you came back strong after the G2 loss. Does today feel like a step backwards?
After the G2 loss, we'd become really good. I even think we probably should have won that final against G2. We'd worked hard, found our weaknesses, pinpointed exactly what to fix, and worked on it well. And at this MSI — like I said,
For me it's a big failure, and even a disaster. The feeling that we've gone backwards.
In the games we were completely lost, not confident, not at all the team we usually are.
How was practice going? Was what you showed on stage a reflection of what was happening behind the scenes?
No, practice was going really well — although practice in general, especially at international events, doesn't mean much. But it was going great: we won most of our scrims, we played the champions we wanted, we were learning.
Did yesterday's 3-0 maybe break that momentum, if things were fine behind the scenes?
I don't think so. Even last night, after the 3-0, we scrimmed a top team and it went really well. We were confident, playing different kinds of champions like we wanted, being aggressive. But even in game one against DCG, we're just not in it — not in the plans, not at the individual level, none of it.
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There have always been big expectations around you. Do you feel that pressure — that at the slightest mistake, people pile on?
Personally, I don't really care what people say. I say what I think. But what people say — honestly, I don't really care.
They can say whatever they want on social media — it won't get to me.
Everyone gives their opinion anyway. It's like people watching football: you'll always say 'why doesn't he do this, why doesn't he do that.' But it's completely different being on the pitch. People can say what they want. It won't change much for me.
After yesterday, the things that were said — none of that got to you?
No. Especially after games like that, I don't really open social media, because I know it'll always be looking for someone to blame, hunting for problems. It's just going to be far more negative than anything else. So honestly, I've got no reason to open it, especially at a time like that.
Photo Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
A more positive angle — G2 last year had more or less your trajectory: two lost finals, a 0-3 against NA, a flopped MSI, then Worlds quarters and a Summer title. You told me in Spring that sometimes you need to hit a wall to learn. Was today the biggest wall you could hit?
There's always worse, I think. But yes, clearly. If we want to perform internationally — and for the Worlds coming up, we'll need to qualify — we have to come back strong, work, and above all fix this one problem:
We're clearly not the same team on stage, internationally, as we are in scrims.
Can you take any positives from this?
Like I said, I try to look back over the series. Against DCG, game one — we're not in it, but we win it. We're not in it and it shows; the gameplay isn't good. In the other two games, I just think they're not [DCG] MSI level. Then the series against Team Liquid and T1 — like I said, we make mistakes that are too big, and we're not even sure what we want to do in the draft. So for me, it's just very hard. I don't really know what to take from it.
On identity — is that the biggest work left for the rest of your year? Finding that game identity, that formula in the important matches?
I think it's the biggest, clearly.
Just being confident, being able to play a classic gameplay on an international stage — being at 100%, clear on the plays we want to make, what's possible and what isn't, how we use our spells, what we want to fight for, our drafts, all of it.
We'll have to fix that.
Photo Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
The upside is you're back home soon for the EWC. Do you know what's next, and what are your expectations for that tournament in Paris?
Honestly, I don't really know what's next. I think we'll take a mini break when we get back, then maybe prepare for the EWC. There aren't many other options anyway — either we take the tournament lightly, or we full-focus it, and I'd be surprised if we took it lightly. So I think we'll take a short break, try to come back, and try to fix the problems we had at this MSI.
Any last word for the fans who've followed you?
A big thank you to all the fans who support us, in victory and in defeat. Honestly, I don't think we showed a good face at MSI, and I'm sorry for that. We'll try to do better at the next international events. Keep supporting us — it'll help us a lot, especially in tough stretches like this.
Essaie à l'avenir d'apprendre l'humilité Caliste et arrête d'émote spam quand t'es pas capable d'appuyer sur F pour flash quand il faut ... à bon entendeur ...
Il a déjà dit qu'il faisait ça par réflexe juste pour garder ses doigts chaud mais comme faut se baver dessus et chercher à pointer du doigt le moindre truc
Puisque tu parles de pas utiliser son flash je part du principe que tu parle de la game 2 et je vais te donner un scoop : les timings où il garde son flash il a raison de le faire parce que le flash changerai pas le move en gros, flash in sert à rien il se ferait atomiser avant de pouvoir poser ses dégâts (on rappelle qu'il joue un adc poke et que son jungle décide de rundown la mauvaise cible 3 fois de suite hein) et flash out aussi parce qu'il a déjà kite tout le teamfight avant et qu'en gros flash out quand t'es déjà en 1v4 bah c'est perdre une ressource pour rien, mais vous avez raison les mecs ils aurait dû utiliser son flash et comme ça il se serait fait flame pour avoir flash dans le vide
Bizarrement tu parle de la game 2 ... hasard game de Ez, un des ADC qui a le moins besoin de son flash vu qu'il a son E ... essaie de tenir les mêmes propos concernant le Varus de la game 3 ou le Ziggs de la game 1 ... allume ton écran pour voir le naufrage la prochaine fois !
Je parle que de la game 2 parce que c'est sur celle ci pour laquelle tout le monde lui tombe dessus par rapport a son flash mais puisque tu veux faire chier, je trouve sa game 3 à vomir et il la lose effectivement mais c'est pas uniquement parce qu'il garde son flash et la game 1 n'est pas perdue sur l'économie du flash
Bah non y'a pas que les flashs y'a aussi ses over-extends, ses mauvaises décisions overall, donc oui c'est bien ce que je dis, c'est beau de la ramener "top 10 ADC World" quand tu fais d'aussi grosses erreurs tu apprend à te taire et tu fix TES pb avant de penser plus loin ... et on ne parle que de 3 games, hier contre T1 ou encore contre DCG ... if i speak le level de KC contre une équipe seed 2 de LCP ...
ça marche bah je pense qu'il va dire qu'il est le pire adc de l'histoire bien vu, vous tombez pas autant sur busio qui rundown tout autant et pourtant il a dit qu'il était le meilleur supp world même pas juste top 10
On est tous déçu petit, mais vous reviendrez plus fort ! On croit en vous 💙