"We Can Win Against Anyone in This League" — Vladi After Fnatic's Upset Over G2
Photo Credit: Riot Games
Nobody expected Fnatic to be here: a forgettable LEC Versus, a rough opening week, and a roster that most had already written off. Then came week two — and a dominant 2-1 over G2 that nobody saw coming. RFT.GG sat down with Vladimiros "Vladi" Kourtidis right after the win to talk about the turnaround, his development as a player, and what he took away — and didn't — from his time at KC.
Your Aurora performance today was miles away from last week. You looked like a completely different team. What happened in those seven days?
Our scrim results are not very good — we are losing a lot of games, but we are winning some too.I think we are a team that takes a lot away when we lose. We review a lot of stuff and go very in depth, so we learn a lot even when we lose.
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I think we are just improving a lot.
I think today we showed our real level, because in week one we just underperformed a lot.
Of course, people had us rated very low because of our Winter Split, which I think we were bad as a team — but it was also our first split together and we were learning a lot. Not as fast as now.
I think now we are getting a lot of takeaways, and today we saw a lot of good stuff.
What are your goals and ambitions as a player?
I'm keeping it low and not setting insane goals. Saying 'win Worlds' is not unrealistic, but it's a bit too much for me right now. I just focus on the next objective every time. Right now I think it's to qualify for MSI, and after that it's to win the LEC. That's mostly my objective for the split. And individually, to keep improving. My laning is getting better compared to last splits. I don't really set very high goals.
Your laning has been a constant point of criticism. How do you explain it, and how are you working on it?
When you scrim against good opponents, you can take a lot of takeaways. I review my own lane after every scrim game and I learn a lot.
Especially when I play against Jojopyun — I think he could arguably be a top 10 laner in the world.
When I play against him I learn a lot, and I also asked him for some advice and what he thinks. And then I also watch a lot of rofl files of games played in the LCK, looking at the matchups and the concepts of the lane.
You're aware that a lot of people have raised concerns about the amount of solo queue you play — I remember even Gaax pointing the finger a bit in the Fnatic documentary. What's your view on that?
I wouldn't say solo queue is the best way to improve. I just have a lot of free time, and watching a lot of VODs in a single day can be draining. I wouldn’t recommend that to someone… So after scrims, if I have something to watch I'll do that, and then usually I'll play solo queue. But I have reduced it — I'm not playing as much now. I do three to five games on scrim days. I wouldn't say I play as much as I did at KC, because at KC we were not doing a lot of stuff after scrims, so I had a lot of time to do whatever I wanted.
At KC I had solo queues, but I also didn't have the mindset that I needed to watch VODs. I think I've changed that now.
Since you mentioned KC — now that you've been in a different environment, is there anything you regret about how things went downhill there?
I regret not watching VODs for example.
I didn't put in a lot of effort, I’d say. And it was mostly due to myself — it was my fault.
But it was also due to the fact that we didn't have a lot of things as a team. After scrims were over, we just had plenty of free time and everyone was doing something different. I'm not pointing fingers — someone would play a different game, someone else would chill in a Discord server, another would play solo queue. I'm not blaming anyone, but yeah, there wasn't enough structure and we had a lot of free time. And obviously the first thing is to do it yourself, and that's a mistake I made. But now I think we also have people pushing us a lot.
Jojopyun told me he felt like watching VODs was like being in school, but he considered it much more useful than playing solo queue. Do you agree?
Yeah, it makes sense. He's the type of guy who doesn't play much solo queue, and as I said, I believe he's one of the best in the world in terms of laning— and I think he achieved it mostly through watching a lot of VODs. Solo queue doesn't help that much. It still has some value for practising matchups, learning a new champion, or working on mechanics on a specific champion. But yeah, I agree with him that doing something different that is game-related can be more helpful.
Photo Credit: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games
Do you feel like there was too much pressure or too many expectations on your shoulders very early in your career? People were already calling you the best mid laner in the league after only your second split.
I don't think there was a lot of pressure, but obviously there will be some when people think you are one of the best —or when I was I would say. But I didn't have that in my mind, that I was the best. I think some mid laners were also underperforming in that split, even though I think I was playing well.
And it wasn't just a mid lane thing — I think it was also a team thing where every team in LEC was basically new and we were just way better mechanically, because we had five very strong individuals.
I think we won a lot due to that. So yeah, there will be some pressure but I don't think it affects me personally.
Do you still consider yourself one of the best, or how do you see it now?
If I improve some things, I can be one of the best. My laning — which I think I'm getting better and better at — if I get to the point where I can lane at a similar level to Jojo for example, I think I can be a very very good player.I think I have a lot of game sense in the mid game and I know a lot about how to play the map. Of course I'll miss a lot of timers. But the one factor where I'd say I was inconsistent is the lane, which as I said is improving. Today was much better with Aurora — even though it was a slightly different matchup. But there was another time where I played against a strong opponent and got dove twice on Aurora. That's what I mean by being inconsistent, especially when it was supposed to be a winning matchup for me.
Photo Credit: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games
Where is your mindset at right now, individually and as a team?
The environment is good. There will be some small tensions, but mostly from arguments about a play in scrims, which I think is pretty normal for every team. The environment is pretty nice — people outside probably think it's very booming, but we also have very good people who can calm things down.
Every single one of us is putting in a lot of effort. When you see five people all trying hard, you wouldn't be upset at someone for doing something wrong, because they're still trying.
So yeah, the mood even when we lose is fine. Not good — you're disappointed and maybe a bit angry — but pretty okay.
Do you think this Fnatic roster has what it takes to compete with the best teams and make MSI this split?
If we just keep putting in the effort that we do now, I think we can win against anyone in this league for sure.
And if we win against everyone, we get to compete for MSI. If we keep the same mindset of improving and not booming, I think we can scale well even into Summer and be a way better team.
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You'll face KC and the KC fans again soon in Les Arènes. How do you view that?
I'm expecting a lot of boos. We'll be playing on a big stage. But I'll just try to minimise the noise and focus on my game. I can't really do much about it — it will happen a lot of times and it happens to a lot of people. When we were playing against MKOI on stage, they were getting booed. It's kind of the same thing. You just have to minimise the noise and play your game well.
W Vladi keep going #FNCWIN