SYDNEY -- Team Liquid have made the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive grand finals at IEM Sydney without dropping a map. They were tested, but not broken, by MIBR in the semifinals and swept through their group with relative ease. To lift the IEM trophy, though, Liquid will have to overcome a pattern of underperformance in grand finals at their two most recent LAN showings.
ESPN Esports talked to Keith "NAF" Markovic about Liquid's issue in finals, the integration of Jake "Stewie2K" Yip into Liquid's lineup and NAF's own impact as a star player.
ESPN: When people talk about you, there's a consensus that you're one of the best players in the world. Unlike other top-ranked competitors, though, you don't have that same distinct, characterizing style. How would you define your own impact in the server?
NAF: I don't know. I think I just have a really good understanding of the game. I feel like I can get a lot better understanding of a round the more teammates I lose during it [laughs]. At the start of the round, sometimes I may not be sure of what to do, but when it comes down to the clutch rounds, the 1 vs. X's, the 2 vs. X's or whatever, that's where I thrive.
That's when I think of NAF as a clutch player who can win your team many types of rounds. But I don't know. I don't really have a clear-cut story or style. ... I'm still paving my way.
ESPN: Do you consider yourself a star player?
NAF: Oh, yeah, for sure [laughs].
ESPN: Do you feel that the versatility of Liquid's players blurs most of the lines as to which player is playing which role? It seems to be a hard team to put in a frame.
NAF: Yeah, of course. On our team it's hard to tell who's the supportive player, or the ones who take on the burdens. But it's honestly shared a lot. Sometimes Stewie is playing a spot that doesn't get a lot of action, or sometimes [Nicholas "nitr0" Canella] will be playing that spot, or [Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken] will be playing it.
For example, on some maps I'm primary AWping, on other maps nitr0 is primary AWPing. All of our roles are fairly shared. No one is doing something super-specific; everyone shares their roles. Everyone knows what the other people should be doing. I feel like that's what builds a very strong team.
ESPN: In-game, it seems that Stewie2K hasn't really forced you guys to change a whole lot of the roles. Has the accommodation of him mainly been swapping out Epitácio "TACO" de Melo's roles?
NAF: Yeah, so on T-side, Stewie2K took a lot of TACO's spots. He played pretty much the same things as TACO, so it wasn't that much an issue. I changed a few spots on T-side, but that's very little. On CT-side, we tried to move him into some places where TwistZz was playing, but now we've gone back to it. So he kind of picked up some stuff from nitr0's spots or my spots. But, yeah, nothing has really changed. It's just been very minor spot changes. Nothing changed drastically.
ESPN: But having him on the team is obviously a drastic change overall, right?
NAF: Oh, yeah, it's been very good. As you know, Stewie is a very explosive player who can pick up an AWP on-site, or he can rifle. He knows when to push, when to play aggressive or passive. TACO was a player who played a lot to survive: He played very smart and strategic. He doesn't need to get as many kills; he just needs to do "this" and survive, whereas in a similar situation, Stewie would probably take the fight. So it's good to have both the worlds of how they play.
But they both benefit our team very much. They're both very unique in their playstyles, and it was nice to have TACO and now Stewie carrying that.
ESPN: Then the other side of the changes was former coach Wilton "zews" Prado leaving and Eric "adreN" Hoag joining, right? How does the change in coaches affect you individually?
NAF: Not necessarily big in-game changes. I saw zews more as a mental coach, whereas adreN is more of a strategic coach. Obviously they try to help in every area they can, but there might be a specific place they feel more comfortable in.
Whenever we were feeling down, zews would try to pick us up with a nice little speech, get us going. adreN, though, is more strategic, for sure. It's different, but honestly not that much different. We're all fitting in well.
ESPN: Does the difference between their styles alter the way you play?
NAF: A lot of people know me and that I'm sort of emotionless [laughs]. So, I don't really need a coach's motivation. My head's always in the game, although it might seem like I'm down sometimes. Some players need that reassurance from a coach. For people who can give me fist bumps, I'm like, "All right, yeah." But other people really need that fist bump, you know? I'm usually really calm, cool, collected, not smiling too much, head in the game.
ESPN: You guys are favorites to take this event. Given your recent run of second-place finishes at BLAST, is there anything different you're doing mentally to prepare for the finals and semis?
NFA: So, after the Miami finals, where we lost to FaZe, it was clear that it wasn't an Astralis issue; it was a grand final issue. So clearly we feel a bit different, playing a bit different in the finals. But the biggest thing we need to address is the team spirit heading into the finals and playing during it. ... Yeah, we were having a tough time in that Miami final. I think the biggest issue we have now is mentality.