Kicks: "We really could have shown a better performance on Ascent and Summit."

Note: This article is a text port of our live interview with Kicks . The video interview can be found here.

I know you guys didn't get the result you guys were expecting today, but how are you guys feeling about making an insane lower bracket run to make it to this grand final?

It was a nice run that we had in the lower bracket. We definitely had to reset after those close games that we lost to KC and FUT, that were right before playoffs against KC and then against [FUT] in playoffs. They were really close games, and I think we struggled to kind of recover from it initially. But as soon as we started getting things going again, we really felt confident. I think today as well, we really could have shown a better performance on Ascent and Summit. I mean, Sunset, we weren't really expecting much to come from it. We [almost] hadn't practiced it at all. But Ascent, we definitely could have shown better, and Summit, we 100% should have closed out. And map 5, who knows what would have happened. I think overall, it's a good feeling that we were able to recover. But it does suck how the final ended, especially in the last map.

How does it feel for you specifically to be returning to Champions? You've been there before with Vitality, and now you're going with Liquid as well. How does it feel for you, someone who's actually [been] called up pretty unexpectedly late in the year to replace someone on the roster?

For me, it feels really, really good, primarily because last year was really tough for me, especially towards the end. In the beginning, it was good. But towards the end, I was really struggling individually. I swapped [roles] to Smokes and a lot of things just felt like it wasn't going my way. After the season as well, like in the offseason, I was in a really tough spot. I wasn't feeling like I'm performing at my best, and I really had to take some time off in the sense that I felt like I wasn't ready to play at the highest level every single day, like compete at the best level. Playing in the Academy team helped me find myself again a little bit, enjoy playing again, [and] have more fun. [When I was] given the chance to come play with the main team, I was still a little bit unsure because I'm still playing Smokes. It's not my best role. But I think I got over the mental block a little bit towards the end now. I'm finding my space in the team a lot more and also just on Smokes as well. Like, I'm actually finding my own game over time. So to go from that tough spot at the end of last year in the offseason to going to Champs is something that I really didn't expect, to be honest.

While we're on the topic of your roles, you've played a couple roles throughout the years on different teams. Like you said, most recently, Smokes. Has there been any difficulty adjusting to the new team setting that you're in on the main team as opposed to the academy team? Like, did you take anything from the academy team that might have helped you fit in with the main team?

I think that was part of the challenge as well, because in the academy team, having that VCT experience, I was able to have a big voice in the team. But also, things are more loose in Tier 2 and on the academy team. They weren't so heavily focused on, you know, protocols and stuff like that, [and] I had a lot more freedom to call things on the fly. But again, going into the role thing, like in the academy team, I was playing Initiator. And then going back into the main team now, playing Smokes, it was again like a different dynamic because when I'm playing Initiator, even if I'm maybe not the most shotcalling guy on the team, I feel like I have a lot of space to dictate how we approach rounds in terms of micro, utility, or at least making sure people are on the same page. On Smokes, it's possible to do it, but also it is a lot more individual at times, especially on defense. And that's the part that I wasn't most comfortable playing individual moments at times, that when you need to make a decision [such as] how to anchor a site, sometimes I felt like I was always a step behind. That was the main struggle that I had coming into the main team. But like I said, now towards the end in playoffs, I really did feel like I was finding that part of my game, that I'm actually able to make these individual decisions, but also integrate it to still the strengths that I have, which is playing with the team, communication, all those kind of things.

Do you think that's something that as we get closer to Champions, you'll have tuned out a bit more, worked with the team a bit, get even more comfortable than you already are, maybe show up a bit more at Champions as well?

I mean, I think the team environment already or just like how things are in the team is pretty good, especially in practice, at least going to the office every day. I think it might be the best team environment I've ever had, at least consistently day to day. Obviously in Vitality, when we were winning in kickoff, everything was going good. The team environment was really good as well. But at other times, the team environment was shaky when things weren't going well. But in this team, even if things are not going the best, I feel like [the] next day everyone comes in, reset, they forget about it. We're able to have fun. So in that sense, I think the team is gelling really well and I'm honestly enjoying being a part of this great group of people.

Are you hoping to play any specific teams outside the EMEA at Shanghai?

To be honest, I don't really care who we're going to play. It's been a while since my last international. It was Bangkok, but that was [the] beginning of 2025, so there's been four or five internationals ever since. So a lot of teams have shuffled around. I haven't played against any of those new rosters yet, so I think any team will be interesting to play.

Let's take a look at the upcoming change in system for the 2027 year. You're no stranger to the scene. You've been playing like way back, you know, on BONK with bonkar and even Keiko as well. You've been playing with some great names over the years. You were also fairly young. How do you think this system is going to treat these up-and-coming talents next year in that open qualification circuit?

For sure, it's going to be better for younger players, less experienced players, Tier 2 in general. It's going to be interesting to see how it's going to play out, how much of a chance these lower tier teams, so to say, or less experienced teams, how much opportunity they're going to have to actually get to the bigger events. But I do think it's a step in the right direction because so far in the franchise system, even for me, I joined Vitality basically as I turned 18, [and] I really didn't expect it to happen so fast. It easily could have been that maybe I [stayed] in Tier 2 for another one or two years and [didn't get to] have this experience already from playing since I was 18 years old. So it was a bit of a gamble; you needed to be lucky, you [needed] to have connections. Maybe you just had a good day of trials and that's just what makes it work for you. So for those younger players, I do think it's a step in the right direction.

Focusing back on you again as well, do you think that you still have more room to improve as time goes on? You're still relatively young, but you've still got a lot of experience in both Tier 2 and Tier 1 as well. Do you think there's still some kind of metric of room for you to improve?

Yeah, I don't want to sound like [I'm] repeating myself, but a big focus for me was role change, playing Smokes, finding my own game. I think I got more comfortable slowly. There's still a lot of progress to make, but I think for Champions, [there's] not going to be so much time to try to change something or learn something new. But I do think for the next years, finding more of a, not a leadership role, but I guess having space to actually call, basically trust myself more and actually speak up. In the first two years that I had in Vitality, I was a lot of the kind of guy who, whatever the team needs from me, [I'd] do it. Change roles, do this on a round, do that on here, whatever it was, I felt like [I'd] always be the guy, I'll tank the bullet or whatever it has to be done, I'll do it. But I do think that I'm reaching a point where with the experience I have that I'm also able to say what works for me, what really doesn't work for me and actually just stray away from the things that don't work for me, like fight for myself a little bit more. I've been doing it already, but there is still a lot of progress to make on that. So definitely something to work on for the future years.