WIth only a week left till the end of the regular season, Team Liquid earned a much needed win against Clutch Gaming.



Losing the past couple of games, TL fans started to feel anxious about the worrisome performance. However with the meta aligning perfectly with Impact’s playstyle, Team Liquid has started to regain their foothold on the ladder.



With mid gaining a lot more influence with the recent patch, Pobelter has performed solid throughout the split. After the game against Clutch Gaming, Inven Global interviewed Pobelter. Let’s see what Pobelter has to say about Bjergsen, TL’s chances for playoffs, and Amumu mid.

¤ How do you feel about your win against Clutch Gaming?



I think the win came as a huge relief to me and the rest of the team. This is because, the fight for the last playoffs spot is getting really close. CLG is on a streak lately. We are really relieved to get a win even though it wasen’t perfect. I believe we lost our last 2 games? 3 games? So yeah, it feels good to get a win.





¤ What do you think are the reasons for TL’s consecutives losses?



TL has not been looking great lately. I think it is partially because we got surprised with new picks. For example, we got surprised with Skarner earlier in the split. We weren’t really surprised about them picking Olaf. We just were not that prepared against it. Against TSM, we didn’t really have that good of a draft looking back on it (laughs). We had a bad draft against TSM because we kind of got baited in scrims.



I played Anivia into Ryze against TSM. In scrims, it was insane. I would get solo kills on Ryze every single game. I would perfectly control the game. I would go 9-0, and it felt like the enemy team couldn’t do anything. I was like “Wow is Anivia really a strong pick? I’m not sure.”. Then I played it on stage, and I was completely useless. Ryze just roamed everywhere. I was just this useless bird in the mid lane clearing waves. I was like “Huh… this feels really bad” (laughs). It really was a mix of not preparing well enough and having a bad idea in mind due to scrims.





¤ Why do you think the results you had in live games with Anivia was vastly differently to that of your scrim results?



I think the Ryze players were just really bad (laughs). The Ryze players would always try to fight me. I was like “Jeez… is this really right?”. They would always run into me while standing in my ulti and trying to trade with me. Bjergsen would just clear the wave and roam to the side. As you know if I try to play aggressively as Anivia, it isn’t that good in the Ryze matchup. We are both clearing the waves, and we can both roam to either side. I can follow with tp, but it isn’t that good if I do that.



On top of this, TSM played Gangplank and Ezreal. We did not really encounter these picks in scrims. Usually, they would pick Maokai or Cho’gath for the top lane. Champions that are easy to kite. Most of the times, they would also pick an immobile ADC like Varus or Caitlyn. However playing against Ezreal and GP, I would get a lot of pressure, poke, and get split down. It was just totally different.





¤ Talking a bit about your 200IQ plays. You stopped Rakan mid engage with your ulti. Did you predict Rakan’s movements beforehand?



I did?





¤ When Rakan was going to jump on Doublelift?



Oh yeah, I remember. Yes, I did predict it. I actually tried to focus on Rakan with every ultimate. I think I missed a couple of opportunities because Rakan is so slippery. At that time, I just thought Rakan was a good target because Peter was getting engaged on. I needed to stop the engage, and Rakan is squishy. It was just a play that happened through sense actually.









¤ Why did you decide to go back to your Malzahar? Did you pick Malzahar because of the Rakan pick? Or because it was your comfort pick before?



To be honest, Malzahar is a really bad champion (laughs). However, the passive makes it somewhat suitable compared to other picks against Rakan. Most mid laners have zero answer to Rakan engaging on you. But if you have your passive up, Rakan can’t really engage. On top of that, our draft ended up favoring bot and jungle. You have to always give and take somewhere in the draft so...



Regarding to mid, we anticipated they would pick Orianna if we banned Azir and Ryze. The Orianna to Malzahar is a bad match for sure. I was down like 20 cs because there was not really much I could do. But in the late game, Malzahar can regain some of what he lost in the early game. Just because, Malzahar’s side control is so good. We just picked Malzahar because it was the best option… I don’t know how to really describe it (laughs). We didn’t pick him because he is good or because it is my comfort pick or anything.





¤ With your 200IQ, what teams do you predict will make it to playoffs?



Ough… I don’t want to jinx it. This is because, we could still not make it to playoffs if the stars align in a bad way for us. I don’t want to jinx anything. I don’t want to say anything or predict anything (laughs).





¤ Out of all the players on your team including yourself, who do you think is performing the best for the team right now?



I could include myself (laughs)? Could I just say “Me. I’m the best” (laughs). Hm...I don’t think it is fair to say anyone is the best. I think it will make other people feel bad. This is because, everyone is trying so hard. We all just want to make it to playoffs and do well. I don’t want to make anyone feel bad by saying “I’m the best. Everyone else is s***” (laughs).





¤ Let’s talk a bit about your new office. How do you like it?



The new office is actually really impressive. It includes everything we need. We have an excellent new chef, Manny. He makes such delicious food. I am really grateful for him. We have top notch gear that helps us review. The office just has everything we need to stay focused and do our best during scrims.









¤ What do you think the biggest differences are working at an office instead of playing in the gaming house?



It feels more professional. It feels like I am really at work. I kind of feel like I am back at highschool again. I’m like “Oh I need to wake up or I am going to be late again.” (laughs). Since we need to wake up early for time to eat and have team meetings, I am still adjusting to it. For me, it has been pretty tiring for the past few days actually. I haven’t been getting the best sleep, but overall I think it is going to be good for our team.





¤ Since the game TL will have against Cloud9 is important, how is TL going to prepare for this match?



We stayed up very late, like 1am, in discussion for the game against Clutch today. So as long as we prepare like we did for Clutch, I think we will do fine against Cloud9.





¤ Is there anything more specific you can tell us?



Uhm…





¤ It seems there is something you want to tell us but you don’t know if you should (laughs).



Oh no, I was just thinking of something stupid to say like “We are going to do a tri lane or first pick Amumu mid” (laughs). But no.

¤ You could say something in this interview to maybe confuse Cloud9 if they read this.

I think C9’s bot lane should be careful because we have prepared a tri lane strategy. We leave mid empty and just tri lane them bottom.