In the last game of MSI 2018 Group Stage Day 4, the famous clash between NA and EU again was played. Team Liquid (TL) being in danger of being eliminated, played against Fnatic (FNC), who was hoping to lock in a spot in the Knockout Stage.



Unlike most of the games during this competition, there were less than 5 kills up to 20 minutes into the game. Both teams were more careful from their compositions and to their game play. TL took initiative with a faster-scaling composition. They took the lead in kills, took three Ocean Drakes and two Infernal Drakes, and were able to take Baron first. In the Baron power play, TL was countered as Hylissang’s Rakan initiated a teamfight splendidly. The teams traded kills afterwards and stayed quite close. However, TL continued to take initiative and were able to destroy FNC’s Nexus after slaying the Elder Dragon.



After the match, TL mid laner Pobelter was interviewed by Sjokz.

▲ Image from LoLEsports Flickr.



Q. Fantastic win for you guys going 2-0 on the day. About this game specifically was a very rough one the first time around. What was your approach going to this one?

I think that just holding throughout the tournament, we've been getting a better grasp of what the meta is. At the start I think we were just like totally wrong, we were picking some weird champions and having some bad tendencies. But especially after the games yesterday, we started to realize what picks might best suit our team. On top of that, we were able to shake off the nerves. We felt so much pressure, thinking we have to do well, or crap we're losing -- we couldn't focus on our game at all. So we kind of had like a pep talk and saying 'Guys, let's just play with no regrets. We've played terrible already so there's nothing left to lose.' We still have a chance to make it out of groups if the stars align tomorrow so I'm really happy about that.



Q. If the 'stars align'. You'll definitely have to win all the games tomorrow and see what happens, but chances are there and we know what happened to Fnatic at Worlds; everything is possible. You have FW and RNG tomorrow. How can you make sure what we saw today, the TL that can go close and turn it around, the TL that can play control, that plays to their own strengths; how can you make sure we see that again tomorrow?



I think that both of those teams actually, we have a good chance of winning against. FW looked a little bit shakier today; they lost both of their games. RNG was the only team we were able to beat in the first half of the group stages. So we're just going to prepare really hard, practice really hard like we have been the whole time and hopefully put up the same performance we did today.



Q. Finally you beat EU on their home turf. Do you have anything to say on that result?

It feels good, I guess. I tried not to think about that too much in my head. I know it's a really big thing with the fans. We're 1-1 now, we evened it up. I'm sure they'll laugh at us still if we don't make it out of groups but at least we evened up the score with them.