Before I interviewed Dylan "aKm" Bignet, he had come off a 3-1 victory against the Philadelphia Fusion. His Zarya proved to be more effective in the match, dealing more damage and more eliminations with Graviton Surge than his counterpart Jae-hyeok "Carpe" Lee, who had choice words for the Fuel before their match.



Prior to entering the interview, aKm tweeted out that “his confidence is back”. I wanted to know more about what he meant by that, as well as his thoughts about Carpe’s comments prior to the match.

▲ photo by Ben Pursell



Congrats on the victory against the Fusion. What do you have to say about Carpe’s comment? Do you think the Fusion’s GOATS is trash now that you’ve played against them?



I'm not going to say it's trash, but they have a lot of things to work on. Obviously, I like the trash talk a lot because it spices the game up. People are more interested in watching the games because of it. It's nice for the league, players, and the games in general. We have a lot of things to work on ourselves. I don't think we won against a trash GOATS, more like an OK GOATS.





In this match, you went face-to-face against Carpe who also played Zarya. You looked like the better Zarya coming out of this match. How do you compare your Zarya to Carpe’s?



Lately, I've been getting my confidence back. I feel like I'm regaining that confidence I had when I was part of Rogue. As far as Carpe is concerned, I don't often get compared to Carpe when it comes to using Zarya. This is because he is such an insane player.



For me, Carpe is one of the best players in the world. It's not to say I outplayed him, but I performed better than him during our match. As a whole, it's a team game, not because I'm mechanically better than him. Because of that, I was able to shine in our match tonight.





The Fuel looked more coordinated and calculated in offense and defense than the Fusion throughout this match. Did you think you guys played perfectly or did you feel something was off with the Fusion?



There's no such thing as playing perfectly in this game. Obviously, we'll have something to work on. Otherwise, we would just 4-0 every single match. I think we overperformed the Fusion for our match, that's why we won. We exploited their weaknesses and just came away with the win.





I saw you tweet that your confidence is back. How did you feel going into this week and mentally prepare for your matches?



Pretty much, same as usual. I have a routine to get ready -- take a shower with music on, get my coffee, drink a Red Bull, warm up for the match, then go to the match.



When I say my confidence is back, it’s because last year was rough for me. I was doubting myself all the time. In the end, it paid off. Mentally, I turned my negatives into positives. It made me work harder to the point where I'm confident to go toe-to-toe with any DPS in the league. I think my Zarya play can match any high-caliber DPS in the league. I'm just happy that I got to play the way I am right now.



I'm someone who talks a lot when it comes to strategic participation. If I keep doing that, I want to be able to improve as a teammate and player. I'm hoping to improve my team as a whole. Tikatee has been a person who's helped me regain my confidence. He's been giving me a lot of feedback to improve. Our coaches, in general, are doing a great job for us players to give us confidence and play better.

▲ photo by Ben Pursell



So far we’ve seen three supports/three tanks comps in most matches so far. As a DPS main, how did you adapt going into this season?



Lots of playtime and work. Everyone was disappointed about GOATS meta. I want to play DPS, but with GOATS, people can think. There's a lot of coordination involved and strategy behind it.



Obviously, I would like the DPS meta to be back eventually. For now, I'm happy with it. We're a good team on GOATS. As long as we win, I don't mind about the meta.





What challenges did you face adapting to a non-DPS role?



Unlike everybody else, I am a slow grinder. That means I'm not able to pick up a new hero in a week. I take time to be really good about a hero. When I try to practice a hero, I try to understand how it should be played, what should I do against the enemy's comp, and what should I do with our team comp. With enough time, I can match any other DPS and hoping I can prove that this season.





So far, the Fuel is 2-2. What things do you think you guys need to work on moving forward?



Our confidence and being consistent. I think we're inconsistent right now with the way we play. If we can find consistency in our play, then we can beat anyone. But the thing is, the two matches we lost is because we lack confidence a little bit. Eventually, we're not going to be nervous anymore. We'll have a lot of confidence and I think we're going to snowball throughout the season.





Thanks for the interview. Would you like to say anything to the Dallas Fuel fans?



I would like to say thank you to the fans. They are all amazing, especially to me since I had a rough season last year. I hope you keep supporting the Fuel no matter what, even if we're inconsistent. Thank you for keep supporting me, and especially, the Fuel. We will make you proud in the long term.