Hello Mani, it has been a month and a half since Titan’s decision to recruit ScreaM. Today, with the benefit of hindsight, do you still understand the choice of your former teammates? Have you seen it coming since the arrival of shox and SmithZz? With a bit of hindsight, I understand and respect their decision. I believe my lackluster performances when Shox and SmithZz joined the team were mainly due to two things. On one hand, when the lineup started playing together, I had the vicious feeling that I had finally achieved what I always wanted: play along with the players that I had been admiring for a long time. It kind of unconsciously had a negative effect on my devotion. I didn’t feel the urge to get better. On the other hand, when I noticed that things started to go wrong, I didn’t manage to fix it quickly enough. I already explained the tactical reasons that caused it. Did you find any other explanation of what you were calling "a failure"? Do you still have regrets? What do you keep from this experience and this kick? It’s sure that a part of me is regretting to not have been able to make the best out of these very favorable conditions that were offered to me. However, I prefer to look ahead and learn from this painful but precious experience. When we stop wanting to be the best, we regress. I’ve lost a lot from this mistake but I’ll make sure to learn every possible lesson out of it. Back in time, you explained that shox was "doing everything better" than you, do you know which things you have to work on to reduce the gap? In your opinion, what are your main weaknesses you could work on? On the opposite, what are your best qualities? I think that I have to update my tactical vision of the game. What I mean is, not only strategies, but also smaller things such as tricks and timings on the positions I play. As I explained in a previous interview, I’ve lost a lot of impact because I didn’t renew my game enough and my timings became predictable. The game is evolving very fast, and, at some point in my career, I didn’t work hard enough to be one step ahead. Now, I have to find back the confidence I lost at the end of my experience with Titan and it’s gonna be a long process. Regarding my qualities, it’s hard to be objective, but I do believe that I’m good at analysing situations during a game, I’m able to find and suggest efficient solutions. I also feel pretty comfortable in clutch situations (1vX or 2vX). Finally, I have a well-oiled communication. I only speak up when the situation requires it, and I know how to calm a team that starts getting carried away. "When we stop wanting to be the best, we regress" At the beginning of the year following the recruitment of RpK, you revealed to HLTV that ScreaM "lacks many qualities". It is, however him who replaced you, and many people quoted you after this change. Do you regret this media spotlight? And do you think he has evolved since then? There are two things to consider here. On one side, I think that ScreaM effectively evolved a lot during the time we was without a team and then with Kinguin. He became more autonomous, one of the consequences of being in an international team. He managed to maintain a very high and pure skill and learnt how to use it best in some situations. On the other side, I’ve made a huge mistake in my communication at that moment of my career. I think that any communication manager would have gone crazy. The words you use can really easily be used against you. The truth is, I’ve always respected ScreaM as a player, but at that time, people only saw what they wanted to see and it was my own fault. I won’t make this mistake twice! You had to follow the major online. What did you think about it? Was it not too hard, watching it from home after getting used to go there every time? I would be lying if I told you that it was easy for me. Indeed it was a pretty rough weekend. To take my mind off, I went to Berlin to watch the League Of Legends World Series finales that took place at the same time. This way, I didn’t have to spend my weekend sigh watching streams. A small word on the evolution and the victory of EnVyUs? You played with kennyS and apEX in Titan and now you see them triumph. How do you explain such a fast adaptation and a better regularity (thing that was quite a problem back in Titan)? Honestly, I’m not very surprised. Kenny and Dan have always both had a potential above average players, making them capable of winning a game nearly by themselves when they are having a good day. What failed them for a long time was the psychologic part of the game. Their emotions had too much impact on their performances to allow them to get better. Now they have changed their environnement. When we join Titan with Dan and KQLY, we quickly felt that we weren’t here to win, but more to "stop losing", or at least that’s how I felt. The fear of defeat was always there. In Envy, Dan and Kenny arrived in a more confident atmosphere, and I think that it makes all the difference. In my opinion, they are two very dangerous players. I’ll wait to see how they’ll react if things start to get more complicated for nV, but I trust them. "With Titan, I always felt that we were fighting to avoid the defeat" And again, Titan didn’t make it through the groups. You probably watched their games and their results closely. What is your opinion about this new failure? Titan never went through the group stage at any major, maybe that’s no coincidence? Do you have any explanation? I don’t claim to have all the solutions. I myself experienced this kind of failure with Titan. If I had to give a hypothesis, I’d say that that the problem is mainly in their heads. As I said, with Titan, I always felt that we were fighting to avoid the defeat instead of playing for the win. Is there more pressure during a major ? Most likely. But do not forget that this event was very near the changes of the line-up. Personally, I’d wait couples of weeks before drawing any conclusions. Now let’s focus on you. Soon after your departure, you told me in private that you had leads on joining a new team. Today, there is still nothing official. What happened? I’m currently in contact with several teams and I have multiple possibilities. However, I want to take my time, and rather wait for a little bit to make sure that I’ll take the right path. The majority of the teams have contracts that end at the end of the year, so it will be a more fertile ground for possible changes. For now, I’m working on keeping my level, and I’m focusing on myself. So you confirm that finding a competitive team and keep playing is your priority? At the moment, it is still my dearest wish. If at the beginning of 2016, I won’t have managed to find a project that meets my expectations, I’ll consider a role changing. I’ll always be a part of the community, as an analyst, a caster or a coach. I have way too many roots in it to leave it behind me. "Staying a player is my dearest wish" Is a "downgrade" to the french subtop not conceivable? If you join some of the best subtop players, don’t you think it could be possible to reach the European top again? If not, are you planning to lean towards an international team or wait for a change in either Titan or nV? Recently, I actually notice that some french subtop profiles were much better than I thought they were. I’ve never looked deep into it, not because I didn’t care for the subtop, but because I was mainly focused on my own career. I deeply think that some french or french-speaker players, have the necessary skill to be reach the top scene. Otherwise, regarding international rosters, the fact that I speak English, German and that I’m someone very independent makes that I’m absolutely not afraid of an international challenge, not at all. We saw that you’ll take part at the IEM San Jose as an analyst and that you should soon be announced at another event. How did you get there? Did you contact the organisers? Or did they come to you directly? In fact, several days after the announcement of my withdrawal with Titan, Joe Miller contacted me to offer me a position of analyst for the San José IEM. I quickly accepted because I wanted to discover this universe. And honestly, a trip to California is not something you can easily decline. I take this chance very seriously and I want to do a good job. There probably is a parallel universe in which the advancement of my career is to be an analyst or caster, so it’s in my best interest to learn the most out of this opportunity. Overall, how do you apprehend this position? It’s new for you. How do you prepare? Have you watched how your future colleagues proceed or have you asked them advices? I’m dreading a little bit to be honest. The community seems to be very confident about my analyst capacities, maybe even more confident that I am myself. I did some research about the teams that will be there and I plan to come to the desk with pertinent ideas. Obviously, I watch all the competition streams and I listen to the opinion of everyone with pleasure. It is not a touristic trip, I want to do well. But it is still my first experience. I’ll probably make some mistakes and I’ll learn from them. "I’m absolutely not afraid of an international challenge" During a show called "By the numbers" from Thorin and Richard Lewis, they mentioned this new role for you. If they both seemed very enthusiastic, Thorin emitted some doubts as sometimes, to transcribe an analysis correctly, you have to be harsh. What do you think about it? I think I’m able to distinguish the roles. I can be someone very nice, close to most of the players with whom I maintain good relationship, but it will not keep me from giving my impression, even if it is wrong. However, I’ll not be a hot topic with some trash talking, it is not my personality. We saw Fifflaren succeed in this transition, but he wasn’t a player anymore while you still are. Would you be ready to criticize friends or potential future teammates? Did you think about this situation? Isn’t it a little uncomfortable? No, as I said earlier, you have to be able to act like a true analyst and do your job, that means objectively analyse what’s happening during a game. Players that know me are aware that I don’t denigrate anyone for fun. We can criticize somebody while at the same time be respectful, it’s the way it’s done that matters to me. Personally, I don’t fear this part of the job. Thanks for giving us a bit of your time, good luck in your new role. I give you the traditional last words. Thank you, I’ve enjoyed a lot doing this interview with you. For the others, I’ll be happy to meet you on the IEM San Jose stream, or eventually to meet you on site! See you soon!