Although there were doubts about Liquid when their new roster was formed, they’ve so far been in incredible form and have lost just one series out of their first seven.
After eliminating FURIA from IEM Cologne 2024, we spoke to their coach mithR about Twistzz’s transition to IGLing, their map pool, and ultimate being strong despite his inexperience.
A great win for you guys over FURIA, how are you feeling?
Pretty good, I'm very pleased with how we played despite going 0-4 in pistols. I can't really complain that we managed to find ourselves and all the sides we played over the two maps were strong.
Why do you think you went 0-4 in pistols?
That's something we need to go home and discuss. Pistols, in a broader sense, are pretty random a lot of the time, but there are some smaller things we can adjust.
Despite having a short time together the map pool seems pretty strong, are you surprised by how quickly it has come together?
Yes and no, it comes from every player taking a lot of responsibility. Twistzz is really clear on what he wants to do and how he wants the rounds to play out, but we're also very clear on everybody taking responsibility in mid-round situations.
Twistzz is playing his normal roles in the frontlines, so in order for him to do so we need to have active players who aren't afraid to make calls, and that includes the entire team. Right now, that's working out really well for us.
There was a lot of concern about Twistzz being able to keep up his levels while taking over IGL duties, what do you think the key has been to not suffer any kind of dip?
I think all the concern comes from people who are trying to put the IGL role into a very classic box in which the IGL is going in first so he can micro-manage what everyone else should do.
But, the meta has changed. Today, CS is a very default-heavy game and to be able to do that you need to have a lot of inputs and a lot of individual initiative. As long as the captain trusts the input and initiative, then anybody can be the IGL, so to speak.
With the change in meta and with the lack of younger IGLs, do you think we might see more players like Twistzz take up the role?
In some ways, maybe. But it's not an easy thing to do to come in as an IGL, you'll have a lot of responsibility and all the initiative and inputs coming from the player is something you have to trust.
Don't get me wrong, because Twistzz is doing an amazing job and putting in an insane amount of hours in order to make this work, but it's also the IGL and coach duo that we have going right now that is working out so well.
So, no, I'm not sure that it's something that anybody could do, at all, because you need to have an IGL who is very clear with what he wants to achieve on the server but you also need to have a coach who is clear on how to work with someone who is as strong of an individual as Twistzz is.
It's easier said than done.
When it's going well for Liquid, Twistzz is very loud in celebration. When it doesn't go well and he doesn't get those opportunities, is there ever a concern of there potentially being more of a negative impact because of the positive impact it brings when there is a loud celebration?
That's where it comes down to energy, and where it's important for everyone to contribute to bringing a positive atmosphere. That's also why that, as the coach, I'm trying to push this philosophy that we should focus on what's working rather than what we need to adjust and change all the time.
Automatically, by doing what works and what you're good at, you eliminate most of your mistakes.
Let's talk about ultimate, he's been playing out of his mind so far, who scouted him and how is it going so well when the numbers didn't look mindblowing before he joined?
It was Twistzz who did a lot of the scouting when it came to ultimate, I was merely advising him on what to do, but there were a few names that came up.
There were at least two Europeans and a South American, and it's important to highlight that Twistzz was very clear that he wanted to have ultimate. Obviously, not only him, but all of us had low-key doubts because he had never played in tier one and we didn't know if he would be ready for the big stage.
We also had a lot of unknown variables with Twistzz as a first time IGL and jks coming back after not playing for so long, and then signing an unknown AWPer on top of that.
My advice to Twistzz has always been that he should trust his gut, and when he did, he was very clear that he wanted ultimate and so far we're really happy with how ultimate is developing within the team.
In terms of his performances, has that been a concentrated effort from you and Twistzz to make sure he's always comfortable and put in these positions to succeed?
Yes and no, we're encouraging an environment that allows for mistakes and we need to be experimenting. If we're not ready to make mistakes, then we're not learning anything.
In order to become a great team, then we need to set ultimate free so he is able to make his normal plays and play just like he did in tier three with Illuminar. So far, it's working out pretty well for him and he has great thoughts on how to not be countered all the time.
We're really pleased with what we see, but we never wanted an AWPer who would come in and we'd have to tell him how to play, we wanted an AWPer that comes in to have impact and knows how he wants to play.
So far, we've only been encouraging that. Obviously, sometimes it goes wrong, but most of the time it goes right. It's taking it from there and then watching and reevaluating, asking him open-ended questions so he's able to learn during the process.
In that sense, a lot of other coaches or IGLs will often talk about young or inexperienced AWPers needing to be more vocal and saying what they want to do, has that not been an issue with him?
No, not at all. ultimate is working a lot with MindBodyEsports about how to improve his individual routines outside of the game, we're watching a lot of demos together with the kind of plays I'm giving him, and ideas about how he can punish his opponents in official games. Twistzz is also good at just giving him the freedom to do whatever he wants to do.
He's developing into exactly what we want him to become, which is just a Polish beast.
We've noticed you cheer a lot in Danish rather than English, is that because it's more natural for you?
It doesn't really matter which language I cheer in, it's just all about bringing energy. It's more natural for me to cheer in Danish, but I also cheer in English. There's no reason for it, it's just all about bringing energy no matter the language that energy comes in.
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