IMT PowerOfEvil: “I don’t think it matters which team we’re facing. We will probably be the underdogs and I think that should help us relieve the pressure a little bit.”

The 2022 LCS Summer Split is back! North America's finest is back in action following the 4th of July break. Immortals was a side that much needed the break, they were sitting at rock bottom of the standings with only one win and were struggling to close out games.

Although Immortals looked much improved after the break, they were sadly unable to close out another winnable game, this time against Counter Logic Gaming. Following their close affair, IMT PowerOfEvil spoke to Esports.ggs Piratechnics for an exclusive interview. This interview was conducted prior to Immortals' impressive comeback victory over Cloud9.

Pira:  I'm here with PowerOfEvil from IMT. It was a tough loss as it was so close only to stumble at the finish line. You guys looked much more aggressive, what changed during the week break?

PoE: Well, first of all, obviously, it's a very tough loss, I think all of us are very disappointed, I think I'm quite happy with how we came back into the game because at the start it looked like we were going to get rolled over, the early game looked really rough. And then I managed to get like a sneaky play bot lane and got them back in the game. And from that point on, I think everyone stabilized and, you know, we revert back to playing our game. And I'm really happy with how we progress the game, I think we could have done it faster, a little better.

But I think it's big progress from like the previous weeks for like, we didn't really have that. Like, that's stability, I would say during the mid-game. But I think we just had like, two or three big mistakes, right, like the early game, and we fell really far behind. Then we had this Baron play where we have the Baron, we should be able to break their base, but we take this fight in the middle and I come late, and I'm sending it to. And so our Baron play was completely lost. And then on the next Baron, we just get wiped in the game just ends. So it's a very sad way to end the game when we were in the driver's seat for so long.

Pira: Absolutely. I know, it is tough to have the loss. But the fundamentals seem to be there – that seems to be the difference between this split versus spring. I know you were not shy about your words, calling it a disaster in the Spring Split. But for this summer, it feels like this roster has started to form an identity and you are a much more aggressive team. Are you confident that coming into the second Round Robin, you'll be able to improve a lot more?

PoE: Well, I feel like we have been improving quite a lot from week to week. I feel like definitely, this two-week break was the best thing that could have happened to us because we had more time to kind of bond together and really figure out to get on the same page. And in the game. I think that was one of our biggest weaknesses, this split that when it comes to the mid-game, one, we were really far behind a lot of times, and then when we were there, the problem was that we had so many different ideas.

And you can start following one person's idea, you need to start knowing at what time is who is right kind of, figuring out like, who can you rely on. And who can you trust in certain situations? And I think we kind of figured this out, I think the early game even so was a little bit stumbling. At first, we had a good early game, I think, or at least it felt like we were even coming out today.

Pira: For sure. Now, you mentioned, you know, trying to find just the single voice to follow in the team. This is a squad that is full of very experienced players. Who is that voice? Is it you that's making the play calls?

PoE: I think everyone has, I feel like nowadays in League, it really depends on each game, like who's actually doing the carry role, who is doing the engage and all that kind of stuff. And I think today, I'd say it was IgNar and me because we were the people on the engage [champions] and kind of looking for these angles and looking for these plays.

And then you know, but this could change, right? Like, if I'm playing [a] more supportive champion, like, if I was playing Orianna or something, then I'm probably more gonna be looking at the teamfights and waiting for my teammates to show up and do the perfect engage into the rotation. So it always really depends on your role. And I think that's kind of how it is nowadays that you need to be able to play most of the styles and you need to be able to adapt throughout every game, right?

Pira: Yeah, it makes perfect sense, having that adaptability and flexibility is important. Now for you: You are a veteran player, and you've just gotten your North American residency How does it feel to officially be domestic talent?

PoE: It feels awesome, it was a long road to get it but you know, I got it. I'm really happy and yeah, I mean, like, now I can finally take the fast lane at the airport [laughs].

Pira:  That's the real reason, right? [laughs]. So, a little bit more about this particular game, I think another big difference is drafting seems to have gotten even better, too. I know Nightshare comes in officially as the head coach, what has that change brought for you guys in the pick and ban and outside the game?

PoE: So Invert is actually still working with us. So we pretty much have run Tomas as head coach, and Invert as, like assistant coach somewhat, so he's watching our scrims too. And I think that, I would say actually, like, a big thing is that, like, the players have a good idea of what they want to play, because we have so many veterans, so they have like, they have a really strong kind of idea of what do we want, kinda, and then we have Tomas, I think, as a new coach, right, coming from Academy being very open and kind of trying to facilitate, what do the players want? And how can we make the best possible draft of that? [Like] what is maybe what is OP and what can we not give up? And what should we play? Right? So I think it's a good combination of the two of the players and coach.

Pira: Right. It sounds like you're confident that things are coming together. Are there any more big fundamentals that you think IMT needs to work on? Or is it just getting that extra 10% to close out these games that are close?

PoE: I feel like we still have problems at fundamentals, for example, the Baron should have just been a game overplay – like you get the Baron, they are already in the driver seat, they don't really have much waveclear and we kind of gave them an angle back in the game. But if we can fix these small fundamental problems, where we just, you know, guys, like, chill, we just break their entire base, like be disciplined in a way? I think we can get these wins, and we can, you know, improve our record and hopefully, you know, show up on stage.

Pira: Absolutely. You talked about tomorrow's game that will be up against Cloud9, does it matter to you who you end up going against? Or just making sure you play together as a team, and now that you've improved on your mid-game, trying to fix those other issues that linger?

PoE: At this point, obviously, we are down [in] the dark. So I don't think it matters which team we're facing. We will probably be the underdogs and I think that should help us relieve the pressure a little bit. I think we still are pressuring, like every player and IMT I think it's still pressuring themselves because we feel like we could have a better record and we could have won some of these games. But in the end, I don't think it matters who we face, we just need to fix the problems within us. And as soon as we have done that we should be ready.

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