Team Liquid survived elimination after winning against PaiN Gaming. Here’s what their midlaner APA has to say about it.
Team Liquid Eain "APA" Stearns talked with esports.gg about the upcoming match versus GAM Esports, his thoughts on the lack of EU vs NA matchups, TL's confidence, and his old teammates.
Team Liquid APA after PaiN Gaming win: "Confidence."
Team Liquid escaped elimination after their win over PaiN Gaming on Day 5 of the LoL Worlds 2024 Swiss Stage. Now sitting at 1-2, TL looks to challenge GAM at another elimination match.
What was the team atmosphere like coming into the match versus PaiN Gaming?
I think, going into any series, we're very confident with whatever game plan we set up. The one-word description I can give is just "confidence."
How do you assess Team Liquid's win vs PNG?
I'm very happy we won, but the games were closer than [we] expected. I think [the games] highlight issues that we currently have. If we can't fix the issues, [we want to] at least put a band-aid on the issues going into our next series versus GAM.
You mentioned "confidence." Yeon was carrying in Game 1. Do you think he felt pressured?
No, we're definitely giving a lot of confident calls. I'll say 'I'm strong,' Yeon's saying he's strong, even UmTi's saying he's strong. There was a lull period in the game where we stopped pulling the trigger and doing things. It made the game a lot easier to lose.
What about in game 2, when your Neeko was fed? How was team communications during that game?
I think [game 2] was a little bit better than game 1. But still, [we had] similar issues where we stopped pulling the trigger and we were losing fights around the Rift Herald area.
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Two stolen Drakes this series?
I mean, I'm not a jungler, don't blame me! That's on the junglers, I'm not the guy with the Smite key. Both sides need to take a look at that.
Thoughts on the GAM Esports matchup?
I'm happy... I have a redemption match versus them. Last year, they knocked me out of Worlds. I'm happy to be able to face them again and hopefully, knock them out this time.
There hasn't been an EU-NA match in this Worlds!
Hopefully, both [Team Liquid] and Fnatic win, and we'll face Fnatic at 2-2. Or, maybe G2 loses and we end up being able to face them.
Is there a specific FNC/G2 player you're looking forward to matching against?
Well, I haven't faced Caps yet at an international event. We scrim Caps a lot and I even 1v1'ed him recently, but I've never gotten to face him on stage. It would be really fun to face him.
Anything you want to say to fans now that you've picked up a win?
To be honest, I've not been reading any social media at all. So, I'm not totally sure what they were saying while we were losing. I'm sure it was not positive. But, to all the fans who remained positive and faithful, I'm glad. We're still going to continue to make the run. I think we're going to keep improving overall throughout this tournament. I'm very confident that we can make quarters and further.
Is there anybody from Resolve NA you kept in touch with over the years?
I talked to Array the most, on Resolve, quite recently. Not that I don't like them anymore; if any of them DM me, I'll DM back. But, we don't really talk much anymore.
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