Happy: "There's no star. There are only roles."

[Translated from French]

So I’m with Happy from Team EnVyUs who just brilliantly won their match against Na’Vi with a 2-0 score. About that game, were you confident going up against Na’Vi in the quarterfinals?

I would say yes, as we have a really good matchup against them. Historically, we’ve always had good matches against them. Even when they led 13-7 on Inferno, I still was confident and knew we could turn the tables and put up a really good side. Overall, we played well and it paid off.

Indeed, both games followed the same path as Na’Vi dominated early on. On Mirage, you could feel they were at ease and went 8-1, but suddenly you flipped a switch and kept putting up round after round. On Inferno, you went from 7-13 to the final score of 16-13. What triggered that?

I think it was mostly due to the economy. That’s something important I told my teammates at the beginning, that if we could get enough money to get our setups, like the double AWPs for example, I knew we could chain rounds from then on. Our goal has always been to break Na’Vi’s economy. It should be noted though, that at the beginning of the game on Mirage, we went for two consecutive force-buy rounds, which is atypical—nobody else does that—and both were close to succeeding. We ended up each time in two versus twos, I believe. That explains why we were quite mauled at the beginning. But as soon as we earned money and could set up our plays, then we got the ball rolling and everything went as expected.

Talking about economy, we saw NBK pick up a scout for multiple consecutive rounds. Did you call for it or was it NBK’s choice? And generally speaking, how much leeway do you give to your teammates and to their judgment?

This was very specific to Mirage as NBK has a very specific position as CT when holding B, just under apartment where he can quite always play that way. He tried in practice to use the scout all the time, as it costs nothing and is still very useful when used that way, and he can then just stack money, drop us weapons, and be very flexible economy-wise. So yeah, that’s his spot, and as we saw in the match, he always hits and that’s really effective. Most of all, it’s insanely annoying for the opposing team.

Yeah, it’s really hard not to get tagged when pushing apartments.

That’s pretty much unbeatable. This is really “the” spot. We abuse it, and it works.

And back at DreamHack Tours, you said that NBK was the player you gladly trust to hold a site all by himself, and he has proven that on Mirage again and even during the group stage, notably on Inferno while holding the B site and stopping four men entries on the site quite effectively. So you really have no problem letting him defend alone?

That’s his role; he's had it since playing with me, so basically once I took the leadership back when we were still LDLC. It’s been nearly one year since he's had that kind of role and I have nothing to complain about. I think he likes it. As I said before, he’s a very flexible player. You can give him just about anything to do and he will be able to get along and succeed if you give him the right tools and preparation as I am his partner. And yeah, we prepared everything and they worked. He’s competent and quite a unique kind of player. Nobody plays like him, and he is a big asset for the team.

Okay. I will now come back, quite expectedly, to what happened recently—the Titan-EnVy shuffle with apEX and kennyS joining you. Has their arrival changed the way you call, or did they simply fit in shox's and SmithZz's roles? Have you changed how the team works with that exchange?

For the most part, no. They actually adapted to our playstyle, and I really didn’t want to change it as I think this is the right formula.

So that’s still “EnVyUs,” even with the two Titan players.

Yes, that’s the EnVyUs formula. That was something I often rehearsed with the previous lineup. We found the formula; we just need to apply it. In the end, we changed some players, but we still apply it today and it pays off. I’m convinced that we will still be able to apply it in six months and that it will keep paying off because it’s the right way. As soon as all your players understand you, understand their roles and what you’re asking of them and give their best, then no matter what happens around them, no matter the egos nor the mistakes, it works. We showed it in the match against Luminosity Gaming when it went to overtime, and we showed it today against Na’Vi in a best of three, going 2-0—a clean 2-0, I would say.

Indeed, the second part of each game, you made it look like Na’Vi couldn’t compete.

Our T sides. People don’t really analyze it, but if they actually did, they would see that we indeed have solid CT sides, but we also grind very good T sides. And not only do we get rounds, but there’s always the possibility, like on Mirage, to make it a huge stomp. Like it was 9-1 or 8-1 [T/N: actually 8-1] and we just wrecked them. So yeah, the formula pays off and we’re applying the fundamental principles of Counter-Strike—every player.

I see. Let’s talk about apEX. We know he has great potential. On Titan he was a bit disappointing at the end, and since he switched to EnVyUs, he’s now considered one of the best entry fraggers in the world. Do you think EnVy’s formula applies well to him, in the sense that he thrives in your environment?

At some point you’re forced to do the comparison. apEX experienced both structures, both leaders [T/N: Ex6TenZ and Happy], both teams. Clearly, Titan has completely failed from A to Z, whereas we were successful right at the beginning and even after swapping players. So as I said earlier, the formula is the right one and that’s why you can see someone like apEX, who—even with a complex role—as long as he understands and gives his best, he makes it work and makes it work well. We’re still enjoying being a new team which nobody knows yet.

We will have to see when people have analyzed the EnVyUs playstyle.

Yes, but still, we’re at the point where we’re still above the wave. We have very good chemistry and we’ve still not hit the low that teams always experience. For now, we’re rolling.

Until the moment you’re questioning yourselves, trying to figure out what is wrong, you try things. It doesn’t work out, thus the change?

That’s the typical life of a team. For now, we have all the tools in our hands, as I say at the beginning of every match. Now, we just need to carry it out and play our game.

Alright. Back to you as EnVy’s leader. Do you think this is the best lineup you’ve ever had?

That’s a difficult question, because I thought that the previous lineup was the best in the world.

The one with shox and SmithZz?

Exactly. But that just made the fall harder. I won’t reveal all the details about the end of the former team, but for me it has been nearly a disillusion. A quick and surprising disillusion, seeing those two players leaving. I’ve always been calm, but today I am even more so about the future. I don’t know what it’s made of, as I said during the last debriefing with the former team, and we’ll see. We just play, and when issues arise, we’ll try to tackle them. For now, as to which team is the best in the world, as I say to my team: We’re nobody yet. We have everything to do, everything to prove.

Well, it seems to be off to a good start.

It seems indeed.

Switching to kennyS, he was not considered recently as the star AWPer he was once known as, and even if he could clutch rounds, it wasn’t really “kennyS” anymore. I would like to ask how do you approach the AWP role. Sometimes it’s you, sometimes it’s him, sometimes you go for a double AWP. Is it based on how the player feels in taking the AWP?

It’s very specific and very dependent on the maps. Even though I didn’t check the public opinion much, I got a lot of criticism because of those rounds where I had an AWP and not him, which shocked some people. But when you live in the team, it’s not shocking. When you follow the action, and when you see how I call, understand how I lead, you can understand why at some point I have an AWP and not him. Even today against Na’Vi during our T side, I ended up with an AWP and not him and asked him to drop it to me, because at my position I know I’ll be able to make something of it, while he will need an AK. It’s just that people don’t realize that in the team, there’s no star. There are only roles.

[A wild kennyS appears at that moment and goes pew pew with his hands]

Speaking about the devil…

Speak about kennyS and he'll show up and act smart (laughs).

Anyway, in a team, the way I work—and every player I’ve played with can tell you—it’s about exploring and crafting those roles all together. You have a well-defined role, but we’ll work together. Endorse it, do as I tell and you’ll see that it will pay off. And for now it works, so everyone is happy about it and everyone congratulates me about it. But it would be interesting if people actually paid attention not only to the scoreboard and to the stats, but also to the player’s image. When we picked up Dan [T/N: apEX], he was criticized by a lot of people. Everyone on Titan complained about him and kennyS as well. He was a star AWPer, but that’s not how it works. That’s not how you win, and that’s what people should realize.

Alright, so if I get this right, there’s the player as an individual, and the player in an environment, and that can vary a lot depending on the environment, and that’s what we see with EnVyUs.

Yes, and that’s why, with the former lineup, Richard [T/N: shox] was in the frontline as an entry fragger, while when we picked him up he had the reputation of a lurker. But no! At some point, you need to think about things team-wise, and when you trust a leader, he gives you all the tools and that’s the way I decided to do things, and you have to stick with it.

That reminds me, there’s been some people calling you out for being a pugstar, relative to how aggressive you call, yet to great effect. Any comment on that?

I like the expression “jack of all trades,” and that’s true that I can have many different roles. I can be multipurpose. You can see me with an AWP or lurking basically anywhere and that’s my role, that’s the one I chose to take and I fully take responsibility for it. I make the decision, as I am the leader and I lead the team. But I do it because I want the team to win, not because I want to be the top fragger, and you can see that in the games.

Indeed, sometimes you are, sometimes not.

Yes, as you could see, these games I was in the middle of the pack, but the only thing that counts is the victory.

There’s the stats, and then there are the decisions that lead to victory, that sometimes will lead to you top fragging or not.

There are a lot of external and internal factors in a team, and it’s sad that people often overlook that. A team is rich and diverse. There are a lot of things going on.

Okay! Now for your next match, you will face the winner of TSM-Kinguin. I haven’t checked the results; I don’t know if it’s already over.

No idea, but I think I know who should make it.

Yeah, it’s quite a safe bet to say that TSM should win. So, do you feel confident going against TSM? We’ve seen you during Gamescom going 4-0 against them without really breaking a sweat. But there was the format which led many to think the way maps were picked made the result a bit less significant.

I’ve said it in interviews: I think we had an advantage as we ended up playing all our strongest maps, but that’s still a 4-0 and a really decisive one. Overall, the result has to be taken with a grain of salt, but if tomorrow it’s TSM, I’m definitely confident. As I thought when the bracket was drawn, we got the hardest path, but the matchups which favor us the most. For example, I know that if we were in Fnatic’s part of the bracket, we wouldn’t have had good matchups, but when you look at their bracket from Fnatic’s point of view, they got a somewhat easier bracket.

Anyway, I’m quite happy to play against TSM instead of say Fnatic or even Virtus.pro. I think we’re favored against them (TSM) as we have a good history against them and we know how to play them. I’m rather confident, though nothing is done yet as usual. I would say that tomorrow, even if people see us as quite the underdogs, despite our victory against Na’Vi— though as a matter of fact, we are (the underdogs)—I think we’re slightly favored.

Okay! Well, that was all I had to ask. Anything you’d like to add?

Alright. Thanks to our sponsors, Monster of course, Astro, Scufgaming, and many others I forgot.

We’ll take the whole list from the website and report you’ve mentioned them.

Alright! (laughs)

Thank you, Happy!

Team EnVyUs Website: https://teamenvyus.com/
Sponsors: Scufgaming, Gaems, Monster, Astro and DXRacer.
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