flamie: "I regret not going to WESG, it was a really ugly thing to do"

The 21-year-old told his teammates that he would not attend the Chinese event just 72 hours before the start of the competition, leaving captain Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin lost for words and in a race against time to find a replacement - who wound up being Russian veteran Dmitry "⁠hooch⁠" Bogdanov.

On VK.com, Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev cited "many personal issues" as the reason to skip the event, and offered to pay for hooch's flights, with the 31-year-old going on to help Team Russia to place third at the $1.5 million showpiece tournament.

flamie admits that he "let many people down" by skipping WESG

In a lengthy interview conducted by Aleksei "⁠OverDrive⁠" Birukov, the Natus Vincere player has now revealed that he regrets his decision, which, he admits, let the fans down. The interview also touches on several other interesting topics, including his decision to leave HellRaisers and join Na`Vi, the recent team shuffles, and the most devastating losses throughout his career. 

Below you can find a snippet of the interview:

Tell me about your decision to skip WESG.

After the game against GODSENT, there was a moment when I realized I was out of energy and I needed to take a break and restart myself. Although I now regret not going, not even because Russia placed third, but because it was a really ugly thing to do; I let down many people, many fans. And I didn’t spend the time I got instead of the tournament the way I wanted to spend it. So I should’ve gone there.

What do you think about the reshuffles in the top-tier teams of the American scene?

To be honest, I don’t get the logic behind the American reshuffles. Cloud9 win a Major, gain in form, and replace two players; I don’t get that. Nor do I understand why steel decided to leave Team Liquid.

You’ve been on NaVi for about three years by now; many players have come and gone over that time. Have you ever taken part in replacing one of the players?

I’ll be honest, I was involved in the replacement of Zeus, as indeed were other guys on the team. I’m glad Danya has been able to forgive me for doing that, and that we’re playing together now. Regarding GuardiaN, he himself wanted to leave the team. He believed that the roster we had then was past its prime; at the time, there were a lot of micro-conflicts, and at some point, he asked to be put on the transfer list. As for seized, it was his personal decision as well; I even considered leaving along with him. I really believed in him then and I do now. When he was leaving NaVi, saying goodbye to him was hard for me, as we’d made the whole journey together. Essentially it was him who had recommended me to the team, but things went the way they went.

To read the full interview, which has been translated into English, go here.