HS: "I never expected that it would be so hard for me to be given another opportunity"

We had a quick chat with Kevin "⁠HS⁠" Tarn ahead of Charleroi Esports to get to know more about his return to action and the GamerLegion team.

The Estonian player spent most of 2018 away from the spotlight following the disbandment of his OpTic team, attending just one Big Event that year, StarSeries i-League Season 4, as a stand-in for HellRaisers.

After a troubled period with two short-lived projects in Tempo Storm and 2019, HS hopes to have finally found some stability in GamerLegion, who are sitting just outside the top 30 in the rankings as they head into Charleroi Esports, an eight-team tournament with over $100,000 on the line.

In this interview, HS discusses his post-OpTic struggles, linking up with the Uruguay team and his expectations for the Belgian event, which will kick off in just a few hours.

What does it feel like to be finally back in a team after everything that happened to you in the last year? Did you ever feel that it would be hard to find a team to compete at a top level with again?

I made some bad decisions when I decided to not go with some offers that I received after my period with OpTic, and even before that, after suNny had left PENTA. After that, we had a failed project with Tempo Storm, which did not help to put me in the spotlight in any way. I never expected that it would be so hard for me to be given another opportunity, I felt that I had proved myself enough to at least deserve a chance.

You have faced some criticism yourself. Was it hard for you to find motivation after the OpTic and Tempo Storm projects fell apart? What made you decide to join the Uruguay team?

I never lost motivation, it was just that I did not feel inspired for a while and kind of lost my identity as a player. My decision was easy, for me there was no other option to play alongside players with as much experience and talent as these players.

What are your first impressions of the team, now that you have already attended a LAN event?

I had been a part of other new projects with players who had not played together, and, to be honest, it never looked this promising before.

Many look at nawwk as one of the most talented young players in Sweden. What is your opinion about him, and how has he adapted to the team?

He is a player I want to sacrifice myself for, to let him shine, because he is incredibly talented and will probably be one of the best players in the future if he stays on the path he is currently on. He has had no problems adapting to the team, we are just trying to find ways to use his potential and get the most out of him.

Ex6TenZ has often been criticised for his excessively structured style of play. What has it been like to play under him? Has he been able to properly share his vision for the team, given his struggles in terms of communicating in English?

He definitely has his own way to think the game, but he has been very open minded so far and in our team every player incorporates their ideas and the small plays they like to do, to improve the overall picture. The way in which we play is something that the entire team has agreed on, but more importantly, everyone seems to think it is more about having a balance between a structured and a loose style, and not too much of either one.

You have had some mixed results lately. What do you think that the team still needs to work on to be able to find some consistency?

All we need is time since we have only been a team for a couple of weeks. That is not enough time to do much, especially to find consistency.

You lost 0-2 to Valiance at the UML Finals, taking just six rounds on both maps. Was that match a reality check or did you expect that kind of a result, given how new your team is?

I was very ill during that match and it was basically my teammates playing 4v5. We did not really take anything from that match except that Valiance played decently. There is not much to say about it, Valiance are a strong team and they are probably currently in their all-time peak form.

What are your expectations for Charleroi? How have you prepared for this event?

Everyone always expects to win the tournament, you can never truly be happy with anything less than that if you are a passionate professional, in my opinion. Of course we still have a lot to work on, but I believe that what we have so far is enough to have a chance to win a tournament of this caliber.

What are the team’s long-term goals? How far do you think that you will be able to go?

I think in a few months we could be a stable top 10-15 team. After this period of time, we should be able to see glimpses of our lineup's full potential, to see if we can break the tier one barrier or not.