Jerry: "We realised that we were capable of a lot more than we initially thought"

We spoke to in-game leader of FORZE, Andrey "⁠Jerry⁠" Mekhryakov, who explained the team's coaching situation and described his interactions with Bogdan "⁠xsepower⁠" Chernikov and interim coach, Anatoliy "⁠liTTle⁠" Yashin.

FORZE are one of the favourites of the CIS Minor, and after securing an opening victory against Syman followed by a 2-0 series against Gambit Youngsters, have ensured participation in the playoffs of the $50,000 regional Major qualifier.

In an interview conducted with Jerry after the team's 16-9 victory over Syman, we discussed the situation involving now former coach Rustam "⁠5TRYK#R⁠" Alimkulov, liTTle's role on the squad, how Jerry interacts with xsepower and other topics of interest.

It was shocking to learn that 5TRYK#R would not be traveling with the team to the Minor a single week before it was to kick off. Could you give a first-hand account of what happened and why he didn't travel despite previously mentioning on social media that he would?

Rustam (5TRYK#R) had disagreements with the organisation, which we thought had been addressed and rectified. As it subsequently turned out the next day, there was some sort of a miscommunication between the coach and the organisation, which we as players had no knowledge of, that led to his decision to miss the Minor.

I can't say that I personally respect his decision. In my opinion, I think he should have traveled with us to the tournament, because his absence meant I had to compensate in preparation, but what happened, happened, and I have come to terms with his decision. I just put in the necessary work to ensure that his decision would not have any impact on our performance.

As a coach, did he bring more of a moral component to the team, or was his in-game influence significant to a point where his absence could heavily impact your showing here?

The workload effectively doubled, but I decided to be efficient about it and, like gla1ve back in the day, made myself a notebook where I wrote down my vision of the game and how we should play. We have an analyst who I currently work with - Anatoliy "liTTle" Yashin, he added his own vision on every opponent to my notebook. I wrote all of it down, and now when we play, I can focus more on my individual game, because I have all of our theory-crafting in the notebook. All I need to do is take a tactical pause, have a look at them and pick the strategy I feel is appropriate. I did this because I feel that in a good team all five players have to perform, and no single player should fall behind.

Talk to me about the work you've done with liTTle - I imagine that the past week has been quite intense for the two of you. How has he contributed to your overall style or gameplan in this short period of time?

The interaction between liTTle and I works as follows - I have my vision of the game, my interpretation of how it needs to be constructed against specific opponents, and then there's Anatoliy's (liTTle's) vision. He's an experienced individual, he has been part of many analyst desks and he knows how teams from various regions, as well as CIS, play.

As for the specifics of our interaction, he tells me how he envisions our match against a given opponent will go, and how we can defeat them, in his opinion. I have my perspective on the match-up, and an idea behind how we can defeat the opponent in accordance with the system we developed with our coach before Anatoliy arrived. My task is to combine these two visions into one and communicate it to my players as an in-game leader while adding a certain variability and freshness to our ideas.

In short - yes he has contributed to our team. I compile our ideas and we employ them in-game.

forZe has demonstrated outstanding results over the recent past, namely first place at Copenhagen Games 2019 and qualification for IEM Chicago and the Minor. Could you explain how the team was able to show such improvement, in an international context, in a seemingly short period of time?

Everything kicked off at the start of the year when we visited the PLG Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi. In the group stage we faced G2, who looked sleepy; we had some technical difficulties during the match, and they were sleeping in the meanwhile, so we came to the mutual conclusion that they're ready for the taking, and if we managed to win, we would secure a lot of confidence. We defeated them 16-8 in the group stage, made it into playoffs where we went up against fnatic on-stage, winning the first map. After that first Mirage showing, we realised that we were capable of a lot more than we initially thought. We had just lost the qualifier for the Minor against pro100, but a month after we took a map off fnatic on LAN, on stage. We were gained an indescribable amount of energy that has kept us going throughout the year. As for what happened afterward, we lost Overpass to fnatic, then went into something along the lines of a triple or quadruple OT on Inferno. We had people coming up to us in awe, which also gave us a lot of energy.

We traveled to Copenhagen with the same spirit, and here at the Minor we're aligned in much the same way. Sure, we might be here without a coach, but the start to the year at PLG, the energy it gave us, remains within our minds and we are trying to express and show it here in Berlin. Of course, we've done a lot of additional work since then, and even since Copenhagen, despite winning the tournament. We constantly analyse our matches whether they're on LAN or online. I think all of this, in combination, helps us jump over our heads, so to speak.

Finally, let's discuss a very significant component of the roster - xsepower. He has consistently shown outstanding performances and can be the single deciding factor in some of your matches. Talk to me about the interaction you have with him as an in-game leader - does it function in a way where you give him direction and he executes accordingly or is it a matter of him using freedom to impact the outcome of rounds?

I'd say it's 50/50. As a captain, I give Bogdan (xsepower) a vector in terms of what he can do. If it's a specific area of the map, then it is entirely open for him, but under the condition that he isn't playing alone. He does what he likes, but he has to use his teammates wisely - they have to time a flash for him, they have to assist him. We work for Bogdan, and Bogdan works for us - it's the very feedback loop that many people talk about in interviews these days. Bodya (xsepower), as a player, likes to occasionally aggress, and as such he has a few issues, just like any player out there. My task is to deal with these issues; Bogdan also listens to my feedback. We work in tandem for the betterment of our team and have done for over a year now.

The other thing that was quite difficult was finding an individual approach to him. As a captain, you have to have a mental connection with your players and be able to both exert pressure and give them reassurance when they need it. With Bogdan it has proven to be difficult because he has so much freedom on the map, which leads to him feeling looser. As such, when we would win at events, Bogdan would slightly overestimate himself - as a team we encouraged his individual performances and let him know he did well, but also reminded him that we work as a unit and that he isn't playing alone.

Returning to the original question regarding whether it's his decision or mine - it's 50/50 and we try to balance it out to be a team effort, as well as his individual performance.

Is there anything you'd like to add before we conclude the interview?

I'd like to thank our sponsors F.C Spartak, Lukoil and plan b:.