MiGHTYMAX on Pro League: "It will be the toughest challenge we’ve had to face yet, but I’m quietly confident we can raise a few eyebrows"

The British in-game leader discusses Endpoint's development over the last year, the evolution of his leadership, and the team's path to Pro League ahead of their Group D campaign.

Endpoint achieved the unexpected at the end of 2020: qualifying for ESL Pro League Season 13. The team remarkably turned around a 0-6 start in ESEA MDL S35 to win the event, capping off their tournament run with a 3-2 victory over Sprout in the grand final to earn a spot in the flagship league.

The team now face their most challenging test to date by squaring off against the likes of Astralis, Virtus.pro and Liquid. The stacked group, which also features Evil Geniuses and fnatic, will only see half the participants progress to the playoffs, but Max "⁠MiGHTYMAX⁠" Heath believes "there is definitely room for us to cause upsets and rise to the occasion."

In an interview with HLTV.org, the 23-year-old also shed light on the team's path to Pro League and the benefits the arduous road has induced, how he has developed as an in-game leader against tougher opposition, and the impact of the young Israeli talent Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan, among other topics.

Endpoint qualified for ESL Pro League after turning around a daunting 0-6 start in ESEA MDL S35 to win the event. How has that victory affected the team’s mental fortitude and attitude after achieving such a feat from a disadvantaged position? Do you feel it has added another element to your game and prepared you for Pro League in any way?

It’s no secret that our start to the season was abysmal. We were on a 0-6 record, staring down the barrel of an MDL relegation, which for us was unacceptable. We took each game as it came, prepared as best we could and tried to ignore the season record, which was looming over us. I think after the sixth game we lost, we had a team discussion to try to figure out what was going wrong and the best way to move forward, which was obviously not a pleasing discussion but everything was on the table in terms of work ethic, problems and solutions. I think that this discussion allowed a “breath of fresh air”, so to speak, everyone was under no illusions as to what was at stake with our MDL season and everyone was able to speak openly and honestly. To go from such a bad state as a team, to scrape playoffs and ultimately qualify for Pro League is still something that I think no other team has done before, so I think I speak for everyone when I say that we can be proud of what we accomplished.

I think generally over the course of last year we have built a really strange mental resilience in officials, something that I hadn't experienced before. We spent half the year qualifying for the playoffs of tournaments just to get absolutely destroyed by a better opponent (special shoutout to Complexity) and each time we were able to positively reflect on the match. After ten or 11 months of this, we found ourselves making absolutely crazy comebacks from getting 16-0’d on our map picks and winning the series 2-1, and great map comebacks from hefty deficits. Without a doubt, this helped massively throughout MDL and the playoffs. In the final against Sprout, we lost both our map picks and won both of theirs, and clinched the win on the fifth map, which was still really close. I think it’s safe to say that going into Pro League with this sort of resilience will pay dividends. There are no easy games, and it’s the strongest tournament we’ve qualified for as a team so I feel as if the pressure is not on us, and there is definitely room for us to cause upsets and rise to the occasion.

You have been placed in Group D alongside heavy-hitting sides such as Astralis, Liquid and Virtus.pro. What has practice been like leading up to your first match? Have you had the chance to scrim any of the teams recently?

Yeah, unfortunately, we got drafted into the Group of Death, but honestly, I don’t think it’s that bad for us. The only teams we haven’t had a chance to play are the guys from NA, but other than that I think we’ve had our run-in with the others either in officials or in practice.

flameZ was a standout player throughout the MDL season, averaging a 1.25 rating across 29 maps. Talk to me about his addition to the team and what he brings. He was mentioned by players in our top 20 articles and it seems eyes are on him - do you feel any pressure from other organisations for his signature? Do you see flameZ as a part of your team for the foreseeable future?

After losing Thomas we were under the gun to find a replacement quickly. We spoke as a team and compiled a list of players, including free agents in FPL, and we added flameZ to the list. Just by chance, one evening [coach] Ross and I were sitting down talking about the list, and we saw that flameZ was playing for Singularity for a tournament. We tuned in to the game and were really impressed by how he was performing and the decisions he was making in the rounds, so we added him and tried him out. He’s an incredible talent with a great attitude for the game, something that took me by surprise as he hadn’t played at the level we were at, or in many teams. When the top 20 articles came around, I really wasn’t surprised to see his name mentioned several times, he’s been absolutely killing it with us and he’s a pleasure to work with. I think anyone who is performing week in, week out, as he is will attract attention, but it’s best not to think about it too much. At the end of the day, if an offer comes in that is a great opportunity, I think anybody would take it. However, I think Shahar has a lot more damage to do for us right now.

Endpoint have shown consistency in the last year, primarily hovering around the top 30 and even spending ten weeks inside it. Gradually the team has refined its skillset to the point of winning tournaments and qualifying for better events. How have you reflected on your progress in the last year? How do you see yourselves breaking through to the next stage of your development and achieving more?

I think if we could win some pistol rounds we would be in a great position to achieve more this year. Seriously. Our coach Ross compiled an “end of year report”, which had a lot of data displayed to give us an idea of what we were doing well and what we could improve on. Our pistol win rate is one of the worst in the world, and with these rounds being quite pivotal in winning a map or series, there’s obviously an easy aim to improve on. I think that last year as a whole, everyone is happy with what we achieved with both Thomas and FlameZ, we made deep runs in tournaments, qualified for big events and to top it all off, we qualified for Pro League. The real crux of the matter is to build on this and not take too many backward steps, which is always difficult.

My development as an IGL is something that I’m working on to take us to the next level as it’s a relatively new experience for me. Prior to this team I hadn’t really been an IGL at a high level, and I think all great teams need a great IGL so I’m always striving to improve, week in, week out, whether individually or how I can help set the team up to perform better as a unit. The higher you rise up the ranks and the bigger tournaments you play, you can’t call the same way, and the best games to learn from are against the best opponents, so I can’t complain with the group we’ve been given. It will be the toughest challenge we’ve had to face yet, but I’m quietly confident we can raise a few eyebrows. We know what we are capable of, so we are really looking forward to the challenge ahead.

The team faced off against tier-one opposition many times in 2020. How has your calling evolved to deal with the more challenging teams? What have you changed in and out of the server?

The worst part about calling is thinking that everything is good with a map or strat and running into a brick wall against someone. We've encountered these situations so much over the last year. It really sucks in the moment but it has allowed me to build a better understanding of the game and how I want to approach it. I think every time we've faced a tier-one opponent it has happened, and it can be incredibly hard as a team or for me as an IGL to try to adjust to a different playstyle when you have already talked about a game plan before the match. Reviewing these matches is key to building a better understanding of what we are doing wrong or what the opponent is doing to beat us in order to see what adjustments could be made next time in a game.

One thing I’ve experimented with as a general principle since we’ve progressed so far is trying to keep game plans, strategies and calls simple rather than diversifying into having pages of strats to call from. I think that having every player on the team comfortable with our identity, system and strategies on maps with simple adaptive calls allows us to play both strict and loose, with no emphasis on either of them. If I feel like I should rein in players from making too many calls or plays, I can do that, and if someone feels like they have a great read, adjustment or play, they can also call this and it isn’t an issue. I’m not sure how other teams operate in this regard, but I think it works pretty well for us, and in my opinion, it’s the key to beating the best teams.

Something that we ultimately agreed on as a team was to spend more time doing theory server time or demo watching and playing a couple of practice games, rather than spending most days during the week just playing practice games. The idea behind this was to build a team identity on maps as well as build individual confidence in systems and to allow players to call individually so that the team can accommodate them in particular situations. It wouldn’t surprise me if tier-one teams follow this approach, but I feel like we were able to progress much more efficiently this way. It also helps me develop as an IGL as I can watch more games, bring more ideas and think about adjustments we could or should make in certain areas.

We haven’t really changed much on the server. We go into every game with a plan and a good team atmosphere. If the game goes away from the plan, then we can try to adjust. If we find ourselves in a sticky situation, we can always rely on the resilience that we have built up. We never try to think negatively in a match, because what’s the point? If you lose a map there are two more maps to play.

What goals have you set for 2021, for Pro League and beyond?

Cementing ourselves as a consistent top 30 team, and making it through our group in Pro League. Also to be ESL UK champions again. For the rest of the year, continuing to build upon the foundations we’ve set is one of my personal aims. It can be quite easy to become complacent, it’s human nature. I want to see us reach that next level, and to be challenging for the top 20 by the end of the year.

It has been two months since Endpoint announced an academy program. How is the project going? What sort of impact do you think that it can have on the UK scene?

I’m quite passionate about the UK scene, but it’s such a difficult subject to cover. There are a lot of problems that seem to happen in a cycle and nothing seems to change. Endpoint came to us and said that they were planning to build an academy system, and I was all for it. I think a lot of UK players struggle with commitment, and also find it hard to rise and progress as a team. Typically, as it always has been in the UK scene, teams will attend a tournament and fold straight after it, so stability is one of the key issues that need to be addressed.

The Endpoint academy was built to create a team environment that could learn from the main team, and we would be able to influence the progression and help them with any issues that they might face as a team or individually. I think it’s a really cool project and the “path to pro” model through the FACEIT community hub into the academy isn’t something that many organisations do. I’m keen to see the outcome of the project, and I hope that we can start producing more UK talents that can perform on a European level and also positively influence other UK teams.

Thomas is currently a free agent and he even stepped in for the team earlier this month. Are you monitoring his situation, or do you rule out making a change at this point?

It’s always great to be reunited with Thomas when he stands in for us, although we have no current plans to create a six-man roster or make any changes to our starting roster. However, I do think there are plenty of teams that could use a player like him in the right role. He’s a great player and deserves to be back playing in a team.