jL: "Call me jLegend"

We spoke with Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius after Apeks qualified for the Legends stage in Paris.

The chance to play at a tier one LAN like this Major has been a long time coming for Apeks, but the international squad has taken to play like a duck to water both at the RMR and in the Challengers stage.

It was only last September that the organization withdrew from ESEA Advanced citing a "need to reflect and evaluate." jL came in shortly afterwards, and so began the long road to the Major.

It is a road that has not come to a finish just yet, either. Apeks advanced into Legends with a 3-1 record, as jL and company secured qualification after wins over paiN, Grayhound, and Liquid, with the Lithuanian rifler in good form on a 1.14 rating so far. We caught the man himself for a quick word, touching on the team's map pool, the impact of Jakub "⁠kuben⁠" Gurczyński, as well as some debate on Major jargon.

jL, you just made it to Legends stage..

Call me jLegend.

No, Legends stage. You're still not a Legend.

No, no. Call me legend. For this interview.

That's biased. But okay, you told me yesterday that it "didn't feel like a Major yet." Does it feel like a Major now?

Now it does, now it does. When you lose a game against a team like G2 you know that you're not here to play some fun games, its a big tournament. When you see the losses and the defeats and the frustration of people, that's when you realise it is the real deal.

Something on the game today. One of the first times you play a [South] American team, is it different to play against a team like paiN?

I don't think so. I mean, they were very aggressive at least some players but other than that there's no difference. In EU we also play against teams like that that are individually good. They had good chemistry between each other but I think what they lacked was... maybe they missed some crucial timings or got shaky at the end because Anubis was kinda our game. We always felt like we were in control, at least on CT side. But yeah, nothing new.

Do you think teams will allow you to play Ancient and Anubis as much in Legends?

I don't think so. paiN gaming, I don't count them as a top team, and the top teams are not afraid to ban the maps that they prefer in order to punish pick us. But these guys, I think they wanted their comfort picks, like, letting Ancient and Anubis in, they were their comfort maps because they are also good on it.

What surprised me was the Vertigo pick because they have never picked it, when the last picked it was a few months ago. So yeah, I'm surprised.

How much can you feel the impact of kuben, he always seems like he can calm you guys down?

I don't look at it as experience, I just look at him as a kind of mentor, your coach. It's nice to have someone like him around. You know he's always calm, he doesn't show emotion often. This is a good thing for a coach to have.

But I think it's nice to have him because he doesn't just teach you CS, but he also teaches individually how you can get better as a player. I like that.

What are the expectations for the Legends stage?

Going through playoffs. 3-2, 3-1, 3-0, doesn't matter.