isak: "We are happy with the players that we got"

The Major finalists had a tricky transfer window but are looking ahead to the future at IEM Cologne.

GamerLegion's run to the Major final was always going to be difficult to match. The two biggest names on the team, Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek and Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan, were picked up by MOUZ and Natus Vincere respectively before GamerLegion even had the chance to prove their success was sustainable.

It was an example of the cruel world of sports; as good as the smaller organizations perform, the most they can hope for is a hefty buyout for their biggest stars.

In a summer window with so many moving parts, replacing siuhy and iM only became more difficult. Isak "⁠isak⁠" Fahlén spoke to us frankly about the process after the new GL earned their first win over The MongolZ.

Close win. What was it like to play TheMongolz, are you a bit relieved after that?

Yeah, it's revenge for the core of us since they beat us at the Major. New lineup now obviously, but it feels nice, especially after that first map.

What was it like being part of the core three, and ash of course, after the Major. Was there ever a chance of keeping siuhy and iM?

No, there wasn't really any chance for that. Not when they get poached by much larger organizations, better contracts, and all of that. They would have had to pull unbelievable strings if they wanted to keep them.

How involved were you guys in finding replacements? Did you trial many people?

It was mostly ash fixing the process, but he kept us informed, he talked with everyone. We talked with a bunch of players, but most of them turned us down for other offers or they just said no, or they had something else going on. It was a big mess overall, but I would say we are happy with the players we got.

How are you fitting into nealan's system? It seems difficult from the outside, with you and Keoz as anchors; is it hard to find an IGL that can rotate and frag like siuhy?

I mean yeah. I feel like the players that we replaced, they were still replaceable, we still have the core. For me and Keoz now, we just have to step it up more in our game which we are both focussing on since we lost a bunch of firepower. After a few months, I'm pretty sure we will be in a good state.

Tell me a little bit about how volt is fitting in. When I spoke to him he was very frank about not being iM, not being expected to be iM. Like you said, is it about balancing frags between all three of the riflers?

I would say so. When we were playing with iM, we were all fully focussed on supporting him. We played so much around him, he got everything he wanted. It was obviously the right call from us since he's an incredible player.

Now with volt, he has new roles. He has to firstly get comfortable in those, know what kind of plays he can make, know how to get used to the system as well. And then we can start progressing more, and find out how we can support him more. But right now, we just need more practice, and I think everyone has realised that.

How confident are you guys of running the gauntlet in the lower bracket here? What would you be happy with? Is it more about performance than literal result? What are you looking for now?

Comfortability. Getting to know each other on the server, [today was] only our second official with each other. We need to know how we act and react on every piece of information and stuff like this. It's more about getting comfortable in officials. We'll take day by day, game by game, and we'll see how far we come.