ash: "I think this is the biggest achievement I've had in my career"

ash ranks taking a completely new GamerLegion roster from 0-2 to 4-2 at the RMR higher than his Paris Major final appearance.

Ashley "⁠ash⁠" Battye and GamerLegion have qualified for their fourth successive Major after completing a miracle run of four consecutive best-of-threes.

Like they were in Paris, ash's troops were down 0-2 on day one of the Shanghai RMR after two losses on Inferno, but lightning struck twice as the rookie squad rallied to run a daunting gauntlet.

Date	Matches
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Europe RMR A
18/11/2024	GamerLegion Finished 2:1 UNiTY	Match
19/11/2024	Falcons Finished 1:2 GamerLegion	Match
20/11/2024	SINNERS Finished 1:2 GamerLegion	Match
20/11/2024	BetBoom Finished 1:2 GamerLegion	Match

With an average age of 20.8, they would have been forgiven for feeling the pressure — and they did at times, on day one, and even losing map one of the seventh placed decider from 11-5 up — but GamerLegion came up clutch when it mattered most to complete their miracle run.

"I didn't think we'd make this Major," admits an emotional ash to HLTV, past midnight after GamerLegion qualified. "I don't think [the team] believed until we nearly did it. And now they know they can."

If you cannot see the Soundcloud embed above, listen to the interview here.

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You've done it again ash, 0-2 to 4-2 and a 4th Major in a row. How are you feeling?

I think this is the biggest achievement I've had in my career. We've had so little time with the team, we've had so many problems, just trying to put it all together has been so hard. I have to credit my assistant coach, imd, we've been stressing and working way too hard for way too long to give ourselves a chance.

Practice has been horrible at times [laughs]. It's been the biggest learning curve. That's what I'm most proud of with the team, everyone's so young, the mental stress of being 0-2, they're basically just kids and to play like that is unbelievable. The whole RMR is a mental test, it shows where the floor of a team can be. Now we know, the only way is up.

Try and explain just how crazy this, because only volt is here from six months ago. The level of change, they're all rookies, how did you do this?

I honestly have no idea. You can see how talented they are, it's just pure talent, a slight bit of tactical stuff, getting them in a good mood and they're just expressing how good they are. We haven't played the highest-level opponents here but I don't think it really matters at this stage.

You can see how everyone plays when it gets to the close games, it's fully, 'are you able to express yourself under pressure?' That's the talk we've had over and over again. We struggled really hard against ECLOT, Vitality at times. We struggled in certain games, today on Nuke, playing against Falcons we struggled one map.

All the time, the talk outside is, 'We can't play like this and lose like this, we can't have regrets when we're playing. We have to go out there and show how good we are.' This has been really hard, and hopefully this is the lesson we will learn from this for the future. We've had some rough ones right? It's a whole learning process in the highest stress environment possible.

What's this been like for ztr? Benched by Metizport, everyone was kind of confused by that, but how much has he grown in the very short amount of time you've had together?

He's grown a really big amount, already. He has so much potential, he confuses me a bit because sometimes it feels like he doesn't forget anything you say to him. You remind him, 'we haven't done this, we should try this sometimes,' and it sticks with him. For me, this is just an unbelievable quality.

I've seen his leadership qualities, stepping out here, he's willing to tell people to shut the fuck up and step up. He's willing to give them as much credit as possible now. I think before, he didn't really have the trust in his last teams and now we're seeing the best of him. I can see what he's struggling with and what he needs help with, and I think his potential is just exploding.

But it's literally all him, this guy is a superstar talent and I've loved him for ages. He's done so much with so little. I'm so shocked that we were able to get him for as little as we did when I've wanted him for so long. It just so happened that when we needed an in-game leader he was available at the perfect time. The stars kind of aligned.

Got to talk about another of your scouting sensations, FL4MUS. This tournament has been crazy, the dry peeks, the confidence, how did you find him? How do you keep him going against such good teams?

He's worked a lot on his mental. He's worked really hard on his mental. Sometimes, he gets a bit carried away, he tries to be a little bit too controlling but when you get him to focus on his game you can see what he does, right?

Some of his bad tendencies when he was this sort of anchor-lurker player, he wants to say all the time, telling people around him what to do. Now we're getting him to play the star role positions and this mentality swap has been really really hard [laughs]. This has been one of the hardest things I've had to do, getting him to understand what he needs to do as a star player.

I've always felt he's had the tools to really be unbelievably impactful. His skill level.... On a team like Nemiga, to have your best player in those positions is kind of unheard of. Now we're trying to get his skill level and showcase it. And, my god, his ability to just not give a shit about anything, and do anything, it's next level and you can't teach anyone that. You really can't. All you can try and do is tame what he has and I think he's finally finding a bit of balance in his game and his confidence is through the roof.

Even a few months ago, the aNdu swap, from the outside it's hard to understand something like that, right? But again it's proven to be the right call with Tauson. We were just looking, 300 followers on Twitter and now he's at the Major. Tell me a bit about how he's adapted as well.

He's been really brilliant as well. I know how well he has fit in, him and ztr are so on the same page with everything. There's such a maturity to his game, he has a selflessness to his game. Everything we needed, he's come in and done it perfectly. He's hyping the team up as well, he's not afraid to go out and die to make space for the team, he knows what he needs to do.

This guy, his talent is really high, he doesn't really understand how good he is sometimes. I'm trying to get him in a system where he isn't just going out and dying for his teammates and when he does that he just shows how unbelievably underrated this kid is. What we need in this team, we need five people on the same wavelength, all willing to play for the team for each other, wanting to put in the effort to fix our mistakes and learn from them, and that's exactly what this kid is. Things stick with him, he just wants to learn.

He's got this aggressive side to him, he feels to me like an aggressive sort of mezii, like how mezii absorbs everything and puts that in his game. He's the aggressive version of that, and we needed that anyway replacing aNdu. He's been really perfect.

I don't want to rattle off every player because we'll be here all day, so how important is this for the organization as well, to get that fourth Major in a row?

I think you could see it in my face at the end, how important it's been [laughs]. Like I said, it's the biggest achievement I've had in my career, it's been unbelievable stress-

More than the Major final?

I think so, with the turnaround we've had. Replacing someone like aNdu last minute; saying, 'do we get rid of Snax? Is it even worth it to do it at that exact moment, to sell him?' We were really umming and ahing because it was a good amount of money, and to have ztr. The Major is so important to the organizations, and we almost considered keeping Snax. Even if he doesn't want to be here and he's miserable, just to give ourselves the best chance.

Instead, we went, 'You know what, I'm going to back myself to try and make it work.' I said this to the organization, we'll give it our best shot, I didn't think we'd make this Major but the next ones and ones after we've got a chance. To make the Major in the end, to be honest, I wasn't expecting this. At all. It was just a dream.

[FL4MUS walking past: Let's go, Ashley Battye!]

2025 as well, this is going to be huge for that as well.

To be honest, with how the landscape is changing, this is super important. We can't plan our next year until we know how the Major is. We know the top 32 teams at the Major will probably be the top 32 teams in the rankings, and will get the invites next year. We're planning whether we need to do more CCTs next year, or are we getting the invites? Because of this issue, and having no idea how good the team is, we have no idea what we're doing next year yet.

Obviously now, if we get a good run, this could set up the next year for the organization and beyond, and put us in an amazing place. Hopefully, now, we can keep these players, develop them, and turn into a top team. Now, we're just seeing the very start of the team. People can see how inconsistent we've been at times and now we just need to find a way to get consistent and bring the map pool to a better level and then we're set for the future.

I'd love to ask about that seven-map pool but probably not the time, I'll keep it on the Major itself. You're going to be back where you want to be, underdogs, underrated, backs against the wall, is that where you prefer to be? Another 0-2 inbound?

No, probably not, I'm a bit sick of it to be honest [laughs]. But that's why we've brought these guys together. There's going to be a small period where we are underrated, people won't know about us. We heard people playing against us, in the elevator before, saying, 'we're going to beat these guys, easy game' and stuff. I'm sick of that, proving them wrong, and now we need to learn how to play when we are the favorites if we want this long-term future.

I built this team in the hope that one day we don't have to be the underdogs anymore. I don't have to pretend, like, 'guys, we have a chance here.' We're going to go into a tournament and expect to win it. Here, it's been very difficult to convince the team that we're going to qualify even before the first games, and after that it's felt like that's where most of the emotion has gone into it. 'Guys, we can still do it, I promise you, we've still got a chance. One round at a time, and let's take it from there.'

Here, even watching the ECLOT game, when they were losing I saw the shoulders drop and people going, 'God, we're going to have to play two games instead of one now.' I don't think they believed until we nearly did it. And now they know they can do it.