Lake: "I had to listen to the coach, the old man, he was like, 'You need to get a schedule down'"

"I always went to bed late, I woke up kinda late. But this tournament I've really been starting to wake up, DM, really before anybody else, and it's honestly been really nice," he adds.

M80 will play in their first big arena playoffs in London, a berth they deservedly earned after completing a lower bracket run in the online group stage past Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere, and fnatic.

Their reward? A quarter-final matchup against MOUZ and potential semi-final against Vitality, but Mason "⁠Lake⁠" Sanderson says he and the team are coming in with confidence high.

"I don't mind the matchups," he tells HLTV on the media day ahead of the playoffs. "We played Vitality online, obviously they're a bit different on LAN. I'm already looking forward to that game because I feel like we're going to beat MOUZ."

That mentality comes after the team swapped Ethan "⁠reck⁠" Serrano for Jadan "⁠HexT⁠" Postma during the off-season, which Lake says brought "some new energy" into the team. The American rifler is also happy to see his individual performance improving after struggling in Europe for parts of the year, and credits his coach, Rory "⁠dephh⁠" Jackson, for pushing him to get a proper schedule down.

Listen to the interview here.

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Arena playoffs, pretty sure it's your first one. How does that feel?

Honestly, it feels amazing. I'm happy with what we did online, but I'm ready to see if we can do it on LAN too.

You were 50th on the VRS when reck dropped out of the team. How surprised are you by how quickly you're climbing the ranks?

It's kind of like the start of every team, like if you get some new energy. We kinda needed a vibes guy, and it's really good with Jadan [HexT] because... it depends on the game, but most of us are pretty serious when it comes to playing, but it's always nice to have me and him banter back and forth, kinda loosen everybody up a bit. Before we didn't really have that gel guy, but now that we do, it feels pretty great.

Would you say that's the main thing about HexT compared to reck? Is it the personality, as well as in-game stuff?

It's a bit of both. Ethan [reck] was a pretty quiet guy all around. Ethan was also pretty funny, but he was more on the serious side too. Jadan talks significantly more, so it's a bit easier to play with, but Ethan has his pros and cons as a player as well.

About your qualification journey here: crazy results, crazy matches and everything. How important was it to be in London already, having that bootcamp environment compared to some of these European teams all playing more comfortably at home? Do you think that made a bit of a difference?

I'm sure it did, maybe a little bit. Honestly it depends on people's preferences. I've always liked playing at bootcamps, having everybody around you bantering. It's a bit different when you play online with your teammates, because when we're at home in the US, the Germans stay at a team house, we might be there, we might be at home. It definitely feels a lot better being at a bootcamp, so I definitely think that helped.

I wanted to ask about Overpass, obviously you enjoy it, but what about the map is helping underdogs at the moment?

I know that for our team, before I was even on it, it was by far their best map and that was always their comfort pick. Coming in, slotting in — obviously it's a different IGL because it was with maNkz at the time, when they were picking Overpass — but everybody on our team is just really comfortable on it.

It also helps a bit with the IGL style that Elias [s1n] has, I really enjoy him calling on Overpass. He has a lot of really good ideas, and with us bringing ideas into the team. I honestly don't really know why... maybe tier-one teams didn't practice as much because they were always playing tournaments and such, but we got a lot of time on it and played well on it.

That kind of grind, online in NA, to start a season it's quite intensive and everything. How much of a difference has that made for you?

It's really not that much of a difference. It's a bit brutal, none of us really like being in NA. We just want to play and be done. Practice is pretty horrible in NA right now, there are only a few good teams and you just practice them over and over again. We definitely all felt like we needed some Europe time, and that has proven to help us.

It's just gone past your one-year anniversary in M80. How would you sum up how you are as a player now, compared to when you joined?

My performances as of late have been going on the up, which is nice to see. I'm finally showing some consistency. I had to listen to the coach, the old man, he was like, 'You really need to get a schedule down.'

I never really had one, I never really listened, I always went to bed late, I woke up kinda late. But this tournament I've really been starting to wake up, DM, really before anybody else is in the office and it's honestly been really nice. In general, the team is doing really well.

As this kind of aggressive playmaker type player, how are you feeling inside that role now? When you joined, it was hard to be in touch with the meta as much and everything, so are you able to call more of your shots now than back then?

For sure, definitely. I also have more confidence in myself, which is really nice to see. Elias puts a lot of trust in me, slaxz- does as well. We're a pretty move-based team, so what we're feeling, what we kinda do, what we see in the round, it's always nice to call. Most of our stuff is in-meta right now, so everything feels normal. What we play against we know we're going to play against, so it's pretty good for everybody who is aggressive.

With the way NA is at the moment, is there any pressure from being one of the few rising stars? Do you feel that at all?

I honestly don't. I just feel like I'm another player, just from a worse region I guess. I'm glad that I found success as of late in Europe, it's been nice to see after I've struggled for such a long time. I'm just hoping that I can continue that form.

This bracket, MOUZ-Vitality, it's not the easiest. How are you feeling going into those matches?

Honestly, I don't mind the matchups. We played Vitality online, obviously they're a bit different on LAN. I'm already looking forward to that game because I feel like we're going to beat MOUZ. I'm feeling confident going into this game, I think everybody feels confident. It seems like we're finally hitting our stride and it feels good, so we'll see.

And maybe some home crowd support for dephh, do you think?

Yeah, it's definitely a possibility. He kinda downplays it, he kinda feels like this isn't his 'hometown' because he's from Nottingham, not London, but there is definitely some nostalgia coming back almost a decade later.