YEKINDAR: "We want to show the best version of FURIA in this event"

"We definitely have a plan and an understanding of what we can work on," he added.

FURIA have surprised many with their success since adding Danil "⁠molodoy⁠" Golubenko and Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis, but the Latvian rifler insists that the work is far from done.

"I feel like the G2 game at BLAST London gave us a lot of great direction in terms of what to work on," he told HLTV after his team beat Liquid in the FISSURE Playground 2 opener, but insisted that his team is not ready to challenge for the biggest trophies just yet.

"There are very strong teams like Vitality, Spirit, and many others. Would we call ourselves on the same level? Not yet," he admitted.

Listen to the audio here.

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Congratulations on the win; it was a long, hard-fought game but in the end you got the job done. So how was it from your perspective?

Every day Liquid get better, honestly. Last time we lost to them, and even last time it didn't feel as hard as today. Especially on Dust2, I feel like we couldn't find answers on our T-sides. This is something that we're going to work on and improve. Inferno, even though we won a 9-3 T-side half I feel like a couple of rounds were just unlucky, and I'm glad we won. Train was comfortable; they disrespected the old donk in the 1v2, where they overpeeked and FalleN won the round.

After that round, the game was kinda, in terms of morale for them, over, and for us it was only going up. I'm happy to win, and FURIA players sometimes complain that it's the Liquid curse, that they've lost seven times to them or whatever. It's not the same lineups you know, now it's a different lineup, now it's a new game.

FURIA recently cracked top 5 in the VRS, and you have likely now surpassed most people's expectations of this team. Are you surprised at how well it has worked, and why do you think it works?

When I first joined for the stand-in period, before I started practicing and actually playing, I thought it was just a stint for just three tournaments. I was thinking about getting a chance to play again, maybe showcasing my skills or whatever. Answering your question, the most important part is not only that personalities match, then everybody kinda flows together, we have hard workers, but also the roles inside the game.

I think when you're comfortable with your role inside the game, that's where consistency comes from, and that's where you enjoy playing and you can find this higher ceiling, rather than if you're playing on a role that you don't like or you're not used to.

Do you feel like this team is ready to challenge for the biggest trophies?

The good part about this team, which I am truly thankful for everybody on the team and organization, is that after every heavy loss in the arena and the playoffs, honestly after every loss overall, we're taking so much feedback from the games we play. We learn every day, and we improve every day. Our goal right now, we're not thinking about winning necessarily trophies, we're not feeling like the favorites.

There's very strong teams, consistent teams, like Vitality and Spirit and many others. Would we call ourselves on the same level? Not yet. We're happy for the opportunities we're getting, playing these arena matches, and feeling how it is, and understanding what we need to improve. I feel like the G2 game at BLAST London gave us a lot of great direction in terms of what to work on. We're having fun and improving day by day.

You don't feel you're at the level of Vitality or Spirit, but those teams are not here, and I think it's safe to say that you're one of the favorites here. What would you be happy with here at FISSURE?

It's hard to say. I feel like we came into this event with an understanding on what this event will help us work on. I'm going to keep it a little bit private, and I'm not going to say exactly the thing. But we definitely have a plan and an understanding of what we can work on and how we can adapt, and how we can play better. The obvious answer is, 'of course we're planning to win this event, we'll go as far as possible,' but that's boring.

But at the same time, I cannot give you an answer that we want to lose. We want to show ourselves and the fans the best version of FURIA in this event. Even if that doesn't happen, hopefully we gain something from the losses and move on.