Wicadia: "Our firepower is not at its usual level yet"

Wicadia discusses Aurora's shaky form after going 1-1 in ESL Pro League Stage 2.

Aurora are now 1-1 at ESL Pro League after recovering from their opening loss to Natus Vincere with a 2-1 win over Astralis on day two.

Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın stopped by HLTV's microphone following the Turkish team's first win in Stockholm to talk about their shaky individual form so far at the tournament and a so-so preparation going into it, despite a nearly month-long break.

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Congratulations, you beat Astralis. It was a bit back-and-forth, you went to a third map, can you tell me about getting that win after losing yesterday?

Lately we are not performing so well individually, but today we fought as a team and managed to win even though we aren't playing our best. So I'm happy.

Why do you think you're not playing your best?

I don't know, the aiming, the firepower is not at its usual level yet, so we're getting a bit troubled. But it's fine. I think tomorrow or the day after, we can fix it.

You've had some time off since FISSURE, you've had a bit more of a break from the hectic schedule from the first half of the year. Has that helped you, or is it maybe contributing a bit to not being as sharp as before?

We played from home, it was most likely 60ms [ping] and stuff, so it wasn't the best for us. But it's fine.

You started this half of the season pretty strong, you had that second place at EWC, but then you finished 5-8th at FISSURE. How do you feel the team is doing in terms of your overall form in this half of the year?

Overall we are good, but at FISSURE we threw the Liquid game I think. We could do better, it's just that we're feeling bad about. The rest is good.

Is there something in particular you feel like you threw with that Liquid game?

On that day, I don't know, all of us were off and we couldn't just be aware of what is happening and that kind of stuff.

You said practice has been a bit rough because of the 60ms ping. Overall, how would you say it went in the lead-up to EPL?

Not good, not so bad also. It was in the middle or something.

How come?

We had some good tactics and stuff, preparation. When you have 60ms you should shoot hard a bit, but with tactics it can be more easy for you, so it was in the middle.

In terms of where Aurora is at now: It's been really hard to nail down where you'll peak, whether you'll win a title and whatnot. Where do you feel like you're at?

Honestly, I don't even know that (laughs). Let's see.

Is there something you could say you're missing that you've talked about needing to change, to get over the line on that end?

I think we should start the games better. Most of the games we're losing pistol after the force and stuff, like we're losing three rounds at the start of the game. So I think we can fix that, and also at the beginning of the game, we're not so aware of everything. I think we can fix those two, and we're good.

You lost to NAVI yesterday, you beat Astralis today. You're 1-1 now, so going into tomorrow, has anything changed, any objectives changed or were there conversations you had between today and yesterday?

Yes, we changed some stuff in our game plan, and also about our mentality. Yesterday it wasn't that good, but today we fought and I think that's why we won.

What did you change about your mentality?

Like when we lose some kind of stupid rounds, like a 5v2 which we also lost on Train today. [Yesterday] we hadn't had a good vibe, but today we lost that and we just said, 'Guys, that's fine, keep going,' and that kind of stuff, so we won.