Caliste on KC's target now: "Our minimum objective is the semifinals"

You’ve delivered on the contract at this Worlds. How are you feeling?

I feel very good about being qualified for the quarterfinals, very happy. Let’s say that part of the contract is filled: we got through the Swiss, and now we’ll see about the quarterfinals, the draw and so on. But I’m very, very hyped to play big teams in a BO5.

I feel like you’ve come so far since Nice. What happened in between? Did you really go through some rough patches? There was the play-ins, and at the start of the play-ins we didn’t feel great about you, with the Cloud9 game. How do you explain that progression? How do you see the process you’ve been through since Nice?

I think since Nice there’s already been a big change in our mindset, and just in the way we’ve worked in general. Then there was the bootcamp in Korea, which helped us a lot. We got to play the top teams in the world, whether in Korea or in China. And that really helped us a lot. Typically, everything around Qiyana, Vi and so on — we understood very quickly that it was really broken and that you don’t have many choices. Even gameplay things, things that the Asian teams will just do better than the other teams. And we just told ourselves that mentally, in any case, we couldn’t do any worse. After Nice, we couldn’t do any worse.

Full interview (in french) on the OTPLoL broadcast from 29:30

We’d had a very good summer split regular season, we arrive in the playoffs, we lose at home, it’s really a catastrophe. So we told ourselves we couldn’t do any worse, and that every day we’d give 200% — in scrims, in our discussions, even just spending time together. We’d give it everything and just not be afraid to lose. And I think we learned an enormous amount during that bootcamp in Korea. I think that’s a really big difference and a real plus we’ve had compared to the other teams. And then on stage, it was just how we handled the pressure.

I rememberyou telling me just after the CFO match that you’d understood you maybe needed to draft to make life a bit simpler for yourselves in team fights. Do you feel some of that happened too? Did you learn things during this Swiss stage?

I think… it’s complicated to really pin down the meta itself. In the jungle it seems fairly clear. But I think it really depends who you’re playing against. Typically, against MKOI, our approach was: in any case they’re not very strong in lane, so we can draft what we want, just teamfight drafts, and we’ll win the team fights, we’ll stack the drakes, that kind of thing, and we’ll be happy. If you’re playing against big teams, though, maybe that gameplay doesn’t work, because their strength is the lanes and you’re going to explode in every direction. So I think it really depends on the teams. But in general, in BO1, especially in BO1, it was the drafts more like Ambessa, fighting jungler, you play teamfight with a strong bot, melee — and that was really reliable. That’s what you had to see. Now in BO5 it’s going to be different, we’ll have to adapt to the teams.

Today wasn’t important only for the quarterfinal spot. There was also pride to protect — that’s job done too.

Yes. Like I said before, we were a complete catastrophe in Nice, and we owed it to ourselves to make up for it. I think this was the best moment to do that. The story was written. For the anecdote: when we got dropped into play-ins and arrived at Worlds, we said that we’d sent MKOI ahead just so we could face them at 2-2 — and have them hand us that free spot in the quarterfinals. And that’s exactly what happened. We’d planned it all from the start [laughs].

What’s the ceiling of this team? Do you think you can really go far? Do you firmly believe it, looking at your practice and at the overall level of this tournament?

Personally, I firmly believe we can go all the way, that we can do it, that we can win it. Now, it’s absolutely not going to be easy, we’re right in the thick of it, it’s going to be BO5s against big teams. There are only the eight best teams in the world left. So it’s going to be an enormous amount of pressure, an enormous amount of tension, very difficult. But honestly, I know that all the players on our team know we can clearly win. We’re maybe not the favourites, because there are some very, very big teams. But what’s certain is that we’re clearly capable of going and giving them trouble, of taking them down. We’re a pretty dangerous team.

Now that you’ve delivered on the contract, is there a sense that the pressure is off, that everything from here is a bonus? Do you think that can play a part too?

Probably, yes. Going out in the Swiss is something that’s very… how to put it, it’s really scary, and you tell yourself, ah, we’ve ruined our year. Especially against MKOI. Whereas going out in the quarters, that’s already a bit more acceptable. But honestly, for all of us, now that we’re out of the Swiss, our minimum objective is the semifinals. We told ourselves we clearly have the ceiling to go for the semifinals. Now we’ll see who we face, we’ll adapt, and we’ll give it everything.

A word for the French fans watching, who must be very proud of you?

A big thank you for all the support, whichever team you support. For the Karmine fans, this is our way of apologising for Nice — we’re still sorry about it. Now it’s the quarterfinals, so I’m really looking forward to playing them. We’re going to stay another one, maybe even two good weeks here in America. And honestly, I’m very happy with how this Worlds is going. I think as a group we’ve evolved a lot. We go through a huge amount of things, a lot of discussions. We have a great time together. And I think it’s really, really pleasant. For now I’m quite happy with my first Worlds, whether in terms of gameplay or just with the team.