empathy: "As a player I don't want Impact to be my final goal"

Supernova Comets flew to Windsor, Canada, to play at Fragadelphia 19, but they didn't make it out of Stage One — largely thanks to losing their opening game vs. Demolition, which left the Impact team in a tough spot.

Dust2.us' Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore caught up with Lucy "empathy" Verkaik after Supernova Comets were eliminated from the side tournament Big L, to collect her thoughts on the team's campaign at FRAG 19, her expectations for ESL Impact Season 8, and whether the team will stick with Supernova Comets or not.

The complete interview can be found below on YouTube, with key snippets underneath. The questions and answers were slightly edited for clarity and length.

So to start, you're eliminated from the Big L, a top six. You went out to Take Flyte in a three-mapper. How are you feeling?

It was okay. I feel like I could have done a lot better. I feel like we kind of expected to make the finals of it, but not the worst results. I mean, we kind of trolled a winning position, and it is what it is. But, I think overall the experience is pretty good, and it just kind of regains for like the next tournament, in Knoxville. We did pretty okay overall, not the result we wanted, but it's okay.

What do you think went wrong in Stage One? You lost to Demolition there in the opener. It was kind of a surprising result after such a recent strong showing [in ESL Impact Season 7 Finals].

We weren't awake yet, you know, first match of the LAN. We just came off of a break, as we kind of had an extremely packed six months to start off the year, just preparing for Impact and playing every event we could for VRS. So, we decided to take a little break, and it felt like we just weren't really back in time.

We weren't really warm for our first game, and it felt like no one was playing the way we normally do. I think it was an incredibly fake result, to be honest. I think we played more like ourselves in the rest of the tournament, even like the game right after. It is what it is, it's our fault, and we'll do better next time.

How are you feeling ahead of ESL Impact Season 8 NA, despite not really knowing who you will play?

I don't think it matters who the other teams are. I'm so confident. I think our whole team is so confident. I think it's just going to be practice time. We're going to use most of the games as practice just to work on whatever we're working on. I don't think we're too worried. Our main focus is going to be the ECL cups and other VRS events that we get invited to, and just our international Impact games. I don't think that the regional Impact events or online should be that hard for us.

During the summer break, you announced that you're looking for a new organization, and are currently in talks about whether you'll continue with Supernova Comets. Can you tell me what's going on there?

Nothing much. We're open to any org offers. We talked about Supernova Comets. Our contract ended at the beginning of this month, and we're not re-signing till the start of next month. So, we have a little bit of time to get other org offers to see if anything comes our way. Supernova has been great, they have been super supportive of everything we do, and they've helped us tremendously.

But, they understand that if an org offered us more, and we had more opportunities, that we would go with that. But, it's seeming more like we're just going to stay with Supernova, which is fine. They've been great, and I expect to play under them next season, but we're open to offers until we re-sign.

Has anything come across your radar yet in regards? You played for some really big Impact teams like Evil Geniuses and TSM, but it seems like big orgs aren't really investing in Impact right now. What are your thoughts on that?

Honestly, I'm gonna say it's just because we have five trans players, and I feel like a lot of orgs kind of don't want the backlash or to deal with the trolls online. It's kind of sad, just because we're a good team, and we put in so much work, and we have results to show for it. We're the most-watched Impact team at almost every LAN, or I've been on the most-watched Impact team almost every season, and typically, with that, it comes like a ton of sponsors and opportunity.

But, there just hasn't been any for us, and it's kind of depressing in a way. But, it is what it is, and it doesn't bother us too much.