Axed on Walco’s visa situation: "We have to take it day by day as we don’t have any updates"

Jeffrey “Mnmzzz” Moore talked with Rave’s coach Tommy "Axed" Ryan after their win against Phoenix. Axed discussed rebounding after losing their map pick, why Saad "Pluto" Siraj was selected as a stand-in, and Colby "Walco" Walsh’s visa issues.

Find the video interview below, with a full transcription underneath. All questions and answers have been slightly edited for length and clarity.

What are your thoughts on the team’s performance against Phoenix?

I’m really happy with the way we rallied back into map three. We started amazing on map one and then map two, I’m not really sure if we got ahead of ourselves or what happened.

Playing with a stand-in, only four days of practice, getting a little bit of sickness, and not being able to play for two days before the event because of travel threw some people off as repetitions are down and we’re changing spots.

After map two, we simply walked out, got a little bit of fresh air, talked to each other like a team should and we bounced back into map three convincingly. Unfortunately, we took a pretty long pause for some sickness. After the pause, we looked great and everyone’s energy was up. Can’t really ask for much more.

What do you think went wrong in the performance on Overpass?

There were a couple things. One, Walco’s generally the bombsite general there when he does play with us. Missing him and missing his presence is definitely something we miss.

Moving MarkE into the position is something he’s taking time to adjust to for the event. Although he played it in the past, he’s not exactly a vocal player. He’s adapting to that while battling sickness, which might be a little hard for him.

It felt like we got comfortable and just did like one or two things overall throughout the game when we have a much deeper playbook than that. After the map, we just cleared the air and made sure everyone was on the same page going into map three. We’ll be much better moving forward.

Why did you choose Pluto, who hasn’t been super active recently, for this event?

Originally, we were gonna use Momo for the event because Momo’s natural spots actually fit better with the way Walco played. Then we made a couple role changes before the off-season; we decided that if we’re gonna go with a sub, it would make more sense to get Pluto. He’s naturally a lot more aggressive and stuff like that.

We got Pluto because he’s friends with junior and he’s been around for a really long time. He’s been to Europe and played an RMR. He’s gone to IESF I believe as well with team Canada. He’s travelled and competed internationally before. He’s a good player, he’s vocal. He isn’t the most experienced, but he’s willing to take risks and communicate. Mechanically, he’s great.

He’s a very upbeat, Energizer Bunny type of player, so he brings a natural happy vibe coming in for just a weekend. It’s something that’s really important.

What’s going on with Walco’s visa situation?

I have no update.

Has there been a conversation about what happens if these visa issues continue?

Again, I have no update. Hopefully, we can get him back as soon as we can to continue in tournaments. We wanted to use him in Atlanta and Miami. We wanted to use him here and we’re gonna want to use him for Seattle, Vegas, and York. We want to use him; we’ve been practicing for months.

To show up on short notice with adjusted roles and a lack of practice is not ideal for any team. It’s nice to just live in the moment while we’re here and just enjoy being at the LAN. Right now, that’s all we really can do. We have to take it day by day as we don’t have any updates.

Do you think you’re coming into this event colder than other teams as you didn’t play at FRAG Miami?

Maybe we’re a little cold because we haven’t played many matches, but we scrimmed and practiced with Pluto for about four or five days. In total, probably like sixteen scrims. Practice went well. Generally, when you come into an event, I don’t know if I’ve ever been able to say practice was great and we were doing so well.

In the couple of days we were playing, we were playing great. I was really surprised by everything Pluto was doing. He really surprised me in a good way and surpassed expectations so far.

How do you feel about your upcoming rematch against Voca?

I’m confident we can win. We should have 2-0’d them. Unfortunately, a similar story of we lost our own map pick and won theirs. Hopefully, we win our map pick this time and we go from there.

Do you think there’s a key to success to winning your map pick?

Losing to Phoenix was the key. If you saw how we responded on Ancient, I think we’ll be much better moving forward.

Later in day two of fl0m’s Mythical LAN, Rave lost to Voca 2-1. They ended the event in 5th-6th place.