Lake: "A mid game would be enough to beat Liquid"

Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore spoke to M80 rifler Mason "Lake" Sanderson after a loss to Legacy in their opening match of IEM Atlanta.

Lake spoke his mind about FRAG 20, the team's confidence, and their upcoming match against Liquid.

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

What went wrong today against Legacy?

It honestly started on our T-side. We didn't really play that well together. We were a bit off-kilter. They had good prep too. They were blocking our B pretty heavily, so we had to change feet at about 6-1, 7-1. Definitely can't have a start like that on your own map pick.

What do you take away from Frag 20?

Nothing really to take away from Frag 20, to be honest. Marsborne's a new, up-and-coming team. They're going to play well at the start, especially, and then they'll have their kinks to figure out later on. They're a young team, but honestly, Frag is Frag. We didn't really give a fuck. It's one of those things where we'd rather not play if we don't have to.

What's the level of pressure at this event? Do you still have high expectations to perform here?

Yeah, of course, you always want to perform to your best ability. Right now, just shake off the rust. It's the first game that we've played on an actual LAN in a very long time. The last time we played an actual tier-one LAN was the Major. Like four months later for our first tier-one event again, we've got to shake off the rust a little bit. It's just one of those things that happens. I'm still feeling confident that we can do some damage.

Where do you think that confidence comes from?

Just believe in ourselves and the team, what we can do and what we've seen. That's a thing on our team: we have really high highs and really low lows. We've been trying to find that for a long time now, just that consistency. So, we know what we can do and what we're capable of.

Do you think it's good that you guys have this opportunity, and then to go to CAC before you head out to the Major?

Of course, nothing hurts at this point in the VRS standings. You need a few games here and there, especially against people in the Top 20. You want to get those points up and try to sneak your way into the Top 20, Top 15, or even push further in if you're able to do that. So, that's what our goal is here: win some games here, win some games at CAC, cushion ourselves for the Major, and then do well at the Major.

You're going to be facing off against a fellow NA team tomorrow in the form of Team Liquid, who have been struggling to find a working solution for their now NA roster. How do you rate your chances against Liquid tomorrow?

We played them at DraculaN when their team was still pretty new. We had a really good game against them, but that was also one of our highs. That's just something that we have to really pull out and find in ourselves, and have that consistency where our lows aren't so low, because even when we play the middle tier of our game, we can do pretty well against anybody when we play our best. We're up there with the Top 10.

Do you need a high game tomorrow, or will a mid game be enough to beat Liquid?

A mid game would be enough to beat them, but you always want to strive for the high game. That confidence really could carry over into the future games of the tournament. That's always what you're striving for.

What would it mean for you to make it to the arena and be one of the first NA players outside of Stewie2K to do it in a long time?

It'd be nice. That's what we're striving for. It feels like we're on home turf. We wanted to do better that game, but we can only take it one game at a time. It's a long tournament right now, so we just got to keep our heads down and try to go 3-1, 4-1.