Aleksib: "Vitality can feel exhausted after winning these trophies, but we need to work harder"

Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore interviewed NAVI IGL Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen after they defeated GamerLegion to secure playoffs at IEM Atlanta.

Aleksib spoke about rivals Vitality, how their practice compares, and the necessity of beating them to become the best team in the world.

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

You bested GamerLegion pretty easily in Fort Worth, but this was a really tough win. Did they bring something different to the table than what you saw in Fort Worth?

After winning Inferno, I felt like we had this game in lockdown. It's going to be Ancient next, Mirage possibly, and these maps are very comfortable for us. But they showed up with something new on Ancient, and they made us feel uncomfortable. We were tilting a bit. We were not doing what we are capable of, and they reminded us that we can play this badly if we're not ready.

In the end, they ended up playing a pretty good series. It could have gone both ways. We are kind of lucky to be in this spot, but our protocols involve countless hours of speaking about different situations. Maybe that was the key factor of us being the winner today, but they ended up playing very well.

What's your reaction to your rivals Vitality falling in a group stage game?

I'm not that surprised when you think about the fact that they didn't really play during this last week, but at the end of the day, this is a team that comes alive during the tournament. They've won a couple of their trophies through the lower bracket, so I'm still expecting them to reach the playoffs and to possibly be against us there. Maybe it's a good thing that they might be losing confidence, or maybe it'll fire them up even more.

For us, we need to focus on ourselves. With today's performance, it's tough to beat any team, and we need to step up even more to have a chance against Vitality, especially. Overall, we need to focus on us first.

Vitality are coming to this event relatively cold. Has your practice been more intense, and is that a response to the fact that they've beaten you recently and are not practicing?

The last two months, we've shared a lot of the tournaments. We played EPL where they weren't, but immediately after that, we played Rotterdam, then we played Rio, then we were here, and we didn't take any time off. It's exhausting as a player. I was ill two times during this period. It was not nice to practice with a fever and headache, but this is the stuff that you need to do as the team that is number two and cannot beat the number one team.

They can take time off. They can feel exhausted after winning these trophies, but we need to work harder, and we have been. Our schedule has been very busy. We did have one complete off day before coming here, but other than that, it's been travel days and practice days, and we want to show ourselves, the camp, and everyone that we would be capable of beating them and lifting a trophy this season. So we are trying to work hard for that.

You mentioned in an interview with HLTV in Rotterdam that you didn't think it would feel as gratifying to win a trophy without beating Vitality. Do you still feel the same way, especially now that there is a possibility we don't see Vitality in the playoffs?

Winning any trophy right now, if it's a tier one tournament, is a thing that I would be glad about even without beating Vitality. If you win trophies during this era and they were a team that you didn't beat in the tournament, it's a bit different. Imagine them being in Astana now, and we would be here without them. It would be a bit different. If they're in the same tournament and losing, it might be unlucky if you don't play against them, and it's their own fault for losing to these teams.

We want to win any trophy, with or without. But if you look at the trophies and the context, it adds up more when you speak about overall team rankings.

So if you want to be number one, you have to beat Vitality, right?

Yeah, imagine any team lifting these two trophies, and they didn't beat Vitality a single time, for example, and we've been losing against them time and time again. You could always bring that discussion to light, and as players and rivals, we are fueled to beat them to get this revenge. We have analyzed so many games where they beat us 11-13 overtime, or possibly even smashing us.