CLG Wiggily says Team Liquid was "caught off guard, big time"

Olivia Richman Published 08/03/2020

Counter Logic Gaming had a good day. They defeated Team Liquid, bringing their record to 3-10. Yes, they’re still in last, but that’s not what matters, as Raymond “Wiggily” Griffin told WIN.gg after the victory.

New midlaner Eugene “Pobelter” Park became Player of the Game, thanks to breaking the Spring Split record of highest kills. He went 11-1-0 in the match against Liquid, including a triple kill that left the audience screaming.

But that energy was contagious, and the rest of the team also felt energized after the match. Still, Wiggily told WIN.gg it wasn’t the perfect game they wanted. It wasn’t the perfect game they knew they could achieve against Team Liquid if they didn’t make some silly mistakes.

How do you feel after your win today against TL?

Wiggily: Relieved.

Why is that?

Any win we get is a relief. Just being last, you just take any win you can get. There were so many mistakes in this game, I couldn’t even count them. We were playing with a new AD carry [Oh “Wind” Myeong-jin] and he had stage jitters. We had to deal with that a bit. But it still feels really good to win.

What were some of the mistakes you noticed?

This game was just so long. We should have been able to get Dragon Soul early this game. But we messed up the third dragon. Someone didn’t base on time and we were split. We got caught on bottom lane even though we knew they were there when we had flas hand stop watch. It felt pretty bad. It stalled the game out a bit longer than it should have been.

After the game ended, I said it felt like the longest game ever. It’s technically not the longest game I played, but there were three elders, four Barons. It was a bit stressful, but it was fun.

Were you expecting this outcome?

Yeah, everyone on our team… Most of us are pretty disappointed with how we played, considering how well certain things went for us this game and considering how well-prepared we felt going into today’s game.

Everyone has a really improved mindset on our team now and these wins are definitely needed and feel really good, but it’s all about improving at this point. We’re in dead last so we have to focus on things we are bad at and focus how to get better at them for next split.

How did you improve your mindset?

When Pobelter came in, that raised everyone’s morale a bit. Things had been trending sideways or downward for a while. Our practice wasn’t bad, but there wasn’t many improvements being made. But as soon as Pobelter joined our team, that’s when everyone decided we are a new team and had to focus on our strengths and weaknesses. We’ve been running with it ever since.

Do you think Pobelter being TL’s positional coach earlier in the Spring Split helped give you some insight into their playstyle?

He definitely gave his opinion on what he thinks TL is good and bad at.

Was it accurate?

Yeah, we had really good preparation. They were caught off guard, big time.

What do you think Pobelter’s added to the team that you guys were previously missing?

He has a lot of veteran experience and leadership qualities. Especially on stage. We were lacking that before. He’s really calm and collected and willing to be like, “Okay, guys, we gotta do this now!” He’s that kind of person. It’s nice to have him in game. He’s realistic about what’s going on and says what he wants to do and what we are doing wrong in and out of game.

How have scrims been? What has the team been doing to help with the mid-season changes?

Pobelter coming in was sudden for everyone, including him. Changing a mid laner, that’s your centerpiece… But he fit in right away. He’s an easygoing guy and we didn’t have to do much. We just talked about what was wrong before he joined and what need to improve on. He was really easy to talk to. Things just went really smoothly when he joined our team.

What are some things you personsally want to improve on as the team’s jungler?

As a pro player, there’s many things internally you try to improve on ever yday. I feel like I’m playing with a new team all the time. Last split, I was with the same mid laner for a year. As a jungler, it’s important to have good synergy with mid laner and understand what he wants. That’s been my biggest focus.

I struggled earlier this year getting on the same page with [Min-ho “Crown” Lee]. That was making things difficult for me. That was making me struggle. That’s something I’ve been trying to improve on. There’s always something.

What is your goal for the LCS Spring Split?

We can still make playoffs. That’s the first goal. We’re trying to win every game. We can go in as underdogs every game, I don’t mind. We know our level of play right now and it’s not as low as people think it is.

Do you feel like you have to prove yourself to the fans?

It’s more about proving it to ourselves.

Scrims and the stage are very different. We’ve had pretty good scrims and overall not bad quality practice. The big problem was translating it onto the stage. This was the first times that it really happened to me in my career. That was something we struggled with a lot. It’s more proving that we are as good as the results we get in scrims. We need to prove that to ourselves by doing it on stage, too.

Winning scrims doesn’t feel as good as winning on stage. We know we’re better than our standings show, but we really want to bump ourselves up on the standings. It’s been working so far. We gotta continue that upwards trend.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

View full profile