In one of their most intense matches of the year, Clutch Gaming came out on top once again today after defeating their rivals at Counter Logic Gaming.
After beating FlyQuest yesterday and CLG today, Clutch is on their way to scoring that last spot in the World Championships. The only thing standing in their way is a third and final best of five against Team SoloMid tomorrow.
WIN.gg spoke with Cody “Cody Sun” Sun after their nail-biting victory to discuss defeating CLG after getting reverse swept in Detroit, and what it would mean for Clutch if they made it to Worlds.
How are you feeling after today’s match?
Cody Sun: Pretty good, I would say. It was a pretty exciting series. Pretty fun to play. The last game that we won, we had a really low chance of winning.
Why do you say that?
They were beter at team fighting with 5v5. And we were messing up a lot. They got two inhibitors. It was pretty surprising that we were able to win that game. I’m just glad that we were able to avoid being reverse swept again.
How were you feeling going into this match after you got reverse swept by CLG in Detroit?
Even though that happened, it wasn’t them being better than us. It was us fumbling by the fifth game. Even by the fourth game. I reassured my teammates and myself that it would be up to us today if we win or lose. If we lose our mentality, then we would lose. We had to make sure we had a strong mindset so we could still perform.
How did you prepare to keep up that mental state?
Our coaches were saying that getting reverse swept only happens once in your career. You have to learn from it after you go through it. You have to feel that regreat, of being so close to winning a best of five, being one game away, and then losing it all.
We tried to keep our focus high. We had to make sure we didn’t crumble under pressure.
What was your mindset going into the third game? Were you nervous that the same thing might happen again?
We just tried to play our game, one game at a time. Bit once we started losing the third game, we were all still trying really hard to win. I felt like we were getting desperate to not lose, and I made sure it didn’t happen again.
Do you feel nerves played a part in losing that game?
Yeah. And our draft was pretty suboptimal versus theirs. Their comp was easier to play and execute. It was hard to come back once we messed up. But in the fourth game, I said we should find a team comp that’s easier to play and even in excecution against the enemy. That’d be our best chance to win and play better.
Damonte did get Qiyana in the last match. How do you feel that affected the game?
We had a lot of ways to fight and outplay the enemy. We were comfortable, and in our comfort zone. That definitely helped.
Were you surprised that they didn’t ban Qiyana after banning her in the first three games?
We kind of thought that they might have to leave it open. We were winning without the Qiyana, so they had to figure out a draft to prevent us from winning with the previous strategy. That left her open, and we were able to pick it and roll with it.
What are your thoughts on your match against TSM tomorrow?
I think since the Gauntlet started, all of the teams, including us, got a lot better with champion pools and discipline. FlyQuest had a lot of strategies against us yesterday. Same today with CLG. They were really close to reverse sweeping us again.
TSM, I’m expecting it bo be pretty close like the last two days. As long as we keep our composure and keep telling ourselves to focus on our game, not what they’re doing. If we understand that even if we lose one or two games, we still have the chance to win the next one.
We have to not get tilted, pretty much.
How do you feel about how far your team has come this season?
It’s a moving and emotional story. Last split, we didn’t do too well. We were in ninth place. It was hard in the beginning of this split. There was such a small chance that we’d make playoffs. But we did. And then we won against TSM, and we were so close to winning against Team Liquid. It was a pretty emotional process for the team, as well as our fans.
For us, we’re just trying to do our best given the situation. We’ve come a long way and there’s only one more best-of-five in front of us. Then we’ll make Worlds and it’ll all be worth it. So we’re going to keep trying our best.
What would it mean for you to make it to Worlds?
It would mean all the hard work we put into ourselves and the team, all the struggles and arguments… If we made it to Worlds it would prove it was all worth it. It will be an emotional day tomorrow, too. We came so far. It would feel right for us to close it out with the win and make it to Worlds.
