BST phonics: “I was negatively surprised by the level of some Tier 1 teams”

After spending the season competing in Brazil’s Tier 2 scene, BESTIA made history in the VCT Americas Stage 2 Play-In by becoming the first Tier 2 team to defeat a Tier 1 team under the league’s current format. The Chilean organization eliminated Cloud9 on Wednesday, August 19th, after previously taking a map from KRÜ, keeping its playoff hopes alive after a difficult qualification campaign.

In an exclusive interview with Sheep Esports, head coach Dyamond "phonics" Pillon discussed the team’s preparation for the VCT Americas, the differences he has noticed between Tier 1 and Tier 2, and the strengths of the Brazilian Tier 2 scene. He also talked about Lorenzo “Loss” de Biazzi’s arrival and what BESTIA needs to do to continue its run toward the playoffs.

Dyamond "phonics" Pillon: “It means that we're continuing in the tournament. The whole year counts. We worked well throughout the year. We arrived here in the United States from Mexico and even did a little bootcamp in Mexico after the VCL Finals, and we've been having good practices. We were able to, in about two weeks of practice, be very competitive, winning or losing by very close margins against franchise teams. That shows that we were able to reflect that work in the tournament. Now, against Cloud9 and KRÜ on the first map, although there was a disconnect there, the two series went very much as I said they would. So it shows that the work is being done well.

phonics: Even at Tier 2, we always practiced a lot against practically half of the franchise teams, which are three Brazilian and two North American teams. It was always very close. This was also the case with other teams I've been on and now with the boys before the group came here to NA. The way of working is the same, and I think what changes a little bit is the response to the map, things like that. But, for example, you can work in the same way. It doesn't represent that much, actually, because we've always been able to practice well and go toe-to-toe.

phonics: I wasn't that surprised. What surprised me, for example, now that I'm studying a little more the teams we're going to play against, is that there are quite a few very structured teams. They don't change anything. All the franchise players are individually very good, but not all of them are good in that sense. Actually, I was negatively surprised by the weaker teams in the format. The best teams are really good, but the worst teams are well below what I expected. I wasn't following them that much before. So, whether we like it or not, this franchise format leaves good teams out of Tier 2. It ends up hurting them. But, yes, I was negatively surprised by the level of some Tier 1 teams.

phonics: Yes. Tier 1 plays as a unit, as a block. Tier 2, especially in Brazil, the guys play a little more separately. So, whether you like it or not, if you're not structured, you end up having a problem with that. It's more difficult to play against. But when you play against teams that are more structured, you can impose a much more tactical game, rather than such an individual game. Then you can impose your game a little more. Whether we like it or not, Brazilian Tier 2 is strong. It's a region where the players are individually good, and it ends up being difficult to play against.

With Stellae last year, I did a bootcamp in the Netherlands so we could practice against the entire European Tier 2 scene. We didn't have any problems either. Brazilian Tier 2 teams end up being more difficult in that regard. Against Tier 2, you can impose your whole game. Maybe against Brazilian Tier 2 versus Tier 1, they have a little more trouble because of individual skill. Whether we like it or not, Tier 1 is individually better. But Brazilian Tier 2 is strong. It's very complicated to play against. I've played against Tier 2 in NA, Tier 2 in Europe and Tier 2 in Brazil, and Brazilian Tier 2 is the best so far.

We haven't changed anything about what we've been working on. For example, we got some new answers here. In Brazil, almost no team was using Chamber, so here we had to work on that at the last minute. The best teams in the Americas are really good. But there are some that are quite lost, especially toward the bottom. As I always work a lot with responses and compositions, I've always understood concepts of how we have to adapt to a certain composition. We're not having that many problems with that, at least in terms of macro.

phonics: I went after quite a few people, trying to bring them into the project. In this case, we were trying to go a little more toward double Duelist. We always have a lot of flexibility regarding compositions to try to play the best composition for the map and not be so restricted. But quite a few people ended up declining. Then Loss ended up being the last option, actually, because he was under contract with FURIA. So we would have had to pay a buyout, get him on loan, or something like that. So he was practically the last option. We've been friends for three or four years, but I've never worked with him. It just ended up being him. It worked out with him, and we were still able to maintain this idea of playing more double Duelist on some maps.

phonics: I think that if we do everything correctly, mentality also comes into it. A lot of things go into this. It's not simply about coming in and playing. Preparation comes into it, as well as how the players are feeling. We worked a lot on the mental side after the KRÜ game. It really affected us, from my side and from their side as well. We managed to stay quite calm. If we can do what we've been practicing, if we can follow our game plan correctly, and if we can keep our mentality in the right place, we can still qualify for the playoffs, no problem. We have to follow these things calmly and play well.”