handily defeated
in their first match of the First Stand. They now face
, the LPL’s No. 1 seed, this Wednesday, and
Sheep Esports spoke with Rasmus "
Caps" Winther to learn more about this matchup between the two teams.
Did you already know anything about Brazil before? How are you adjusting to life here?
Rasmus "Caps" Winther: “Rodrigo, our second coach and analyst, has shared a lot about Brazil. From playing international games, I also know the Brazilian crowd always goes wild. I’ll always remember when we were in London, there were actually a lot of Brazilian fans who came, and they were cheering for us as well, so I was super grateful for that. And now being here in Brazil, I mean, it’s definitely living up to the expectation and even exceeding it. So it’s been nice, and I’m hoping it can keep up for the rest of the tournament.
Were you surprised by TSW's more aggressive style?
Caps: Definitely, we knew they liked to be aggressive, and we knew they liked to be in our face and chase us if they could and stuff like this. But they definitely caught us off guard anyway. I think they never backed down. If they could take a fight, they would, and it put us in some tough spots in the early games, specifically in Game 2 and 3. But we managed to fight our way back, and I’m excited to see how they will do for the rest of the tournament.
Speaking of Brazilian teams, did you guys ever train with LOUD or any other team here? How do you view the level of the CBLOL today?
Caps: We scrimmed against both LOUD and FURIA, although we just came a few days ago, and both teams are very good. I think especially FURIA warmed us up well for today because they are also very aggressive. So that was some fun games
You’ve won many titles and are an idol to so many people. What drives Caps’ career these days?
Caps: I definitely am still aiming for that Worlds trophy. It was the reason I decided to start grinding
League back in 2014, and also the reason I went pro, to lift that Worlds trophy. Of course, I grew up watching
, and I want to be there as well one day. So it takes a lot of work to get there. It’s very difficult, there are many strong opponents, but I will give it everything in my power. And if we keep having these crazy games on the way, it just makes it all the more fun as well
You'll be facing BLG in the next round, and they struggled a bit against BFX. How do you feel about this matchup against ?
Caps: Knight was playing very well today. We were watching the games before our match, and he did very well. So definitely it will be important for me to step up and shut him down if I can. If I can get that advantage in mid, I think we will have a very good chance against BLG. And of course, playing against BLG is always fun. We’ve played against them so many times internationally. Luckily at Worlds, we got the upper hand, so let’s see if we can do it again this time around.
Looking back at the last match between G2 and BLG. How do you think they’ve improved since then?
Caps: We improved a lot for sure. I think we had some shortcomings as well that we’ve been working hard on. I don’t want to go too much into details, but I think our teamfighting is significantly better. Our understanding of objectives as well—like the crab and stuff like this. I think a lot of our team play is better, which I guess you could see today. Even if our lanes were falling a bit behind sometimes, we managed to make the team plays work together. So I think as long as we trust each other, stick to our fundamentals, and pull off our strategies, I think we are in a good spot.”
