BBL Esports are back on the top of international stage. Following their victory over
Team Heretics, the Turkish side, who missed out on qualification for Masters London, have now secured a place in the top four of the
Esports World Cup.
In the semifinals, BBL will face the winner of Gentle Mates versus NRG for a chance to move one step closer to what would be the organization's first Tier 1 title in
VALORANT. Following the match, Utku "
Loita" Kart spoke with
Sheep Esports about his team's resurgence after the disappointment of
VCT EMEA Stage 1.
What’s your first feeling after the game?
Utku "Loita" Kart: “My first feelings are amazing because we lost to Team Heretics on EMEA Stage 1, in the playoffs, and we were eliminated. After that game, Heretics became the champions of EMEA and went to London, so it was an important game for us. The feeling was like super good. We are so happy that we won against them. They are a really good team. So yeah, now the chances of being champion for us are really, really high.
Your team didn't manage to make it to Masters London after losing to Team Heretics. Was it important for you to show that even if you didn't qualify for the Masters, your team can still be competing with international top teams?
Loita: Yes, it was really important for us because most people thought after we couldn't qualify for London, we would just, I don't know, maybe change someone in the roster or change something else. But we are not like that. We are a family, and we are happy that we showed this to our fans.
Are you satisfied with how you've been playing so far? Did you feel like there was any improvement compared to Stage 1?
Loita: Yes, I think we really improved in our macro games and in our micros. We are so much better. I think we are even better than our kickoff self now. Sometimes we are not quite handling the pressure, and because of that, we are making stupid mistakes, but that can happen. Now, after stupid mistakes, we know how to control the game again, so I think we are better.
Do you feel like all the teams present there are playing at the highest intensity? How do you evaluate the level of the competition so far?
Loita: I think the level of competition is high. I even think it's better than Masters London because the teams here are playing really, really well and have been working so hard. Some of the fans might think that it’s EWC so it's not important and the teams are not working. But it's not like that. Everyone is working so hard. And yeah, it's a really good tournament.
For some fans it might not be the case because, for example, Leviatán, who won Masters London, is not participating in EWC. Do you think it removes some of the prestige of the competition?
Loita: I don’t think so because even Paper Rex was in this tournament, but they couldn't qualify for the playoffs. And PRX played two times in a Masters Grand Final this year. So this tournament is a really big one for me. But of course I would like to play against Leviatán too. It would be better, but this tournament remains very competitive.
What would you say are your chances to win the competition right now and who would be your biggest opponents?
Loita: I think that they are really high. I believe it. Our biggest opponents are probably ourselves. After beating Heretics, I don’t think that there are any opponents that can be a real problem if we control ourselves and don’t crush under the pressure. I think we are just going to do fine.
How does it feel to play in front of such a crowd? We saw you and your teammates playing with the fans cheering or booing you. How does it give you motivation?
Loita: In Santiago, most of the fans in the crowd were cheering for us, but we are still used to playing with the crowd not cheering for us, so it didn't affect us. Honestly, they're just boosting us because when we see they're booing and talking trash about us, we just have so much hype. And yeah, it feels good.
Is it even better to play there than in Berlin then?
Loita: Yeah, 100%.”
