Zyppan of NAVI: “We didn’t have the best string of performances lately, but I know that we’re an insane team”

The 2023 VCT EMEA season came to a conclusion with the Last Chance Qualifier grand finals between Giants and Natus Vincere. Although Giants would eventually come out on top in the series over NAVI by winning 3-0, which would have meant them receiving the lone ticket to Champions, due to Fnatic winning Masters Tokyo and the region receiving an additional slot for the event, NAVI earned a spot as well, making this encounter a mere formality.

Even so, despite NAVI not performing well in recent months in relation to the past glory their players have attained, which was evident in their 4th place finish in the EMEA playoffs and disappointing 11-12th showing in Masters Tokyo, they have one more opportunity to end their year on a high note in the year’s centerpiece competition.

Following the EMEA LCQ grand finals, Fragster talked to NAVI’s Pontus “Zyppan” Eek on how the team approached the series against Giants, the team’s progression from the end of Masters Tokyo until this past event, how it has worked under the current meta, and more.

Facing Giants and qualifying to Champions

Pedro Romero, Fragster: First off, commiserations on that series against Giants but it’s something that you’re not going to feel too bad about because both teams have already qualified to Champions. With you and Giants having made Champions at this point in the LCQ and there not being a need to show too much in this match, how did you take in this grand finals with that in mind?

Pontus “Zyppan” Eek: No. Of course, you always want to win, but as we can see today, Giants were playing–the comps were really troll but they were still playing seriously and stuff, but talking for myself, I don’t really care that much about this game. I’m happy that we qualified and that was the main goal. To win LCQ or anything, you don’t get anything else from it. It was boring to play, in my opinion, when there’s nothing to play for, really. There’s no excitement. There’s no feelings for me but I’m fine with getting second place and let’s focus now for Champions.

Fragster: With that in mind, I want to focus on the team’s road to qualifying for Champions. Obviously, you guys lost your first series against KOID before caming back to the finals by beating Karmine Corp and taking revenge on KOI in the lower bracket. Despite that early loss, how did this team rebound to then make it to Champions?

Zyppan: Basically, for the first game for us against KOI, I think no one in the team was shooting back at all and we rewatched the game and we saw that it was not about any strats or any huge mistakes from us. It was more that we didn’t shoot back at all. They played one game before us and they were warmed up on the stage. It just was the same in the league for us. We lost the first game and we know we bounced back so we just got to get one win and then we got our confidence back. And yeah, as you saw in the rematch, we won 3-0 so it was lower bracket run.

Fragster: This performance also followed up the team’s showing in Masters Tokyo, which saw you guys drop out in the group stage. From the end of Tokyo up until now in the LCQ, how did the team improved? what were the things that you guys specifically focused on in improving from the end of Tokyo up until this point?

Zyppan: We noticed in Tokyo that we were playing two really good teams in EDG and NRG and we noticed that, in our club situations and advantages, we lost a lot of them. That costed us basically the games, I would say, so were also practicing this a lot. We had three weeks of practice so we were focusing a lot on this to close out games and focus on advantages and win the clutches. This was the most important for us: the fundamentals basically. Still, I think we struggle a bit with it sometimes but now we will have some more time to practice.

Moving on from Masters Tokyo

Fragster: Talking about the team, it’s been memed from fans about how, given the team’s approach towards adopting various comps, if you guys don’t listen to ANGE1 and whatever idea he gives, then the team will play well. Even so, you guys maintained your level in reaching Champions. How have you seen the team’s work and interpretation of this meta while shifting from Tokyo to now in addition to the scrutiny surrounding ANGE1’s comp picks and the like?

Zyppan: I mean, talking about between now and Tokyo, the meta hasn’t changed that much since we are still playing on the old patch and Deadlock is not allowed, so not much have changed. And about our comms and stuff and ANGE1, we don’t listen to him. We basically have two coaches and ANGE1 and they are the ones agreeing with each other. If they don’t like one of the comps of if they think it’s too crazy or something like that, they will say no to it. It’s also ANGE1’s approach to the game which is to play something out of the ordinary and not gett the enemy’s used to your strengths. If you play some other meta agents, the other team will not be prepared for these strats or abilities and stuff like that. So no, I have trust in him and if it’s too crazy, I believe our coaches will tell him “no, it’s not gonna work like that.” But yeah, we have now Pixar comes a bit so it’s a bit more towards the meta.

Fragster: Focusing now to Champions, in relation to your previous team FPX, at this moment in time last year, FPX was on the brink of winning Masters Copenhagen and was seen as one of the favorites to win Champions. However, the same can’t be said for NAVI given this team’s recent performances in the EMEA League and Tokyo. How do you view this change in the team’s position in the competitive Valorant hierarchy given there’s not much expectations for this team compared to last year?

Zyppan: No. I think, coming into this year, a lot of people still had high expectations of us since we kept four of our players and we had a really good last year, so I don’t mind people seeing us as the underdogs or anything like that. I’m fine with it. Of course, we didn’t have the best string of performances lately, but I know that we’re an insane team. It has sometimes been hard for us to show it on the server, but in practice, we’re playing really good and hopefully we can show it in Champions. I don’t mind people having expectations for us or seeing us as underdogs. There’s no pressure for me.

Looking ahead to Champions

Fragster: When it comes to Champions, at this moment in time, we have 15 out of 16 teams qualified for the event. For this upcoming event, which team has caught your attention so far as the season has transpired? Also, which player has also caught your attention in the same fashion?

Zyppan: I didn’t really watch Americas that much but I think no one expected KRU to win after the performance they had in the league, but they seemed like a really good team and they seemed prepared so I think they’re gonna take the win. And Keznit has been performing really well. He’s quite a similar player to me, I would say, such as playing Raze and KAY/O and stuff like this so I hope he performs well and takes the win. I hope we can play against each other in Champs.

Fragster: What about the prospect in taking on EDG because it’s a team that surprised everyone and started their run to Top 6 by defeating your team. Is there any desire from you to want to take down EDG or any other familiar foe?

Zyppan: Yeah, I would love to play any of the Chinese teams again. EDG seems really strong and it looks like they got the confidence after beating so they’re looking really good right now. It would be nice to play them again and hopefully beat them. I think they’re a really strong team with a unique play style which can be hard to play against sometimes in the pressure moments. For sure, I would like my revenge against EDG.

Fragster: And of course it’ll be a long road for NAVI to reach the top of the mountain in this upcoming Champions event. From your perspective, what do you think is going to be the biggest factor that will decide NAVI either doing well or not doing well?

Zyppan: I think it depends a lot on ourselves, right? We don’t have that much time of practice right now and we have to focus on the mistakes that we have been doing like winning our advantages and clutches. Playing together is the main goal for us. If we can do this, if we can do what we do in practice, I believe we can do a Top 4 run easily. I know we’re a better team than a lot of the other teams there so if we can just perform like we do in practice and take this calmness that we have in practice and bring it to the server, I know for sure that we can play really good.

Feature Image Credit: Hara Amoros / Riot Games / LVP / lag.