Vitality endured a rocky start in Justinas “jL” Lekavicius’s first game as a stand-in, losing to underdogs Inner Circle to kick off their BLAST Open Porto campaign, but recovered admirably to secure a playoff berth with wins over the likes of Legacy and FUT.
jL believes the loss to Inner Circle actually ended up benefitting Vitality. “For me, after the loss it was a lot easier to play,” he told HLTV at the media day ahead of playoffs. “I think for the boys as well, because I am not mezii. I don’t know the reactions, I don’t know in what scenarios he supports, throws flashes and smokes[…] we went over that and it became a lot easier to play afterwards.”
Looking forward to the playoffs, jL feels Vitality are confident no matter who they face. “I feel like we are confident against any team, it doesn’t matter who it is,” he said. “I feel like we have improved every single game that we have played here, and not having an easy bracket just helps us.”
You can listen to the interview here.
How has your journey been in Vitality so far?
It’s been ups and downs. You come in with high expectations, you lose your first game to Inner Circle, and then you realise you are in reality here and you gotta work for it. The loss kind of helped us in a way. There’s only so much you can do in practice, understanding how your brain works, how the team works, how you react in certain situations. Having the official and then you lost, it puts you back in the right space, where you have to talk about a lot of stuff, go over some strats. What I do, what the team does, what the reactions are.
For me, after the loss it was a lot easier to play, and I think for the boys as well, because I am not mezii. I don’t know the reactions, I don’t know in what scenarios he supports, throws flashes and smokes. Of course I can read his role on paper, but not everything is a set round. Most of it is a reaction, and yes I can know the util, but I don’t know when to throw it. So we went over that and it became a lot easier to play afterwards.
That was something I was going to ask: How much are you trying to slot in for mezii, and how much are you just trying to be jL?
The responsibilities for sure you will have to take, because there are a lot of rounds where mezii does nades, util, goes first or second, whatever, so that I take care of. Mid-round, late round, sometimes early round if you do not have a plan and are playing default, I will just be myself and play my own game.
With MOUZ I tried to be someone that I’m not
How much have the team around you tried to facilitate you, and how much has been you facilitating them?
I think it’s 50/50, but for sure the guys try to facilitate me, especially flameZ. I feel like after the first game he understood that I wasn’t feeling comfortable, and he was the first to open his mouth to say to the team ‘we need to talk more about this stuff, that stuff’. So it was flameZ, but also apEX helps, ZywOo helps, ropz helps, everyone helps. It’s a collective job, so to speak.
What’s this stand-in experience like? You have had stand-in stints with other teams, how does this one compare?
For sure every team is different. I would probably say… I’m not going to talk about the teams, I am going to talk about myself. I feel like when I stood in for Liquid I just played, and we tried to win as many rounds as possible. With MOUZ I tried to be someone that I’m not, someone that just does the role and tries to survive on site, do whatever it takes to be the perfect teammate. Helping, surviving, doing flashes, whatever.
With Vitality I try to take on the responsibilities of a player, mezii in this case, and just be myself afterwards. I feel like I cannot play my best game being someone else. So that’s the main difference individually.
I do prefer mezii’s roles more than my old ones in MOUZ or NAVI
It seems to be working because against 9z you had the second-best rated LAN map of your career. Are you feeling comfortable in your roles in Vitality?
Yeah, 100%. Some roles I haven’t played before, but it doesn’t matter, it’s still a team game. Of course some roles are more important than the others, but… We’ve all played the game for so long, I feel like we could do any role in the game. I mean for me I won’t do the IGL role, but I feel like I could AWP, I could entry, I could support.
Of course you have your strengths and your weaknesses, and I feel like I do prefer mezii’s roles more than I preferred my old ones in MOUZ or NAVI, for example. For me it’s not easy to play, but I do understand what I have to do.
Something I think you said before you started playing for Vitality, was that you were looking forward to playing with players like apEX, ZywOo and ropz. What’s it been like? Have you learned from them, and is it interesting to see them play CS from the inside?
Oh yeah, of course, it’s been so interesting. When you spectate these players from a demo POV or just from the game, you don’t see the details, you don’t see the communication or the idea behind it, how a certain round is developed. Seeing that from behind the scenes just opens your eyes a little bit, because every team has a different way to approach the game. I’ve been really enjoying how Vitality approach the game.
I’m not going to go into details, but ropz, I’ve never seen a player work harder than him, and it just goes to show… maybe he’s not talented, maybe he’s just a hard worker. ZywOo is for sure talented, and apEX is a special one. I feel like apEX wears his heart on his sleeve, and it’s been… I feel like with the whole of the Vitality lineup, they are just themselves, and it makes it more enjoyable to play. You are not hiding, if I want to make a joke I will just say it, and I can just be myself around them. It’s super helpful.
With the whole of the Vitality lineup, they are just themselves
Do you think these stand-in stints are going to help you moving forward as a player? Maybe when you find your permanent home, you are going to be a better player because you have seen these different ways to play Counter-Strike.
For sure they do help, but I the goal was always to find a permanent team. I don’t know, I feel like time is running out… I’m not sure where I am going with this.
You’ve got FURIA coming up. How do you feel about that game and how confident are the team going into these playoffs?
I feel like we are confident against any team, it doesn’t matter who it is. For me personally, I feel like we beat FURIA so many times against NAVI, we know how they play. Of course the lineup was a little bit different, but the idea of the game stays the same, and I’ve watched them so many times. They’re not feeling the best right now, molodoy is having some health issues that for sure don’t help him and the team, so I feel like we are in a good position to win the game. Of course it’s not going to be an easy game, we’re going to have to fight for it.
Even against FUT, it looked like an easy game from the outside but it was not an easy game from the inside, you have to hit the shots and understand what they are doing. I feel like we have improved every single game that we have played here, and not having an easy bracket just helps us.
