Talks with TSM: LAN, London, and Ladies in Apex

Follow me as I take a deep dive into TSM’s boot camp attitude heading into the London ALGS LAN

As the APGS Split 1 Playoffs finally begin, how do coach Raven and players Verhulst and ImperialHal feel about their competition, being in London, and TSM’s latest progress in women’s esports?

How do you feel coming into the playoffs after finishing first place in the NA region? Does this come with additional pressure or confidence?

Raven: Definitely a mixture of both pressure and confidence. We feel very prepared for the tournament, and we’re all very excited to be playing it. At the end of the day, we still have things to prove — we’re not the best team until we’ve won. So we’re not going into the tournament with an ego or a sense of not having to try. We’re going to respect our opponents.

Verhulst: I think our preparation has been better than it ever has been before, and that contributes to our confidence more than anything else. I think our gameplan going into this is also better than before. We have set rotations for zone, we have an order of operations for each rotation, and I think that takes away a lot of the pressure.

ImperialHal: I’m personally pretty confident in the LAN — that’s pretty usual. I always mention, ever since we picked up Raven as a coach, there’s no reason for us to not be doing well. It’s on us.

Following this, how have you found boot camping here in London? Especially with a venue like the Red Bull Gaming Sphere?

Raven: It’s been great. This is a fantastic facility and we are very grateful to be here. With my previous team, we were boot camping in a Walmart, so it’s definitely a big step up. Also, I absolutely love London. It’s my parents’ favourite city. So yeah, I’m enjoying it!

Verhulst: Yeah, It’s been pretty perfect so far — this is the best we could ask for. It’s quiet, there’s tonnes of space, we have the perfect setup… you can’t really ask for more when you’re looking for the perfect place to bootcamp. I think having the whole place to yourself if one of the best parts, we’re lucky to have the place to ourselves — usually we’re sharing with somebody else. It’s been very cool, and it looks very cool! Very aesthetic — one of the coolest I’ve seen.

ImperialHal: My complaint, though, is it feels like driving here in the UK takes a lot longer. When I look at the Uber going from my hotel to here, it feels short, but it feels like it takes forever.

What about the regional finals? Both NA and EMEA regions saw potentially surprising results in the regional finals, with Fire Beavers in EMEA and Esports Arena in NA. Are there any dark horse teams you think could be a challenge, and how do you feel about how TSM ended the split?

Raven: ESA is a team that has a lot of potential, and they’ve actually shown a lot of that during Pro League. The more surprising thing was the fact that the Regional Final ended in five games. I was entirely surprised by their performance. They really are a fantastic team. So is Fire Beavers.

The other element to this, of course, is Match Point. In Match Point, anything can happen.

Even though the leaderboards looked how I thought they would, or at least they sort of did, I would say that we underperformed.

But otherwise, I could have seen Fire Beavers winning on any given day and I definitely could have seen ESA winning on any given day. If it was another team, maybe I’d say something different. There are definitely other teams that I would have been more surprised at winning.

ImperialHal: I think during the week of Regional Finals, we were too loose. We already knew that we were going to get first place finishing the Split, so I personally was playing more recklessly.

When we were finally getting into the groove and were about to win that last game, ESA were just playing out of their mind that day. We were coming back for sure, and playing more respectfully, because for the first two or three games, I was just running at everybody.

I was a bit upset that it ended so quickly in five games — it was too fast.

Seeing as LAN is held in the UK this year, are there any UK players you are watching out for? Are other global teams more of a concern?

Raven: Yeah, there are some fantastic players from the UK. I’d say SirDel is probably the best one. I worked with him at GMT last LAN, where we got the fifth. He is a fantastic anchor player. He has a great attitude. He’s excellent mechanically.

I also do believe noiises is a fantastic IGL, so we’re really excited to see how IG does. They just needed to leave our POI and I’m sure they’ll do great.

Verhulst: In NA, we are always worrying about NRG, because they land right next to us on Storm Point, and they take a lot of our spots on World’s Edge as well. Any team that lands close to us, really, we’re always worried about.

Other than that, there are no other teams we are particularly worried about, we weigh teams pretty evenly. I don’t think there’s anyone who is too big of a problem for us. I think we understand each team and what to expect from them quite well.

For UK teams, Alliance is always a pretty tough team to fight against — they’re all pretty good. I think Alliance is probably one of the best European fighting teams. They are also one of those teams that lands very close to us on Storm Point, so we will share some rotations with them. They always craft up to the absolute max, and will always have red armour when you run into them, making them extra hard to fight. They’re definitely a team to look out for.

I would also say Fire Beavers, but I don’t know if they got their visas or not [confirmed update post-interview, Fire Beavers will not be at LAN].

Excitingly, we’ve also seen TSM take incredible leaps forward in the Women’s Apex scene this past week, picking up Sabz (who competed in EMEA pro-league in split one), Avuhlie, and Guhrl to join Janey. Are you hoping that other teams follow suit?

Raven: Yeah, absolutely. Shout out to TSM for picking them up. It is not easy being a woman in esports, first of all, and I also feel like there’s this misconception that women are worse at esports. It’s just not true.

I’d say the biggest barrier or difference in how women and men are socialised in terms of esports is growing up, a lot of women were not pushed to play video games, or they are even made fun of, or they were just not encouraged to do that. So I would love for that to change. Hopefully, TSM picking up this roster will push other teams to do the same.

The other thing I also believe is that there are people who want to watch these women play esports. People claiming otherwise is one of my pet peeves. When talking about women in traditional sports, there’s always this thing where some claim that people don’t want to watch it. It’s just not true.

We’ve seen record-setting attendance for women’s soccer. So it’s absolutely in demand.

I’m all for more in the women’s scene. Give women a platform to compete. Even if ALGS is totally open for everyone, that’s not actually reflected in who’s competing and playing. It is hard for a lot of women to get into esports and find teams, they’re constantly underrated or undermined. If women feel like that’s what they need, I’m all for it.

ImperialHal: I feel like other orgs and other comps have a women’s scene — like Valorant, they have it, right? It would really help the game, and it would be nice for the women to also be able to build their brands and their name. It would be great for all the Apex orgs to chime in. A Pro League for the women would be nice.

I think TSM is just really invested in Apex, and wants to be ahead of the curve. If EA is sensing the mood, they might consider it.

TSM is still very much considered one of the giants of Apex, so of course, I wish you the best for the playoffs. In a few words, can you summarise the TSM mindset heading into LAN?

Raven: We’re going to be courageous, we’re going to be brave. We are determined, we are disciplined, and I don’t believe that anyone has been working as harder as us or that anyone wants as much as us. I’m also excited to give the fans a show.

Verhulst: We’re prepared, and we’re confident. I think preparation is a key word.

ImperialHal: My mindset is, if we don’t get at least second place, then we lost.

Author’s note: Hello all! I will be reporting from the Copper Box Arena over all four days of the London ALGS Split 1 Playoffs. Follow my Twitter, @hannahmariezt, for updates!