HLE Zeka: “The moment we lost to GenG, nothing else mattered.”
Q: Players don’t like to talk this way, but people see this draw as unlucky; they say 5th-8th isn’t representative if your skill, which double elimination would fix. Is that something that’s on your mind right now?
Zeka: I don’t really think so, in order to win Worlds you have to be able to beat whoever you face, and only that team deserves to win it all. I don’t think there’s any format changes needed. I actually like the current format.
Q: With a different draw, you might’ve faced GEN in the finals — do you really believe that that distinction doesn’t matter?
Zeka: Of course it would’ve been amazing to go to finals, but everything is so hypothetical. Had we actually drawn into the opposite side of the bracket, there still would be lots of strong teams, so we can’t say or assume that we’d make it to the finals. We never know. In order to win in the end, we would still have to beat GenG in the finals. The moment we lost to GenG, nothing else mattered.
Q: Peanut said that “When I was playing with Chovy, back in the old days, I thought Chovy had weaknesses. The Chovy now… has none.” What do you think about that?
Zeka: I understand why people think really highly of Chovy. Just like Peanut said in the quote, it doesn’t seem like he has any flaws and he’s doing great. Based on his current performance and form, I think he’s got what it takes to win it all. I feel like I got my chance against him today, but it’s a bummer I wasn’t able to take over. I hope he can win.
Q: You’ve played with many legends (Deft, Peanut, Viper). How does it feel learning from those players and having to say goodbye to some of them?
Zeka: I was able to play together with multiple legends until their final moments. I’m very grateful for all those experiences. I wish I was able to say goodbye with a highlight moment, but I’m so sad we’re saying goodbye after a loss, I’m very sorry for that.
[Peanut] has been doing great and I’m very thankful for all his hard work. I think all the veteran players have their strengths, so I was very grateful to play together with them. I wish to continue to improve myself so that I can become one of those experienced veterans.
Q: Perhaps because you won Worlds so early in your career, some people belittle your Worlds win, saying you won off of playing Sylas and Akali. Does that idea weigh on you after a loss like this?
Zeka: With Fearless, if I was not able to accomplish much, I think it’s a fair comment from others. This year was the first year of Fearless and I did win a couple times with the format, but I’m not fully satisfied with my results here at Worlds, so the more I practice with Fearless, I believe I can perform better. But for now, I finished in the Quarterfinals, so I understand where the comments are coming from.
