SK Abbedagge: “I don’t really like reminding myself of my time in NA because it was just a disaster, honestly, that part of the year.”

Q: FNC is obviously a very strong team, but SK had some solid plays. How do you think the team performed today?

Abbedagge: I think we were quite slow and disconnected today. I think we didn’t have really decisive and strong ideas in the game. So to be honest, it felt quite bad. And, yeah, I think FNATIC played quite well today, and I think they were a little bit better than I expected.

Q: Thoughts on Poby?

Abbedagge: He played very well today, I think. He’s a good laner. Especially in lane, I think he played very clean, and [I’m] looking forward to seeing more.

Q: Do you have a good sense of which teams are strong?

Abbedagge: So to be honest, we’re not scrimming the best teams from LEC. And I mean, I’m not sure why. I can think of some reasons, but, you know, we’re kind of just scrimming […] maybe [the] top bottom six teams. I have a good idea of the middle of the pack and who’s gonna be the weaker teams.

Q: So FNC was a lot stronger than the teams you’ve scrimmed?

Abbedagge: Yeah. You could say so.

Q: How would you compare that middle/bottom pack in NA and EU?

Abbedagge: To be honest, I don’t know. I don’t feel like there’s a big difference. But [in NA], I feel like we scrimmed only three teams. 

I think it’s a really tough position to say [anything], because we are also mostly losing, actually. I feel like there’s actually more bad teams in EU than NA, but I don’t know. I feel like in NA, there’s a lot more mid teams. They’re all kinda mid, but then it’s just between who’s a little bit better on the day.

And I feel like in EU, there’s three quite weak teams, then two or three, maybe […] four bad teams, three mid teams, and then three good teams. Something like that.

Q: Can you power rank the teams?

Abbedagge: Well, I’m not gonna [rank] ourselves.

But […] the top teams, I think, are MKOI, KC, G2, Fnatic. And then GX is pretty good as well, at least in scrims. That’s the top half of the league. I think people are pretty set on that. 

Then there’s BDS next in terms of power ranking for me. And after that, Vitality. And then Heretics, SK and NAVI are [in] about the same group down there.

Q: What does SK have to do to pass the teams around you?

Abbedagge: I mean, quite frankly, we just have to play good. […] Honestly, we just gotta look at our mistakes. I feel like right now, what we are lacking is a bit of that mojo. I feel like from losing a lot of games, we lose confidence in what we can do and where we can get ahead individually. 

So I think we kinda have to get out of [those] ruts and out of the mindset of, “Oh, we’re just playing not to lose,” and just start to be confident in the game and decisive. Like, “Hey, man, we win here,” or, “I win this.” 

Like, really get those small leads first so that we can turn them into bigger things like objectives. Because I feel like we’re kinda slowly bleeding most of the time, and then the game kinda feels lost. At some point, we’re just so stuffed, and we try to do a last minute call of contesting the objective because we feel like [the game is] lost if they get it. But we’re already so behind.

Yeah, I think we gotta fix our early and mid game.

Q: Some players have brought up a problematic approach to scrim culture in EU. Have you noticed a difference compared to NA?

Abbedagge: I think it’s pretty similar in my eyes. Like, honestly, you know… [long pause]

I don’t really like reminding myself of my time in NA because it was just a disaster, honestly, that part of the year. Because [we were] losing scrims [and having a] bad mindset, low confidence — then you go on stage, you lose almost everything.

Q: You think the losing caused a bad mindset for the team, or for you?

Abbedagge: I mean, you definitely get affected by the energy in the room. And at some point, you always gotta keep yourself in check so that you don’t get affected too much by it. But I was definitely affected.

I think I wasn’t strong enough to kind of handle it and just stay positive all the time and really focus on what’s important. Yeah. Because, I mean, that’s the hardest challenge, I think, when you always [or mostly lose] your games.

Q: Have you followed the new DSG roster?

Abbedagge: I saw one game, but not really too much. I mean, I’m not sure what else I can [say]. I mean, I’m trying to put out content and interviews, you know?

Q: Would you like to send a message to your former teammates at DSG?

Abbedagge: I mean, I hope DSG will do better than when I was there. Just wish them all the best, honestly.

I miss my teammates and in the end they still treated me well, you know? And even though we didn’t win much, I enjoyed my time there. And just wanna say thanks to any fans that supported us on Disguised.

Q: And to SK fans?

Abbedagge: Towards SK. You know, it’s been a really rough first half of the year, and it’s looking rough right now. But just know that behind the scenes, I’m doing my best, and I appreciate any support. So thank you, guys.