FlyQuest jks on last season: 'It was a s**tshow, but it's something we have to accept'

It was as smooth as it could be for FlyQuest here in their Brisbane return at the HyperX Intel Nationals.

They haven't disappointed in their first event on "home" soil, decimating closest rivals Ground Zero and THUNDERdOWNUNDER on their way to the grand final, taking place Sunday, July 18.

The occasion is not lost on veteran Justin "jks" Savage who over a decade ago played his last Brisbane CS:GO LAN at the now-closed GUF LAN cafe on Brunswick Street in Fortitude Valley.

He's back at last, and after finishing the job, jks and FQ plan to complete their long-awaited move to Europe full-time —after they secure their new fifth, of course.

And no, it's "not likely" to be temporary stand-in Sean "Gratisfaction" Kaiwai, jks said to DFRAG before the grand final.

Business as usual here for you and FlyQuest, and a repeat of the win over THUNDERdOWNUNDER in Cologne with the close-ish first map into a stomp in map two. Talk me through the series and where FQ is edging TdU out.

"I think they just made a mistake picking Nuke and then we also started CT side. On the first map though, I mean, they played alright, but I think we just have this thing where we just over-peek things and I feel like sometimes we're not really reading the game properly, giving them a lot of openings in the round.

"Against these sort of teams I feel like you can play just a lot more simple. But yeah, on their CT side they were having a nice couple rounds where they were gambling and stuff like that and it was paying off for them. We were just feeling more comfortable."

Speaking to you guys earlier, there's not a whole lot of preparation needed for an event like this where there's a huge skill disparity, but we don't see this sort of confidence against a tougher matchup at a bigger event. Is that something you can bottle up and take into such an event?

"Nah, not really, to be honest. We feel like we're just so much better than the teams here and more experienced than them that it doesn't matter what we do.

"I feel like we're just better than them on pretty much every level, so its easier to play in a sense, then on top of that we have confidence because of that.

"But versus better teams, if you do some of the things that we're doing here for the last few days, playing freestyle and kind of not really caring too much... sometimes it can work, but most of the time it's not gonna work, you get punished. It's much harder to play freestyle against the best teams."

This is your first LAN event in Brisbane in over a decade. How crazy is it that you're back and playing at home, and not just a local LAN, but one registered for VRS and thus pretty important for the season ahead?

"Yeah, I mean, it's a bit weird, like I'm driving to the venue, it doesn't really feel normal. But yeah, I mean, I haven't really thought too much about it. I've mainly just been like spending time with my family and my friends, that's kind of what my main focus is.

"I don't even have a computer at home here, for example. I wouldn't really say it's a holiday, but at the same time it is, in a way, just because I haven't been home in so long.

"On the topic of having a LAN here, I think it's pretty cool just because, at least for me, I haven't been at a Brisbane LAN in quite some time.

"I've been to so many Brisbane LANs in the past, like CS 1.6, and a few in the beginning of CS:GO. But I've barely been back since then. It's great to see some new and familiar faces and cool to see people in Brisbane playing the game."

I want to ask about last season, particularly your approach to VRS. What was the team's strategy behind event selection, because it felt like you had opted to preserve the points you had earned more than chasing points on offer. It still worked out, you made the major, but was that your focus?

"The goal wasn't so much to preserve points, it was just about not winning the LANs we should have won easily, then we could have qualified for the major earlier. We didn't get many invites to European LANs, but we did for the Asian LANs, so it made more sense to play those.

"If we had just played better at some of those Chinese LANs, I feel like we would have made it much easier, but those events with TYLOO for example, who is a really good team, we were a little overconfident. At the same time, we also lost to some other teams we should have beaten easily.

"We lost in the semifinals at DraculaN in Bucharest, then lost the CAC online qualifier — it was a mistake playing that, we weren't prepared for that. Then after that we also lost early at GangKui Cup... we fucked up, to be honest.

"If we actually did what we should have done then it would have been much easier. On top of that it's hard playing the Asian LANs because of the travel, the playstyle, the mix of teams you've never played before.

"It was a bit of a shitshow, but it's something we have to accept and something we have to do when we're not the top ranked team anymore. It's rough."

On the topic of these European LANs, I know the move to Europe is finally coming together, just some buerocracy regarding visas and, obviously, finding a new fifth. Have you set a date for the move yet?

"I think some of the other players are just waiting for it to get approved, it's like 90% of the way there, we're at the last step. Once that's done, yeah, we'll be focusing more on being in Europe more often, and that's gonna help the team a whole lot.

"It's maybe something they should have done earlier, though. I'm not really sure what was going on with them before I joined the team. I've always said, and they know it as well, that it's really important to be in Europe and stuff.

"If we have to come back to Asia or Australia to play, we will, but ideally we want to avoid that after the move."
Justin "jks" Savage, FlyQuest

"It's nice that it's finally happening now, or in the next month or so. We don't have much control over the visa process stuff, but the goal is to just get to EU and play."

Cache is back, a map you and coach AZR had success on back in the Renegades days. On the topic of the map pool shuffle every season, is it something you and FlyQuest embrace or enjoy?

"Normally I've been on the receiving end of having my team's best map removed, but now Overpass is gone, a map we didn't touch. We tried it, and I think we were okay at it, but it wasn't a strong map for us, so we're happy that they removed the map we don't play for once.

"I feel like it should strengthen our map pool a little bit because towards the end of the season, we had a couple of good maps we were comfortable on, and the others we were more 50-50.

"I like that they're adding maps and removing maps, I just don't want them to remove another map next time and immediately plug Overpass back in. It's annoying when they recycle maps; they put Train in, then they removed it instantly.

"We haven't really spoken about it too much, what with the roster changes, but we'll see what happens."

jks and FlyQuest will meet surprise package Ground Zero (featuring a stand-in of their own in coach Tyler "tucks" Reilly) in Sunday's grand final at the HyperX Intel Nationals.

For more OCE CS news, stay tuned to DFRAG.