ztr, GamerLegion pleased with progress after IEM Melbourne playoffs appearance

GamerLegion in-game leader Erik “ZTR” Gustafsson caught up with DFRAG after their unfortunate 2-0 defeat to Falcons in the IEM Melbourne 2025 quarter-final.

GamerLegion continues to develop as the 2025 season stretches on, and while the stage loss to Falcons was devastating on paper, ztr is overjoyed with the team's form at the event.

He also has one of the most iconic plays of the tournament with a one-versus-four against FaZe Clan that saw GamerLegion into the playoffs. Early exit aside, ztr turned plenty of heads in Melbourne, and he's already looking ahead to the rest of the season—even if it won't include a Major appearance.

How have you enjoyed Australia so far?

"We haven't had that much time to explore but we got to experience some of the culture and the people. I would say the people have been very nice and that's the most positive thing so far at least.

"We're going to head out tomorrow and go visit a park or something. Go feed some koalas and hopefully see some kangaroos!"

Yesterday was a bit of a disappointment. What do you really take out of the loss to those games where you're not really in it against Falcons?

"I mean, it was the first stage game for many of us at this calibre at least, everyone except Fredrik "REZ" Sterner probably. We went into the game knowing it was going to be tough but of course, we still knew we had the chance to win.

"So yeah, we didn't have the highest expectations. I think it's the happiest I've ever seen a team be after getting f****d. We will take a lot of things from this and it was still a positive experience."

What were your expectations going into IEM Melbourne, where did you want to place, essentially?

"We're at that stage where we're still a pretty young team and we also formed less than four months ago, I believe, so right now getting the playoffs is still good for us. We made playoffs now in the last two tournaments, so the playoffs was where we were aiming here as well."

With the missed major in particular, what are you looking to now to alleviate that? What are you looking to do to make sure that doesn't happen in the future?

"It's the same with all losses, I guess you can say. We tried to take something from it and I think definitely we did, but we're going to wait and have to see until we actually play in the next one to see if we can handle it better.

A bit on a positive note, Ash re-signed and will remain at the helm for you guys going forward. How does that affect you and the team given how much impact we know he has with you?

"Seeing him re-sign, we knew about it, of course, for a bit longer than the community. I think it fills everyone with confidence, knowing that he wants to stay here, he wants to keep coaching and believes in this project. It builds confidence within the group.

We can't skip this one: Tell me how you did that 1v4 against FaZe Clan to make it to the playoffs?

"(laughs) I mean, it all just came together. The funny thing is as well, like as my teammates kind of f****d up a bit in Secret when they got triple killed as I was walking around the map. It took like 40 seconds.

"I was already thinking about what I should call in the first time of overtime and then, yeah, when I just went to get the bomb, they had a pretty bad setup and then I just outplayed karrigan a bit.

"It all just came together perfectly, I guess."

GamerLegion is satisfied with a playoffs berth at IEM Melbourne. The playoffs and the chance to play on-stage has provided crucial experience for their players, and these targets will undoubtedly be set higher and higher as the number of deep tournament runs increase.