M80’s Lake: Team will ‘iron out’ issues before Major

M80 were eliminated from the CS Asia Championships in Shanghai after a 2-1 series loss to MOUZ and finished in 9th–12th place. The team won Inferno 13-10 but lost heavily on Overpass and Mirage.

Mason ‘Lake’ Sanderson described the overall series as ‘wasn’t very good’ and called the end of Inferno ‘a bit scary.’ He said Overpass ‘didn’t go anywhere where we wanted it to go.’

He pointed to excessive pressure, uncharacteristic play and missed utility as reasons for the losses. Lake said the team played differently than usual and made mistakes on utility that they normally avoid.

Lake highlighted positives from the Shanghai trip, including a single-map win over paiN and a close series against Falcons. He compared the team’s play in Shanghai to its form a week earlier and said there was some progress, while adding that more work is needed on specific maps against top teams.

M80 must return to North America to compete at the ECL Finals before the Major. Lake confirmed the team will play the three-day event and then attempt to fit in a few days of Major preparation, saying,

You can’t really let it affect you too much. It’s just kind of one of those things. It’s life. You have to make it happen.

Reflecting on the Major, Lake noted M80 reached the edge of Stage 3 in Budapest and said he expects the roster to advance from Stage 1 and potentially Stage 2 if they fix remaining map issues. ‘I believe in the team. I think we can do big things,’ he added.

The schedule leaves a narrow window for practice between the ECL Finals and the Major. Lake said the team will try to resolve the problems identified in Shanghai before the next event.