In an interview following an impressive victory over Team Heretics, Team Vitality’s Saif “Sayf” Jibraeel revealed how the recent passing of his grandfather has coincided with the busiest and most intense point of the season, adding to growing exhaustion during a chaotic playoffs run.
Image credit: Riot Games
Sayf’s inspired performance in the lower bracket final, which saw him claim an impressive 73/49/15 KDA across the four maps, was “okay” by his standards, the player explaining that he “can always play better” before touching on his recent personal loss.
“I start a bit slow sometimes, but to be honest, it’s been a lot recently with everything. My grandpa passed away and we keep playing game after game after game after game, and I have no time to breathe, so it’s been a lot. So I’m surprised that I can even play”.
The Swede went on to explain how this exhaustion led to a purely instinctive performance against Heretics, one that earned his side a spot in the VCT EMEA Stage 2 final against giants Fnatic.
“At some point it becomes that you’re no longer consciously thinking about things. It becomes your natural instinct to do things. It’s like your body’s not even trying, but it does it anyway. It’s automatic – you see something happening, you’re instantly reacting to it, but it’s not really a conscious effort.
“It’s more like my reflexes are kicking in from playing for so much. I’m playing so long, so it’s always like ‘bam, bam, bam’, insta-reacting. And that’s because I’ve seen so many scenarios before that, and these scenarios keep repeating themselves because I played for so much and that’s what’s happening.”
Vitality facing Fnatic without a rest day
Asked what that means for the final set to be played the very next day, Sayf affirmed that it will be a “tired Vitality” going up against Fnatic, who in comparison have had an extra day of rest after booking their spot earlier in the week.
“Vitality has been playing for so long and we have less rest days than Fnatic, of course, and they are a hard team to play against. So obviously tomorrow we’re going to be a bit tired, but if we just troop up and stick together, hopefully the best outcome happens.
“[My] best prediction is hopefully we win, otherwise I just want it to be a really close game.”
Photo by Michal Konkol/Riot Games
A strong opening map for Team Heretics saw them take the series lead with a 13-6 Icebox win, but the momentum quickly swung in Vitality’s favour with subsequent dominant victories of their own. When asked what caused such a difference, Sayf theorized that his team’s choice to forego a usual pre-series scrim — an exhaustion-induced decision — meant that the opening map was essentially his side’s warmup.
“It’s a BO5 and we didn’t warm up before this. Usually we have a warm-up scrim before we play, but for today, since it’s so many games being played, we thought that it’s better if we just don’t warm up. Icebox became the warm-up scrim instead. Everyone was a bit tired. So yeah, I guess that’s why [we lost].”
Despite being universally considered a strong player in EMEA, who has now qualified for his second Stage 2 final in a row, Sayf has recently hinted at the possibility of an imminent retirement. When asked if his latest strong performance helps sway the decision in either direction, Sayf simply explained that retirement remains “an option”.
“I’m playing for fun and if I just don’t think it’s fun, I’m not going to play. That’s all there is to it.”
On Team Vitality’s chances at VCT Champions
Reaching the final stages of playoffs has meant that, regardless of the result against Fnatic, Vitality has already booked its place at VALORANT Champions Seoul later this year. Looking ahead to the tournament, Sayf feels optimistic about Vitality’s chances to “make EMEA proud.”
“I think Champions is good for us because, at the end of the day, it’s not about having the best names on paper in your team. It’s about how we form these different people in the team to become one unit and how we find a good space and make a great environment between us. And right now I feel like we’ve achieved that and if we keep building on that into Champions, we can do a lot of damage.”
Finally, asked for his thoughts on the coaching changes that seemingly led to Vitality’s uptick in form, Sayf made sure to praise his former head coach Salah “Salah” Barakat while explaining how current head coach Harry “Gorilla” Mepham is a better fit for the team currently.
“I really like Salah. I think he’s a good person and obviously it didn’t work out in the way it should have. I think there’s a big contrast in terms of how they approach coaching, both of them, and what fits this team more is how Gorilla is coaching right now and that’s all I can say about it.”
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