Wilton Prado, welcome to London! How are you enjoying your stay?
"So far so good, this time it's really hot like we were talking about. I just love London, I have really good memories here, and it’s one of the few cities where I've gotten to see around, see all the tourist sites, do everything. I just love it here, it reminds me of home, Sao Paulo a little bit."
Here at the SSE Arena. It's a change of scenery when comparing to usual European events, how are you enjoying it?
"I love it. I was here at the SSE last year, I loved the event. I loved that we're in front of Wembley, I'm a huge soccer fan, so it's like an iconic landmark. From out hotel I can see Wembley Stadium from my hotel room, from the bar, from the lobby, everything is just really cool and I love the English fans. I think that they bring a little bit of an extra charisma to it, they're all shouting, they like to drink at events, which is something you normally don't see, but it makes the crowd a lot happier, and I think that's cool. I love it here."
Yeah, we're a drinking nation man, we love it.
Last time we spoke was way back in Cologne. Back then you were with SK, now you're with Team Liquid. How are you enjoying your time with them?
"I honestly love Team Liquid. I think that out of the organisations that I've worked with they bring a level of structure I've never seen before. I get along really well with all of the owners and all of the leadership figures, they trust me a lot. The players, I really do love the guys, they have a lot of heart, despite having difficulties showing it at times. They truly are an amazing group of people to work with and I'm very happy."
Prior to Team Liquid you were predominantly working with Brazilian teams. What's the principal difference between coaching a North American team and a team from South America?
"When I'm asked that questions it's hard to put it down into features. The culture affects a lot, the individual talent. The main points that I think are Brazilians are more passionate about it, it's easier for them to be social and express themselves inside the game. Players from North America are more mechanically talented, they are more naturally gifted for the game in that sense. They understand every little part of it, in addition to knowing how to play individually. I think those are the biggest points, in terms of everything else it's a team, it's a family, it's about the same."
This is a question that is asked frequently, however I'd like to get your opinion on it from the standpoint of a coach. Pretty much since the dawn of time, European teams have seen a larger portion of international success than North American teams. In your opinion what do you think the main reason behind that is?
"I think its numerous things. One is the practice quality over here in Europe - that's fundamentally very important, because for a team to get good it's not one day of practice, it's going to be months, even years. When you're practicing against the best on the yearly, over a large period of time that will make you more successful. The second part is that they need to understand that the team aspect is very important. In North America, now they understood that yeah, we need the talent, but we also need, for some reason CS needs a deeper level of chemistry and this is even true outside of the game. Someone can be amazing within the game, but if they're outside not as good, they won't be sticking on that team, because the factors don't level out. We live with each other more than we live with our families, so it's just natural that is happens like that. I think that North Americans, for some reason, in every iteration of the game, 1.6, Source, GO, they start off late in realising this. I don't know if it's because of the views of talent that's changed, but they get there, and when they get there they normally do dominate for a little period of time, because they are so gifted in that sense. I think that's why the Brazilians and European differ from North Americans."
I think it's fair to say that you were a crucial part of the development of both Immortals and SK Gaming, or Luminosity at the time. Could you give us some insight into your feelings in regards to how far the teams have come since they started out?
"How far they've come? I think results speak for themselves. When Luminosity came, they were Keyd Stars and paiN back in the day. They were legends at a Major, but it was honestly quite a fluke result, because they didn't have a map pool, they didn't have consistency, and they never won best-of-threes. Immortals, who were the original project that came with Games Academy was really a bunch of relatively unknown players, maybe with the exception of fnx, who had no international experience, had nothing, and now among the top ten teams in the world. SK just returned to #1 in the world. The progress has been insane on both a competitive and personal level. I honestly it would make a really cool movie if someone were up to produce it.
Absolutely, looking forward to watching that movie when it inevitably comes out.
With SK Gaming, we discussed the idea that perhaps North America doesn't get the best practice, but somehow they make it work. I know they have occasional boot camps in Europe and stuff like that, but I suppose the predominance of the time they do in fact spend in the North American region. How does that work out?
"Don't get me wrong, when I talk about the quality it's over a longer period of time. When we won the first Major, we were only practicing in NA. That will never be an excuse, it's simply one of the factors that makes for a good team. In terms of SK, what they do really well that no one else in the world I've seen do, maybe with the exception of Astralis and FaZe now, is the consistency and seriousness with which they approach practice. They have a routine, they wake up at ten in the morning, they do a demo review together, they talk out ideas. When they go to practice they have set objectives. A lot of teams say they do, but honestly, they don't. You can tell by the way they practice. If SK says they're only going to practice an A hit, they will tell you like, I've talked to them, and I know how the practice, I've been with them, they're only doing that specifically. They're planning precisely what to show against a certain team and whatnot, and they address things like "Oh, if this teams handles aggression well, we're going to play passive and we're going to use that strat for a team that plays passive later on". They plan themselves very well, which is something North American teams generally aren't doing.
Returning back to you, for a short period of time you had a stint where you were playing for Immortals as a player. You were subsequently removed from the team, from what I understand. Could you shed a little bit of light on that situation?
"Basically Immortals needed a leader, they had no one on the team that could fill the role. At that time I was already very happy with what I had achieved on LG/SK. I was up for a new challenge and I decided to do it. I'm not going to say I was happy being removed, because I feel I was removed fairly quickly, but I do understand their point whereby I wasn't up to speed, as well, after being away from the game for two years, it's normal. Like I said, there are some outside factors that interfered with the situation, it's not nice to shed light on them in the public, and it should always be like that. Overall, I think it was a good experience, it was good for me to realise exactly what I needed to do, and it was good for Immortals to figure out exactly what they wanted. They don't want that structured play, they want that raw talent, and I think that whilst they maybe haven't been showing the results that they wanted, nevertheless they're finding a consistency in learning what their style is and what they want to do.
Zews goes for a ninja defuse, pulls it off like a god
Would you say that was your final endeavour with an active role within a roster? Are you now strictly a coach?
"I actually received a few offers from teams. After all of that, I think that if I were to play, I'd have to play for a Brazilian team, as it would make my return a lot easier with the communication and all that going on, and I know I have the respect from Brazilian teams. That's done, and after all of it I have truly realised how much I love coaching. It's hard sometimes when you're a coach, you're looking and you realise "Ah, I could be doing that better, I wanna play in there with them", but once you get back in there, the player life is a lot different, there's pressures that people don't realise, just the everyday hassle, the pressure from your own family and friends, it's a pain in the ass dealing with your teammates directly, in that sense it can be really frustrating. In the coach's life I think I work more than as a player, but at the same time I have more stability and I'm able to get more of what I want done.
Returning back to ECS, Group B tomorrow. You guys are facing Astralis, widely considered to be the best team in the world. How have you guys come into this match, how have you prepared?
"We're going to prepare for Astralis the same way we always prepare. We study the team, we study the map vetoes, we study out their tendencies and we focus on playing our own game, with understanding how their rotations work and what their main strengths are. We try to not counter them, but we're aware of some details in the game that might tip us off to what they're doing, and Astralis is the hardest team in the world at giving these details. A lot of teams have these little flaws, or sometimes they just repeat an order of smokes or a little "if this flash is here then we know that this player is by himself, if he's standing here". Astralis, they mix it up so well, it's very hard to read. Against them, despite all the preparation, I think it's going to rely more on us playing our game than anything we can do against them. They are just outstanding right now.
In the scope of ECS, what's the projection for Team Liquid? What are you guys aiming to achieve?
"Our goal for here would be the same as it was at ESL, we just want to make it out of groups. We are currently aiming for consistency in getting out of groups and becoming a team that consistently faces the best, because as we discussed earlier, that is how you get results in the long-term. We don't one fluke result, we want to always be there, we want to get to that level, where we remain top ten over the course of a year and actually put up a fight every time. That said, we have to make realistic goals, and right now, with a tournament as stacked as ECS, where it's two groups of four with only the best in the world, making it out of the groups is already a big result.
Wilton, thank you very much for the interview. Any shout outs?
"As always thank you to the fans, Team Liquid, our sponsors, family, friends, everyone. Most importantly it's always the fans, because you guys are what makes it possible for us.
Once again a great big thank you, and best of luck!
"Thank you!"
Images courtesy of ESL
