TYLOO's withdrawal from HyperX Retake S13 complicates their bid for a Singapore Major spot, with their chances of earning an invite dropping sharply after forfeiting in the quarter-finals.
This decision was triggered by a scheduling conflict with IEM Beijing, coming at a critical moment for TYLOO's VRS. Ahead of IEM Beijing, coach WeiJie “zhokiNg” Zhong explained the situation behind the withdrawal, discussed Dongkai “Jee” Ji's recovery, and reflected on the team's struggles.
zhokiNg also discussed TYLOO's recent win over 9z at PGL Masters Bucharest, the team's ongoing efforts to find a secondary caller, and how playing with an incomplete roster can sometimes help relieve pressure on the players.
Q: First of all, this is a question everyone has been very concerned about recently. When you decided to play in the Retake tournament, did you have a Plan B at the time? In other words, considering that advancing in this tournament might affect the schedule in Beijing, before you finally decided to withdraw, did you try to negotiate with the organizers of both events to adjust the schedule?
zhokiNg: Actually, we did consider the potential conflict with IEM Beijing. We had two contingency plans, because looking back, we played PGL before Retake. We had analyzed beforehand that we would most likely lose to these teams at PGL, and even if we lost to them, our points would still be enough. If we hadn't performed well, then we would have needed to play some point-farming tournaments to earn points.
But after we beat 9z, we actually already had enough points. But we had already signed up for the tournament at that time, so we couldn't withdraw. And no one expected Jee to get chickenpox at the time. So afterwards we had no choice but to play in that Retake tournament. After that, that's basically it.
Q: Is he feeling better now?
zhokiNg: He's actually almost recovered, because they're also working with the hospital to get a non-contagious certificate. Only after getting that can he come to play in this tournament.
Q: Oh, so he might be able to make the first game this time.
zhokiNg: It also depends on how things go today. The result will only be known today.
Q: Okay, I remember it was early November when Mercury said in an interview that our team was capable of competing with The MongolZ for the No.1 VRS ranking in Asia, and that we had a strong chance to reach the second stage of the Major. But now, given the current situation, setting aside Jee's illness — an unforeseeable force majeure that no one anticipated — where do you think the problem lies? Would you say it's scheduling conflicts?
zhokiNg: Actually, our points have always been near the top in Asia. It's just that the teams below us may have played some regional point-farming events, which boosted their points, while we were playing S-tier events on the world stage. Our poor results were also somewhat expected, because there is indeed still a big gap between us and those top teams. We need to keep learning and improving. This was also unavoidable, because during this period we had to play a series of tournaments: PGL, IEM Beijing, and the one we won before. We had no choice, we just had to play.
So the difficulty for us to win these tournaments is definitely much higher than for them playing regional point-farming tournaments. So that's basically the situation. There is indeed still a gap between us and The MongolZ, because after all they just changed their roster. Then they won a tournament and shot straight to the top in points in a single tournament, which shows that the gap between us and them is actually still quite large. We also need to keep improving ourselves.
Q: Since you beat 9z 2-1 at PGL, I actually felt that result should have been quite encouraging for everyone. Because at that time the points were suddenly enough, so compared to the current situation, do you feel like it almost changed overnight? Do you think this has had some kind of impact on everyone's mindset? Including yourself, can you share your thoughts?
zhokiNg: Yes, beating 9z is actually a really good sign for me. It shows that we are really capable of beating them. Because we had already lost to them three times before, and we knew their playstyle, their way of playing, but after making adjustments, we still beat them, and we did it with an incomplete roster. So I think we are improving. There's an encouraging aspect to that. And actually, even if Jee had played, I think we could still beat them.
Q: Okay. In the previous interview in Bucharest, after beating 9z you said in an interview that you felt the team was lacking a secondary caller to handle mid-round decisions. Had you tried having a specific player take on this secondary caller role before? Why, even though you may have already realized this was a problem for the team, were you ultimately unable to find a way to solve it in time?
zhokiNg: Actually, we've been making adjustments in this area. We have two candidates, one is JamYoung and one is Jee. After trying them out, we found that JamYoung is actually very well suited for this secondary caller role, but sometimes his position on the map doesn't really support him doing that, he can't fully focus on the responsibilities because sometimes he's holding angles on the front line. Or taking duels.
So after observing, we found that Jee's position is actually very suitable for taking on this role. Jee has also been working hard to improve in this area, but there is still room for growth. That's it.
Q: Also, you mentioned later that when playing against 9z, although Jee wasn't there, so there might have been a lack of firepower, for the others, they actually had no concerns, so they could play freely and show their true level. Do you think the concerns people usually have in matches come from certain things?
zhokiNg: This kind of concern is actually less for every team. Because our team is not playing with a full roster, everyone might think while playing, ugh, we probably can't win. But with a full roster, there would inevitably be some pressure, because we've already, take 9z for example, lost to them three times. So people still have some resistance in their minds.
But if I play, they might think, ugh, the coach is playing, we might lose, but they'll be more relaxed. Just go out and play. It was the same at FISSURE before, I could clearly feel the players were more relaxed, with no mental burden, they just needed to follow Mercury's and my instructions during the match.