The Vitality Verdict | Naak Nako's Insane Interview

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]So, before we get into the interview, let's talk about one thing. Vitality, definitely, when it comes to their gameplay, I think it was very reflective of a team that has no confidence. And I can say that from how they played. Teams that have zero confidence in the way they play, they want to kind of finish the game in every sequence that is positive to them. They don't have patience or they don't have trust in the confidence that good opportunities will come in the game.

[00:00:27]When we saw Vitality play, every siege ended always in somebody dying. Every fight started with desperate attempts when they tried to retake spaces, rather than actually contesting space in a meaningful way. We could pause many frames in the Vitality games and you could see if they just engaged here, if they found the angle here, they would win. So, obviously, this team kind of imploded on itself. Going eight and one in regular split, you are not, you know, you you you become you there's the risk that you become a team that is very reliant on winning to maintain, you know, your mental fortitude within the team. And it's very important as a team that your results don't reflect your process. That's why G2 is so impressive because they seem to lock in their process at the beginning of the year and they have so much trust and experience in their process that they know as they go through the motions and they lose a couple of games here or there that it doesn't matter because they are looking at how they are working. So, the influence of results never becomes poisonous because at the end of the day when you're competing, you're racing a blind race. You don't know how fast your opponent's going to be because there could be a world where you do everything perfect and you are improving as fast as humanly possible, but you still don't win games. Maybe the other teams had perfect off-season. Maybe the other teams did something really, really good, right? Rarely that happens. Usually you have a couple of teams that don't do well that it kind of screw up that that destroy themselves. Happens very often, right? Because everyone's dealing with the same challenges. But you can do everything right and still lose.

[00:02:10]And in that moment, letting the poison seep into you, right? You can do things wrong and win.

[00:02:17]That's why determining how you work and how you practice and how you move forward it's very important outside of the results. You need to really really create buying from day one. I say all of this because we always heard conversations about who was winning scrims, who was losing scrims, who was winning scrims, right? We heard conversations about G2 not wanting thing to scrim KC. We heard that GX was winning scrims. We just heard that Fnatic were winning scrims. Someone must be losing scrims. Maybe Vitality is one of those teams that lost scrims. For example, I remember 2021 Vitality. We scrimmed against Vitality. We always beat them. I think our result at the end of a split was like 139. Like 39 wins one loss versus Vitality. They were terrible in scrims.

[00:02:59]Eventually it catches up to you and it's where's your improvement? Where's your ambition? Where How do you actually like get better?

[00:03:07]Eventually you're going to reach a point where you're not winning games off of doing just that. And then you have to face the music. It's kind of like imagine you're a team like T1, right? But imagine they went to every World Championship with the arrogance like ah it doesn't matter if we're bad. When we go to Worlds, we're going to just win anyway. And then they go through Worlds and they have this aura. People are afraid of them.

[00:03:31]People play worse against them. People are afraid. And then eventually someone's going to punch you in the gut and beat you. Then suddenly this image of yourself that you've built up in your mind is no longer plausible.

[00:03:42]And keep in mind this is a hypothetical cuz I know that T1 when they go to the World Championship they practice their hands off. They they try so unbelievably hard. So I'm not saying that's what it is.

[00:03:52]They practice unbelievably hard the entire year. The entire year.

[00:03:56]They have more media obligations than anybody and they practice really, really hard because I know this. I know this from confirmation because I know their GM pretty well, right? They practice unbelievably hard. My point being is uh we were going to play better later, that idea is very poisonous cuz eventually it's not enough. And now to the interview. What do you think went wrong in playoffs? In several games your team built early leads but struggled to close them out. We took some good leads in games two and three but generally I just don't know. We just kept going in and dying. When we were sieging or skirmishing someone would go in and die.

[00:04:31]It make closing out games pretty hard.

[00:04:32]There's not much to do when that happens and things can kind of snowball from there. They take objectives and all.

[00:04:37]It's tough. So, this is a very early reflection. Something that I always highlight when reading these interviews is that obviously this is right after a loss and they're going to be very raw in what they say and sometimes very, you know, vague. Definitely when it comes to Vitality's gameplay it was very, very like random. Like a lot of sand offs especially in the GX series. The game was decided by somebody getting caught always. It wasn't like good team fighting, good engages, decisions. It was rather mistakes rather than decisions that were the driving force behind progression of the game. After such a strong regular season why do you think the team regressed so much in playoffs? What led to these recurring mistakes and how did things change in such a short period of time? Well, we had about 20 days of break after the regular season. I guess we just couldn't figure out how to trade in bot match-ups against Misfits and Immortals. Our drafting game was pretty bad. It was mostly a draft gap especially for our bot lane even if our game people was also not great. From a top laner's perspective every game was over at 7 minutes 6. The games were already kind of lost by the time I would join in.

[00:05:33]Today our drafts were fine but I don't know. In game two we were sieging and then we got Talia combo while trying to hit the tier three turret. They chased us, killed some of us and yeah, they were just very silly mistake from us. It just looked like they tried to really, really end the game on every play. Like they didn't look comfortable to be in the game at all. Uh I say this from experience. Like, we beat G2, right? We beat G2 in '22 uh in spring. We beat them. And then the next series we played against them, and we had zero confidence. We had zero confidence, so we started playing desperate. You know, when when you don't believe in what the team is doing, what happens is that a lot of players try to overplay. They try to really really overplay. Another great example is, if you guys remember FlyQuest, uh I think it was 2024 FlyQuest at MSI, before they took in Quad. Do you remember how Bwipo and Inspired were playing, especially Bwipo?

[00:06:26]That every play that he was part of, he tried to end the game. He's like, I need to pentakill here or it's over. And he just kept chasing, kept moving on the Ergo, you know? Uh he was really overplaying, cuz Bwipo is like the epitome of that. If he feels like the team is not playing the game and not winning, he's going to like overplay like crazy. Because he's got like, okay, I'm playing this champion. For me to carry, I need this miraculous thing to happen, and I'm going to try to pursue that.

[00:06:54]He's Bwipo is like a textbook overplayer when he feels like he has to do something, right?

[00:07:01]Do you think the team struggles related to adapting to the new patch or meta? I don't think so, no. It was about figuring out how to draft around bot lane against Misfits Gaming.

[00:07:08]Well, that's new patch patch or meta. I I think I think not figuring out how to draft is really meta related and that adaptations were there, like some of the changes in terms of prios, you know? Were these issues already present during the split or did they appear specifically for playoffs due to lack of progression compared to other teams?

[00:07:25]After the regular season, our scrims haven't been very good. It was mostly fine before the Misfits Gaming series, but even then we were just not progressing or learning anything. We would keep running the same draft, same [ __ ] all the time. After the first series loss in playoffs, we were losing every single scrim block. I have to admit I was kind of tilted myself and running it down in scrims.

[00:07:43]>> [laughter] >> Today, I don't know. We could end games, but then we have things like Twisted Fate chasing Skarner last game. And in game two, we die at a really random times before fights, giving them objectives and making the game hard. We were winning early games, but our team fights were horrible. Do you feel like the frustration tilt you mentioned had been building up over the past two weeks and snowballed into this playoffs performance for the team as a whole? I'm not sure. Speaking from my point of view, I felt pretty fine before the MCO series, but after we got 3-0'd, everyone in the team seemed really depressed.

[00:08:12]Then we had scrims that were really bad, and yet the mood overall was not great.

[00:08:16]Still, our comms were fine today.

[00:08:18]Everyone has their share of blame.

[00:08:20]What is the biggest lesson you take away as a team from this split, given the strong regular season and difficult playoff finish? The lesson is just the same, mentally stable even after losses.

[00:08:27]Some of us really peaked in the regular season, and then just started looking worse and worse with each match. That has to be fixed. But yeah, it's mostly a mental thing. How do you personally manage your mental stability, especially in scrims, and deal with tilted as an individual responsibility within the team? If I get tilted, especially in scrim days, I just protest in game.

[00:08:48]You know, if someone makes a mistake in my lane, I run it down.

[00:08:56]My teammates know that things will always be fine in matches, though.

[00:09:03]That's just my way of doing things.

[00:09:07]This is the craziest thing I've heard somebody admit in an interview.

[00:09:12]But before we address it, let's just make sure that we read through it, that we don't miss anything. Just just let's just read through it. Do you do anything outside of the game to reset mentally between matches or scrims? Outside of the game, things are always fine. Those issues happen in game only. Otherwise, people are nice with each other. It's purely gameplay. We We're going to address it all. We're going to address it all. So, if you have a bad game, you're able to shake it off quickly and reset for the next one? I think everyone is fine after bad losses. I think it's like he's contradicting himself, right?

[00:09:36]With with spring split ending, what a realistic expectation goes for summer?

[00:09:40]Honestly, if we keep playing like this in summer, I hope we don't even make playoffs and just head into off season fast so we can chill at least.

[00:09:51]Stop talking. Stop talking, Knack Knacko. Stop talking.

[00:09:55]But if we're able to play like we usually did this split, the aim should still be top four. It's a really realistic goal. What will be the main focus or key requirement for the team to reach top four in summer? We'll have to see what the meta will be like first. It really depends on our coaching staff and how fast we figure that out. That aside, we need to work on early game fundamentals and team fighting the most.

[00:10:17]Aki's all over the place. He's saying it's not meta related, then it's draft related, then they have to work on meta, and then their early game is good, and then he says we need to work on the early game, and he says some wild [ __ ] here. Looking at solo queue, you have to play to win your lane so hard that you can go and help win the rest of the map.

[00:10:33]Take the Take the turret around 10 minutes 10 try to stomp lanes. Okay, this is just solo queue related. Looking at your own performance today, how much responsibility do you take for the loss?

[00:10:40]Do you feel you could have played better individually? In the last game, I had back-to-back bad fights around Drake when he got soloed before Elder. I should have played better. They played well around keeping spell for my Zonya and controlling me with Scani. Aside from that, I think my lane was fine today. What would you like to say to Vitality fans at the end of the spring split looking ahead to the future of the team? I assume management will make a post to recap the split and talk about the future, but yeah, there's not much to say other than that. We're sorry, and it happens.

[00:11:05]All right. So, I've already talked about the foundation of what your team is built upon, right? If you are reliant on results to keep up good mood, you're always going to run through a lot of danger. Very, very dangerous thing to do. Very, very dangerous. I know I don't know how Humanoid is nowadays, but Humanoid is a very strong player, but he is definitely the type of player to kind of like lose hope. Like Fnatic 2022, when we did the lower bracket run, like we were not in a state where we were improving. I was doing everything in my power to make sure that the team at minimum stayed as good as it is. That was my job, which is very disappointing from a coach's perspective. I was making sure that the ship reach one destination to the other destination, and I was doing it with tape. So, it was a question of like making sure that everyone's fine and everyone feels good coming into match days rather than us improving our level. That's why we play Lucian Nami Azir every damn game that we could. We just leaned into things that worked because we were very limited because our scrims were very poor.

[00:12:11]So, we were in a situation where on every game it was elimination, right? We started in the lower bracket. We were one game away from not making playoffs.

[00:12:18]We had to win a tiebreaker. It was always on the edge. We went to five games against Excel.

[00:12:24]So, it was very, very tough. And being in that state of mind is not good, especially when you have like this rookie type of team. And I make this comparison to this team because this reflects insanely bad on the coaching staff.

[00:12:36]Because if you're in a situation now on the Vitality side where, of course, you have a situation where the talent is clearly there, but if your team is depressed after a loss, and you have everything that Nakk Nakk says here means that you have absolutely zero control over the room.

[00:12:55]Zero control over the attitude, the zero control over the mental, and also at the same time very, very bad meta reads.

[00:13:05]And if I look at this team, and you think to yourself, what do we want to change? I think the first thing that comes to mind was the coaching staff.

[00:13:14]And last year, you were in that situation when Neo said, "If we don't make top four, we don't make Worlds, I'm firing the coaching staff." He already said it back then. But instead, we had a restructuring.

[00:13:24]Paddy is still coaching the team. Mac is coaching the coaches. And I think that's a good good position for Mac. I think he is a very very good position for Mac. I don't I don't think that was like a wrong decision. But, I don't think necessarily that the players are at fault here. This is a very very young squad, and you have a situation, right?

[00:13:41]You have a young squad with a mix of experience and so forth. But, when I look at the core of Humanoid and Carzzy and Pad, 2021 Mad Lions was similar, like they didn't win scrims at all. And then eventually they went to the World Championship and they canceled all scrims. And I'm just looking at that.

[00:14:00]Why is this a coaching problem? If you listen, I'm actually explaining it. If your team is so mentally unstable that they can't deal with a loss when the talent is clearly there, the foundation you've built over the year is nonexistent. Vitality has the worst support in the LEC. Selfmade was really good this split. This is This is clearly like the team didn't know how to deal with losses. Mad Lions canceled scrims in 2021. Yeah, at Worlds they They canceled all scrims. Eventually that catches up to you, that method. You're basically sweeping your problems under the rug. Like if your team can't practice together, like why?

[00:14:34]And obviously from obviously from Mac Nacko's side, what he said in this interview is absolutely nuts. First, there's a lot of players that do this, intentionally or unintentionally. He's not the only one. But, to say it is absolutely crazy. Mac Nacko shouldn't have done this interview. These players get ganked right after they lose. He went 0 3 0 3 in playoffs and then has an interview. He's going to say some of the most unfiltered [ __ ] Like he contradicts himself 10 times in this interview. And I don't blame him for that. But, this is something that you never say. He made a crucial mistake. He shouldn't have been saying this. That he's intentionally running it down in scrims is very very bad. And this could be a one of those situations where it reflects poorly on him in a sense that maybe this could harm future opportunities that he that he could get.

[00:15:22]But, I will say that this is something that is solvable. This is something that I could I could deal with no problem.

[00:15:28]But, I will repeat, Vitality's roster clearly has talent, an insane amount of talent.

[00:15:36]Diabliss a good example of that, right?

[00:15:38]Diabliss is is very very a good example of that. He was clearly a bad boy on over on BFX. They needed to do something. They couldn't let him take control of the whole team, and they could they couldn't like go against the grain of what they believe in so hard.

[00:15:51]Diabliss clearly talented, but he just needs some you know, he needs some guidance, he needs some support, you know? I can easily see a situation where it goes to your head, you're you're performing, you go to first stand, you get second place, and all the praise goes to you, right? Definitely.

[00:16:05]Or like Georgio Pnume. Georgio Pnume, apparently, he was a bad boy on C9, he made it late. He was late all the time.

[00:16:11]It's like, who was worried about Georgio Pnume not performing on on Mousesports?

[00:16:15]Everybody knew. Everybody knew that Georgio Pnume is going to be a super talent. These issues are whatever. I think Knacknack is still a super talent, and this his mindset here is something that is solvable. He's still very early on in his career. But, plain and simple, I repeat, Vitality's roster has an insane amount of talent. What they did in regular split is very damn real, right? Very damn real. They fell off a cliff because the foundation, the work they've done throughout the year and throughout the time, didn't prepare them for losses, didn't prepare them from controversy, didn't prepare them for a situation where they might have to fight back. This is, for me, clearly a coaching problem. And anyone in the chat is that is telling me is like, oh, what do you mean? It's like a relationship.

[00:17:01]Just because your partner's toxic doesn't mean like you're supposed to fix it. Bro, this is clearly a talented team. That's the damn job. This that's the damn job. That's the job. And I think at this point, this version of the coaching staff has had enough chances.

[00:17:16]It's time, like sincerely, we've had draft issues and now and now mental issues. You have What's the foundation?

[00:17:24]What's the work here? It just seems like they're running a show where everyone gets to do whatever the hell they want.

[00:17:30]That's how it seems.

[00:17:32]Everyone gets to do whatever they want.

[00:17:33]Like Knacko came into this team, he sat in there, he just does his thing.

[00:17:36]Humanoid does his thing, Carzzy does his thing, they all do their thing. And then when they face problems, suddenly doing their thing doesn't work anymore and they are scrambling.

[00:17:45]I think that's the first thing that needs to change, the first thing that needs to go.

[00:17:49]Don't you think teammates also Carzzy's Carzzy's whole career has been teams who mentally kaboom every time? Yeah, but who is Carzzy working with?

[00:17:55]In Mad Lions? It's like 2023 Mad Lions was a [ __ ] was a crazy team in terms of how back and forth it was. You remember? 2021 was also a very very up and down, but vibes carried them. But vibes are only vibes if you're winning.

[00:18:11]I let me tell you.

[00:18:12]Anyhow, I think my talent is super talented. I think they they they got something cooking, bro.

[00:18:18]Final note, final note, that's why G2 coaching staff stays goated. They are so damn goated. Like if if you are starting a team from scratch and you want to win a title, Caps is one, G2 coaching staff second, Inspired third. Like if you can't get one, you go next. You get me? G2 coaching staff is so goated. Goated.

[00:18:42]Because their methodology is so trusted that if they are playing in a regular split and they are losing, we don't care. We know they're going to figure it out. We know they're going to figure it out. KC right now, for example, I think they can being carried by the fact that they have insane offseasons.

[00:19:00]The biggest carry Like if I could have KC scouting team, G2 coaching staff, Caps, I'm winning every split for the rest of my life.

[00:19:11]And that's it.

[00:19:13]Who did Casey scout?

[00:19:15]What are you talking about who did Casey scout?

[00:19:18]Do you know who Kanner was before they signed him?

[00:19:21]Kanner was planning to go military, bro.

[00:19:24]Kalys, Vladi Menter, all right.