Worlds 2021, which encompasses the whole month of October and ends with its big finale at November 6, started today with its Play-In stage. The champions of TCL Galatasaray Esports, won both their matches today and are now waiting as the current leader of their group.*
From the new hot Worlds picks to the sweet feeling of revenge, we had a very fun chat with Onur Can “Bolulu” Demirol, the midlaner for Galatasaray while we wait for tomorrows matches.
Esportimes: Firstly congratulations, you went 2-0 in Iceland today. How does it feel to show up on stage again after TCL finals?
Bolulu: It’s a good feeling, 2-0 is always a good feeling and there are less matches in Play-ins so we finished half of our matches, we’re happy, we’re feeling good.
ET: You won half of your matches in Play-ins groups already. Before we talk about them, let’s discuss the champions being picked at Worlds in the first day. Which picks are the strongest in your opinion?
Bolulu: I would say Qiyana, Talon and Lee Sin are the most powerful junglers; and champions like Tryndamere are very powerful in midlane. Even Graves is seeing play in top and mid. There are many champions in the Worlds meta and we don’t know everything yet so there might be other powerful picks. So far these new champions we’ve seen are quite strong.
ET: They might be powerful but they still surprise us sometimes, like when Chovy lost with Tryndamere today.
Bolulu: Yes, I agree.
ET: Getting back to your matches, you had a dominant victory over the second seed from PCS. Did you expect the match against Beyond Gaming to go like this?
Bolulu: Honestly we mostly like to play our style instead of focusing on our opponents. We always want to be the initiator and to execute our plan first. That’s how we got the first blood under tower on toplane and they couldn’t counter it, after we got that lead everyone played well and we won. I think we all played fantastically, our opponent was a strong one so a dominant win like this was a huge confidence boost.
ET: And it showed, especially during your second match of the day. Speaking of that, let’s talk about the UoL match, a very special match for you I would say.
Bolulu: Yes, it was an important match for me. I took care of my unfinished business and got my revenge, so to say.
ET: How does it feel to have won against Nomanz and UoL this time?
Bolulu: It’s an incredible feeling. It kept me up some nights and the fact that we stomped them this time is so very enjoyable for me right now. Every time I used the gold card I was like “Yeah, take that!”.
ET: We also felt that joy whilst watching, it was a very enjoyable match to spectate. After seeing today’s matches and results, did your opinion on your opponents change?
Bolulu: Not really, only that Beyond Gaming did not play as well as I thought they would. Cloud 9 still feels like the strongest opponent in the group and DFM is also playing good but we knew that. Really, everyone in this group is up to the challenge so my opinion did not really change. It’s just that we’re 2-0, UoL is 0-2, Beyond is 0-1, and DFM is 1-1, right?
ET: Yes.
Bolulu: So we are currently leading the group, that’s good. We feel like the favourites, a bit. I also don’t want to be too confident because we also went 2-0 last year and then we lost to Team Liquid and the Oceanic team, so we want to proceed as if the score was 0-0.
ET: That is a very good way to look at it. While you were answering, I noticed that you emphasized the fact that UoL went 0-2, it must have felt good saying that.
Bolulu: Yea, honestly it did feel nice.
ET: While we’re talking about the other teams in your group, before the Play-ins began, the team manager of PSG Talon ranked the teams based on scrims and you were the last on that list. Today, in the first day of play-ins, you went 2-0 and defeated the top team on that list. What are your thoughts on that list as of now?
Bolulu: I don’t think that list makes any sense because we did not scrim them. I’m not sure they knew how we played or how powerful we are. We did not scrim any Asian teams, not LPL, LCK or PCS. That’s why I think that list was anything more than random guesses. Maybe they put us at the bottom because we’re from TCL, that would be kinda disrespectful.
ET: They saw today what disrespecting TCL gets you.
Bolulu: Exactly.
ET: Lastly let’s talk about tomorrow’s matches. You said that Cloud 9 and DFM are both powerful opponents. What do you think will happen tomorrow?
Bolulu: I mean I feel good, we’ll go on that stage with our own game plan and we’ll try to win. Our opponents are strong but so are we, so the better team will win tomorrow.
ET: I hope that team will be you guys. Thank you for talking to us after a very long first day at Worlds.
Bolulu: The pleasure is all mine.
ET: Good luck tomorrow and hopefully for the rest of the tournament.
After a very successful first day in their Worlds 2021 journey, Galatasaray will face Cloud 9 and DetonatioN FocusMe to determine their destiny. We wish the best to Bolulu and the rest of the Galatasaray team and hope that luck may ever be in their favor.
*This interview was conducted after the last match of the first day of Play-ins and the article was written subsequently, so there may be some outdated information. You can click this link for current Play-In group standings and match scores.
