RLCS 2021-22's Fall Split is in full swing, and with the second Regional coming soon, we took the time to sit down with Dignitas' own Joris "Joreuz" Robbin to talk about the first Regional Event. Read on below to find out what Joreuz had to say!

Hey, Joreuz! So, the time has finally come – RLCS is back. How did it feel to be playing in a Regional Event again?

Joreuz: It felt amazing! I was looking forward to the RLCS for 3 or 4 months during the offseason and to finally be able to play and to feel that adrenaline rush is so fun. I love it.

This first event actually started off with you guys having to qualify first. You did this through an Invitational Qualifier and went 3-2 on the day, which put you straight into the main event. What was your takeaway from those games?

Joreuz: We didn’t play well at all, and we still managed to scrape through. On one side, we were kind of disappointed with ourselves because we made a lot of recurring mistakes that we fixed prior to the Invitational Qualifier. But we were also happy because, even though we weren’t playing our best at all, we still managed to scrape the wins through. That’s a really good thing to have up your sleeve.

So, the first games of the main event are revealed, and you guys find yourselves up against The Flying Dutchmen. Obviously, this is a match-up with a storyline, as this is former Dignitas player ViolentPanda and former Dignitas coach Virge’s new team. Did you guys put a little extra emphasis on it or was it just another game for you?

Joreuz: We didn’t really put any extra emphasis, it’s just another game. Of course, it’s a little bit in the back of your mind. During the game and before the game though, it wasn’t on the top of our minds. It’s more something to do with the fans. We want to show the fans that we are better, but even though we lost, we didn’t really emphasize it that much.

So, you did lose that first series, but then you came up against Evil Geniuses in the next round. You were down 1-2 in the series but battled back and won the next two games to take the win. What did you see in that series?

Joreuz: We were 1-2 down and we just felt like we had nothing else to lose. We were kind of nervous because it was the first Regional Event, but we just said to each other that we don’t have anything to lose, let’s have fun with it, shake the nerves and play our game. We turned it back around.

After that, your next opponent was Endpoint. They were able to take the win against you guys. But this is a team that surprised a lot of people. They ended up not only making it to the final but winning the whole thing! Is this a team that you guys expected to do as well as they did and what does this say about the depth of the European region?

Joreuz: I didn’t expect them to do that well. I thought they would be a middle team, like top 12 or top 8 maybe. I think we kind of underestimated them a bit as well. They played way better than we expected, and it threw us off. I do think it is a really good representation of how deep Europe is. No one thought Endpoint was going to win, but they showed everyone that they’re a world-class team.

So, at this point in the event, you guys kind of had your backs against the wall. You needed to win the next two series to make Top 8 and play again on the next day. You got the wins against Natus Vincere and Team Queso, sending you through. Both series went to a game 5. Talk to us a little about how you guys dealt with the pressure of being on the brink of elimination.

Joreuz: I’m pretty sure Scrub Killa actually has a unique way of dealing with it. He does push-ups in between games to get the pressure off himself and get the tension out of his body. For me and ApparentlyJack, we just tend to perform under the pressure of elimination. We have had a lot of game 5s, and for some reason, we just take that pressure and start playing well and dominating the last game.

The next day comes and you guys are in the playoffs! Your first match is against SMPR Esports, a team that went 3-0 on the first day, but you did recently beat them in the WePlay Rocket League Invitational. How confident were you guys going in and how did it feel to get the win, which sent you to the Top 4?

Joreuz: We were actually quite confident against them. In scrims and in the WePlay, we performed really well against SMPR. It was actually kind of worrying in the game because we were 3-1 up in that series, so we thought we could close it out pretty easily. But, they managed to come back and force a game 7, which was kind of scary, but it felt amazing that we still managed to go through to the semi-finals. It helps us out a lot in the long run as well. Even though we were not playing our best, we still managed to get top 4, which is so exciting.

Making it to Championship Sunday must have felt really great! The road did unfortunately come to an end for you guys in the semi-finals against Team BDS. Despite that 4-1 scoreline, you guys did really make them work for it and a couple of those games easily could have gone the other way. What was your takeaway from the series and how do you feel heading into the next event?

Joreuz: So, in that series, we showed that we can keep up with BDS. I thought we played better than we did on Friday and Saturday, but we still didn’t reach our best at all. Managing to keep the whole series close is really exciting. We had all the pressure on them, we just didn’t convert because we were just a little off. For us, it was a good series, and we got a good takeaway because if we just play a little bit better, we can handle the best team in Europe. For the next event, we’re just confident. If we play normal, not even our very best, we should beat 99% of the teams. We’re really confident.

Your teammate ApparentlyJack did allude to this in an interview on the broadcast as well. He said that the team is playing at about 80% of its potential. What do you think it will take to reach that 100% mark and what do you think the ceiling is for this team?

Joreuz: We might need a coach eventually, but for now, we’ve got a psychologist, Lenny from Dignitas. He really helps us because we were only playing, at least for me, to 70% of our potential. A lot of that was because of nerves, but he has helped us a lot these last few weeks to give us ways to get rid of those nerves and turn them into a good thing. I think that will help us a lot to reach that 100% mark, along with confidence as well. We should reach that 100% mark.

We’re all definitely looking forward to seeing what this team can do at 100%. With all of that being said, thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Joreuz! Do you have anyone you’d like to shout out?

Joreuz: I’d like to shout out our mental coach Lenny because he’s helping us a lot! And definitely my teammates.

If you want to keep up with Joreuz, be sure to give him a follow on Twitter! You can also check out some of his content on Twitch and YouTube.