paTiTek: "I used to not give a crap about certain things, but over time I learned that professionalism is the most important thing in esports."

Team Liquid's second match of the VCT 2025 season left a lot to be desired. Going up against the formidable Turkish side of FUT Esports the team predominantly composed of Polish players had a hard time to keep up with the Turkish powerhouse in the VCT EMEA. This resulted in a 2-0 blowout that left fans flustered as the matchup ended up being a one-sided affair.

Following the match, we managed to speak with Patryk "paTiTek" Fabrowski. The experienced Pole was not in the best of moods after the matchup, as he gave rather strong comments about his team's performance. Still, Patryk opened up as the conversation continued, reflecting on his mindset at the beginning of his VALORANT career to now and showing his strong belief in the overwhelming presence of Polish players in the VCT this year.

paTiTek on the FUT match, his change of mindset, and the Polish players in the VCT

THESPIKE: I sense that you're not in the best of moods after that matchup. It probably didn't go the way you thought it would. But what are your initial thoughts after that game?

paTiTek: Well, we trolled the game. We did it to ourselves. So many rounds where we had an advantage; pistol, eco, then the first full, the second full, we didn't capitalize on. Well, we lost the game for ourselves.

THESPIKE: The first map (Pearl), despite you losing on it, didn't go too bad. There was a flow that you could sense and it was a great watch. The second map (Fracture), you guys kind of got blocked. Despite the talk from Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin before the second map, something was missing. Do you think you guys just got "blocked?" What do you think happened there?

paTiTek: Honestly? I have no idea. Everyone was trolling. I just happened to be dead in those clutch situations and got to watch the clutch from everyone's POV. We were just trolling. And I don't know where that came from. Maybe pressure. Well, they just took advantage of the situations they were in.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - EMEA Kickoff

FUT Esports

2

X

0

Team Liquid

Upper Bracket Quarter Final, Best of 3 - January 22, 2025 - 5:00PM

13

Pearl

7

13

Fracture

6

FUT Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

qRaxs

1.42

260

37/28/15

+9

1.32

84.6%

171.1

36%

100%

7

0

ATA KAPTAN

1.20

212

29/26/18

+3

1.12

84.7%

134.9

23%

50%

3

3

yetujey

1.18

214

30/25/14

+5

1.20

79.5%

154.2

25%

50%

3

3

xeus

1.12

212

32/28/7

+4

1.14

79.6%

137.7

39%

53%

8

7

MrFaliN

1.04

189

28/25/9

+3

1.12

71.7%

123.2

23%

40%

2

3

Team Liquid

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

kamyk

1.23

254

34/31/13

+3

1.10

82.1%

169.2

25%

50%

4

4

nAts

1.08

226

31/30/11

+1

1.03

82.1%

155.6

29%

50%

1

1

kamo

0.92

204

28/33/8

-5

0.85

67.0%

125.8

32%

38%

5

8

Keiko

0.82

172

23/31/11

-8

0.74

74.2%

124.7

44%

38%

3

5

paTiTek

0.75

139

16/31/20

-15

0.52

72.0%

97.9

23%

38%

3

5

THESPIKE: Let's leave the match behind. Let's talk about your shift from Controller into more of an Initiator role. Obviously, you played other agents in your career (apart from Omen), namely Raze and Viper, under teams like EXCEL. What caused your shift from being a Controller main to being more of an Initiator player?

paTiTek: I feel more comfortable in that role. Flex kind of requires being in a group on maps. And I found that controlling people and controlling the utility worked well for me. And also making certain calls.

You can't do that much with a Controller, because on a Controller you play more for yourself; you lurk and you play more for clutch situations. On a flex you are the person who controls the pack, controls the tempo, controls the utility and where it goes. And that person also controls pathing.

So for me it was just a verification of what kind of player I am. And I simply swapped, because I didn't feel as good on the Controller as I did on the flex. Because on the controller you have to do more things solo and lurk. I don't think I have a problem with lurking, but as I said earlier, I'm better at controlling the pack and simply controlling the tempo and taking positions on the flex (role).

THESPIKE: Now being a part of Liquid, you were part of G2 Esports 4-5 years ago—the time has passed quite quickly! What do you see as the biggest change in your personal development? You've played in so many teams between being in G2 and up till now at Liquid, so what has changed the most for you personally over the last few years?

paTiTek: I would say mentality. Back in the days of G2 and the first iteration of Heretics, so 2k20, 2k21, something like that, I didn't have good mentality when it came to just being a good teammate, just being a good player.

I used to not give a crap about certain things, but over time I learned that professionalism is the most important thing in esports. How you approach scrims, how you approach officials. So I think that's what's changed the most. And also over time, as you play VALORANT, you become better and you see more patterns and recognize more of these patterns. And in my case, I can recognize every pattern when it comes to gameplay and it helps me make it easier for my teammates and easier for myself too.

When it comes to skill, well I think there's not really a big difference here, because it's VALORANT, everyone in this game can shoot. It's more about keeping your state of mind in a good place and also taking care of your mindset. As I mentioned, I used to have not give a crap, now it's totally different with my attitude, with everything. And it just helps, it helps you find consistency and confidence in the game and it just makes many, many things easier.

I think that if I had this mindset back then, it would have been much easier for me with other teams. But we live, we learn and you simply have to learn certain things and you have to go through a certain swamp to be able to get out of it and just start playing good VALORANT again.

THESPIKE: For the first time in VCT EMEA we have so many Polish players. 9 out of 60 players are Polish which is an incredible result and only Turkish representation is ahead. Did you expect that there could be so many Poles from Poland in Tier 1 before this season started and are you surprised by this result?

paTiTek: No, this doesn't surprise me at all. I had many trials with teams in the off-season last year and many Poles were also there for try-outs.

I think that Polish players are very skillful, for example Dawid "PROFEK" Święć, Kajetan "kajak" Haremski, and our entire Liquid. Polish players are skillful and come with a good mindset. With a solid training staff and with good teammates you can also achieve a lot, I think. And the Polish scene in general, when it comes to VALORANT, is the top when it comes to players and when it comes to people who work in the esport in Poland in Tier 1.

Did I expect it? Well, I expected it, maybe not as many (to be in tier 1), but I definitely expected a lot of Poles, because as I mentioned earlier, I saw a lot of scrims, I saw a lot of people who got trials, I also looked at the statistics of some players, so I knew that certain individuals would get trials, and the fact that these trials came to life, well, we have the result that there are nine players in the VCT.

THESPIKE: The stage is all yours Patryk. Anything you'd like to say to the fans, the Polish community (in VALORANT), the people out there?

paTiTek: Well, to the fans, thank you for the support. Today, unfortunately, we didn't show good VALORANT. Today we just completely trolled. But I think there is potential in Liquid and in every Pole in the VCT, especially in Liquid. So cheer and support, because there are players to support (this year in the VCT).

Note: This interview has been translated from Polish to English using online translation and then verified by the author of this article who is fluent in both languages. Some minor differences between the original and the English written version may exist for the sake of readability and conciseness.

Featured image credit: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games