TL nAts on facing new challenges in life: “It’s fine not to know what is going to happen”
Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin sat down with TheSpike after their VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - EMEA Stage 2 win against GIANTX to discuss the series, the team's recent changes, his private life challenges and his future.
The series against GiantX and working with Trexx
How has the team been doing, and what are your first thoughts after the series?
nAts: I think the team is doing well overall, but in this game we made a few more mistakes than against Fnatic. We just need to make sure that going into the next game, we are more focused and do not make those mistakes again.
THESPIKE: The first game was kind of a battle between Phoenixes. Miłosz "westside" Tomasz Duda and Kamil "kamo" Frąckowiak were fragging out of their minds on the agent, and a lot of people are saying he is just broken at the moment.
What is your opinion on that? Do you think he is too strong and needs a nerf, which is also coming soon?
nAts: Maybe he does need one. People always start complaining the moment players begin using him, but Phoenix has been in the game the same way for years, and people were not using him. That is always how it goes. As soon as someone starts playing him, it becomes, “Ah, he is broken, you cannot play him.”
At the end of the day, maybe, yes, they should give him a small nerf. But I also think they need to think about different agents instead of just saying, “He is broken, let’s nerf him.”
A lot of agents are just terrible, and if you keep nerfing the rest, I do not think that will make the game healthier.
People are also complaining about Sentinels. They say they are just bad. As a Sentinel player, do you think that is true?
nAts: I mean, they are terrible. I would not even say they are bad. I think they are very, very terrible, and that is why I am sometimes surprised by the patch notes we get.
THESPIKE: Nikita "trexx" Cherednichenko said in an interview that he wanted more power in comms in the midgame. As we know, you are the mastermind behind Team Liquid, you have always been the captain, the one leading the team.
How has working with him been since he joined?
nAts: We worked with him last year, so I already knew what he would bring to the team from that experience. I also knew what I needed to do to make him work, and what space I needed to give him. I basically knew what I had to do, and I think for now it is working quite well.
He is feeling comfortable, and he is confident that everyone trusts him, which is the most important thing for me.
_1742751387062.png&w=64&q=75 "VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - EMEA Stage 2")
kamo
nAts
Kicks
Flickless
neT
ara
JessePersonal life and career challenges
THESPIKE: I would like to congratulate you for becoming a father first of all. You now have two full time jobs, actually, you are a professional VALORANT player and also a father, and I would say those are two beautiful full time jobs.
Now that you have made this change in your life, has anything changed in how you approach your competitive career?
nAts: Unfortunately, the wife and the kid are not here with me in Germany, so I do not really have that second job with me right now. I would say no, but it has changed a lot, honestly.
It has changed the way I look at certain things and the way I react to certain things. I am more relaxed about some topics, and I am not letting them get into my head as much as before. But I think it is also too early to say. As I said, they are not here, so I have not been able to spend that much time with them. Let’s just wait for the proper answer here.
THESPIKE: That is a huge step in a person’s life, and it changes the way you see everything. You are also very famous for your motivational speeches, and a lot of people are scared of these changes because they are young, they do not know what will happen next, and they are worried about family, work, and how all of it will work out.
You live in Berlin, far from your family, so balancing a big career with personal life is not easy for any player, and now it is even harder.
Could you give a brief motivational message to people who are scared of this change and do not know what to do when they reach that point in life?
nAts: I do not think there is a motivational speech for that, but we are always scared. I think we are scared because of the unknown, because of what is going to happen.
What I noticed for myself is that the more I go into situations where I do not know where the path will lead, the more I learn. That is why I try to avoid situations where I feel too comfortable. I try to make myself uncomfortable in certain areas, and that helps me.
For me, it’s fine to be scared. It’s fine not to know what is going to happen. It is just about being confident that you will get through it. And sometimes you do not even need to know that you will get through it. Sometimes it just happens naturally.
THESPIKE: A lot of players see you as a point of reference. Many say, “I play Cypher because Nats plays Cypher,” or “I play Viper because he plays Viper that way.” There are many players out there who aspire to have the same career and become a pro player.
It sounds amazing from the outside, but do you think there is an aspect of your career that is very idolized, while the downsides of this kind of job are not talked about enough?
For me, it is very important. I am happy when people say they play Cypher or Viper because of me, or that I inspired them to do that.
That is also why I created my own project on YouTube. I am trying to help people see the game from a different perspective and understand it better, because I play the game a lot and I think I know something. I just like teaching people, not in a strict way, like, “You need to do this” or “You cannot do that.” It is more about giving advice and suggestions. I just enjoy that.
Thoughts on his future
THESPIKE: Now I wanted to go into our last topic, which I started with Jake "Boaster" Howlett last week. You are two of the icons of EMEA, and there is a trend of iconic players turning into coaches.
That has worked very well in League of Legends, because a lot of pro players become coaches when they do not feel like playing anymore. Maybe there comes a point where you say, “I do not want to play anymore,” because of the pressure, the stage, and the expectation to perform. Being behind the scenes can seem nicer once you reach a certain point in your career.
You have always been seen as the captain of Team Liquid, the one with the personality, the one who shines, the one fighting for the team.
In the future, when you start thinking about what comes next, would you like to become a coach, or would you prefer to try something else in life after your playing career?
nAts: It is hard to say what I would or would not like right now. Maybe at this moment I would say no, I would not really like it. But I also know that when I have holidays and I do not play the game, as much as I work in VALORANT, I sometimes get bored if I am not doing anything, and I cannot really find myself.
Maybe that would be the case where, right now as a player, I say I do not want to be a coach, but later I might get bored and actually want to become a head coach, or help a team in some other way. Honestly, I have not really thought much about being a coach at the end of my career.
I am not necessarily sure where I will go after being a pro and an IGL. Whether it is coaching, content creation, or helping teams in another way, I will just see where the path takes me.
I am not scared of being a coach. I think it is fun. But I also know how much coaches do, and sometimes they do even more than the players. Let us see if I still have that much energy after my esports career.
THESPIKE: You have played with a lot of players throughout your career, with a lot of iconic players and legends.
If you suddenly become a head coach and have to build a team on your own, who is the first player you would bring in to play alongside you?
nAts: If I become a coach, most likely the players will be old too, so I am not sure who I would pick. If I am 32, Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov will probably be around 30, and I do not think he would want to keep playing the game. It is the same with Jake "Boaster" Howlett, or I do not even know how old he will be by then.
Honestly, I would try to build something around young players and develop them. I think that would be good, but I do not know.
We already knew Team Liquid were in good shape after the series against FNATIC, but the win over GiantX made it even clearer. Liquid now sit on a 3-1 score in Group Omega, tied with Karmine Corp, and will close out their group stage on August 1 against them.
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