Today we had the pleasure to talk to Bartłomiej "Fresskowy" Przewoźnik, actual mid laner from MAD Lions KOI. Fresskowy has been one of the revelations of the season and today we will talk to him a little bit about his mentality when it comes to competing, taking advantage of opportunities, the power of routines and what this past year has been like for him.
Good afternoon Fresskowy thank you very much for giving us a little bit of your time before such an important weekend.
"Thank you for the invitation"
Before going straight to the point with the LEC, how was the adaptation to Berlin, do you miss Spain a little bit?
"Berlin reminds me a bit of Poland, it doesn't feel as nice and also the culture is different and I enjoy Spain way more. If I have to choose, I prefer Spain because of the weather and everything and also I'm used to it because I lived there for almost 3 years and Spanish food is way better."
Last year in Movistar Riders was a smooth road for you but even Melzhet himself mentioned earlier that you were one of the pieces that he doubted the most for the project after the stage in G2 Arctic, how did that affect you and how was the conversation with him?
"I mean for sure I was not sure if I will still continue because I have been in G2 Arctic with them for two or three years already and we have been failing every single year and I feel like every playoffs I was choking and underperforming so I was not sure if he was still believing in me but he did. I think it came mostly because he saw me trying and willing to keep improving so he didn't give up on me. I think it's very different when you fail over and over and keep trying and willing to improve and change so he saw that in me. I was actually working that in the offseason, identifying the issues that I had and looking for solutions and working on them."
You have touched on a topic that I wanted to put some emphasis on which is the issue of choking. Darthyellow has said that one of the things he is most proud of is the mental change and the mental toughness that you have now in official matches. Can you explain a little bit how this progress has been?
"So basically I had a lot of issues in my mindset that I was not fully aware of, like the choking part. I was never a confident person in my whole life so I had to work on my confidence a lot because sometimes I'm really hard on myself. When I start losing or playing badly I used to go too hard on myself and that's not a healthy relationship. I have really high expectations about myself and I'm really strict where it gets to the point that I'm auto sabotaging myself. I worked a lot with the psychologist from G2 Arctic and also on offseasons and then on Movistar Riders I was making a lot of effort on identifying the issues and working on them and after 2 years for sure now I'm in my peak mental state and aware of many things I've missed and needed and have some tools to deal with all of the past things. My confidence since then has grown a lot to a point when I go to the matches I know what I'm capable of and that feels really nice."
Let's move on to another important part of your career which is your relationship with Melzhet, how has it developed over the years?
"We are kinda similar in some ways, we are kinda individuals that don't really show a lot of emotions and sometimes hard to open up so in the beginning it was harder to open up and understand each other but we developed it a lot during the years. It's super hard to be aware of some things so I was making it hard for him to also understand me and what I actually need so it took some time but now more or less we know how I work and he always tells me I'm quite special in some parts. Usually he always knows what it works for most of the players but for me it's always something strange or weird that doesn't make any sense. For example, usually people have problems to be disciplined and he needs to push them but for me it's the opposite, if he goes too hard he knows I push myself too hard so he needs to chill more with me."
A little birdie told me that you are a person with a very marked schedule and a special way of seeing the competition, can you tell us a little more about it?
"I'm a pretty disciplined person, I believe in routines and I think daily work pays off. I have my routine set up day by day and I execute it day by day."
Can you tell us a bit about it?
"On scrim day more or less I wake up by 7 AM, I go to the gym for 1 hour, come back, shower and go to the office. We play SoloQ from 10 to 12 AM, then we scrim, we take a break and in the break usually I nap to have more energy for the second block, I read 10-15 mins to improve my focus and also I meditate every single day like 5 minutes to keep my focus better as well, then we play the second block we eat and then it depends we come back home we play some SoloQ or review a bit some games, I study matchups or whatever. I sleep seven or seven and a half hours, that works for me and execute it every single day."
Something happens if this daily routine is not followed, right?
"Yeaah…* laughs*, for me it's funny because if something in my daily routine fails I underperform, my things need to be done to perform because I'm too used to it."
In the offseason, you were one of the most criticized signings even by players who are no longer in the league. Does this affect you in any way or do you not pay much attention to social media?
"I mean for sure I don't pay that much attention to social media because I didn't know that videos from Gilius or whatever podcast they made or whatever *laughs*, but some of the comments I read them and for me it's just free motivation for me. I like when people underestimate us because I like to prove them wrong and there's so many people that don't have a single clue about the game or their opinion is not valid… It might sound a bit arrogant or whatever, I know how good I am and how disciplined I am and what I can achieve so I will not doubt myself because of other people."
Your signing was also the most complicated this offseason, how did you feel about that and did you have a plan B in mind?
"I was not 100% sure if this offseason I was gonna end up on LEC, I think it's very hard to get there, it's not only about being successful in ERL people need to like you to be there (LEC) or whatever. Some teams make really random choices so that makes things even harder. I had some ERL offers but I wanted to wait till the last day for LEC, I knew my biggest chance would be if Melzhet got promoted but im the end I'm really happy I got the trust from someone to prove myself"
The jump from the ERL to the LEC, was it a big deal or has it remained more of a myth?
"To be honest I expected more level from LEC mid laners, I don't think there is that much gap between ERL and LEC or at least between ERL top teams and LEC. I do believe that the players in LEC are not that insane as the people say *laughs*. There is better quality and people are more aggressive and individually better and slightly also macro-wise but in general there is not a big change for me to be honest."
Have you been surprised by any player in particular when playing against them?
"To be honest not really, I expected a bit more from all the players and got a bit disappointed."
From this team 3 players you already knew but Elyoya and Myrwn you had not had the pleasure of sharing a team with them, have they surprised you in any way? Especially Myrwn as he is a very passionate person and so on.
"For sure is really fun to play with them, Elyoya has a lot of experience and I can learn a lot from him and same with Myrwn, I think I'm really similar to Myrwn specially in terms of play and thinking, we both play a lot of random shit that we can flex and he doesn’t hesitate trying things or first-timing stuff so it's super fan to play with him and he gives us a lot of advantage in the draft."
It's hard sometimes not to get carried away by the level of excitement this team seems to have within the game?
"I think it's natural to me, it's how I am as a person. I usually play better when I'm focused on my game kinda, I give some ideas and talk a bit but I always try to be as calm as possible because it's the way I play the best."
If you could give one piece of advice to the Fresskowy of 3 years ago, what would it be?
"Well, that's a good question. If I think about it, I probably take more care of my mental health. I think I was too focused on the gameplay and burned out too much."
A message you want to give to your spanish fans and to the people who support you?
"For sure I would like to thank all of them so much, it feels really amazing, I was not expecting to get so much love as I'm the only one who is not spanish from the team. The matches that I underperform or I lost the series I got so many positive messages and it feels super amazing and I'm really grateful to all of you guys."
