Volamel
2018-09-10 01:14:15
That being said, talk to me about Mineral. You seemed quite close with him. How would you describe him as a coach for those on the outside looking in?
Yeah, Mineral is the longest standing friend I am playing with now with around two and a half years and our only time apart was the period between early Swedish Misfits and 2-3 months later as we picked him up as head coach.
And for people that don't know him, [Mineral] is a very strong leader and also very experienced in that role both as a player and coach. He also works well around helping players with personal problems on the side and getting everyone on the right foot for practice and officials.
As someone with direct experience with the Overwatch League, could you give all the folks at home a word of advice when approaching the league? I think there is a lot that goes on behind closed doors that people don’t really grasp. What was something about the league that caught you off guard?
Most players would be surprised by the intensity of the league and how every day of practice is 1/3 of the time you have to prepare for a team. Also, don't overwork yourself. If you play extra hours of ranked, but can't show up in practice with 110% energy then don't force ranked games. I can't stress enough how important consistent practice is and if just 1-2 of your teammates are not fully ready it can destroy the team's engine.
As a former Widowmaker main, do you ever see yourself returning to your DPS routes for Overwatch League Season 2 or have you fallen in love with the flex position?
I would love to play the DPS role again, but it would require a ton of grinding and I would see myself playing in Contenders first to prove myself. I do believe I could be a good DPS mostly because of my communication and how I have kind of a different perspective now after playing flex for one and a half years. And looking back, I always had the aim for it, just not the experience or confidence that I have now.
In an episode of OverSight, it was intimated that Swedish culture played a part in the Florida Mayhem. How did that culture fare with adding Korean talent to the roster? Did that mix well at all?
With aWesomeguy, Sayaplayer and r2der coming in, especially so late in the season with the delayed visas and et cetera, I think it was hard for them to really bring in their culture and more that they had to adapt with the small timeline we had. Overall, we mixed very well considering, but it was obvious that if they could change and rework our structure, they would.
You mentioned that r2der once told a story that he was very hard on his players back in South Korea. Would you have rather had r2der be more strict and hands-on with the Mayhem? Do you think that would have helped things?
I worded that story pretty poorly and it was more r2der explaining how different the cultures are and not him being super strict. I think again it was hard for r2der to come in so late in the season when we had already set the way we practice and work as a team, as well as us thinking he didn't need a translator because his English is actually pretty good. But for him to be able to help us with all the tiny details and be more hands-on we needed a translator which we got a few weeks later. Maybe if we prepared r2der’s integration a bit better and tried his way of everything maybe it would have been better who knows.
Last but not least, you’ll be traveling to Bangkok, Thailand for the Overwatch World Cup. Could you talk a little bit about how practice is going with Team Sweden and your take on representing your country for the second time?
The practice has been going fine even though half our team is always on like 160-200 ping because of half our team living in LA currently, so it's going to be amazing to see how we can play with no ping on LAN. It feels great to play for Sweden once again, but this time, it feels like there is more pressure since I can prove myself again, but it's also going to be fun playing on stage again and hopefully, we will be sliding through into Blizzcon once again!
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Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLGs of 2006. He started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has transitioned from viewer to journalist and writes freelance primarily about Overwatch and League of Legends. If you would like to know more or follow his thoughts on esports you can follow him at @Volamel.
Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.