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Mowzassa on Contenders playoffs: “I’m not really worried about any team because, more than thinking about them, I know how strong my team is … ”

Volamel 2018-12-15 01:44:45
  Tiago "mowzassa" Rodrigues has been in the scene since late in 2016. As a veteran main tank, he’s traveled from team to team with relative success, playing for teams like Cyclones, Cloud 9, and now he’s found himself on the European mix of Samsung Morning Star. He also spent a short time with Mosaic Esports as a coach, but mowzassa has seen it all. He started in the Portuguese scene competing in weekly tournaments to playing for globally recognized esports organizations -- and succeeding. Mowzassa stopped by Esports Heaven to speak about his thoughts on the state of the game, the power of Overwatch Contenders Europe, and more!
I want to do a little deep dive on your history. I know that you’ve spent some time abroad, could you talk a little about your time in South Korea? Take me on a visceral trip down your own personal experience. Was what something powerful that you took away from that specific experience? Well, South Korea was insane for me personally! I was only there for roughly ten days I believe, but Seoul is very pretty. The weather is super nice and the cultural aspects of South Korea really blew my mind. The most powerful experience I took away from South Korea was how “tryhard” they act towards almost every single thing they do in their life, it’s not really easy to explain but I felt they really give their all in every minor thing they do and that was really interesting to me. A while back, I spoke with your former teammate neptuNo and he mentioned that you are the ‘prefect Winston player.’ What, in your opinion, is the most important thing to focus on as a Winston player currently? He also mentioned that you’re the “daddy”, take that however you will. That’s a good compliment coming from someone I respect so much! I don’t know exactly why he said that but I think it’s probably because I think I have very good awareness, good target selection and I know how space and playing with the map works in Overwatch which are all things you need to be good at to be a very good Winston player. As for the “daddy” part, he's not the only one. Roughly a year ago, you were in Los Angeles, California playing the Overwatch Contenders 2017 playoffs with your old team, Cloud 9. This was also the team that nearly upset the tournament favorites, Misfits, in the semifinals. Just from those two little data point alone, I’m sure this stirred up fond memories from games past. Could you share some of those fond memories from back in the day? Yeah, that brings good and bittersweet memories. I think our team in Cloud 9 back then was definitely stronger in a LAN environment and that showed in the match vs Misfits. We felt we could really win that series but unfortunately, in the end, we didn’t get the win but even though that happened I still really enjoyed being in that event with my teammates and hanging out with a lot of other European players and some NA staff. LAN events are one of the best moments of playing games. Now, to jump to the present, you’ve now landed with Samsung Morning Stars and are standing atop your group in Overwatch Contenders. I’ve got to ask, as a veteran player, what are some of your thoughts on your Overwatch journey thus far? I think I’ve had a pretty good journey, to be honest, but I did some bad decisions regarding which teams I wanted to join or which opportunities to take but they at the end of the day I learned a lot with that and helped me a lot for the future. I think that helped me be in the team I am today. I see on social media that you and head coach Pipou are quite friendly. That said, I’ve got to ask, how have you enjoyed Morning Stars so far? Hahaha, yeah I think Pipou has a really good time doing memes of my face! I’ve really enjoyed playing for this team, my teammates are all pretty good people and it’s a pleasure to play with them. The metagame has been a big point of contention for the community as of late and I wanted to get the main tanks opinion on things. How have you enjoyed this tank heavy metagame? Are things as bad as people say? Does it feel like there are times that you’re just permanently stunned right up until you die? I’ve played other games in high level such as League of Legends so I am used to being a player and having teams that play what is strongest in the metagame even if you have to learn new heroes. So for me personally, it isn’t a problem [for me] to play either GOATs or dive or double sniper. Sure you might disagree with some patch changes but it’s impossible to make everyone happy, so I prefer to spend my time learning what is the best and learning the heroes I need to in order to be able to play them well for my team instead of spending time crying about it in social media. I’d rather spend time focusing on a solution to a problem than wasting it. Related to my role when Brigitte came out, I'm not gonna lie, it is very annoying the amount of crowd control that gets thrown my way, but if you know how to use your teammates' resources and ask for their help when you need it’s fine. As I said before, playing against Brigitte’s is something I can’t avoid so I might as well deal with it rather than complain about it. It’s not an “unplayable” situation, just have to adapt. When it comes to Contenders, do you feel like there is an added pressure for players to have individual success because of how imperative it is to get into the Overwatch League? There is always some pressure of course because you want your team to win and to show what you’ve got for Overwatch League, scouts but at the same time I feel like you can’t let the pressure get to you too much because if you do and you have a hard time dealing with pressure that will affect your performance which for the end goal, which is to get into the Overwatch League, is a problem. Wrapping up, I wanted to get a general consensus from camp Morning Star as you and the guys go into the playoffs. What’s the atmosphere like behind the scenes? How confident are you guys going into the playoffs? Are there any teams you’re worried about? I think we are, in general, a confident team but we also work very very hard to improve anything we can and even tho we are already qualified we think match by match because every map is important. Right now we are just focusing on our last match against Winstrike Team. After that, we will focus on the playoffs and who are possible opponents can be. I'm not really worried about any team because, more than thinking about them, I know how strong my team is and how strong it can be. But I will say from our group I really respect Team Gigantti because they are fast learners and veterans and for the other group it would be One Point. They know what they are doing pretty well in my opinion.  
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
 

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