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Horthic on Contenders playoffs: “If we find Angry Titans in the finals we will make sure it ends up like the Season 2 finals.”

Volamel 2018-12-23 06:47:40
  Whether you know him from his hilarious social media posts or his in-game performances, Portugal’s Henrique "Horthic" Damião has had a fantastic 2018. This year solidified new changes for the DPS star as he ventured out with fellow countryman, Alexandre "Phatt" Silva, to create One.Point, a new European team to compete for Open Division 2018 Season 2 and a spot in Overwatch Contenders. Since the team’s inception, not only have they secured a spot in Overwatch Contenders, they’ve made back-to-back playoff appearances, which is no small feat for what was an Open Division team not seven months prior. To close out such a pivotal year in his career, Horthic stopped by and spoke to Esports Heaven about his journey in creating One.Point, his thoughts on the upcoming Overwatch Contenders playoffs, and more.
You and Phatt were the ones to create One.Point, could you walk me through how the team originally came together? What spurred you and Phatt to create a team, rather than join an existing one for Open Division? It was me and Phatt in the beginning, after 2 weeks of trialing with teams, we came aware that mowzassa wanted to come back as a player, so I immediately messaged him, and after some talking he decided to join us and helped us pick the players that seemed fit from the list of players we were [trying out]. Phatt and I really weren’t known and didn’t have any offers, and I believe a lot of Open Division and Contenders teams biggest problems is miss management when it comes down to making hard decisions, so we decided it was best to start our own team and do things our own way. After the decision was made to create a team, obviously the next step is to fill out the roster. As someone who had a big role in scouting the roster, what were some of the key attributes or skills that you looked for in other players? In the beginning we just scouted Top 500 ladder and messaged a couple of people that didn’t have a team and were high in SR, and after that it comes down to if you can work in a team environment and your attitude, we also looked for hints that the player was somewhat humble considering where he currently stood. It’s been nearly seven months since One.Point’s debut in the European scene. How have things changes for the better since the team’s inception? What are some of the things you’ve had to learn along the way that helped the team grow the most? Damn, it’s already been 7 months. Wow! I think things have changed for the better, with all the roster changes I strongly believe we came on top by a lot. Something I had to learn in the long run is that sometimes you have to be the harsh or “bad boss” and accept the reality that sometimes you have to let people go so you and your team can achieve something higher even if it means that they are very good friends of yours. You and One.Point has gone from a strong Open Division team to a threat to the Overwatch Contenders Season 3 title. From one creator to another, how does it feel to see that something you’ve put your blood, sweat, and tears into for almost a year become so successful? It feels very good because with the little conditions we have to work with we give everything we have every day to improve and getting rewarded for its amazing and fulfilling, and I also have to give a big thanks to my current players and staff for giving their all to improve together as a team this season. You mentioned in a recent interview that you thought that Europe, as a region, is close to a “Korean mindset.” Could you elaborate on what you meant by that? I think it comes down to our work ethic, where we put a lot of time in and out of the game, we are always looking for the best way to tackle problems, and we never believe it’s enough. There's always something that can be improved and or fixed. We have to work a lot to get noticed by Overwatch League and North American academy teams.     Talk to me a little about the playoffs for Overwatch Contenders. First, on the docket, you play against Hidan and HSL Esports. What are some of your thoughts going into this match? Are you worried at all? I always take every match seriously and every opponent as a threat although I believe if we play our game, in my opinion, I think we will come out on top. The only team to take a game off of you, Angry Titans, sit across from you in the bracket. Could you break down, what went wrong in the loss to the Titans, and what is going to change in the future if One.Point finds themselves sat in the finals against them? In the match against Angry Titans after losing Hollywood we overreacted and made changes mid-match to how we would approach them, basically we trapped ourselves into playing their game instead of playing ours and coming out on top, we learned a lot from the lost and ever since I believe that we are stronger. If we find Angry Titans in the finals we will make sure it ends up like the Season 2 finals. In a recent interview, you mentioned adding more Overwatch League slots for Europe would help create more sustainable opportunities for amateur players. If there was something more immediate you could change about Overwatch Contenders to help benefit Europe, what would you change? I would tone down the license so there are more T2 tournaments outside of Contenders such as Beat, Pit, Dreamhack, IEM, and MLG. This would add a more relaxed broadcast where people could have a bit more freedom to have fun and maybe you could build personalities with players like CS:GO does for example. Also removing some [of the] restrictions for sponsors. Right now Samsung Morning Stars is only known as Morning Stars because of sponsorship conflicts, and things like that can turn down a lot of sponsors. We’ve all have limits to how long we can stay in esports and in Overwatch Contenders, I know how bleak things can look at times. But, on a positive note, you and One.Point is poised to have a fantastic run in the playoffs. Could you talk a little bit about what it would mean for you and your team to take home a Contenders title? It would mean the world for me and my team. This year I’ve personally gone through a lot of obstacles and I’ve given a lot of things up to pursue a professional Overwatch career so getting the Contenders title would definitely make me happy and hopefully it would inspire more Portuguese players to go professional!
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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