This week I was privileged with the chance to talk to LG Evil’s own; Matthew "super" DeLisi. We chatted about APEX, the new metagame, what he might change about Reinhardt and much more.

First off, thanks for sitting down and chatting with me, but more importantly Happy Belated Birthday! Did you do anything fun?

Thank you! We haven't had time yet due to my busy schedule, but within the next week we are going to go to a Korean barbecue. I've never been to one but they seem fun!

Now, we are going to start off strong here. Talk to me about what happened during the Overwatch Carbon Series finals. What do you think was the fatal flaw? Is it even that easy to pin it on one thing in particular?

Really, when it comes down to it, it was poor play from us and strong play from Immortals. Immortals is one of those unique teams where they do different things you haven't seen before from your average team. For example, their second offense on Dorado, when they pushed up on the roof and pushed around into the alley, it was pretty clear it took us by surprise.

Now you say unique, and the first name that pops in my head is Meta Athena. Do you think we are headed to a more creative era coming into summer and hopefully the Overwatch League, with teams like Immortals, Meta Athena, Selfless, yourselfs (LG Evil) at the helm? You all seem to have a very distinct style and team color. What are your thoughts?

In a way, I would say yes, but just because one thing works for one team doesn't mean it will work for another. The biggest example I can think of is teams trying to copy the Selfless composition with a Reinhardt, Roadhog, Soldier 76, Tracer, Lucio, and Ana. They play their composition in a way that suits their playstyle and people on the team, and it doesn't work for any other team from what I've seen. Teams need to figure out what it is they are good at and attempt to expand on it that way with their own creative twist.

So you would say that finding your own team "color" is very important for Overwatch moving forward? Finding a style that works?

Yeah, I think so.

Awesome, staying with Korea, next month is the APEX finals, do have any stake in that? I’ll rest it on your shoulders; super, who wins it all, Lunatic-Hai or RunAway?

Lunatic-Hai, but I also thought Meta Athena was going to win it all so take my predictions with a grain of salt.

Mate, you're talking to the guy who wrote about the Royal Road, I feel you there. But, I digress do you guys as a team watch the APEX VODs at all? You mentioned Meta Athena, has there been anything that has really shocked you in particular?

Not all together, but we look them over by ourselves or in small groups when we can. The one thing Meta Athena did that I never thought of was when they were pushing Hanamura first [point] and I forget who was on Sombra (Libero, for those who were wondering), but they throw the translocator above the choke and hacked the Reinhardt mid-air. It's things like that that show you the kind of brains that they have on that team.

Now we all know where Ajax stands on the East, but where does Super stand? Where do you think Korea stands in terms of power ranking? Is the West closer than people expect or do you think that you’re all still on top of the game?

I kind of agree with Ajax. Obviously we lost to Runaway in our group stage of the last Overwatch Monthly Melee, and I don't intend to throw shade, but the fact that BGH beat them on Korean servers (at least that's what I was told from multiple people) makes you question how strong Koreans are in comparison to some of the top teams in North America right now.

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“I think there needs to be an international LAN with the best teams from every major region to truly determine who is better than who though before I make any definitive statements.”

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Thats fair, we’ve yet to have an international LAN in the last 5-6 months. First, I’ll ask you personally -- would you want to go to Korea if they invited LG Evil for Season 3 of APEX? And do you think your team would be interested in going, if invited?

I think it's fair to say we would be willing to go to Korea if we received an invite.

Dialing it back a bit, I did hear something about JAKE’s dorm having to be cleared out due to the fire alarm, then it was something about a tornado? That definitely couldn't have been good for morale and the team mentality. With all that happened during the Carbon finals, do you wish there were more LANs, or do you think the online cups are fine until the Overwatch League starts?

His dorm had to be cleared because there was a tornado warning. If there were morality issues, it wasn't apparent to me. I think everyone on the team is level headed when it comes to matches and [doesn’t] let nerves get to them. But, going back to the LANs, I think it would be nice to have more of them and it's apparent Blizzard isn't against it with the recent announcement of the Taiwan thirteen week tournament. We just have to wait until the next opportunity arises, though.

Speaking of Blizzard, are you looking forward to Blizzcon? Team USA Captain, Matthew "super" DeLisi, has a nice ring to it, right? If you were chosen to take part in the World Cup festivities, whom might you want as a team around you? Anyone you’ve always thought who would be interesting to team with?

Haha yeah, I'm pretty excited for Blizzcon. I watched a lot of the World Cup last year, and it was pretty fun. While I think it's unlikely I'd get to go, Reaver would be fun to have as a teammate. The few times I ran into him in ranked was some of the funniest times I've had playing Overwatch. Also, I think it would be fun if I had Surefour as a teammate, despite him being Canadian.

Recently we’ve seen some Lucio changes being tossed around on the PTR to make him a bit more interesting and unique. A little too much, could be worse? What are your thoughts on these changes?  

I think he's going to be a lot more fun to play in solo queue than before. No, but seriously, I think it's going to potentially change the dive-comp slightly. People could play pretty spread with a dive and still get the effects of a Lucio, but now you are going to have to be a lot tighter considering the area has been reduced by quite a large amount.

I've heard the worry about the stale and dreaded "tank meta" resurfacing if this goes through, are you worried about that at all? I know you all have a "fond" history of that meta ;). What are your thoughts?

I think it's fair to say we were the best quad-tank team, [well], at least in NA, when it was meta or viable to run.

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“So, we wouldn't be worried if that were the case.”

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Within that same vein, where do you put Orisa? Do you think she is strong enough to be played at the top level or does she just need some time to settle in to the meta? Any interesting ideas LG Evil as a team have come up with yet?

I think against other tanks she's great, but she gets crushed by dive comps and proper aggression so I think she will be one of those niche picks. If we have come up with any ideas though, you would have to wait to see. ;)

Staying with that same mindset, of changing a more “bland and boring” hero to become more interesting, do you think Reinhardt needs some love? If so, what changes might you make to Reinhardt? Do you secretly wish that Orisa was more of a Reinhardt replacement?

Reinhardt is strange because, I think that unless they drastically change him, he will always be good. He is the only hero in the game that has a walking shield unless you count D.va, but she has a short timer on hers, whereas Reinhardt can hold his up forever as long as it doesn't break. Not only is his shield great, but his ultimate is, in my opinion, the best ult in the game. I like playing Orisa, but I don't know if I wish she was a replacement.

With the polarizing opinions on 2CP in the community, it must be said -- there are some interesting western compositions, some even throwing 3-4 DPS at a time. On 2CP, you have shown a small amount of Tracer? Can you talk a little bit about that and some of the more unique triple DPS comps?

While my team will never tell me this, I think my Tracer is pretty good and it's one of the reasons 4 DPS works. You have to be able to flex your tanks to more aim intensive heroes to make it viable. Those 2CP maps have some pretty brutal chokes that aren't fun to push into with a lot of tanks, so people like to try the smaller and quicker way in, which does have more success.

Winding down, here is a more light hearted question -- I know that JAKE is a philosophy major in college, has he ever dropped some really deep, sagely advice to you and the team? If so, what was it about exactly?

If you ever listened to Jake on a podcast, you will know he likes to talk. A lot. So, sometimes I don't really listen to what he says and I sort of get lost. Unlucky really.

Unlucky indeed, poor Jake. Now, time for the not-so patented Esports Heaven “Lightning Round”. You ready super?

Ready.

- Is Rob actually an Ana BOT in disguise?

Rob is just a BOT.

- If you had to pick any other game to play professionally, what's your dream esport?

Team Fortress 2 if it had proper esports support

- Cut 2CP or fix 2CP?

Fix 2CP.

- One map from TF2 you’d add to Overwatch?

Badlands. For the spire.

- Three teams that are super underrated in the West that may qualify for April's AMM?

Denial, new Liquid, and Renegades.

- Remove 1 hero from the game, who would you cut?

Mercy

- Smartest player in the West? Barring yourself, of course ;)

Verbo

- Most underused Hero in the game?

Reaper. Underused for a reason, still fun though

- Favorite Fast Food?

Chick-fil-A

- Last but not least; is Soylent the truth? How good is it really?

Very good. Big fan.

Alright! Fantastic, thank you so much super for the amazing interview. Hopefully I didn't steal you away too long, any shoutouts or last second comments?

Shoutout to my team and LG. Also shoutout to Hammers for being the first org to take a chance on us, an unproven team at the time

Follow Super on Twitter: @super_OW

Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLG’s 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.