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Vizility: “The experience at BlizzCon was truly unforgettable and made me hungry for so much more.”

Volamel 2019-11-07 07:17:00
  For the last two years Jeffrey "Vizility" de Vries and team Netherlands have come just short of making it to Anaheim, California to compete at the Overwatch World Cup playoffs--and this year they finally made it, but in surprising fashion. Without a single Overwatch League player or staff member, they managed to finally play on the stage that had eluded them for so long. And a huge factor in that success was none other than the Dutch DPS ace, Vizility. After spending around two to three years cutting his teeth in League of Legends, Vizility moved to Overwatch and began competing semi-professionally in March of 2017. Since then he’s built a reputation for being a fantastic teammate and a very skilled player that is destined for more.  Vizility has lent his talents to teams like Orgless and Hungry, Team Gigantti, and most recently with the Toronto Defiant’s academy team, the Montreal Rebellion. Vizility spoke to Esports Heaven about his experience at the 2019 Overwatch World Cup, what made his team different this year, and what continues to fuel his competitive fire.
First, I want you to think back to all the moments that stick out to you from this year’s Overwatch World Cup and encapsulate them with one Dutch word. Now, could you translate that and explain why you chose that word? “Onvergetelijk.” It means “Unforgettable” and I think it’s self-explanatory, hahaha. The experience at BlizzCon was truly unforgettable and made me hungry for so much more.     Out of all the teams you had the pleasure of playing against at the World Cup, who surprised you the most and why? Were there any players that really stuck out to you? I’d say Team France. Out of all the European World Cup teams, we were arguably the strongest in scrims. Of course, at LAN it’s different from scrims but we always did quite well against them. We knew what to do against their Bastion/Pharah composition but we were not ready for Soon. He is a different animal at LAN and his Widowmaker was phenomenal. What do you feel could have been done to shut Soon down? If you did shut him down, do you think that you could have taken the win over France? On Junkertown we should've played Reaper/Doomfist instead of taking double sniper. We should've played more aggressively and pushed their tanks. Play together disciplined as six and kill their tanks before they get the time to pick us off. With participating in the Overwatch World Cup three years in a row, what made this year different? This was the first year we didn't have any weaknesses in any role. Every player on the team is a great player at their role and we meshed very well.  A big narrative point during the event was that your team did not have any Overwatch League talent and we’re still competitive. Did you guys feel any pressure or have any pride in that fact? I’d say it gave us less pressure and yes, we are very proud of that. A lot of people didn’t even expect us, except our scrim partners, to make it out of preliminaries. From the beginning, I felt like we could do super well despite lacking star players. Everyone in the team is very underrated and are super good players. Could you talk about what the atmosphere was like going into halftime against team France in the playoffs? Without revealing much, could you speak on how your coach Cas "Casores" van Andel prepared you guys going into the following maps? Casores kept believing in us and hyped us up. He knew and told us that if we would play our own game that we could easily take Team France. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to play our own game cause of Soon’s Widowmaker, hahaha. Finally, what a lot of people don’t know is that you have a very extensive history in esports dating back to around 2013-2014 with League of Legends. With how long you’ve been grinding away at Overwatch and esports, in general, do you see yourself moving into a leadership role ever or do you still want to chase the highest tiers of the game? If the latter, what keeps you motivated to chase after your dream? Honestly, I was thinking of retiring if I didn't make Overwatch League this year since I’ve been in esports for a while. I didn’t want to but I felt like I had to. After not making Overwatch League twice you start to doubt yourself, even if you think you're good enough.  However, after BlizzCon, I'm 100% sure I still want to chase the highest tiers of the game. Previous coaches have told me I have one of the highest skill ceilings they’ve seen and I genuinely think that’s true. I know I have so much more in me and I’m hoping to get into the Overwatch League and realize that potential.
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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