EPT
Winner Interviews
From Americas Regional
Following the finals of the Americas Championship, we sat down with both of the teams that qualified for BlizzCon to get their thoughts on the finals games and the road ahead. We talked about the last game, the drafts through the series, and the fact that Tempo Storm and Cloud9 will be scrimming with each other from here to BlizzCon. The players gave their thoughts on patching and what will happen to the scene, too.
This was done about an hour after finals and then transcribed which is why it reads a little weirdly in a few places.
There is also text from a short press conference immediately after the games. There are some good tidbits in here but I don't want to include it as gospel because I had to take notes for it and they get increasingly bad as the interview goes on. There were a bunch of people there so if you try hard enough you can probably find an actual transcription.
+ Show Spoiler +
This was done about an hour after finals and then transcribed which is why it reads a little weirdly in a few places.
Cloud9
How does it feel to be #1 North America?
Caffeine: Honestly we knew the whole time that we were the best, we just had a lot of stuff to work through.
DunkTrain: It feels right.
DunkTrain: It feels right.
What was your reaction to picking Blacheart's Bay?
k1pro: We expected Blackheart's, they ran out of maps.
Caffeine: I think we're pretty much comfortable on any map at this point.
k1pro: When you have the best team fight in NA, you can play any map.
Caffeine: I think we're pretty much comfortable on any map at this point.
k1pro: When you have the best team fight in NA, you can play any map.
Did you feel good about the draft going into the last game? The drafts in the first two games felt somewhat one sided.
DunkTrain: We were 100% on the first two game's drafts, we knew we won draft no question. Third and fourth game we definitely experimented. The fifth game we just had to take a step back and look at what worked earlier in the series and do the best we could.
I think it turned out better than we expected because that game felt very, very easy. I would say that draft worked out incredibly well and better than it looked on paper.
I think it turned out better than we expected because that game felt very, very easy. I would say that draft worked out incredibly well and better than it looked on paper.
Your playstyle changed a decent amount since the last Americas qualifier, did the experience at MSI change how you approach the game or was it a natural development?
Caffeine: Yeah definitely. Because of that we were comfortable running multiple tanks, before that we would never run it. As soon as we started seeing how good the Koreans are at using it we knew that we had the players to play it, which can't be said for some other teams, we knew it could be really strong and we could use that to our advantage.
Do you feel like Tempo Storm has gotten somewhat predictable in terms draft or the way they play the game?
Caffeine: They were doing that same stuff for eight months, they don't change up their strats as far as how they play the map, they change up their draft and that's pretty much it.
Then, did it take you eight months to realize that?
Fan: Well some of their strategies are like that, like on Sky Temple they have a lot of stuff like that. But on Cursed Hollow when we invaded their knights, that's more of a feel it out kind of thing. These heroes have been missing for that long or when iDream called out two people were missing they're probably on our boss that's like a feel it out kind of thing.
What changed between yesterday and today?
DunkTrain: We didn't let them get Uther.
You said earlier that you baited them yesterday (e/n: in the press conference below). Do you stand by that?
DunkTrain: Yes.
COGnitive was up on you in the first game, what happens if you get on that side of the bracket and lose?
DunkTrain: I wouldn't say we threw against Tempo, but I don't think we were upset to be coming from that side of the bracket. Honestly we played Murlocs and COGnitive a ton and while I think they have improved dramatically over the past month, we knew we had a handle on that series.
Fan: I mean we didn't throw the games yesterday, like Dunk said earlier we needed information more than we needed to win the game.
Fan: I mean we didn't throw the games yesterday, like Dunk said earlier we needed information more than we needed to win the game.
It was more that you didn't reveal your a-game?
DunkTrain: Absolutely.
Caffeine: We drafted sub-optimally and we knew it was sub-optimal and we still tried to win the games.
Caffeine: We drafted sub-optimally and we knew it was sub-optimal and we still tried to win the games.
Yesterday they said they knew exactly what you were going to do, and so we rolled out our new strats so you're saying that was part of it?
Caffeine: They didn't worry about our draft, and then they come the next day and we have new stuff prepared.
iDream: We just wanted to learn how they picked.
iDream: We just wanted to learn how they picked.
Did you notice that Artosis picked Tempo Storm, do you think the Artosis Curse is in effect?
DunkTrain: Thank you Artosis, for not having faith in us.
How are you going to prepare against the Chinese and Koreans teams? Information now might not even be useful if there's a patch before BlizzCon.
DunkTrain: I don't think information now is useful so we're going to relax for a little while. Just long enough to catch our breath after all the practice and matches we've had to go through here. Then when a new patch hits, you go really hard and you find a team, decide on one you think you can win with and then you just go hard, bootcamp, do whatever you can.
Are you expecting there to be a new patch for sure? How do you feel about the idea of new patches with no big tournaments for you to hone your strategies?
DunkTrain: Definitely.
Caffeine: Tempo Storm is going to be scrimming us now, before we never really had practice time against them except in tournaments.
iDream: They might get scarier. Actually practicing versus each other.
Caffeine: Tempo Storm is going to be scrimming us now, before we never really had practice time against them except in tournaments.
iDream: They might get scarier. Actually practicing versus each other.
I expect you're confident in saying you're the best in the world, would I be right in saying that?
DunkTrain: k1 definitely is.
k1pro: I'm confident. We're the best for sure. We already smashed Europe.
iDream: I'm not confident. But that's just my thing.
DunkTrain: I think we're ready for the other regions, if not sure we're the best. We could get shocked, but they could get shocked.
k1pro: I'm confident. We're the best for sure. We already smashed Europe.
iDream: I'm not confident. But that's just my thing.
DunkTrain: I think we're ready for the other regions, if not sure we're the best. We could get shocked, but they could get shocked.
We saw a lot of Tyrande and NA is really the only place running her, do you think people are going to latch on to it why the difference?
k1pro: I don't know, I think she's really strong.
iDream: I think she's pretty hard to play, and easy to punish as well. It takes a lot of team coordination to play her well.
Caffeine: She's completely positionally based, which is extremely hard and so many heroes can punish.
k1pro: It's similar to how nobody played Jaina like I did on release, you just need perfect positioning.
iDream: I think she's pretty hard to play, and easy to punish as well. It takes a lot of team coordination to play her well.
Caffeine: She's completely positionally based, which is extremely hard and so many heroes can punish.
k1pro: It's similar to how nobody played Jaina like I did on release, you just need perfect positioning.
Tempo Storm
How do you feel having qualified for BlizzCon?
Zuna: It feels good, we did lose but we still make money just for going to BlizzCon so that's what really matters. We did lose like 16 grand for first place? So that does suck, but it's not anything crazy and we're still going to BlizzCon and that's all that really matters.
Why did you pick Blackheart's Bay as the last map?
Dreadnaught: The map they are good at, the one most people play in North America, is one of our weaker ones and their best one and that's kind of all that's left. So we decided to put it to something they're not used to and we're not used to and see how it goes out. The last four times we played them on that map we had a three level lead and just dominated them on, so we figured let's go to Blackheart's.
Kaeyoh: I wanted to go to Mines.
Zuna: I wanted Mines too.
Kaeyoh: I wanted to go to Mines.
Zuna: I wanted Mines too.
How do you feel about Butcher? Do you think he fits your playstyle?
Zuna: I think he's good, but I think you can't just snap rip him first pick or get bodied.
Soldier: I think it counters tank meta pretty well, too. Heroes like Arthas and Leoric, you just sit there and get free healing off them, they can't do much damage to you so you just get an insane amount of damage out.
As far as the assassination Butcher style I don't think that's ever really been our style, going in and one shotting someone. Picking it that early is the issue I think.
Soldier: I think it counters tank meta pretty well, too. Heroes like Arthas and Leoric, you just sit there and get free healing off them, they can't do much damage to you so you just get an insane amount of damage out.
As far as the assassination Butcher style I don't think that's ever really been our style, going in and one shotting someone. Picking it that early is the issue I think.
When Reynad came up on stage what did he say to you?
Zuna: He said you guys know you're good, play the way you usually play. If he came up before game five would have won.
What does the preparation look like between now and BlizzCon?
Zuna: I think we're taking a week off pretty much and then after that we're just gonna wing it, see what we want to do.
You're going to scrim against Cloud9 before this you said?
Dreadnaught: That's the plan, to hopefully play one another and hopefully NA gets stronger.
How do you think this weekend impacts the competitive scene? Will the non-qualified teams stick around to be scrim partners or how will that go?
Dreadnaught: The teams that exist now that didn't qualify? They're probably going to disband. When it comes to the actual, overall competitive scene I think you will see a collossal amount of people who are like 'What do I want to do? Play Heroes of the Storm competitively.' The viewership amounts mixed with the production level is enough to make anyone think 'This is something I might want to do'.
Do you think the same thing happens after BlizzCon then? During that period where there are no events?
Dreadnaught: For players and teams it will be a nuissance just because there will be nothing happening. But for the teams who just saw that they will be like we can prepare, we can practice, and we can try to compete. And then they will walk in, they'll get bodied, but hey at least they are starting and trying. They'll go through the changes, work their ass off and some that will eventually make it to be a team we haven't seen before that will qualify at this exact event next year.
Cloud9 was saying that they were kind of letting yesterday go in order to see more about what you're doing. Do you believe that?
Dreadnaught: No. Maybe a half truth but literally anytime C9 does something where they win they act like they're these masterminds and it's been the long con the whole time. Maybe one time they pulled that off but there's no way. I agree that maybe we should have tried to hold back a little more so today was like more of something we knew but at the same time, if we had prepped harder and thought about it more we would have still walked in today and won.
My only QQ about it would be, I agree with Zuna that beyond the fact that the three qualifiers is weird and you don't go to BlizzCon automatically from those but that you can compete in a tournament and go 4-3 and still not win is like....it is weird.
My only QQ about it would be, I agree with Zuna that beyond the fact that the three qualifiers is weird and you don't go to BlizzCon automatically from those but that you can compete in a tournament and go 4-3 and still not win is like....it is weird.
What format would you prefer for BlizzCon?
Kaeyoh: Four round double elim. Standard stuff.
Zuna: Round robin. In an ideal scenario you would have round robin, every single team vs every single other team. The top four teams go in the winner bracket the four loser teams go in the loser bracket and you start from there. That would be the ideal world.
Arthelon: But it is BlizzCon, you only have two days, it's not a lot of time. That's what they base a whole lot of their decisions on. Just time based.
Zuna: Round robin. In an ideal scenario you would have round robin, every single team vs every single other team. The top four teams go in the winner bracket the four loser teams go in the loser bracket and you start from there. That would be the ideal world.
Arthelon: But it is BlizzCon, you only have two days, it's not a lot of time. That's what they base a whole lot of their decisions on. Just time based.
Did the experience at MSI change anything about the way you approach the game? Practice or anything?
Dreadnaught: Strategically I think it changed a bit. In terms of how we approach the game and stuff, not so much. Maybe a little bit, a few more things we might have not thought of before.
How do you prepare against the Chinese and Korean teams for BlizzCon?
Dreadnaught: Just study. You can't just walk up and think 'You know what I'm gonna do? I'll beat all the Chinese strats that I've never seen.' You definitely very much have to walk in knowing that they are going to run one of three decision and that you're going to be able to react to each one at least decently to negate the bleeding. Then hopefully you're going to proceed to play better than them.
Mechanically, MVP wasn't that amazing. At no point was I like 'You know what? They are so mechanically strong' it was just strategically, their draft and rotations were impressive.
Mechanically, MVP wasn't that amazing. At no point was I like 'You know what? They are so mechanically strong' it was just strategically, their draft and rotations were impressive.
What do you think about the fact there's probably going to be a patch or two between now and BlizzCon?
Dreadnaught: Get it out as soon as possible. The longer you wait the worst it becomes. Literally if they patch tomorrow and never touch the game I'd be fine with it. The longer they wait, like if they do it two weeks beforehand it's just stupid.
Arthelon: I think Blizzard knows though, they're gonna patch in like a week or two.
Arthelon: I think Blizzard knows though, they're gonna patch in like a week or two.
That makes it hard to research though, since most events will end so in terms of tape that you're looking at we won't necessarily have new stuff.
Arthelon: There's always stuff going on in Korea though. It's only for NA that there's not anything going on.
Dreadnaught: They should probably consider all the regions before they do it, for the other regionals. For your world finals there should definitely be more preparation than your regional qualifiers.
Dreadnaught: They should probably consider all the regions before they do it, for the other regionals. For your world finals there should definitely be more preparation than your regional qualifiers.
There is also text from a short press conference immediately after the games. There are some good tidbits in here but I don't want to include it as gospel because I had to take notes for it and they get increasingly bad as the interview goes on. There were a bunch of people there so if you try hard enough you can probably find an actual transcription.
+ Show Spoiler +
Where is your train whistle?
The dog chewed it up.
Can you afford a new one?
A GOLD ONE.
Congrats, what are you doing with 100k?
Who is giving us the extra 60k? First place is 40k.
I guess Teach Tempo fans how to do math and probability.
I guess Teach Tempo fans how to do math and probability.
Are you going to report Leoric for feeding?
Everyone else already did.
Good series, now that you are off the high what was the most important moment of the last match?
There were a lot of tight situations, the moment we knew we won the game was when we caught Dread with the maw thanks to iDream and from there we knew we just had to close it out. That moment we knew we were in.
For me (Fan) the most terrifying moment was when we went for the core and I looked and all my team was in between the core and a full health keep and I'm relieved we made it out alive.
For me (Fan) the most terrifying moment was when we went for the core and I looked and all my team was in between the core and a full health keep and I'm relieved we made it out alive.
Did you choose Blackheart's Bay or did they? What was your reaction?
Tempo Storm chose it, we were expecting it. It's their favorite map.
Going into this tournament, the talk was that C9 found an answer to TS and you went 0-2 vs them yesterday so the public flipped. How do you battle back from yesterday and bring in the dominant today?
Yesterday we baited them into revealing their draft strategy, and once we had that we were able to get to a quick 2-0 today in this match and figure them out and beat them in draft.
How much info do you think you gave to international opponents for BlizzCon?
By the time BlizzCon rolls around it will be a different game so nothing matters now.
Were Tempo's drafts predictable? Were they straight forward?
I think we expected it to happen but its difficult to figure out in the middle of the set and that's why we lost the 2 games in the middle of the set.
Was it the game play change or whats the plan for that?
Once we saw how they were playing we knew they would need Uther as a crutch to get Zuna into the games, so we were able to use that. We were able to pick Zeratul and the rule is to pick Zeratul when he's available and when that didn't work we went back to ban Uther.
Zuna did a lot of dying is that his play style or what was he on tilt?
I think tilt is Zuna's play style.
Looking ahead, which teams are you worried about in Korea? What team will you keep your eye on?
k1pro: I don't think we're worried about any teams.
Fan: even at MGA when Tempo got crushed by MVP we think we would do well against them. Roaming is our style and we do well against that.
Fan: even at MGA when Tempo got crushed by MVP we think we would do well against them. Roaming is our style and we do well against that.
Can you talk about the discussion you had for game 5? After that 2 game swing, what was going through your minds? What were you discussing?
Don't give them Uther. Honestly. We also target banned some of their ranged players, Keo has a hero pool he really likes and we tool Valla and banned Zagara and forced him into Abathur. So they didn't have anyone soaking top early game for like 5 minutes which really got them behind.
Blacheart's Bay is one of the few maps you can win purely based on objective? What are your thoughts on that map?
I disagree with that sentiment though people say it. I feel there were 20-25 team fights and any team can take it if they win the team fight.
Now that its over and you won congrats, what was the number 1 hurdle as a team you got over in this tournament? What was the hardest part?
The hardest part of everything overall was just getting over our mental block against Tempo. The wins earlier in the month and the wins today prove we have done that. We have done what we set out to do. We no longer get crazy and lose our minds against Tempo and because of that we were able to win.
