My name is Dob Engström aka QuackNiix and I play for Roll20 esports in the HGC. I don’t know if I would call myself the captain, but I’m the shot caller and drafter in this team as well as playing the flex role.

It was actually messy in my opinion because we weren’t talking with them for a very long time and they never got around to pulling the trigger. It took some time, but hey I’m not complaining! But they finally picked us so we’re just happy they want to be a part of us and our journey even though our results were not very convincing. We were in talks with them a lot and they kept assuring us that despite these results it wouldn’t change anything. They just needed to get things sorted out before they could give us the final contract. We’re just super happy that they stuck around and actually wanted to pick us up even though we were like 0-7.

I’m not sure if it was me who said it but I can elaborate. I always have the approach of trying to not be toxic because I think the way you speak in general--especially when you give feedback--can have very different outcomes, or be received in very different ways depending on the person. Like, if you start harassing somebody they most likely won’t take the feedback very well, right? But if you say it in a really good way then obviously there’s a higher chance of them actually listening to what you have to say and therefore actually getting something out of that information.

But sometimes people need to get a boot, y’know? You can’t be nice all the time. I can’t be like “hey, I thought you should have done this here.” It can’t be like this every single time, like, I’m always gonna start like that, obviously, but one month in and he’s doing the same mistake for instance, I might change my approach and be like “hey, you really need to step this up, this is not working.” I’m not toxic but some people, if you’re just nice to them, sure they might acknowledge what you’re saying but they might still not change it, because they don’t care enough or it’s a bit underwhelming I guess. Some people just need to get the boot, y’know.

Not recently, but I think the break did us very good individually. But for me I’ve been working since day one. I think people came back fresh and it was like a bit of a reset. Even though we were 0-7, it’s a new season with new opportunities, we’re playing everybody again, we have been improving over the past and then all of a sudden, even though we went 0-3 against both Liquid and Fnatic, we had been improving and playing quite good the first weeks of scrims, so it was a bit surprising and also a bit mentally crushing for me and also Rob. He talked about it, like all of a sudden we felt like we were starting to do actually good and then we still got crushed in the opening series.

Then we were up against Method and felt like “oh shit, this is going to be rough” but mid-series, as we win the first game, everybody gets so pumped and so hyped, like, everybody was just playing really well that series and hopefully we can just keep it up now, because we know that we can actually play good and we’re a contender in the league. It’s just that we’re a bit inconsistent and don’t really have a good standard I guess.

Yeah I must say it was a bit surprising. I always thought Method was a really hard team to play against just because, in general, they have so many things that you have to be scared of. But with this ban system it feels like we could punish them a bit with banning Abathur, and Medivh, and Tassadar’s not really meta. So it felt like already there we had a pretty good chance and, on top of that, it feels like they’re struggling. They have some internal problems, but that’s not for me to decide or spoil anything about.

I just felt like they were really not the same team as I expected, and obviously when we get that first win we get the momentum swing because we realised “hey, we can actually win this.” Obviously we’re always thinking that if the draft’s good and we play good, we can win but when you’re 0-9 you’re kinda doubting yourself every now and then. When we got the first win and good drafts, I felt really confident, and was so hyped trying to pump everyone up. People were getting really into it, calling a lot more than usual and really trying to be a big reason why we’re gonna win this series. I wanna give mad props to Rob and Shad for stepping up majorly, in my opinion.

I think everybody was a bit crushed, or mentally defeated, after going so poorly, but after we got this win I think everybody got a bit hyped and wanted to do more in scrims. They tried harder, not just auto-piloting which is really good, and exactly how they should be, because all of a sudden we actually have a chance to dodge crucible, so that’s what we’re fighting hard for right now. I am super try hard right now, *laughing* I mean, I don’t care if they don’t like it or not, I’m gonna tell them what they’re doing wrong when they’re doing something wrong. But yeah since we have a chance it feels like everybody’s try-harding a bit more now at least. I still think there’s too much auto-piloting in general, but it’s a common thing, not just this team only, it’s happened to every team I feel.

I guess I’m just really good at resetting. Not necessarily instantly, but if it’s a tournament, I would never tilt. If it happens that I tilt in scrims then I get a bit upset I guess, but the way I “de-tilt” is by actually talking. I might sound upset when I’m talking because I’m a bit tilted but I want to talk and just fix the active problems before we move on. So that’s something we’ve gotten really good at and value in our scrims right now whereas most teams try to push six games in a three hour scrim block. I value it so much higher to just do five and make sure after every game we talk about what went wrong, what should have been better, and also what we did good.

I think the most important thing is to just work on self-improvement. I don’t know where those people are lacking but what I mean is, all the time people come into my Twitch chat and ask me “Hey Quack, how do I win Hero League? My team is always losing my games,” and that right there is already the wrong mindset because you’ll never be able to change all those players you play with every single day in Hero League, so what you should be focusing on is self-improvement.

Regardless of whether you’re losing the game or not, you can still practice your own Jaina combos or map awareness or positioning. No matter what, even if you’re down five levels, you can still think about how you can play this game better, and that’s the only thing you should do because when you improve as a player you’ll have an easier time climbing ladders and finding a team.

I wanted to say thanks to Roll20 for picking us up and yeah, good luck to all the people trying to go pro. Don’t be toxic and just focus on your own gameplay, become a better player and you will climb and succeed. And, hi to all the fans!