AKAWonder: "We want all-open tournaments but nobody's watching them"

Coming to Katowice after a great 2015 with SK Gaming, Esteban ''AKAWonder" Serrano is among the favorites to win ESL Katowice. Before he enters the booth, however, we catch him for an interview and sit down at the stairs next to the player lounge to talk.

For the first time in my career, I feel I should be the winner. I feel a bit pressured about it, I want to win a major. I have been to the playoffs of many LAN events but could never really win one. I need to do this, I need to win this.”

AKAWonder's opening words are true of course. The Spaniard made it to at least the top 16 of every DreamHack event last year, proving to be a paragon of consistency, surviving grueling swiss rounds and open qualifier brackets. While still lacking a major gold, AKAWonder's performances earned him a GosuAwards nomination and it looks like he's only getting started. Having gained some notoriety, SK's marquee feels like he's already a part of the strong competitive community.

But it was no easy feat to do it. According to AKAWonder, it took a lot of hard work grind, and the biggest help for him came from the inside.

I feel like the most important part of my preparation was myself. When you want to do something in this particular game, you don't have to look to other people for help. And you can do it. You need to have some skill, of course, but 50% of the job is how hard you work yourself.”

Looking at the names gathered in Katowice, I cannot help but steer the conversation in what's been a main topic for the scene recently: tournaments being dominated by unknown players. That's true for the current ESL Legendary series, where AKAWonder and to some extent Impact represent 100 per cent of the familiar faces. Was Blizzard's decision to ditch the 50/50 invites rule from last year a mistake?

I see a lot of players saying "Finally, we are getting open tournaments" but none of them are watching right now. The numbers are not increasing, and the organizers won't go down that road because they want viewers. I think a number of open tournaments is needed, because you have to renew the scene from time to time, but you have to have some invitationals as well. And I love it too.”

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