With the Americas Championship on the horizon, teams are gearing up for some stiff competition. Despite (or perhaps due to) their recent roster change, COGnitive seems more confident than ever that they'll make it to Blizzcon. I had a chance to chat with them about their Vegas prep, roster swap, and how other teams have to draft so carefully against them.
You guys recently had a roster swap. Walk me through the thought process there.
Dylux (Team Manager): So after the MSI MGA LAN at PAX we all sat down and evaluated the team's weakness and there were some aspects of Shot's play that we didn't have time to necessarily deal with on the level in which we would have had to. We took a vote knowing that we are roster locked for regionals to move Shot to the sub role and bring back our old team captain IvSlime for the event in Vegas.
IVslime was on the original roster that signed with COGnitive and came out with us to our team house in California briefly but left the team on good terms to pursue an internship at intel, I'll let him tell you more about that. He never left our group chat or master document.
So for you guys, this isn't even much of a shake up.
iVSlime: Not really. Speaking for myself, I definitely missed competitive play while I was gone. It is unfortunate I was unable to play on this roster, which is undoubtedly much stronger than the roster I left at the beginning of the summer, for a longer amount of time. Still, when I was approached to come back on board, it wasn't much of a decision for me. I knew Shot had some play issues, and honestly, some of those lingering issues were what drove me to take a step back in the first place. I told these guys that the #1 thing I wanted to see was them get to Blizzcon (and win, but that's a step further).
iakona: Glaurung and myself didn't have a chance to play on the same team with iVSlime since we both joined after he left. Which is why these past couple of weeks we have double or tripled our normal practice schedule so that we get the synergy of working together as a unit.
iVSlime: I thought that the path to BlizzCon may have been easier without me on the roster, however, as fate would have it, I am back onboard for arguably the most important event the team has played in thus far.
Every time you guys play in a major series (specifically against TS and C9), the games are extremely close, but you can't quite close it out. Do you think this roster change is the 'missing piece'?
iVSlime: Won't speak for anyone else, but I am generally a safer/more calculated player than Shot, and I think that with such strong playmakers on the team already, like Hospital and Glau, I fit in a little bit better.
Dylux: We have beaten both of those teams publicly in the past in best of 3 series, and taken games off of them a dozen times. I feel that since the roster change, our mentality has changed and there is a sincere amount of motivation around our team house since we returned from Seattle. We know that one of those two teams will stand in our way for Blizzcon and we are preparing for that accordingly. This week alone we have scrimmed something like 44 hours; most days without any breaks.
So with all that practice time can we expect some new strategies or is Vegas simply too much of a risk to experiment with?
Glaurung: We gon' win.
Dylux: We are probably going to run Gazlowe every game.
iVSlime: Gazlowe.
Iakona: :x
iVSlime: Don't insult my favorite hero Dyl.
Hospital: Slime is going to show the world his robo-Gaz, South-East Asia won't be ready for it.
iVSlime: =D
So Gazlowe is basically 100% confirmed to be sleeper OP?
Iakona: Well that and Diablo. I mean...
Hospital: Let's just say Tyrande and Diablo might make a comeback.
iVSlime: Lategame robo-Gaz autos carries for 600. Tell me another hero that does that.
Butcher?
Dylux: Butcher at 20.
Butcher.
Iakona: Butcher!
iVSlime: Tell me another hero that does that and ALSO drops turrets.
Glaurung: I haven't played that hero in a while...
But all joking aside, you're confident in your usual aggressive play style?
Glaurung: Ya.
Iakona: Aye.
Hospital: Of course, we're not planning on changing anything like that before Vegas.
Dylux: The respect bans will probably be real because of that.
And how do you deal with that? The targeted bans specifically at some of Glaurung's comfort picks.
Glaurung: I am good at four heroes, I don't blame people for removing said heroes from me.
iVSlime: lol
Iakona: Hey I'm good at four heroes, but I don't get any respect bans. :(
Dylux: A lot of times I think the fact that people feel like they need to play around our strengths gives us more opportunities in the draft.
That's a great way to look at it. Force respect bans for more draft freedom.
Iakona: It also makes it easier to prepare for drafts since we can generally predict what the other team will ban.
So speaking of preparation, how do you ready yourself mentally as a team for something as big as Vegas. There's got to be some nerves about an event like that.
Iakona: I think playing at PAX Prime was some of the best practice we could have gotten for the team. We got out of our comfort zone, playing and practicing in a new environment. We also got to play in front of a live audience with white noise setup. Not all the teams going to Vegas can say that
Dylux: I wont lie when I say there is a lot of pressure. I think in this situation it's good for us to get out of our comfort zone and do what we can to relieve that tension (within reason)
Glaurung: I'm not nervous.
iVSlime: I'm not nervous either.
Glaurung: I was nervous when I was five years old getting my shots so I could go to kindergarten, but here I'm ready to win.
That's a big part of it though right? Just going in with the mindset that you WILL win.
iVSlime: Yep
Blizzcon is the overall goal of course, have you guys been preparing for international competition more or is it that more of a 'we'll cross that bridge when we come to it' deal.
Dylux: We watch the international games, I think the idea right now is to focus on the task at hand.
Hospital: We'll have plenty of time to prepare for the teams that end up at blizzcon, so I don't think we're too concerned.
Is there any inspiration you've drawn from those international games? Something the NA scene may not expect?
Glaurung: Team Liquid is a unique team, I personally learned a lot scrimming versus them.
Yeah they draft some very... interesting stuff huh?
Glaurung: They are pretty similar to us. Blackscorp and I have similar play styles.
Alright well are there any last things you guys would like to say to your fans? Any shoutouts?
Glaurung: <3
Iakona: Shoutouts to you for being here talking to us right now, er uh typing.
Dylux: Thank you to AFK Gamer Lounge for helping us with the space to perfect our game, and the head chef Sal for making us breakfast nearly everyday. Without him we would be very hungry.
iVSlime: Thanks to the squad for helping me catch back up after my absence.
Iakona: Well I do have that protein shake thing that I drink, so I might not be as hungry.
Hospital: Shout outs to all those who support us and our org for being awesome.
You can find COGnitive on their twitters: @cog_hospital, @cog_slime, @cog_iakona, @cog_glaurung, @cog_scylol and their manager @cog_dylux.
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