Cloud9 at Las Vegas: "Our team never loses when we have the aggressive heroes."

More in this series: COGnitive Gaming (2), Murloc Geniuses, compLexity Gaming (2), Tempo Storm (2), Furious Gaming, Team Immunity, Relics.

Cloud9 was one of the last teams to be interviewed, which was oddly fitting. There was a "final boss" feel around the press room, as every team we had interviewed before had mentioned Cloud9 as being the team to beat. As they walked in and introductions were made, iDream was quick to joke about his dislike of interviews and how there would be "No questions allowed". We asked questions anyway, and seeming like they were just happy to be there, Cloud9 answered:

Every other team we have interviewed have said you are the team to beat. How does that feel?

DunkTrain: Feels good.

Fan- Yes, it feels go to be feared.

(Team laughs)

How do you keep from becoming arrogant?

iDream: We joke around and keep it lighthearted so we don’t turn it to arrogance.

Tell us about your confidence level against Tempo Storm since the infamous 6-5 victory you had over them.

iDream: It was the first tournament since Fan had switched roles, which really helped.

Dunktrain: The Meta has changed and it made our crazy style of play possible. In that set, we had a lot of bad energy but managed to turn that into something positive. It went from us picking Sonya and feeling like “Man, we aren’t playing the heroes we want” to like “Oh wow, we have Sonya just kill everything.” That type of positive energy allowed the comeback. Picking Sonya to just killing everyone.

iDream: Our team never loses when we have the aggressive heroes.

What teams do you have to worry about besides Tempo?

iDream: compLexity. I’m actually more scared about compLexity than Tempo Storm. I think they have good players and are the second best in NA.

Where does Cloud 9 place Rexxar on importance this tournament?

iDream: Our team has barely played him in scrims and we haven't really played him at all.

Dunktrain: We haven’t had much experience. We are kinda surprised that he is going to be in the tournament after all, and the 1 day ban reversal is really awkward. Not surprised, but a little frustrated to see a decision be reversed.

What it going to be like playing on such a massive stage?

Dunktrain: It gives us, Tempo Storm and COGnitive some edge because we all have LAN experience. This type of huge stage can make teams scared, but we don’t have to worry about that.

What separates you guys from other teams in this tournament?

Fan: I think we have the best mechanical players. We have the strongest roster if you just consider the group of 5 people. We have the strongest roster in the tournament which doesn’t mean we are going to win it, but we do have the strongest players.

iDream: Relationship-wise, I think our team gets along the best. I think in this game that really helps.

Dunktrain: We are all really laid back guys. Managing the relationships is the most difficult part, and it is really important going forth.

What is Cloud9's weakness? If you had to step outside yourself as a third party, what would you do to defeat yourself?

Dunktrain: Cheese! I would pick the unusual maps. The maps no one likes to play. I would exploit weird drafts and play off- strategies.

Do you expect teams to try?

Dunktrain: Yeah, we aren’t really worried but we pretty much expect every team that isn’t Tempo Storm to try to take us to an unusual map. Whatever they think they can find an edge on.

Fan: I think the best thing about Heroes is as long as we have really strong players, we can win. Even if the map is odd. Like in MSI MGA, Team Liquid said Garden of Terror is their best map. We didn’t play that map for like two weeks but we focused and played well, and won.

How will Heroes esports grow?

Dunktrain: More stability. The number of teams that the scene can sustain is too limited. We need more sustainable involvement from Blizzard. You are going to need more in-depth leaderboards. We need more in-depth focus and maybe Grandmaster League will bring that type of a consistently updating list. Right now, there is no link to esports in the ingame client. That has to change.

Fan: I would really like to see more ways to ban maps. There are way too many maps for the pro's to practice. It is frustrating that other teams can just pick a weak map or a non-popular map.

When you inevitably play against Tempo Storm, who sits next to Zuna?

Dunktrain: I will. I’ll bring an air horn!

Cloud9