COGnitive at Vegas: "If we are forcing bans from fear, that really helps us."

More in this series: COGnitive Gaming, Murloc Geniuses, compLexity Gaming (2), Cloud9, Tempo Storm (2), Furious Gaming, Team Immunity, Relics.[/c

Cognitive enters LAN events with a different attitude than most teams. They are casual (almost flippant) when questioned about the high stakes or how badly they want to win. It says a lot about a team when they don’t even know how much prize money is at stake. Do they purposefully ignore those details, or are they really just here for the fun of it?

What gives you the edge?

Glaurung: I like killing things. Our melee assassin play is the best of anyone here, and even though Murloc and Cloud 9 maybe play Melee assasins, it's not like us.

What do you guys think of Rexxar?

Scylol: Rexxar is bad. Misha is the hero, Misha is good, not Rexxar. There is always a place for a hero, but not this weekend. A lot of people are thinking that he is really strong and really gamebreakinig, but he is just easy to kill. And people are not used to that. In a scrim, I solo’ed him with an Illidan-Abathur clone

iVSlime: I just don’t think he does anything. He is so easy to kill.

Glaurung: I think he does have a place and he does have strengths, but versus us, no way. Our melee assassin play makes it easy to kill him. Tempo Storm vs Murloc Geniuses- yeah he would be a strong pick because they play warrior and dive comps. For us, there is 0 value on Rexxar. People may put to much emphasis on warriors in the draft, meaning we can prioritize on damage and get the support we want. Well, I view the game extremely differently then most players. What a tank brings to the game are wave clears and team control in a fight. But, if you draft a comp that is aggressive enough so they can't utilize their wave clear or a comp with something like an Abathur that can passively push lanes, it becomes much easier. Right now, if you are going to play double tank vs double tank sure. Pick Rexxar, But with our team style, it doesn’t really matter.

How will you get an advantage on the other teams?

Glaurung: I expect the teams to constantly ban our melee assassins and we are expecting that.

Scylol: Thrall is coming.

Glaurung: We even have Sonya in our back pocket.

Which team have you been paying the most attention to?

Glaurung: Complexity. We have to beat them but we are pretty sure we will HAVE to play Tempo or Cloud 9. The only match I am really worried against is the play off match- the semi-finals.

iVSlime: I really think Murlocs has a chance to beat Tempo, but I think Cloud 9 is just totally confirmed.

Glaurung: I’m not sleeping any other team, but Cloud 9 is the team to beat. They are on another level.

How do you beat Cloud9?

Glaurung: Tilt iDream.

Scylol: He came out of womb tilted.

(everyone laughs)

Glaurung: We scrim Cloud 9 a lot and they really know their style. We get out drafted a lot and that is my fault. But if we can make them play our game, we will win. If we get out drafted, we will lose.

Do you have tricks up your sleeves?

iakona: Well, the secrets are generally out. We have scrimmed with a lot of teams.

What is your drafting strategies?

Glaurung: My theory in the draft is to pull out some wonky strats. Hopefully the strategies specifically will force target bans that will open us up to another areas in the draft. If we are forcing bans from fear, that really helps us. I think it’s cool. It’s annoying to get target banned, but the whole mind game to see if our first set induces fear in a ban… that cool. I get hyped. I get excited.

iakona: I only play supports so..

What support do you need to make your playstyle work?

iakona: You need a burst healer, Uther and Rehgar. Depending on the team comp, you can get away with Malf if they are running double tank. It depends on the enemy composition- it defines on the support. In general, Uther is always good, but if the situation calls for it.

What does it take for a Melee Assassin to be tournament worthy?

Glaurung: The determining factor is how mobile they are. I would probably say that Zeratul is still my favorite. The mobility is so key. That is why I love heroes like Kerrigans. If you can use your Q multiple times, you're a good Kerrigan. I don’t see anyone else do that so I don’t think anyone else is good with Kerrigan. Mobility. Kill pressure. Burst damage. Butcher is not super mobile, but he has the burst damage. Illidan has the most survivability and is extremely mobile. I don’t like Thrall and I don’t like Sonya..

Scylol: He’s just bad at them, that is why.

Glaurung: I’m decent at Sonya now!

Is there a place for Kharazim?

Scylol: There is a place. MVP Black used him a couple weeks ago and comps that we run can use them. He is good on heavy dive comps and is one of the only supports that can stick with a melee assassin.

Glaurung: In certain situations he is a better Brightwing. I personally don’t think he is very strong, but it is situational.

iakona: There are better heroes them him- if you can get Uther, why bother with Kharazim?

What would you do with the money?

Scylol: I don’t even know how much we would win. No one cares about the money, we just want to win. I mean, I would buy a cat house.

Glaurung: I would probably go to Japan, visit family and friends, go site seeing, get drunk.

iakona: Check out the competition!

Any words for your fans?

Scylol: We have fans?

Hospital: Thanks for the support thanks for cheering for us.

iVSlime: Hopefully you won’t doubt us now with that roster changes. Some people question it, but others see why why. I hope you still have faith in us.

COGnitive Gaming