Team Immunity from Australia is seen as a distinct underdog in the America's Heroes of the Storm Championship but based on their interview, they seem well prepared even after a few days of direct practice.
We had just arrived in Vegas and hurried into the media room. Due to some hotel complications, we had just checked in and were a tad late for the team interviews. We were told that Immunity interview was just starting so thankfully, we didn’t miss much. The room was pretty crowded and I had to sneak around while also looking for a electricity outlook because my laptop was at around 3 percent. Immunity’s jerseys and organization was impressive and, despite being an underdog, it was clear that they really want to win. Once we finally got everything settled, the questions started coming at the AUS Team:
How did you try to prepare for this event?
Naeiou: The scene is small.
Robadobah: It was hard because duo queuing in hero league when someone takes the shot calling role. It destroys the team dynamic because that same person will try to voice or even not say much. Leading up to the tournament, a lot of us had exams. It was very difficult trying to prepare for this. These past 3 days have been the most preparation we could do. We have literally no scrims and very little practice time. We are getting heated in practice, but as soon as practice finishes we are relaxed. When we are not playing or practicing we are relaxed. If we bump out in 2 games, we are not going to think much of it. We don’t have as much resources as the other teams and that is just the reality. If we take a game off C9, I will be ecstatic.
Naeiou: We are the underdogs. No one is rooting for us. We are still going to try very hard, as it is possible for us to take games off of these other teams. A lot of times they have the tendency to throw the game, and we just take it off them. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for sure.
What is your plan against c9?
Enaigon: From what we have seen, reviewing C9 vods, they are pretty standard. They are going to be instalocking their next picks.
Naeiou: There is a difference between knowing what they are going to pick, and know also how to deal with it. We know what they are going to do, but we would have to go through at least 9 hours of vods to figure that out, and we honestly don’t have the time. It ended at 8pm (our practice and media) and we were up all night trying to.
Enaigon: We have barely seen Tempo and Cloud 9 practice before they got here, and that is obvious, they have done all their practice at their teams houses and stuff.
Are you worried about burning out?
Enaigon: We are worried, but we can’t stop trying. We have to look like we care, and we do care- a lot. But it’s better to try. If you don’t do anything or put in the effort- there is no way we will have a chance. The scrim results show that our intense “catch-up” is at least working.
Naeiou: Yeah, we played 9 games today. 9 Scrims and we got 4 wins. That is much better than yesterday, 7 scrims and we only won 1. The first game we got totally destroyed and at least now we know.
What is it like playing with all of these top teams?
Naeiou: Being brutally honest: Before we came here aside from all the exams we kinda just looked over good reviews of C9 and the NA teams and we were like WOW these guys kinda suck. But then we looked at our own VoDs and were like WOW OK we suck too. So we thought we stood somewhat of a chance but as soon as we got here it was really clear that these resources they had made a huge difference. Different strategies we could pick up from playing them, such as these micro level things. No one in Australia does that. It’s obvious these guys are at a greater level then us, but we really have to try our best and learn quick.
How can the Heroes scene grow?
Enaigon: The issue with the heroes scene is they have this big tournaments and money and that gives a lot of hype and activity. However, as soon as the tournament is over, all the teams disappear. The teams disband, the players argue with each other. For example, leading up to our national qualifier, there were like 32 teams. We could scrim all the time with really good teams, but the moment we won, bam. No more scrims. Even our biggest rivals have left. If Blizzard creates a league or some consistent sustainable options, that would help. Not so top heavy. More consistent prize pool with a league. That will give teams and players motivation to stick around.
Naeiou: In Australia, there was only 1 tournament with money and the rest of the time you play for skins.
Sashin: It’s one skin per person.
(everyone laughs)
Naeiou: Who wants that? Playing full time is not an option. You are considered a loser- what are you doing with your life?
Enaigon: Here in the US, it’s viable. There are sponsors, salaries, game developers invest in you. C9 and Tempo won like 40 grand between the two of them. We can’t do it full time and it will never be an option until the infrastructure becomes better.
Naeiou: The only way you will get people to play is when you foster a love of the game. Any other thing is just a casual thing. That particular scene is hard to grow.
Sashin: It’s the market size as well. California it self doubles the population of Australia. It’s very hard to grow.
What features could Blizzard add to help?
Enaigon: In game drafting that doesn’t suck. Promotional and regional tournaments all the time. The content is so irregular that the meta becomes really stale really quickly. Tempo made a really good point during a private chat. Their June qualifier to July in 5 weeks the drafting was identical because Blizzard never released a patch. The game becomes very stale very quickly because of the patch speed. If Blizzard could release a patch every 2-3 weeks that would be ideal. My friends get bored real quick.
Naeiou: I don’t think it’s a lot of the content, I think it’s more about being able to expose other teams. Before we came here we had NO experience playing any other teams. If you give people the opportunity to travel, I mean everyone loves to travel. If you give someone the opportunity to play the game they love, but it grows the scene and gives incentive.
Team Immunity
Chriss "Enaigon" Joss
Robert "robadobah" Purling
Young "Sashin" Kyu Kang
Guangyong "Naeiou" Chuang
Ross "Shy" Jones
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