Team Liquid: “I think we have an underdog aspect to us”
It was a surprise to many when the team formerly known as The Life of Hanzo was picked up by Team Liquid, a bigshot in the esports scene. With no prior results, it was a surprise to see them picked up by such a big name. Team members Dummy and Frisco talk about this element and several other things in this interview.
What attracted you to the Team Liquid Organization?
Dummy: They're one of the most prestigious and well respected organizations in the world. We have complete faith and trust in Liquid to support us better than anyone else could. We also have experience with the organization one way or another. I've used the website since 2010; azk and frisco have friends on the CS team.
So, how will signing with Liquid influence your team’s eSports future?
Dummy: Playing under such a well known brand should do wonders for our e-sports future. The prestige of playing under the Liquid banner will be great for us in the long term, as well as the support they are providing to allow us to fully commit to the game.
With all the controversy surrounding Stopwatch and Competitive mode, what would you guys like to see? Any idea for a way to strike a balance between the two or do you just want to stick with Stopwatch?
Frisco: If they added stopwatch to the competitive mode it would make a lot of the ranked games shorter. I'd like to just stick with stopwatch.
Dummy: I actually don’t feel as strongly about stopwatch as I used to. While i still think it is the best way to go, I definitely see the benefits of rewarding different team compositions by removing stopwatch. I think by making the win condition "map completion" instead of "speed" it produces a variety of compositions, some that can 6man the cart which forces the defense to react, or high mobility compositions that rely on ganking and map control. Like i said, i would prefer stopwatch, but i can see the benefits of the current format. Just for matchmaking at least.
You guys have backgrounds in games like Quake, Counter-Strike and TF2, can you tell me which skills transfer well to Overwatch and which not so much?
Dummy: Aiming and movement is the first thing that comes to mind. Coming from TF2 the team fighting and coordination is very similar, but otherwise the games are actually very different.
Frisco: Coming from Counter-Strike and ShootMania, the most important skills that carry over to Overwatch would probably be aiming and decision making. For me, the hardest skill to learn in Overwatch was the fast-paced hectic style of teamfighting.
Do you guys play fixed roles, meaning you have a dedicated support, dedicated fragger, etc. or are you more flexible?
Frisco: More recently I've been playing a flex role, meaning I play whatever the team really needs, whether it be support, DPS, or off-tank.
"We have fixed roles, but for the most part I think everyone on the team can play any role."
Dummy: We have fixed roles, but for the most part I think everyone on the team can play any role. I recently swapped to DPS and frisco to Flex. Me, AZK, and frisco have all played Widowmaker, Tracer, Genji at one point or another depending on the map or our team composition. Even DaHanG is a very good Tracer, and he mains support.
What are the team’s favorite and least favorite heroes to run?
Frisco:
- Favorite: Pharah, Tracer, Widowmaker, Zarya
- Least Favorite: Whatever dummy is playing
Dummy:
- Team:
- Most people spamming tracers and genji, and while it isn't the most enjoyable experience, I dislike having 2+ winstons on a team. Especially 2/2/2, which makes the game feel super brainless.
- Personal:
- Favorite: Genji/Junkrat/Widow
- Least favorite: Winston
Related to this, what is your strongest map and why?
Frisco: I'll let dummy answer this.
Dummy: Dorado. I think we’re really good about abusing the flank routes on all sections on attack, which leads to fast map completion times. We also have a really good setup and hero comp transitions on every section on defense, so we have the ability to hold teams on any section, whereas on other maps like hollywood or kings row we have a weaker hold on the second section.
Going off of that, what is your weakest map and why?
Dummy: I would say Hollywood. Although I think we still have the ability to beat anyone on Hollywood, we have sub optimal transitions from the first section going into the second on both attack and defend. I think once we address those issues I think I'll be extremely confident on all the payload maps.
Which teams do you feel have an edge on you and which do you feel you have an edge on?
Dummy: Europeans have the biggest edge on us. While I believe Reunited would probably beat us regardless of ping, I think 200+ ping could be the difference maker between some of the games we've had against other teams. As far as having an edge on anyone, I think because we're on even pings we actually fair very well against the top NA teams, and i hope to show that soon.
"I think we have an underdog aspect to us, so it might give us the element of surprise against a team we practice often against"
Frisco: I think we have an underdog aspect to us, so it might give us the element of surprise against a team we practice often against, such as the other top NA teams. We seem to struggle the most against Europeans.
So far your team hasn’t had any top results, does being under the Liquid flag put more pressure on you or does it motivate you even more to succeed?
Dummy: It's definitely motivation more than anything. I'm grateful to be given this opportunity just based on the potential that they see in us. We've been working hard the past few weeks and I hope to show that we deserve to be here in the upcoming Overkill tournament.
Frisco: Well, a little of both I guess. I think the sponsorship has given us a ton of motivation and we're pushing harder than ever to place 1st in one of these tournaments.
What can we expect from you guys in the future?
Frisco: You can expect to see us in as many top-tier tournaments as we can compete in. Almost all of us stream and record very often, so you can expect to see some quality content creation from us. We're putting in a ton of work lately so hopefully everyone can see Team Liquid contest for the "best team in the world" title.
"We're putting in a ton of work lately so hopefully everyone can see Team Liquid contest for the "best team in the world" title."
Dummy: We've been practicing hard and we improve every single week. For beta I can see us placing much better in tournaments and top 3 in NA. Once the game is out I think the sky's the limit.
Finally, any shoutouts you would like to give?
Dummy: Shout out to GosuGamers, without the GG weeklies we wouldn't have received the attention that helped us become Team Liquid. Shoutout to our analyst/manager shade who records our scrims and gives insight, Robin who is basically our Team Liquid dad, and of course our sponsor Team Liquid for supporting us. Follow me at @LiquidDummy on twitter for future twitch streams and youtube videos. I plan on making guides and uploading some scrim/match commentaries.
Frisco: Shoutout to our Team Liquid sponors Alienware, HyperX, HTC, Instant Esports, J!NX, NEEDforSEAT, Plays.tv, Quest Nutrition, Razer, and Twitch.tv for their support. Shoutout to all the Team Liquid fans. Shoutout to Liquid Bumbledad, and all the cool guys in Africa mumble. You guys can follow me and the rest of the Liquid gang on twitter. My personal twitter is @LiquidFrisco, I also stream almost nightly at twitch.tv/fr1sco
For more information on the team, read the post on the pickup here and follow the team members on Twitter:
@LiquidPro, @DaHanG, @LiquidDummy, @LiquidFrisco, @LiquidMESR, @Liquidvee, @LiquidASK
For more competitive Overwatch news and features, follow us on @GosuOverwatch.
