Volamel
2023-12-29 09:04:05
Let's start with a little Wmaimone history. Nearly three years to the day, Liquipedia has you listed as competing with "Team Name" during the ZOTAC Cup #10. First, is this true (you know how Liquipedia can be) and what do you remember from the event? Yeah, I remember the tournament briefly, think it was the first tournament that I streamed on Twitch. Skytorr and Alex were two players that I played with during my first Overwatch Contenders Trials run, good memories. How would you compare that Wmaimone to the one who graced the stage at the 2023 Overwatch World Cup or at Flash Ops: Holiday Showdown? How do you think you've grown as a player? Do those two people have the same goals and are the same teammates? Well, obviously I didn’t really get to show much DPS during the BlizzCon stage of the World Cup so it's hard to compare my performance from then to Flash Ops. However, if I compare myself as a player from at the start of this year to the end I’d say I’ve grown a lot. Firstly my overall skills have grown a lot I think. I can thank that to being surrounded by so many talented players on Team UK as well as by far the best coaches ever I’ve worked with. Also think as a person I grew a lot and dealing with problems playing at such a big LAN stage probably helped with that. My goals are still the same as always, making it fully pro, and playing at the highest level against the best players. Right now is a bit a of weird period though cause we’re just waiting on the news of what's going to happen moving forward with Path To Pro so I’m definitely open to other opportunities like collegiate but playing pro is my number one goal. Speaking of Flash Ops, you and enoivilbO xE finished in third. Assuming this is the format moving forward for competitive Overwatch, does the return to the open tournament structure feel good? Anything you would like to see changed? Yeah I mean this tournament was really fun. I think allowing it to be streamed on Twitch by not only players for their POVs but also co-streams creates so much more hype for the event. I think whatever format if they do go regional-based I think there needs to be at least one LAN per year where the best teams from every region play. But yeah overall I can see it doing a lot of good for the scene. In your Upper Bracket match against Ex Oblivione it felt like you guys were not intimidated at all playing against such a stacked team. Throughout Control, it felt as though you guys really wanted to set the tempo and try and act first, is that a fair read? Do you think stylistically that was the easier of the two matches? Yeah I mean it's not like we were scared of either team it’s more just the comps and matchups we got to play against EXO favoured us a lot more. Like first map Busan, we got to catch them off guard with the queen comp on the first round and then in the second round, we got a dive mirror which in theory is the best mirror for us against them. What was the call to have Khenail and Crispy on Lucio/Moira primarily? It seemed as though it was difficult for you guys to get through the neutral on New Junk City against Sr Peak Check, would you agree? Does that because of playing into the double flex support? Well, we had success with the comp against EXO but in reality, it's just that the queen comp that they played makes way more sense to play the Moira, Mucio, and Reaper comp into. In hindsight, we should’ve just stuck to the Sojourn, Baptiste, and Lucio against SR Peak Check and it would’ve been a way closer game. They played the macro really well against us making sure to keep their Sojourn/Baptiste in untouchable positions. Just resulted in a really hard game. Rolling into Push, you all started with a considerable lead. Talk to me a little about how you guys were feeling in that moment where you win that first fight with Hybrid landing an early pick. JAKE actually mentioned that he "wouldn't advise" anyone to be playing Winston in that match-up? Was the game plan to use Junker Queen to limit Hadi's movement and bully him a little? Well, normally we would play dive on that map and end up in a mirror against them. But we thought we could bring out the Junker Queen which they wouldn't expect but with Tracer instead of Genji like we did on Busan. We thought this would give us a better chance of winning the map. Really, REALLY should’ve won that map and made it 2-2. We were all really disappointed to lose that map but think EXO’s experience in those sorts of clutch scenarios helped them to close out the series. Now that Flash Ops is over, what is the biggest change no one is talking about from a player's perspective? Now that the league has closed, has the practice culture changed at all? Are there more or less creative compositions? Are things being taken more or less seriously? Well, I’d say the biggest change is that basically there's just nothing right now, before now it’s felt like there's always been some sort of tourney to look forward to, whether that be OWL or Overwatch Contenders. Like normally by now pretty much everyone would know if they’re on an OWL team. Not to mention the fact the news about what’s going to happen with Overwatch esports hasn’t been released yet. Pretty much no teams are scrimming because there’s no tournament to prepare for. So outside of ranked there are limited ways to practice right now. Overall I’d say things are way less serious right now other than the few small tourneys in which some people are playing. Lastly, with New Year's right around the corner, what is one word you hope to embody in 2024. What does that word mean to you and why choose it? Fulfilled - I think whatever ends up happening with Overwatch esports and whatever I personally end up doing I just hope I’m happy with how I develop inside and outside of the game.The Welsh terror is ready to prove himself to the world 🏴
We are delighted to welcome @WMaimone_OW to Team GBR! 🇬🇧#RoarAsOne 🇬🇧 #OWWC2023 pic.twitter.com/r9iI48Tisl — 7Lions OWWC 🇬🇧 (@7LionsOW) April 15, 2023