Immortals has graciously helped and allowed me to have a small talk with their two new South Korean players; the incredibly stoic and confident, Young Seo "KariV" Park, and the soft, but wonderful, Pan-Seung "Fate" Koo. Here, we talk about their history in games, their thoughts about Overwatch, and even a helpful tip for anyone learning Korean towards the end. I extend a huge “thank you” to Immortal’s Overwatch General Manager, Joshua “dzMins” Kim for translation, definitely could not have done this without him.

Thanks so much guys for having me here today. I wanted to start with -- how has America been so far, for the both of you? Hopefully the plane was alright? Did you have a chance to go sightseeing at all?

Fate: “First and foremost, the plane was extremely comfortable. The people in America are all very nice and the team house, environment, and generally the scenery is beautiful. It’s really nice.”

KariV: “The plane ride was pretty nice and the team house environment is very fun.”

Mighty AOD as a team was incredibly flexible with their champion picks. Kariv is known for his amazing hitscan play, while also being a tier 1 support, and Fate seemingly being able to play any tank under the sun. What are both of your thoughts on the idea of “flexibility” in Overwatch?

Fate: “Hmmm, well to... [pause] ‘...flexibility, flexibility.’ So, all the strong Korean teams are all flexible and they try to stay flexible and they try to use that as a strength.”

KariV: “Of course it's important!”

Fate: “So, yes, I’d agree that it is incredibly important to be flexible.”

Something that Cloud 9’s coach, Bishop, had said in numerous interviews is that Korea looks more at the team’s color, rather than a player's personal style. What do you think Immortals’ “team color” is? What do you both think about this topic?

KariV: “So, right now our ‘dive’ composition is very strong, but a team has to find their own ‘color’ and play around that ideology.”

Fate: “It’s an easy answer to give, it is fairly straightforward: every team tries to look for what they’re best at and once they find it they try to capitalize on that. And that becomes your team color, so of course, team color is extremely important.”

A question just for Kariv: everyone in the west knows you for your amazing Widowmaker highlight play against Rogue. If you reach back in your memory, what was going through your head in that moment?

KariV: “I wanted to win, so I picked Widowmaker, and Rogue just wasn’t able to suppress my Widow. Their heads just got in the way of my shots. I didn’t really think too much of it.”

Lunatic-Hai’s Miro, had some fond things to say of Fate when it came time for the pre-game interview during their match in OGN APEX Season 3. How did it feel being recognized as a superior Reinhardt player known for outsmarting his opponents?

Fate: “When I heard it, I was very thankful that Miro would say something like that. There’s still is a lot to work on. Once I heard Miro say that though, I thought ‘I am going to try even harder now, so that everyone can acknowledge me’.”

Staying with that same topic, who (if anyone) was an influencer on how you play games? It doesn’t have to be an example within Overwatch. Had anyone ever influenced them with what role they’ve decided to play?

KariV: “No one, really.”

Fate: “I started playing main tank role back in January, a little bit late into the game. And I started from the very bottom, from like level 0. I had tons of hardships along the way. Everyone around me was critical of my play, so I never really had a particular person to look up to. So, I said to myself, ‘I am going to tough through this and get to where I want to be on my own’.”

Just a little something to break up the seriousness of the questions; what are both of your favorite games?

Fate: “Before Overwatch, League of Legends!”

KariV: “Overwatch.”

Let’s talk about Overwatch Contenders. Both Kariv and Fate flew into the States on Day 1 so, your play was not judged harshly. However, Day 2 Immortals as a team looked very strong straight out of the gates. Is that the level of play we can hopefully see from you both in the future?

KariV: “Yes.”

Fate: “Of course, of course!”

Was there anyone during Overwatch Contenders that stood out to them and surprised them?

KariV: “Nope.”

Fate: “There was not a particular player or a team, persay. What did surprise me was the amount of Pharah and Mercy the North American teams tend to use. In Korea, we don’t really run that composition very much. It was pretty pesky to compete against.”

After falling to them in Group A of APEX, would you like a chance to have a rematch against Rogue in the future?

Fate: “Definitely! I would like to meet up with them and play again.”

KariV: “It doesn’t matter too much, It’s not something I think about.”

An idea that has always entertained me personally was when players gave their own ideas about how the game, in their opinion, should be designed. However silly or crazy, if you both could change one aspect of the game, what would you change? Would you ban any heroes?

KariV: “Ohhh, hmm. Maybe, map bans might be kind of fun.”

Fate: “Nothing really comes to mind, for me.”

Something that I’ve recent thought about a lot is how players value the game itself, in a strategical sense. With the amount of “dive” that is being played, do you both enjoy playing dive or would you rather it be more of a slow metagame? Overall, what is your general thoughts on the state of the metagame currently?

KariV: “Dive, dive, dive! I enjoy playing dive.”

Fate: “I don’t personally enjoy dive compositions too much better than another strategy. Currently though, seeing how the faster tempo of ‘dive’ is very strong, I don’t mind playing it.”

Immortals just announced the signing of Kang-Jae “envy” Lee to the Immortals family. Could you talk a bit about envy as a player? Are you excited to have him as your 7th man?

KariV: “It’s good.” Translator dzMins: “Is that all you're going to say KariV?” KariV: “No no, I'm still thinking…”

Fate: “While he’s thinking, I personally have always viewed ‘envy’ as an extremely good player. When I heard that he was coming into the team house I was incredibly excited. Not only that but working with our coach as well. Overall, I’m happy, to say the least.”

KariV: “Envy has a very large hero pool and is very talented. So, I too am quite excited about envy. I also have a lot of respect and faith in Coach Ookz’s decision to bring him over to the team. I trust that he is going to make our team strong.”

For foreign players that may travel to Korea, what is one Korean phrase that might help them out in solo que?

KariV: ‘Gaepi’ (gae-pii) or ‘low HP’

Fate: “Geukhyum” (geuk-hyum) or ‘hate’”. (For example, you might say this when someone is cheating, trolling, or picking Hanzo and is bad at it.)

And one question that I ask everyone at the end of their interview is why Overwatch? What drives you both back to play the game endless amounts of time? What about Overwatch has captured your attention?

KariV: “Well first of all, Overwatch is the most fun. And everyday I practice, I can see and feel myself getting better. The reason why I play this game 24/7 is because it’s fun and it's what I enjoy doing. I really have nothing bad to say about it.”

Fate: “I used to love games, ever since I was young. Similar to KariV, one of the big reasons why I still play, is because I can see myself getting better, it feels wonderful.”

Again, a huge “thank you” to Immortal’s Overwatch General Manager, Joshua “dzMins” Kim for translation. A huge thank you to KariV and Fate for talking with me, and a thank you to Immortals for giving me this opportunity. If you’d like to follow these fine fellows, you can follow KariV at @KariVOW, you can follow Fate at @panseung2, and Joshua at @dzMins.

Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLG’s of 2006. He started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has transitioned from viewer to journalist and writes freelance primarily about Overwatch and League of Legends. If you would like to know more or follow his thoughts on esports you can follow him at @Volamel.

Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment, OGN, and Immortals.