Time:  18:15:48 CET  09:15:48 PST  12:15:48 EST  02:15:48 Seoul  01:15:48 Beijing
NEWS
Serennia speaks out on ESL LA controversy
SK's WoW PvP leader Vance "Serennia" Phuoc discusses the team's performance this weekend, as well as all the controversy regarding a certain video.
By Rod 'Slasher' Breslau
Oct 6, 2008 05:50
SK's WoW PvP leader Vance "Serennia" Phuoc discusses the team's performance this weekend, as well as all the controversy regarding a certain video.SK was eliminated by Pandemic's squad in the relegation match after the groups had finished. Early on in the game, all hell broke loose and ESL's cameras were there to see it all. Serennia sits down with me to talk about what happened and what's going on.
So, can you explain what happened?
SK.Serennia: During the first game against Pandemic, we were slightly behind in the match and were trying to play catch up. Swarm started trying to tell me certain things to do during the match that just weren't possible to do at the time. He felt that I was playing badly, even
Watch the video here: Swarm reacts
Besides the fact that his actions were unacceptable no matter the situation, did he have a point at all in what he was saying?
SK.Serennia: He was trying to make the point that Kintt, Pandemic's priest, was allowed too much room to breathe and allowed to play aggressively against us, mana burn us. He was trying to tell me to get on Kintt more and stick to him, but if I stuck only to their priest and not their rogue or druid it wouldn't have worked. For one, their druid would be freely cast crowd control on me which is what he was doing, and two, we wouldn't be able to mitigate much of the damage from the rogue, not to mention we wouldn't be able to kite him either. My strategy was to snare the rogue when I needed to, and stun the rogue when I felt we were in trouble, but mainly stick to the priest. He wanted me to stick to the priest the entire fight.
There were just certain times he wanted me on the priest but there was no way to get to him. I would be crowd controlled by their druid, would have to use my intercept on their rogue or priest, and if I got cc'ed by the end of the intercept, then I would have no way to get back to the priest again. I would get on the nearest available target which was usually the rogue, he would yell at me to get on the priest.
What's the current status of the team right now?
Do you think this will be resolved by the ESL Montreal event?
SK.Serennia: It'll depend on if we find a third person that fits into the class comp in respect to the new patch, as well as someone that's a cooperative team player. I've actually been talking to Neilyo about possibly reconstructing the team. In the situation with the previous team with Neilyo, we were mainly missing a third solid player that could be flexible with their class and such. I feel we have the same problem with the current team, lack of flexibility with at least one of us.
What about Neilyo leaving in the first place?
SK.Serennia: Neilyo had a good reason, we were continually running similar comps with double melee. Double melee was in a big decline at the time (and still is), and he felt that doing a different class composition with his rogue would be better in the long run. His team has shown pretty poor results online though, so I'm hoping we'll be able to construct something together. We'll have to see what happens.
A part two video interview with Serennia will be available over the next day.
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photo: ESL
So, can you explain what happened?
SK.Serennia: During the first game against Pandemic, we were slightly behind in the match and were trying to play catch up. Swarm started trying to tell me certain things to do during the match that just weren't possible to do at the time. He felt that I was playing badly, even
"I was just trying to reason with him but he lost his mind. I feel bad for trying to convince SK that he would be a good third person, even though he was good in live play."
though I didn't have the option to do what he wanted me to do. He stood up during the match and walked up away from his computer before anyone had died or anything had happened, and I had to tell him to sit back down, which he eventually did, and died 10-15 seconds later. After the match he began arguing with me with what we should have done and why we lost. Even if he were right in what he was saying, it's still entirely unprofessional and unacceptable behavior. He tried to put the blame on me and he was just being immature, threatening to leave the tournament. I was just trying to reason with him but he lost his mind. I feel bad for trying to convince SK that he would be a good third person, even though he was good in live play.Watch the video here: Swarm reacts
Besides the fact that his actions were unacceptable no matter the situation, did he have a point at all in what he was saying?
SK.Serennia: He was trying to make the point that Kintt, Pandemic's priest, was allowed too much room to breathe and allowed to play aggressively against us, mana burn us. He was trying to tell me to get on Kintt more and stick to him, but if I stuck only to their priest and not their rogue or druid it wouldn't have worked. For one, their druid would be freely cast crowd control on me which is what he was doing, and two, we wouldn't be able to mitigate much of the damage from the rogue, not to mention we wouldn't be able to kite him either. My strategy was to snare the rogue when I needed to, and stun the rogue when I felt we were in trouble, but mainly stick to the priest. He wanted me to stick to the priest the entire fight.
There were just certain times he wanted me on the priest but there was no way to get to him. I would be crowd controlled by their druid, would have to use my intercept on their rogue or priest, and if I got cc'ed by the end of the intercept, then I would have no way to get back to the priest again. I would get on the nearest available target which was usually the rogue, he would yell at me to get on the priest.
What's the current status of the team right now?
"Even if the team continues without swarm, it might be a better team overall because of the new patch that's coming."
SK.Serennia: I think Chumpjohn did fairly well, he has a lot to improve on since it was his first LAN tournament. As far as swarm is concerned, we've been trying to talk to him but he's been mostly unreasonable, acting very immature. I've already emailed SK management about it so it's up to them to do what they want with him. I feel, especially with the 3.0 patch coming including sweeping class changes, that the priest class did not get many boosts that it needed whereas other classes got several buffs to them. Even if the team continues without swarm, it might be a better team overall because of the new patch that's coming.Do you think this will be resolved by the ESL Montreal event?
SK.Serennia: It'll depend on if we find a third person that fits into the class comp in respect to the new patch, as well as someone that's a cooperative team player. I've actually been talking to Neilyo about possibly reconstructing the team. In the situation with the previous team with Neilyo, we were mainly missing a third solid player that could be flexible with their class and such. I feel we have the same problem with the current team, lack of flexibility with at least one of us.
What about Neilyo leaving in the first place?
SK.Serennia: Neilyo had a good reason, we were continually running similar comps with double melee. Double melee was in a big decline at the time (and still is), and he felt that doing a different class composition with his rogue would be better in the long run. His team has shown pretty poor results online though, so I'm hoping we'll be able to construct something together. We'll have to see what happens.
A part two video interview with Serennia will be available over the next day.
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photo: ESL
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