JT: "[TenZ] was actually going to be permanent until Cloud9 stepped in"
Ahead of their match against Sprout in the MDL Global Challenge, Collin "CarbonDogma" Davis sat down with ATK player Johnny "JT" Theodosiou. He discussed losing Aran "Sonic" Groesbeek to Envy, playing with Tyson "TenZ" Ngo and Spencer "Hiko" Martin, and their expectations for the MDL Global Challenge and EPL Relegation.
I want to go back to when you had Sonic on the team, what was it like losing someone who was such a big part of the team to Envy?
Sonic was one of our most important players at the time, obviously he had the most impact on the team, aside from the calling factor. It was difficult, we weren't sure who we were going to get, but we were happy for him because it was a big offer. We hope he does well with Envy.
You picked up TenZ for the rest of MDL, how did that come about?
I approached him - well we looked at a few players for a week - but I approached him, and he seemed pretty interested. We played a few scrims, and he was enjoying it. He was actually going to be permanent until Cloud9 stepped in.
Obviously TenZ was tied to Lazarus for the Minor Closed Qualifier, what was it like playing with Hiko for that event?
Hiko is a veteran player, so it was interesting to hear his insight. He told us about what they did in Rogue, and I think it was very beneficial for us. But when we keep using stand-ins, it is hard for us to win games, which is why we did poorly in that qualifier.
Was your expectation to reach the Minor?
Obviously we were confident we could make the Minor, otherwise we wouldn't be there. We did have doubts though, obviously.
After that you had MDL playoffs, and faced Riot Squad in the first round. Did that go as you expected?
I think the score doesn't tell exactly how that match went. We were up like 14-6 both maps and should have closed them out, but a lack of experience together made the games closer than they should have been. We kind of expected to win that game.
You played Singularity next, but even with TenZ going hard the team couldn't beat them. What happened there?
That was like the third or fourth time we had played Singularity within a month, and they beat us every single time. This time we anti-stratted them a lot more than usual, we thought we were going to win. I guess it is hard for us to beat Singularity for some reason.
Obviously, TenZ got signed by Cloud9, and they have BLAST Los Angeles during this event. How else did losing him impact the team?
Well, considering that when he left the roster locks had already passed, we had no players who wanted to join. We still aren't sure what we are going to do, or who we are going to pick up. We still need to play ESL Pro League Relegation, and the rosters will stay locked, so we will still have to play with our coach.
For this event in particular, what has been the mindset considering you need to play with Tiaan "T.c" Coertzen?
This is just a money tournament, we're just doing our best and seeing who we can beat, try and get into playoffs. We aren't exactly sure how it is going to be.
How do you like your odds in EPL Relegation?
We'll be playing with our coach again, I think we have a good chance of making it, but we'll have to be lucky, definitely, since we will be using a stand-in.
Looking towards getting a permanent fifth player, do you have plans to pick up another South African, or someone from North America?
Honestly, we're entirely unsure. We might pick up a player from ZA, we might pick up an NA player. We're not sure what we're going to do yet.
ATK dropped their opening match at the MDL Global Challenge, and are currently facing off against Australian team Chiefs in the Group B elimination match.
