dapr: "It is amazing that I get to scrim with [swag] everyday"

We caught up with Michael "dapr" Gulino on Saturday in the Twitch Lounge at the Barclays Arena to pick his brain about his past and future.

How does it feel to be brought on to this team featuring legendary names such as Sam "DaZeD" Marine, Keven "AZK" Lariviere and Braxton "swag" Pierce?

Obviously there is a huge motivation factor for me, because I just want to impress these fantastic players. I think that swag is still one of the best North American players, probably the best. It is amazing that I get to scrim with him everyday, and he constantly impresses me. We have a lot of learning to do, they have to evolve into the meta because they have been out of the game for so long. I think that AZK really is eager to get back into and show he is a top five player in the region, and the same with DaZeD.

Is that an interesting dynamic, where they are teaching you how to think about the game, and you are teaching them the current meta?

Yeah, that is exactly how it is working. For example I'm showing them arch smokes on Inferno — they are out of it, because all they play is Rank S, and AZK doesn't even play that. I'm learning a lot from them, and teaching them the current meta.

Talk about how you found yourself on this team, the core three obviously had a lot of options in terms of players.

I was in the limelight a little bit from Rank S, I had been performing real well. I know swag a little bit, and I had some people vouch for me. It came out of the blue, I didn't expect it at all — he DM'ed me on Twitter one day and straight up asked "Do you want to play with us". I hadn't played with them or scrimmed with them beforehand. I think they wanted someone out of contract, since they don't have an organization right now they can't afford the buyouts of top players like Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski or Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte. They want to shift into the meta more, so they are taking this Premier season with me and Matt "Pollo" Wilson to get their feet wet.

Are you concerned that the lineup will not be able to participate in some events (most notably Majors)? Or are you just hoping to get experience?

Yeah, just experience. Even with these qualifiers, I'm hoping that given some time we can wind up in Premier playoffs, and that we can sneak into one of these DreamHack qualifiers and upset some of these top teams. Because I do think that if we play well, mesh well, practice well, we will be able to upset the NRG's or CLG's — these very upsettable teams.

Was there a reason why you guys did not participate the EPICENTER qualifiers?

I don't think we had even played before those qualifiers, I think our first scrim was Sunday, during one of the qualifiers. I think I was moving out of the Denial house in the middle of that, I had just got home that morning.

Speaking of Denial, the organization has been mired in controversy both before and presently, is there anything you would like to say about that situation?

I don't think legally I can say anything, because there are lawyers involved, so I don't really want to speak on Denial too much. As a lineup, I think we were actually a good lineup, we didn't perform up to my expectations. I thought we could have done really well, we had a lot of experience, and myself and Dylan "RIKO" Arnce could frag out, but we didn't even make ESEA playoffs. We did make ECS Development League, but I don't know. We didn't really mesh well or get along, it just never worked out. Plus the organization itself was a big problem.

Do you feel like this next season is make-or-break for you as an individual?

Yeah, you could say that. If I do really well, it could definitely get my name out there and boost my career. Obviously I'm aiming for that and giving 110% — the past two months,  I don't think I've dipped below 100 hours past two weeks, I've been grinding. Especially since the team got announced, I've been playing even more, deathmatching about three hours a day. I do bad, or the team does bad, I don't think it will break my career, but I'll be upset as a person.

ESEA Premier will be moving to a map veto system this season. What are your thoughts on that and do you think it will benefit your team?

I love it, I think it is a great change and I'm glad they did it. Every other league uses vetos, so I think it is a step in the right direction and definitely benefits us — in the sense that we aren't forced to play two matches on bad maps [for the team].

You get out to smaller LANs around the US with some frequency. What do you think of the LAN scene in North America, and how it compares to Europe?

I always wish there were more events, I love LAN, I love the atmosphere, the environment, and meeting passionate people. I wish that there were more organizers running events in North America.

GX will make there debut as a unit in ESEA Premier Season 26, which is set to start on September 26.