Zellsis: "I don't think anyone in MDL can contest us right now"
After Swole Patrol handily taking down ownage in the Fragadelphia 12 grand finals, our very own Joe "tolkienfanatic" Cardali caught up with Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro to get caught up with his team, his teammates, and his hopes for his future.
So you just won Fragadelphia 12 with Swole Patrol, how does it feel?
It feels pretty good, it's actually my first big LAN win. We don't have our full five here, but I think it's still pretty nice that we won.
You mention you don't have your full five here and obviously there's been some fluctuation in the team. You guys brought Brax and MarKE in, MarKE couldn't be here. How are you feeling about the team as a whole right now?
With Brax and MarKE, we've actually been practicing a lot. We're trying to practice seven days a week. Even if we get no scrims, we try and put in server time, come up with new shit. We just added [MarKE] on recently, he couldn't attend Frag, so we brought in yay as a last minute stand-in, and he's honestly the best replacement we could've gotten.
The team has been organization-less for a while. For guys such as freakazoid, that's probably not such a big deal, but for the rest of you, how has that been?
We've been orgless since we started this team actually. We've been trying to get an org for a while. It's just that in the scene, orgs pull out or they promise things they can't give or such like that, so we're just trying to find a good home right now. Not having an org is kinda hard for people that have to work or don't work and then have troubles at home or something like that, but we just all have the same goal of going pro, being the best we can be, winning, and making this a career for ourselves.
What is your life outside of the game like? Are you full-time? Are you in school?
Right now, I'm kinda full-time in CS. I want to get a job and such, but I feel like I'm so close that I just can't make myself get a job and put less hours into CS. I'm just giving my 110% trying to grind hard, trying to win, and just be the best that I can be.
Speaking of being close, you guys were obviously on the doorstep of Pro League and fell short. What was the reaction to that?
Last MDL LAN, we were up 10-2 on the T-side against eUnited on Inferno, and then we kinda blew that lead, we lost 10-16. It's kinda depressing and shocking, but we still had a third map. On Overpass, we actually got eco'd and forcebought five times on that map, so that was really disheartening for us. We actually tried watching a lot of demos, tried fixing our anti-eco's, coming up with more anti-eco's, more strict strats, giving people set positions. We're hoping to make it next season.
You actually have some history with guys like far and knarf and hydrex right, so people that you've played throughout this event. Do you still keep in touch with those guys or what's your relationship like?
So yeah, I was on a team with far, knarf, and hydrex for four seasons actually. That was kinda like where I started my career. I still talk to them kinda, but we kinda had a falling-out for our team, so I don't know if it's a bit awkward for them but I think it's a bit awkward for me personally. But, I try to be friendly with them and talk to them a lot. I'm good friends with hydrex, I like to believe at least and... I'm actually good friends with all of them actually. It's fun seeing them here, meeting them, when they come here, seeing them at LANs if I can.
How is it generally being on a team of freakazoid and now swag, with these big names in North America?
I said in an interview before that I think just because Brax and the iBUYPOWER guys are banned that they should get opportunities that other players get. They should be able to play at tournaments, they should be able to play in top-tier teams.
Obviously Swole Patrol is just grinding up right now, we're not top-top-tier yet. But, I think if they want to be on a top-one team, they should be able to. They shouldn't be denied because they can't play at a Major. So, I think picking up Brax was honestly one of the best decisions we could've made and he's just a super chill guy in and out of the game. He's very skilled, he's very helpful, y'know.
And I've known freak for a while and he's a great guy, good mentor in-game and out, and he helps a lot positively with life and if you need someone to talk to, he's there. He's kinda like a father.
Going into the next season of MDL, this one actually counts. It's for real, it's promotion season, what are the expectations for the season?
So, we actually have higher expectations this season for this roster than we did the roster where we got close to Pro but obviously didn't make it. I honestly think that, I can say this confidently and I think my teammates think so too is, I don't think anyone in MDL can contest us right now. I think Team Dignitas lost ryx and Grim, I think they picked up TenZ and gMd which are good pickups, but I don't think that team will be as good as they were last season. Also, we just had a good history against Bravado and they obviously won MDL last season and I think we're just going to take MDL easily.
Is there anything that you can say about your recently departed teammates in the forms of LILMAN and SileNt?
So LILMAN, he actually quit the game before our team. Like, he didn't want to play anymore and then he went to WESG with subtLe and he was debating whether or not he wanted to comeback or not or something like that. And so, we started playing and he still didn't know if he wanted to comeback, but we obviously started qualifying for LANs, we were winning online, so he just kinda stuck it out. But once we bound out of the Minor, he just didn't want to play anymore and we knew so we just told him, "bro, if you don't want to play, you don't have to, no hard feelings." We're all good friends still.
And then with SileNt, once LILMAN left and then once both of our teams bombed out of playoffs, we had to use Yaz in our playoff match against Gorilla Gang and that was kinda disheartening, but we did the best we could. Once FYB and our team lost in the playoffs, MarKE and swag wanted to join and... no offense to SileNt but that was like a no-brainer, y'know? Like, swag and MarKE are just super talented.
A year from now, what will the career for Zellsis look like?
Top one, baby. Top one. That's the goal. That's the dream.
My personal goal is to be the best player I can be in the world. Obviously, I have a long way to go, but that's my personal goal. And then my team goal is obviously to be the best team in the world.
Stay tuned to Dust2.us for updates on how Zellsis and Swole Patrol's journey to the top is going!
