autimatic: "We were 0-2 at the last Major, and we came through. I think we can do it again."
After Cloud9 finally got off the mark against Winstrike last night, Michael "Duck" Moriarty caught up with Timothy "autimatic" Ta to discuss the match and previous form at the Major.
That was a fairly long game, what are your thoughts afterwards?
I think that Winstrike had some good reads, but at the same time we made a lot of foolish mistakes. A couple clutches we lost, and a couple rounds we had to clutch because of a prior mistake. I'm not happy about our performance, but I am happy that we will be at the next Major.
You started off fairly strong, a 13-2 half with quite a few long streaks in it. At half-time, what were you and the team thinking?
I think we got eco'd, because we did one of our strats wrong, or did something wrong. One mistake turned into two mistakes, and then two mistakes turned into three, and it just snowballed for the entire half. Thankfully we were able to pull it back, but yeah, that is basically what happened.
You managed to take match point in the second half, but then Winstrike brought it to overtime. There were some things Golden was saying during the match that I won't repeat — was there similar things going on in your head?
During the match, for me, it's different for Golden because he is the leader. He's responsible and holding everyone accountable. But for me, I'm just focused on my part of the map, and focused on whatever I can do to make his job easier. So that is all I was thinking about.
You've completed a game, you're off the mark, where do you see the team going from here? Can you see yourselves getting through to playoffs?
Well, we were 0-2 at the last Major, and we came through. I think we can do it again, for sure. We lost a couple matches that I think we should have won in the early stages, but yeah, we're just going to take it one match at a time. I think we can make it through, and probably win.
Just speaking on the past two games, I'll leave Vega Squadron out of it, because I don't think that is a memory you want to revisit. In the HellRaisers game, which was surprisingly close. Considering how close you were in that match, what were you guys thinking of before you came in today.
We learned a lot from that match. We played Overpass, and today we played Inferno, so it isn't like we learned anything map specific, but we learned a lot about how the team dynamic should be. We had a really long team meeting just talking through the loss, and any external factors that might have caused it. The problems within the team aren't solved by any means, but we are working towards it and are aware of it. With that being said, I think we came into the match today with a really good attitude.
Touching on team dynamics, you're still a fairly young team with two major components that only recently slotted in. You said you are working on figuring out how everything fits together, is it something you hope to complete during this Major, or is it something you'll focus on later on in the future, and build on it afterwards?
I don't think it would be possible to complete it during this Major. We bootcamped for maybe two to three weeks. While we got a lot done during that time, a lot of it was just getting to know how to play with new teammates, how they think. We spent a lot of time doing that. The structured stuff, we didn't get much time to iron it out, especially on six maps. I think it would be unrealistic to expect it to be finished by the end of the Major, but hopefully by the next Major. I think it is a long process that we just have to work through.
You're performing lights out still, you got 32 kills in the game just now. You're still seen as the team's star. Does that add any sort of pressure to you, when things aren't going as well as they could be? Or is it just another facet of your game you have to deal with.
I don't really think of myself as the star, I think of myself as trying to do what role is needed. When tarik and Stew were on the team, they were both hyper-aggressive players, so I was more reserved. I tried to lurk and support more. On this team, I'm more of an entry, so it is just about working with what I need to do, and learning to do it the best way possible. So its no pressure if I'm seen as something, because I don't really pay attention.
