Hiko and vice: "Rickeh is still on the team, we're just using TENZKI in the interim"
Though we missed the first few days of action in Dallas, of course we couldn't let it go by without sending someone there in person. To that end, Collin "CarbonDogma" Davis was able to catch Rogue members Spencer "Hiko" Martin and Daniel "vice" Kim before they boarded their flight back to Las Vegas.
Both players were very forthcoming about the issues the team faced after the departure of Casper "cadiaN" Møller, Ricardo "Rickeh" Mulholland's visa issues, and clearing up what is going on with Jesper "TENZKI" Plougmann.
I wanted to start off with cadiaN, and how it was losing him to North, especially since he was the primary AWPer and in-game leader?
Hiko: So, after the Major in London, we had plans... I guess we had plans to use it as more of a learning experience, and build up what we had been building since getting Rickeh for DreamHack Austin. I think we ended up taking a week off, and cadiaN ended up going back home to Denmark. He was supposed to get on a flight on like a Wednesday, and we ended up getting a message from him saying "Oh, sorry, I'm having family issues, I'm not going to be able to travel." So the four of us were like "We hope you're ok", we just hoped nothing serious happened because that was literally all he told us.
A few days after that, after him not really responding to any of our messages, we see a tweet from DeKay that North is looking to pick up cadiaN and cutting MSL. I was definitely panicking at the time, because I couldn't believe — not that I couldn't believe — but that I didn't want to believe that somebody who has been on our team for almost a year wouldn't tell us he was thinking about leaving. He had always been a very open person to us, always very honest about the different offers he had, the different things he was thinking. It definitely caught all of us by surprise that all of a sudden, we're learning from Twitter that our teammate is about to leave.
I personally don't think he handled it the right way, it could have been handled better. It definitely threw us for a loop and messed up the start of our EPL season, which is why we had to play for our spot this weekend.
vice: In terms of in-game, he definitely was a big part of why we were succeeding. Just the amount of time we had from him leaving and the actual season starting was so short that, we basically had to scramble and look for a replacement that could help us rebuild what we had as a team.
In terms of MSL, how did that move come to fruition?
Hiko: Right after cadiaN left, we had a couple people who we were thinking about, and we wound up going with kRYSTAL for the start of the season. Things didn't end up the way we planned. I ended up personally reaching out to MSL, asking him what were his plans, what was he thinking, etc. He actually showed interest in joining us pretty early, but I could tell from the way he was talking that he had other offers. I think he was trying to weigh if it was worth uprooting his life and coming to live in the US.
After a few weeks, once we knew for sure we didn't want to continue with kRYSTAL, we really pursued him. Like I said, he had to take some time to think about it, and I'm glad he ended up deciding it was the move he wanted to make. So yeah, we reached out to him, he thought about it, and he was here about a month later.
This hasn't been officially announced yet, but you guys are trying to get TENZKI instead of Rickeh. What are the reasons behind this? I know he had visa issues for this event.
Hiko: So, I think it was badly planned for ESL to actually announce that the Relegation was going to be taking place this week. I actually checked a few days ago, and they announced the dates and location three weeks ago. We were using Rickeh on whatever kind of visa he was on, a temporary one, the way it works from my understanding is that you have to schedule an appointment, and go back to your home country to actually get your visa for the US. We had scheduled this appointment in Australia for him a month ago, before Relegation dates were even announced. It was just poorly planned, it isn't Rogue's fault, it isn't Rick's fault, either. If I had to place the blame, it would be on ESL for waiting so long to announce it.
We tried to get WESA to grant us an emergency roster move, but because we had Uber as our technical substitute, they told us we had to play with him. But we brought TENZKI here, he is already in Vegas, we've been practicing for the last week and a half. We do plan to use him for the Minor Closed Qualifier, and the StarLadder qualifier that starts this weekend.
Rickeh right now is still in Australia, I think he either has his passport or is getting it back in a couple days. He should be coming back to the US soon.
So TENZKI is just a stand-in, or on a trial?
Hiko: Rickeh is still on the team, we're just using TENZKI in the interim since Rickeh is forced to be in Australia right now. Like I said, he's been here the maximum amount of time he was allowed. We obviously don't want to have any problems with him entering the country again.
As far as this tournament went, you lost to Singularity in the first round, what happened in that game?
vice: I think we got caught off-guard by their style of play, they like to play very aggressive and fast. We didn't stick to our fundamentals and how we practice, which is going slow and feeling out the game. We rushed into our strats a bit. Basically, a lot of mistakes from us, it wasn't really them playing that well, maybe a few players were standing out. But as a team we are just better in every aspect, there was really no reason for us to lose that game other than us making mistakes. I think it showed in the second series that we took a look at our games and fixed our mistakes, and it was pretty easy the second time around.
Hiko: We were also banking on being able to use TENZKI, we played with him for eight or nine days before, not really sure if we had to commit to playing with Uber. Once we knew for sure, we only had one day of practice with [Uber] before we flew. So one day with Uber, we did one scrim of all the maps we planned on playing, and that was it.
Both EPL teams wound up keeping their spots this time around, was that the expected outcome?
Hiko: I would say so. Envy definitely had a rough online season, but if I had to order the four teams that were in Relegation, assuming we're the best team, I would say Envy is definitely the second. Singularity and cantwinalan both have the potential to upset us, but on paper it should have been us and Envy.
The Minor Closed Qualifier is next week, how do you like your chances there?
Hiko: We're playing Test Takers first, which is ptr, shinobi, and some other people. Out of all the mini-brackets to get to the actual Minor, I think we have one of the easiest. I'm pretty confident. We're flying out in a couple hours to head back to Vegas, all four of us, TENZKI is already there. We're going to have a week of bootcamping before we play the actual qualifier.
While TENZKI is playing with you guys, who will be picking up the AWP? Or has that not been decided?
vice: MSL is AWPing, I think he's been doing a good job.
Even when Rickeh returns?
vice: Yeah, Rickeh will maybe be the secondary, but MSL really prefers that we only play one AWP.
As mentioned, Rogue's next events are the StarSeries i-League Season 7 North America qualfier, and the IEM Katowice North America Closed Qualifier, with their first match in the former occurring later today. As it stands, the team will be using TENZKI in Rickeh's stead.
