WARDELL & neptune: "we're still looking at potential players; nothing is 100%"
After Drip or Drown prevailed over FURIA in the grand finals of N3rd Street Gamers' Eastern Conference Championship, Dust2.us' very own Joe "tolkienfanatic" Cardali had the opportunity to catch up with the Ghost duo of Jason "neptune" Tran and Matthew "WARDELL" Yu.
The two Ghost players talked about what it's like returning to play at a local LAN after their professional experience, what it's like being coached by James "JamezIRL" Macaulay, how they think Ghost has fared this year, and what sort of effect ESL Pro League transitioning to LAN next season might have on their team.
What was your takeaway from the event? Were you ever really challenged?
WARDELL: Our comms were challenged a lot because we're a pug team, and it's really hard to get down certain protocols, reactions, all that stuff. That was a big problem for us, so we started to play more loose and not really care about making mistakes, and that propelled us to do really well against FURIA.
neptune: I agree, our comms were a bit iffy cause of us being a pug team, but I think against FURIA we kinda knew how they played from playing them on our real teams. We pretty much took that knowledge, we knew that they'd be really aggressive during most rounds, and once we get that pick we'd usually just be waiting for another one to push right into our crosshair. So most of the game was easy because we had the reads and we were just playing together, it worked out well for us.
The two of you, in your former lives, were local LAN veterans. Is it a fun experience to come back to this?
WARDELL: Yeah it's been really fun. We went to Frag 7, won that, went to Frag 8, won that, and we all came from the lower bracket where the other team had one map advantage over us, and we came back and won it. That was pretty fun. For this one we didn't really have a lower bracket run, so it was definitely a good experience to play again after all the other pro LANs we've been to.
WARDELL, you began this year at ESL Pro League Relegation. What has this year been like in terms of changes, and the changes of fortunes for Ghost?
WARDELL: Under steel, koosta, and Jamez, those guys are really experienced. They bring a lot to the table, and they helped me and Jason become better. It helps us speed forward how good we're gonna get because they have the experience and knowledge, so they're just gonna tell us. We don't have to learn by trial and error. What they do to become better, like watching demos, like talking about certain things, and bringing things to the table before practice and showing up early, all that stuff, I think it propelled us to become even better than we were.
neptune: I think steel, Jamez, and koosta provide a lot just by the sheer experience they have. Even through trial and error they'll teach us things, like after we mess up, and they provide a lot of game theory. They'll go for hours just talking about theory around the game, and that really just creates more brainflow for us to think about the game. This team just tremendously boosted our skill and our knowledge of the game since last year.
Have you specifically worked with koosta given his experience AWPing?
WARDELL: Whenever I have questions or anything that he sees that I'm doing wrong or that I could be doing better, he just points it out to me and I'm just like "Alright, I'll fix that the next time." Or when I'm unsure about things I'll ask Josh, James, and even koosta about what I should and shouldn't do for the next time, and what not to do.
Can one of you go into some detail about what kind of a coach JamezIRL is, and how he helps you guys out?
WARDELL: He's really hands on. He provides the team a lot of information by watching demos, writing down tendencies, all that stuff. He's also like a motivational speaker, brings the moral of the team up when it's down, and always gives a positive vibe whenever we're playing.
neptune: I can agree with that, and I think he brings a whole new point of view compared to Josh or Kenny. Say there's one point of view, and they're not thinking of someone else's point of view and it's kinda one-sided, he'll come in and show that there's more than just one point of view. He'll just show an all-around overview of a situation, in CS or outside of the game or anything. I think his experience, just how much older he is than everyone on the team, he just knows a lot about how to deal with players mentally, and in-game as well.
You recently signed a multi-year contract with Ghost. Given the trajectory of esports, what made you want to lock yourself in to something longer than six months or a year?
WARDELL: Ghost has been with me through the dark times, and now in the good times I like to show my loyalty and all that, show that I'm with them. That's why I signed that.
The next season of Pro League is going to be fully on LAN. Do you think that's going to help Ghost, not really effect you guys, what do you think?
WARDELL: On LAN I feel like it's going to make us better. That's when everyone is dialed in and focused, ready to play, comms are good, aim is good too, everything is expected. Online is like everyone... it's not like if you were on LAN, there's a huge difference. Focus and everything is the most important thing.
neptune: Yeah I think the LAN will keep us more focused on playing the game, as Matt said. Online it's a bit more lenient, you can play no clothes, you can do whatever. Some people are tired, they'll wake up right before the match, but on LAN you have to go to the LAN, setup, play. It'll require a bunch more focus and people will be more dialed in to play, so I think it will benefit us.
DeKay ran an article saying that Subroza is stepping down, and you guys are looking at freakazoid. Can you comment on either part of that?
WARDELL: I don't think it's finalized yet, we're still looking at potential players and all that. It's not 100%.
But Subroza is definitely stepping down?
WARDELL: Nothing is 100%.
