dephh: "I've got to take a lot of responsibility for that game"
Early in M80's RMR career, aspirations were hesitantly positive. Obviously, with coach Rory "dephh" Jackson stepping in to fill the IGL role, M80 weren't at their full strength. But, their individuals proved superior on day one, slaying ODDIK in close 13-10 fashion.
On day two, though, M80 would not be so fortunate. It was an utter battering from the Brazilians of Imperial, claiming only three runs despite winning the opening pistol. At 1-1, the team needs to win both remaining BO3s to qualify for Copenhagen.
After the match, Dust2.us' Daniel "Scoobster" Khurgin spoke with dephh on the team's loss, their game plan, and M80's hunt for an IGL.
Tough loss against Imperial, losing 13-3, what went wrong?
I've got to take a lot of responsibility for that game. I think we won pistol, but then I called a pretty bad second round. They just picked up momentum after that. Anubis is one of those maps where we haven't had enough time to prepare on it. Just a tough loss today, I have to be better for these guys.
Since these are BO1s and you do have a bit more leeway with what map you want to play, was it a wrong move to go towards Anubis?
I don't think the veto was too bad. There's a lot of maps that teams might be better than us with the amount of time we've had to prep. They were shocked by the veto, but we really weren't. We knew Anubis was potentially coming. We knew it was a 50/50 between that and Inferno, so, we got the veto right, we just didn't get the gameplay right today.
While you said the calls were off, you did top frag on your team. Obviously you're not on this team to lead the scoreboard but is there something to be said for your in-game performance and how that's stepped up over the past couple weeks?
It really means nothing that I'm top fragging. I shouldn't be top fragging if the team is effectively playing well. I've been DMing a bit more and actually getting to physically play the game more often. I think that's a reason why I'm not bottom fragging the entire game. Apart from that, I shouldn't be top fragging.
Yesterday we talked with Swisher who said you were looking for a new in-game leader so you could return to coach, hopefully before IEM Chengdu. Have you made any leads on that investigation?
Obviously with the RMR and Major cycle going on, it's very difficult to find an IGL. We don't want to make a step backwards from maNkz. It's really just stretching our hands out to a bunch of different people. Being in NA and trying to recruit someone that you want from Europe has proven to be quite difficult.
When this roster was first made, we know it was a big point from you and SykkoNT to bring in a Danish leader or an IGL with a Danish style. Is that something you're looking into for your new IGL as well?
It doesn't have to be Danish. We just don't need a guy that's incredibly fragging. We just need a guy that has his system, has structure, knows how to operate in a team with these guys. These guys are already in a European system. I think the reason we want to get these guys a European IGL is because the way they play is better than in NA.
You are now 1-1, which means you need to win the next two BO3s to qualify for the Major. How are you feeling about M80's chances to qualify?
I think the best thing about BO3s is it gives us a little more leeway to make mistakes. I think the fact that we're going into best of threes now means one, we can play more maps that we're comfortable on, and two, like I said, we have more chances to make mistakes and recover from, instead of losing both pistols and making a few mistakes on gun rounds it's just completely over.
