fl0m: "I think the players coming up truly are better because the scene is more team focused"
Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore sat down with Erik "fl0m" Flom for a short interview following Mythic's win over X13 in ESEA Premier Season 37 Relegation and David "DAVEY" Stafford's announcement that he would be stepping down from Mythic. They discussed the team's performance against X13, the state of the North American scene post-VALORANT exodus, Mythic's new role as a tournament organizer, and fl0ms's plan for the rest of the year.
Mythic are also currently looking for a new fifth, with the plan being to develop new unproven talent as they did last season with Bradley "Slugy" Kohler.
So to start, Mythic ultimately made it through Relegation in a lower bracket series against X13, were you surprised about the level of competition you faced from the Advanced teams in the bracket?
Being brutally honest without taking away from the team I feel like we simply underperformed in the second Bo3 and that’s why we were there. I wasn’t surprised by other team's levels; I was more so disappointed in ours. I don’t want to take away from others and make it seem like we were so much better, but that’s why I was so upset.
We threw many rounds that I felt shouldn’t have been an issue but with that being said, X13 played well although I was not surprised as teams have gotten much better.
You mentioned that the level of teams in Advanced have gotten much better. I know a lot of people lament the state of the North American scene post VALORANT exodus. With the dust having largely settled, where do you suppose the scene is at the moment, and is it beginning to regrow?
Without sugar coating it we lost a lot of talent. That being said I think the players coming up truly are better because the scene is more team focused than in the past. New players have a long way to go but the approach to improvement is better.
This approach to improvement seems to be focused a lot more around Premier and one-off tournaments than it was during the heyday of FPL and Rank S. One thing I'm sure a lot of people didn't expect back in those days was that Mythic would end up being one of NA's main TOs. Thinking back to the first Mythic Cup, how did we get to this point?
Truthfully, on accident. I never was even meant to have my own hub, but I was supposed to be a promoter for another. I didn’t plan or seek out Mythic League in its current form. My parents both owned a business together when I grew up and I think that led me to be more willing to dive in, but truly it was more of a “see a need and filling it” in the NA scene. While it doesn’t personally net me money monetarily I would be lying if I said I didn’t love doing it.
I think people see me as some calculated person that is trying to do cool shit, but the reality is I kinda stumbled into it and once I got into it that was when I realized I enjoyed it.
I see. So circling back for a bit to Relegation, DAVEY put on a number of strong performances during the event and was an important part of this iteration of the Mythic lineup. With him stepping down what’s the plan for the team structure next season and what kind of players are you looking for to fill the gap?
I think I would be naive to expect an IGL to come in and be able to lead so I would more than likely take that over again out of necessity but truly to me what’s more important is good attitude plus skill. To me even while pugging Premier the most important aspect of a player is their willingness to work with others to win. Not a lot of players have that even if they think they do.
Too many players with solid mechanics develop an ego too quickly and become an awful teammate to play with. On the flip side there are players like Slugy, he is a prime example of an incredibly skilled player with not enough ego to really push himself sometimes. Gotta find that middle ground and that’s what I’m looking for, a player that’s good and confident in their own abilities but not an asshat.
Is NA ego a thing still in your opinion even with all the challenges and the reality check in our region?
I don’t think it’s specific to NA or the game, it’s a maturity thing. Maturity also isn’t necessarily tied to age just mindset. Only thing NA specific is since the player base is smaller when a player is good they get a bit more recognition from their peers and it can stunt their growth as they don’t understand that they just started their journey rather than finished. In other regions at least from what I can see players aren’t as close to one another and because of that push each other a bit more.
It seems like you and Mythic as a whole has become more interested in developing and pushing players like JoJo, Slugy, daf, Keiti, and C0M. Is moving the team in a developmental direction something you want to keep doing?
Yeah 100%. Similar to Mythic League it just happened by accident, but I realized what was happening and it made sense so why fight it. So I would be lying if I said that was the initial intent, but it became a happy little accident.
Alright last question, what can we expect from fl0m the player, Mythic the team, and Mythic the TO in the next few months? Also should we expect you guys at Fragadelphia this September?
I have zero expectations for myself as a player at all times lol. Mythic the team I expect us to be in playoffs always. Mythic League I just want to be the facilitator of tier two tier three. For Fragadelphia I wanna go but I’m a big boy and might have other obligations but I would like to go and bring the team.
Mythic are currently on the lookout for a new fifth ahead of the start of ESEA Premier Season 38 on August 17th.
