SPERMY: "We sat in mumble, just in shock"
In a day that saw eRa get the highest round total of their group against Mask Off, in a 16-9 loss, SPERMY and co. were all smiles moving into the next round. Catching up with SPERMY was next on the agenda to get an in-depth look on how the team is progressing past the Wyatt "tw1ggy" Blatt loss and looking into the future of both MDL and Mad City.
So eRa came out of Group 4 in 2nd, how do you feel the group went overall?
Overall I think we did pretty well. Obviously we lost against Mask Off. We're just gonna take it as a learning experience. We kind of are where we expected to be in the group. We're just gonna prepare for tomorrow. Whoever we played, we don't care. We're going to take it serious and go really far.
Even before tw1ggy had left the team, the AWPing role was kind of up in the air, and with the addition of "juice" it seems you have someone to play that concrete role. What is juice bringing to the table, including his level of AWPing?
We definitely had the AWP role in the air, so we decided to go after juice since he is an AWPer. Now with him having an AWP, we feel more comfortable. He's more of an aggressive AWP, he wants to take initiative, and that's what we needed for someone who would be an AWPer. That's kind of why we went after tabz, because that's how he played. [juice] brings another dimension of play.
So tw1ggy leaves, you get the news, what was your first reaction?
My first reaction was 'why is he joking like that?' I get it, but it's not that funny. Then once we found out he was dead serious, we were in shock like there's no way he's actually being serious. We had to cancel scrims. We sat in mumble, just in shock. We'd talk kind of, but we'd only say 'I'm still in shock.'
Was there any indicator? Now that you have hindsight, was there a sign?
He did just take on the calling role as the IGL. There was times he would get upset, more than usual, but it wasn't anything to the extent of 'this guy doesn't wanna play with us anymore.' It was more he was upset that things didn't go the way he envisioned. After games, everything was fine and we'd play [other games].
We had two LAN Dodgers for Mad City. tw1ggy who went completely off the grid. Then we had Bogdan, who went out in a blaze of glory revealing a number of things about Fam143. Would you have preferred that, rather than the idea of not knowing why a player would up and leave?
Even though I'm not happy about what happened, I would still rather have someone tell "I'm done with this game." Now the timing he chose was really bad, and if he had told us a week in advance, no problem, I respect you. But if you do it "Hey guys, I'm quitting, you have a match in 20 minutes? Done." I'm not cool with that. Even how Bogdan took things. That's not professional, that's not respectful. I think that's way worse than tw1ggy.
When I was in the airport with SIDOF, he told me you guys even called [tw1ggy]'s mom. How did that conversation go?
My cousin called his mom, and we said that we wanted to check in on tw1ggy because he wasn't acting like himself. She checked up on him and he played it off as he didn't like how things were going with the team, and that he's quitting the game.
Obviously he says he doesn't want to play, but could we see a return? If we did, would any team want to pick him up, including yourselves?
I could see him returning for sure. I could see him joining a different team. Whether or not that team is serious, I highly doubt it. Most people know, tw1ggy is a really good player. He's professional level, he's nothing short of that. He would still rather play with us, than other professional teams that have offered him to play. I respect that from him. If he does come back, it would be with some friends in Open. With us, that ship has sailed.
In the MDL, you're 6-5, you've had to replace tw1ggy, and you'll be going from a LAN to Online environment. Do you feel your playoff chances have sailed away with tw1ggy?
No. Not at all. I do not think that one bit, and neither does anyone else. We're still very confident with him gone. It's too smooth, we don't fight with each other. It's a lot of confidence, regardless with what happens to us. We definitely still have a lot of confidence getting into playoffs, and upsetting teams in playoffs. There isn't a team in MDL we look at as 'oh, onto the next game'. We're excited, and we hope we make playoffs.
Speaking of playoffs, you're in the playoffs for Mad City, who do you feel is the biggest threat here?
The biggest threat to us is Etherian. They're an organized team. We've played under [ben1337] before so we know how organized he is. They're also mentally strong and prepared. It'll be a really good match between us and Etherian, I can promise that.
SPERMY went on to keep his promise as the Quarter-final matchup between Etherian and eRa came to close. ben1337 truly did come prepared because Etherian wrapped up Overpass and Train with 16-9 and 16-11 wins, respectively.
The first semifinal of the Mad City Chicago LAN will begin tonight, with Mask Off vs Drip or Drown while Cyclone vs Etherian will take place tomorrow morning.
