Team Fortress 2 - Exclusive interview with eMazing Gaming's Team Fortress 2

After achieving 4th place in CEVO's Alienware Tournament, eMazing Gaming's Team Fortress 2 team came out strong this ESEA Open regular season, with an outstanding 15 wins and 1st place. They are now looking to win it all in the upcoming playoffs. I met with the team leader to get a bit of information about them and their experiences.

Ryan "Milkshake" Riggen: Can you please introduce yourself and your team?

Tyrone "enoryt" Wang: Hi! I'm Tyrone. I'm the leader of the Team Fortress team. I've been playing TF2 since when it was released. I've played in other competitive games including CS 1.6, COD and COD2.

 

 

Here's our team:
Tyrone "enoryt" Wang
Grant "b4nny" Vincent
Aaron "jnkx" Griffith
Kevin "mackey" Mackey
Charles "raf" Do
Tyler "blaze" Brown
Daniel "Virulent" Fragoso

Ryan "Milkshake" Riggen: How did this team come together and eventually join eMazing Gaming?

Tyrone "enoryt" Wang: We came together last ESEA season. We were playing Jeah PUGs a lot. We were friends and we decided to come together and form a team, or a super team of warriors. After we started improving, Jnkx approached eMazing Gaming for support and to have the "emazing" name.

Ryan "Milkshake" Riggen: For those out there, that don't quite follow competitive TF2, can you give a rundown of how your matches play out?

Tyrone "enoryt" Wang: As the name says, the game relies heavily around teamwork. In most games, you capture points by standing on them. Each team starts with 2 points, and they fight for the other points. I would say that TF2 is similar to basketball, whereas games such as Counter-Strike are similar to football. What makes this game great spectator wise, is that unlike other competitive games, where the action unfolds so fast, you can really appreciate and understand the game from a third person perspective. In TF2, there is a focal point, where battles happen, following both medics uber advantage and such.

Ryan "Milkshake" Riggen: What classes/roles do each of your players fulfill?

Tyrone "enoryt" Wang: In most games we run 2 scouts, 2 soldiers, 1 medic and 1 demoman. We often dip into other utility classes such as sniper and spy.
Tyrone – Soldier (Pocket) / Calling Strategy
Grant – Demoman
Aaron – Scout / Team Coach
Kevin – Soldier (Roaming)
Charles – Scout & Sniper and other utility
Tyler – Scout
Daniel – Medic

Ryan "Milkshake" Riggen: At the end of the ESEA season, you had a 15-1 record losing only to Hostile Faction. In the upcoming playoffs, do you expect to have any problems against Hostile Faction or other teams?

Tyrone "enoryt" Wang: There are so many dangerous teams in the playoffs. Those teams might not have played well during season, but they will pick it up during the playoffs. Just because we are in 1st place, doesn't mean we can let up. We've been trying some new strategies, and we might be showing them off in the playoffs.

Ryan "Milkshake" Riggen: Are you planning on attending any upcoming LAN events?

Tyrone "enoryt" Wang: Three of us are heading to the Intel LANFest in southern California. We don't have any other LAN events planned at the moment, but we'd like to attend as many as possible.

Ryan "Milkshake" Riggen: In what direction do you think competitive TF2 is going? Increasing or dying down?

Tyrone "enoryt" Wang: I'd say it's increasing, especially with the support of Valve. They're really trying to push the game. The game seems to be growing like crazy, and a lot of new teams are signing up for ESEA, which is probably the biggest league in North American Team Fortress 2 right now. We just need to wait for enough people to get into the game, that way the competitive scene can grow.

Ryan "Milkshake" Riggen: How do you feel about ESWC not adding Team Fortress 2 to its 2010 event?

Tyrone "enoryt" Wang: We were looking forward to ESWC picking TF2 up, but unfortunately it wasn't accepted. It looks like we will have to wait for next year.

Ryan "Milkshake" Riggen: What should your fans be looking forward to?

Tyrone "enoryt" Wang: You won't be seeing any roster changes soon. Also, we hope to be competing in the ESEA Invite league next season.

Ryan "Milkshake" Riggen: Any shoutouts you'd like to give?

Tyrone "enoryt" Wang: Shoutouts to MMM, everyone that Jeah PUGs, and all of the eMg sponsors including, Major League Servers and PureVoice. A special shoutout to Jayz for taking care of us.

Well I wish you guys the best of luck in the upcoming playoffs and your future endeavors!