Guest post by @LiamHorley1
After the Invitationals, I spoke with Glen "LunarmetaL" Suryasaputra of team Envy. The winners of the Asian 6Invitational qualifiers. You can follow Glen on twitter @lunarmetal and contact Envy on this facebook page.
How were the members recruited?
4 of the current Envy members actually go way back, we used to play Left 4 Dead competitively and decided to buy R6S together just for fun. One thing led to another and we were hooked on the competitive nature of this game. Then we picked up Reveck, an already prominent player in Singapore at the time, to complete the roster in order to participate in the very first ESL Asia Community Cup. The lineup has stuck ever since!
Where do your names come from?
For most of us, we've kept our names from previous online games and just stuck with it I guess. For myself I came up with this name when I was 10 and REALLY stuck with it (I'm 22 now).
How long have you been playing Siege?
I think we started approximately when the Season 1 Pro League finals were happening so, I'd say it was around Feb-March 2016. It's almost been 1 year!
How often do you play Siege?
Being a student in Singapore, my play time is heavily correlated with how close exams are. During the holidays I play almost everyday, but when school starts I can only try to make
time to scrim on nights/weekends.
What other games do you play?
I also play a lot of Dota 2 and Overwatch! Though since we've been trying for Rainbow 6 I haven't had time to play either of those.
Do you have any sponsors, if so could you explain who your sponsors are and what they offer/sell?
Unfortunately we do not have any sponsors, we've been a relatively quiet team from the start.
What do you see for the future of Siege?
I really feel there is a lot of potential for the game as an eSport, it's clear the the devs are focusing on releasing the "content" portion of the game to make it wholesome. Releasing new operators and skins at their current pace is impressive. The "competitive-ready" nature of it can only come afterwards, but as of right now it's sorely lacking in many departments for it to be considered a spectator sport.
What would you change about Siege?
Let me stay on my drone when the prep phase ends! Other than that, the UI needs some work, it's too much of a hassle in terms of making custom lobbies and adjusting playlists.
I noticed that the Asian teams played very aggressively, why do you think this is?
I imagine it's mostly due to how comfortable we are facing each other. Asia has a pretty small competitive following so we've scrimmed each other plenty and are quite familiar with each teams playstyle. The aggression just shows that each player is confident and knows the habits of other players/teams.
How did you feel about the double elimination for the qualifiers? Would you prefer a different format?
I've always been a fan of double eliminations even in other games. Sometimes single eliminations can be too harsh, teams have bad games sometimes but it doesn't mean they're not the best team. (Plenty of miraculous loser bracket stories if you follow the Dota 2 scene).
Which team do you feel will be your biggest competition?
Hmmm, there are so many strong teams going to the invitationals, and we've only had the chance to scrim very few teams from NA/EU and none at all from LATAM. It's going to be extremely tough from the get-go, but especially so for cTm and GIFU because there are no recent VODs of their play. A complete unknown to us in terms of strats.
Are you nervous about playing with completely new teams?
Definitely. Being flexible and adjusting is very important because Rainbow 6 strats can be so extensive. Different teams can play very differently and with not much experience facing other regions, it is definitely concerning.
What will you change when you play the other nationalities?
I think the tempo of our strats will be very different, if that makes sense. Different regions have very different speeds when it comes to dealing with roamers and executing strats. I guess the hardest challenge would be to enable our strats to be able to deal with both aggression and passivity.
Are there any videos or memes from the Asian scene you’d like to share with the EU/NA viewers?
I'm probably the worst person to ask because im not much of a memer. 4Head
We do love Ainsley Harriot though =) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd5hQkfB_xQ
Are there any shoutouts you’d like to give?
I'd like to give a shoutout to all the Asian teams who didnt make it, specifically Dynamo, 1122, Liberty and Father's Back. Lets all continue to work hard to develop the Asian R6S scene together, and more importantly to remain good friends for a long time to come.
Thanks to Glen for the interview and we look forward to seeing Envy playing soon in Montreal!
