EL Gaming @ The Grand Finals

Despite a shaky start at this year’s Grand Finals, EL Gaming defied all expectations – even their own – by turning the tables on many more battle-hardened teams and becoming the first ever Asian team to make it all the way to the final round. Here’s what team captain Reflection and founder/manager NightmareX had to say about their experiences in Warsaw!

Q: How did you still manage to perform so well while suffering from terrible jetlag after 20 hours of travel?

NightmareX: Jetlag wasn’t an issue for us, as being able to adapt to all kinds of situations is one of the most fundamental requirements for a professional team. Our excellent results this time are partly a result of regular practice, as well as a bit of good luck.

Q. Why did you stick to your initial strategy of swift, focused attacks even after suffering 3 losses?

NightmareX: It is our policy not to deviate from the strategies we’ve already agreed on. No matter how badly we may be doing, we’ll tell each other not to take it too hard, and to keep calm and stick to the plan.

Q. Similarly, why did you keep using the same strategy in the final 4 matches with Kazna Kru?

Reflection: As a professional team, it’s important to be very familiar with your opponents’ play. Before the tournament, we spent quite a long time researching all 11 teams (and analyzing ourselves as well), so that we could develop unique strategies to suit each.

Q. How do you see Hellraisers and Na`Vi?

Reflection: Both are very strong teams, with very skilled players. They’re probably two of the top teams in the world. Compared to them, our team is still relatively young and new, so if we want to beat them, we’ll have to really improve our skills and come up with better special tactics.

Q. How do you feel about the 5:0 loss to Na`Vi on the first day?

Reflection: We were prepared for the loss but not troubled by it, as we never expected to be able to beat Na`Vi; we were just counting on getting through to the next round. We were in this tournament with the goal of getting much further than the Group stage, so although we might not have performed so well in that match, we managed to learn a lot from it.

Q. What was your target/goal for The Grand Finals?

NightmareX: Actually, all we initially wanted was to get into the top 8, and we’ve managed to achieve that goal.