Zilla Gaming toppled Balloons Reinflated 2-0 in the bo3 CEVO-Free Season 3 finals last night. This result capped a perfect season for zG who went 8-0 during the regular season and 5-0 in the playoffs (you can view their team page here: http://www.cevo.com/index.php?page=teams&func=view&id=21982&div=210). Throughout the season, Zilla defeated teams ranging from 54bomb99 to Papyrus to hi5. I thought it would be wise to interview notor, a Soldier and leader on zG, and see what he thought of the match and competitive TF2 in general:
What is your opinion of the final match? Were you worried at any point?
Coming into the finals I was expecting a really tough match, I knew it was definitely going to be the hardest match that we had all season and balloons definitely didn't disappoint. It ended up going back and forth a lot, and on a different day balloons could have easily won. As far as worrying, I didn't really get a chance to TBH, but going in I was pretty confident in our teamwork and knew we would do fine, regardless of whether we won or not.
Who played the best and who played the worst for each side?
Hmm. That's a tough one. To be honest, I can't really say who played worst or best for each side, but the way it worked out was that every person just had really good streaks. Basically, whenever someone needed to step up, they stepped up. I could name tons of times where the scouts would perform incredibly, or likewise the soldiers/demos. Definitely my favorite play of the entire BO3 was our medic (zG. jk) getting cornered by 4 pipes in granary and using one of them to surf out of the other 3. I suppose I could name the worst player in that match though. Without a doubt it was me =].
Where will Zilla Gaming be going in the future? CEVO-P? ESEA?
We will definitely be doing ESEA, as it is quickly becoming the better league in TF2, no offense to CEVO. In general though, we're definitely going to be trying to go where we will face the best competition for our skill level. Hopefully, all the big teams in cevo-free this season will move onto P, in which case we would definitely follow. Alternatively, if CEVO were to start up a Main division (WHICH THEY REALLY NEED TO) we would definitely go there.
Team Dynamic and Pandemic are going to be duking it out tonight in ESEA Season 2 playoffs. Who do you think will win and why? Do you think Complexity can top them (what do you think of coL)?
I think the Dynamic vs. Pandemic match is going to be incredible, since the two teams are matched up very well. However, I'm going to have to give Pandemic the edge, carnage and enigma are too good. However, if Dynamic can shut those two down, and Seagull and company have beast games, there's a very real chance that they could win. coL is definitely capable of beating either team, it just comes down to whether they actually want to or not. coL stayed THE top team in TF2 with probably the least amount of practice over the longest time period. Had there not been the whole medic drama, the cevo-p finals could've easily gone the other way. As far as coL vs. these two teams, it basically comes down to whether coL wants to win or not. Either way, I expect a great match tonight.
Where do you see competitive TF2 in the next six months? You mentioned a CEVO-Main division...what would you think the result would be if CEVO added one?
I think competitive TF2 is picking up again, and there seems to be a lot of excitement surrounding it lately, the same way it was when CGS got started with TF2. Lots of teams are starting to form, even more and more pub players are getting into it with the recognition of the TF2 Top10 (props to blackymonster for that). ESEA is easily the best league right now for the upper level teams, but there are definitely lots of leagues (TWL, UGC) for the teams that are just getting into competitive, and these leagues are getting more recognition with every passing season. If CEVO chose to add a main division, it would be one of the best things they could do for the game right now. I know glue was hard at work trying to get approval for a main division, but i think he faced some pretty tough resistance from the upper level CEVO admins. But as an example, the should look towards the Euro TF2 leagues, where there are different divisions. I agree that adding a main division is a risky proposition especially with teams dying being a real possibility. However, the way CEVO works right now is that a new team joins CEVO-free, expects to have some fun, and then gets rolled by a high CEVO-free, low CEVO-P team, then goes through the same thing next week, and then rage quits. Its unfortunate that this happens, and something like this is completely avoidable by adding a main division. It just comes down to the TF2 community making it known to the CEVO admins that this is how we want it.
Thank you for your time and excellent responses.
I will have a post-match interview with the winner of the Dynamic vs Pandemic match by the end of the week. Stay tuned and be sure to watch the match on pwnage.tv.
