Season 11 in ESEA is close to wrapping up, and I was dying to know how new Invite team makes Sense were feeling now that they've had some time in Invite under their belts. After Thursday’s matches, their team leader squid managed to find a few minutes to chat with me. He explained the dangers of moving into deeper waters, no matter how big a fish you are.
Catch the interview after the jump!
During Season 10 in the Intermediate Division, you guys came in second during the regular season with a 12-4 Win-Loss record, and then during play-offs you came back from an unfortunate loss against Businessmen in upper round 2 to win the division's championship. At what point did the team find out you were moving up to Invite?
There were expectations of getting moved up to invite during playoffs, and we assumed we would get it after we won the finals. I think killing (an ESEA admin who is very active in the community) actually told me at some point in the off season.
Were you at all surprised that the community chose Leviathan Gaming to move up with you?
Leviathan definitely wanted it more, but with them breaking up (apparently) after a, in all honesty, to be expected poor record [so far in Season 11], it's hard to understand what their expectations were. I was hoping they would stay together, however, and they were probably the best pick at the time.
You guys left That's So Rando to dominate the Intermediate division in Season 11, and I was wondering if you ever miss how much easier things were in lower divisions?
Invite is definitely harder, even more so after sweater left, but I'd say that it's a lot more enjoyable and challenging. There is still a lot of parity between the highest IM teams and the lower Invite teams, however, and I think the scrim experience is more or less similar.
Competition seems tougher this season in Invite than it did during Season 10, and beginning in Week 1 you had to play some of the biggest names in the game and even won against Classic Mixup. What was the team's mind-set going into your first couple of weeks?
Apparently half of the team was expecting to make LAN (Invite post-season is held via Local Area Network in Dallas), which was evident later when they left the team. I was looking to improve as a team / as a player and to enjoy the experience. The Mixup win definitely raised expectations, and when we didn't meet them, there was a lot of frustration.
I did notice that your roster has changed tremendously since the beginning of the season. Do you feel confident with your new roster, and what are your expectations for the rest of the season?
We agreed as a newly formed team that our chances were extremely slim and that we really should have no expectations for the rest of the season - we just wanted to finish it out. We haven't gotten around to as many scrims as we would have liked to at this point, but I'd say that we are heading into the rest of the season with a bit more confidence coming off of two wins against ducks.
Well, good luck in future seasons and the rest of S11! Before we wrap this up did you have anything else you want to say?
Thanks Kalkin for letting us stay in it this season.
During Season 11, makes Sense (formerly Pinball Wizards) had to replace half of their roster.
**Week 1 **
*Team name: Pinball Wizards *
kbk- (medic)
lansky (soldier)BasikMMTXC (soldier)
squid (scout)
tangy (scout)
*sweater (demoman) *
Week 6
Team name: makes Sense
cinq (medic)
Panic- (soldier)BasikMMTXC (soldier)
squid (scout)
tangy (scout)
_boulder (demoman)
kbk- and lansky now play for Classic Mixup, and sweater remains on makes Sense's roster.
Originally published on CommunityFortress on Tuesday, 15 May 2012 20:52 by neko.
Archived from ESEA-Invite Interview: Squid from makes Sense as part of tf2esports.com's preservation of CommunityFortress's TF2 coverage. All rights remain with the original author and CommunityFortress; reposted for historical reference.