Last week, TCM Gaming became our second European team qualified for our $100,000 ShootMania: Elite tournament at IPL5 at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas! They were kind enough to answer some questions for us, so please check out Frantic, diddix, and luxxiz's responses in the following interview:
How did you first become involved in ShootMania?
TCM.Frantic: Hypno (from k1ck) had a few alpha keys to give away and I happened to be one of the lucky ones to get one from him. When I installed the game I started off playing some public Royal, which was quite fun. But the next day is what made me play ShootMania.. I played some Elite games with luxxiz and phoen|x versus some other mixed teams. We were having so much fun for so many hours. Facing many known names from different games, trying to prove who's the better player/team in such an early stage. It really had been a long time since I played a game that long without having a break, til the morning hours. This is also where my first ShootMania team was created, pure-esports (luxxiz, phoen|x, and myself).
How long have you been playing with your teammates, and have any of you played on different teams in the past?
TCM.Frantic: In ShootMania we've been playing together for about 3 months now I think. I have played with diddix in UT2004 a bit in an instagib CTF team, but nothing serious. With luxxiz on the other side, I have played quite some UT games with and against. We also played CoD4 competitively together, so we knew eachother pretty well. (might be fun to know that kowa from Team Dignitas, was also in our CoD4 team). To answer your second question, I started off with pure-esports and joined Eclypsia after that (playing with Jiepie and Lekaim). After I left them, I joined up with luxxiz again, we took in diddix and joined TCM.
What about ShootMania appeals to your competitive side?
TCM.Frantic: What I like about Shootmania is the pressure as an attacker. A good "crowd control" is needed to avoid all incoming fire, a great aim is needed to eliminate the opponents and good map knowledge comes in handy to create alternative ways towards the pole area. On the defensive side I really like the team play you can build up and play with different kind of tactics and positions.
Tell us about your IPL5 qualifier experiences. You got to the semi-finals of the first qualifier, did that make you and your team train harder?
TCM.Frantic: Yes, it did actually. When we joined the first qualifier we were doing our best to perform well. Having lost a map to Traffic lights (k1ck) did not do us good though. Winning versus the French side of Millenium gave us good hopes, eventhough aKm had just left them. When we lost versus Eclypsia in a close match, this opened our eyes and we indeed started to practice really hard. We watched the VODs of our games and eliminated some flaws in the tactics and thought of new ones to implement. We had two weeks to get this done and we trained our asses off.. In the second qualifier it all worked out nicely and now we're going to Vegas baby! :)
And this last one is for everyone:
How do you feel about beating some of the best ShootMania teams in Europe, and how do you feel about earning your trip to IPL5 in Las Vegas?
TCM.Frantic: We had a tough road ahead of us, with Question mark, GamersLeague, Team Dignitas and Eclypsia waiting for us. We knew it was going to be tough, but we practiced well and we just played our game. All these good teams kept us really sharp and made us play our top game. In the end we managed to beat them all and all the adrenaline in my body was going crazy haha. Our management immediately called us on Skype and everybody was screaming! Such an awesome feeling that was! :D We are really looking forward to compete in IPL5, it's such a big tournament and a bit of a battle between Europe versus USA. The prize money is just absolutely insane and the location.. amazing! This is going to be one big great experience.
TCM.diddix: It feels good to beat some of the best teams in Europe because that's what I together with luxxiz & Frantic are aiming for. The great competition and good teams are two reasons why I play ShootMania. It was really nice to win IPL5 EU Qualifier. I always want to go for 1st place when I play and I know luxxiz and Frantic feel the same. It felt really great when we won the qualifier tournament because after EU qualifier #1 we practiced and checked all the mistakes that we did. And then to come back to the 2nd qualifier and just feel that you've made progress from the practice matches was just great.
TCM.luxxiz: This is exactly why I play competitive. Winning those crucial matches, that feeling! Even better when you come into the match as an underdog and win 3-0. Also winning 3-1 vs dignitas felt really good. Even though it's for $100,000, just going to Las Vegas is a prize for itself. I am really looking forward to it. I am gonna leave Las Vegas as a millionaire!
Is there anyone you'd like to thank for helping you dominate at ShootMania?
TCM.Frantic: First of all I would like to thank luxxiz and diddix for being amazing team mates, without them we wouldn't be traveling to Vegas next month! We're having a great time together, playing this awesome game. I would also like to thank our management for giving us all the support we need. They've been nothing but great help to us since we joined TCM. Also a big thanks to CMStorm, BENQ, CCL, Coolermaster and Multiplay for upgrading our gear and supporting us for this and other upcoming events! Last but not least, thank you for having this interview with us! :)
Big thanks to TCM.Frantic, TCM.diddix, and TCM.luxxiz! Keep practicing hard and stay in top condition for IPL5 in Las Vegas! To see VODs from the EU qualifier that they won, check out http://www.youtube.com/iplshootmania!
Source : ign[dot]com
