CEVO Articles

Interview conducted by JP “Moogle” McDaniel

This interview was with Joseph “Perez” Perez of MoB Gaming’s Counter Strike 1.6 Team

First off congratulations on winning the CEVO 1.6 Professional Playoffs. Tell us a little bit about your tournament experience and the CEVO season overall.

Thank you! The tournament was a pretty fun tournament with some very close and exciting matches that could have gone either way. We went into triple overtime with EG and into overtime with PoV which were both nail biting matches. Overall the tournament was run smoothly and the matches were exciting. As far as the season 9 as a whole, it went by pretty quick. We started it off pretty strong, closed the season with some losses and in the end got the big wins.

Let’s go through each of the matches on your way to the finals. The first match of the tournament you guys found yourselves against Evil Geniuses, a team you have a lot of history with. You would end up losing to them in a triple overtime match, 31-27. What did this do to the teams ego and how did you come back from it?

The EG match was a very intense and grueling match that seemed to go on forever. It could have gone either way in my opinion, but EG ended up getting the best of us in the end. After the EG match was over, no one was necessarily upset about it, it was more of disappointment because we knew what we did wrong, but more or so accepted the loss and just focused on beating x3o so that we could advance.

Next up you found yourselves against x3o. In a match many would of thought to be the Grand Finals for the tournament, you guys handily defeated x3o with a 16-6 score. What do you feel contributed to this win the most?

Nuke is definitely one of our stronger, if not our strongest map. I believe that our communication and teamwork definitely contributed to the win, and of course the fact that we were hitting our shots. Unfortunately for x3o, they did not have Ediz, who is their strat caller/in-game leader. This in turn forced x3o to use a alternate player and that in game chemistry which is built up with ediz over the years, was definitely lacking. It could have been a closer game in my opinion if they had their entire starting lineup.

You guys had a chance at redemption playing against Evil Geniuses once again in round two of the lower bracket. The first half would end with a 10-5 lead for yourselves. What did the team do to focus in on the match against a team who in a previous match took you to triple overtime?

We were not thrilled at all about having to play EG again, and of course, on a map that we never played before as a team….tuscan. We went up on tside pretty quickly and they fought back to get a solid 5 rounds vs. us on their ct side. Matt “Lim” winning the pistol round on our ct vs. nepo in a 1v1 was probably the deciding factor. After him winning we knew we had to stay focused, because EG is a team that likes to buy on second rounds…therefore playing cautious and not being overly aggressive. We also focused on good map rotation. We ended up getting the necessary picks early off in the round to stop EG from executing.

In the last match in the finals you guys played against Paragon of Virtue, a team who surprised many sending x3o to the losers bracket so early in the tournament. They took you guys to overtime on Train offering up an extremely competitive match. Tell us a little bit about the match in general and how you guys pulled it together, taking the win.

The match started slow for us. We went down 10-5 I believe. As ct, we were still very sloppy, but unfortunately for PoV, as many saw, they pretty much handed us 2 rounds that they should have won. First round being where Noah and I both were saving our guns, and PoV over thank and ended up going inner where we were saving, allowing us to frag all 4 remaining members of their team, and winning the round. Second was on our save round where they all went inner and Lim killed 3 with deagle headshots. That match was definitely not our best show of cs, but we ended up pulling through with the win after some clutch play.

In the finals you guys fought against a legend in the 1.6 scene, Complexity. Many did not think coL would make it as far as they did and when they got a quick lead on you guys early on in the first half considered it over. What did you think about the match and how do you feel about Complexity being back in the top tier 1.6 scene?

First of all I would like to say gg to complexity. Their tside on dust2 was pretty organized and had us over thinking ourselves pretty much the entire half. We were getting the initial pickoffs lower b and back middle, but they eventually and consistently kept capitalizing on our rotating. Going into the second half we knew that we had to win pistol round, or face a tough and long road ahead of us if we wanted to win. Fortunately we won the pistol round and went on to win the match. I think coL being back in 1.6 is great. They bring back a lot of skill and are a respected organization. Unfortunately, it is only a temporary 1.6 circumstance, as they will be heading back to source soon. GL with that.

If you guys had to name an MVP for the team throughout the entire tournament, who would it be?

Overall, everyone had their key rounds in which they shined. If anyone, I would have to pick Scott (evolution) as the MVP because he really played well the throughout entire playoffs. In the finals vs. complexity on both maps, he won quite a few clutch situations that could have proven deadly for us if lost.

What match was the most important to you to win?

I believe winning the tuscan match vs. EG was the match of most importance, because that match guaranteed us Top 3 and a chance at redemption. This match set the tone for us for the rest of the tournament.

Were there any specific highlights throughout the tournament for you?

There were many highlights, Thomz is back and played great. StrikeR and I winning that 2v4 in the PoV match. Lim fragged 3 inner and us winning a very much needed and important save round. And of course, evolutions multiple clutches on nuke vs. coL. It was a full team effort.

What is in the future for MoB Gaming?

Well right now, although being very satisfied with our win in CEVO, the team will be focusing the remainder of the week preparing for the WCG and ESL event being held in Los Angeles next weekend. Of course, like any team, we want to do well at both events. CS can go back and forth and anyone can win on any given Sunday. Well just prepare and fix our small flaws and hope to do well come next weekend! I want to thank TurtleBeach, 180 and The Godfather.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 8:41 am and is filed under Coverage Central. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.