FnaticMSI has recently ventured into the console team by picking up the former SK Gaming Halo 3 team. They are one of the best European teams at the moment and they will be travelling to Orlando, USA to try to compete with some of the best North American teams. We caught up with FnaticMSI Halo 3...
FnaticMSI has recently ventured into the console team by picking up the former SK Gaming Halo 3 team. They are one of the best European teams at the moment and they will be travelling to Orlando, USA to try to compete with some of the best North American teams.
We caught up with FnaticMSI Halo 3 team captain Stefan "MVP" Djordjevic to talk about the past, the present and the future. What will happen with the Halo 3 scene, how are they preparing for MLG Orlando? Find out by reading the interview.
Hi Stefan, could you introduce yourself.
Hi, I’m Stefan Djordjevic, or MVP, captain of the new FnaticMSI Halo 3 team.
What are your biggest achievements as being a console gamer?
2009 has been a really good year for me gaming-wise; I’ve had better European tournament placements than any other player this year with a 1st place at i36, i37, UKeSA and the MILK LAN in Paris. Followed recently by a disappointing 2nd place finish at i38, it could have been the perfect season!
What is your goal as a team, what do you wish to accomplish -ie, pro gamers, paid to play, or is it just for fun?
I think with the way things are in Europe at the moment, the only aim is to win every tournament we enter. The Halo 3 scene isn’t big enough in Europe to have a pro standard; but with FnaticMSI sending us to MLG Orlando in 4 weeks time, our goals are getting bigger and bigger.
Could you tell us a little about everyone’s roles in the team?
I’ll start with myself; I’m the captain, out of the game I have to organise practice times for everyone, I do interviews regularly and I try to keep everyone motivated and in a good mood. In game I play a very versatile role, I can be a main slayer when I have to, I can snipe, I can run objective and I try to keep us organised.
CoNz is very much our team motivator; if he’s playing well he’ll let everyone know and it brings the whole team up a level. On top of that he is our main objective player, but can rack up plenty of kills along the way, a sort of objective-based slayer, if you like.
FragTaLe plays a very similar role to CoNz, but he’s very good at getting behind our opposition and controlling their spawns, making it easy for us to pick off players on their own and spawn-trap the others. And finally
ZicKneX, he’s our main slayer by role, but also has great games when he does his fair share of objective. He’s as good as anyone with the sniper and if you see any game plays from his point of view, chances are he’s got a sniper all game.
Could you tell us about the basics of Halo 3, the maps, the game types, etc.?
Competitive Halo 3 is basically run by Major League Gaming. Every competitive tournament uses MLG game settings and maps, and will do until Halo 3 is finished. The MLG settings are comprised of four game types; Team Slayer (First to 50 kills), Capture the Flag (First team to capture a certain number of flags, 3 or 5 depending on the map), King of the Hill (First team to 250 seconds of hill time, you gain hill time for your team by standing in a marked section of the map, or, the hill) and Team Oddball (First to 250 seconds, a ball starts in the middle of the map, players get time for their time by picking it up and holding the ball). Every team is made up of 4 players, and every game has a time limit of 15 minutes.
I think many of our followers know how important power-ups and weapon timing is for Quake. I've also heard this is a big factor in Halo 3. Could you explain a little about them and how important they are?
Power-ups and weapons aren’t included on every map on Halo 3, but on the ones they are they can literally be the deciding factor in a game. All of the weapons and power ups have a certain time allocated to them; this determines the time until they re-spawn on the map. A team that times and gets every power-up (Overshield- a player is given extra shielding from bullets and can take a lot more damage than normal) and every power weapon (Rocket Launcher or Sniper), obviously, has a massive advantage over the other team, games can be won or lost because of weapon control.
And the competitive scene, what are the best teams and what events are there to look out for?
In Europe; the best teams currently are Power Gaming (Reaction, Baxter, BUK 20, BUK 57), LowLandLions (Infern0s, Kamachi, ForReal, Sh1n4t0), Dignitas (Varddd, GriPz, Inspired2Kill, Adi) and us, FnaticMSI (MVP, CoNz, FragTaLe, ZicKneX).
Halo teams also use coaches at LAN events, this is something rather new for PC gamers. What do these coaches do?
A good coach can have as much to do with a team winning a game as the player; even more sometimes. The coach’s job primarily is the same as a coach in any other sport; to organise the team. In Halo 3 a coach can do this a number of ways; by telling the team which previously discussed strategies to use and when, or by timing weapons and power ups and making sure somebody or some people are ready for it’s spawn. The coach is also there to keep the team focused; it’s good to have somebody filling the space between your team and the crowd.
How come E-Sports in Europe has only seen so little of Halo 3, in your opinion?
There just aren’t enough people attending events. There are certainly the numbers online, I’ve played with literally thousands of European players but yet only a couple of hundred turn up to compete at tournaments. Whether this is down to lack of motivation or small prize funds is anyone’s guess. Some people just don’t know what their missing, win or lose, playing face to face with the people you’ve spoke to online before is great fun.
What is needed for the game to grow in Europe?
At this point, I think the only thing that can help the European competitive scene grow would be for MLG to hold an event here, or another company to hold an event at their standard.
Why is the game and scene so much bigger in North America?
They have a company who put in the time and money to make competitive Halo what it is in North America. There just aren’t any event organisers that put Halo first anymore in Europe, not with reasonable prize funds anyway.
Over the year, a lot of top organizations have picked up Halo 3 teams. Why do you think this is?
I’m not sure really, I guess once one organization has a Halo 3 team, everyone else wants one to compete with them. This is one thing that has gone against the grain, tournament numbers have actually gotten smaller in Europe over the last year, but more teams are now representing famous organisations.
What is the reason for you and your team to have switched organizations (from SK Gaming to FnaticMSI)?
As a team our aim is always to be the best, and we couldn’t do that with SK because they couldn’t or didn’t want to send us to MLG. We are thankful for the backing SK gave us while we were apart of them but we just never felt like we had the support we wanted or needed. Hence the move to FnaticMSI; who I have to add have been fantastic so far. We’re incredibly happy to be representing them now.
Do they feel that wearing the tag of FnaticMSI, a big name in the eSports community will add any pressure to succeed?
Of course it does, now if we have a bad tournament we don’t only make ourselves look bad, it falls on the organisation too. And we won’t let that happen.
Do you think you can compare yourselves to top teams?
Top teams in Europe, definitely. Top teams in America, we’ll see in Orlando.
The Major League Gaming (MLG) has only offered events in North America so far, but they have said to be holding events in Europe too. What are the chances of the events having Halo 3 and what do you expect of these events?
The chances all depend on when they come to Europe. If they come next season it’ll definitely have Halo 3, after that I can’t be so sure. And I’d expect an MLG event in Europe would draw the biggest number of competitors that any European console event has, by quite a lot.
So now you guys are heading to Orlando to attend the MLG Halo 3 tournament. Power Gaming were the first European team to attend and did better than people expected. This event three European teams are going, who of the three (LowLandLions, Power Gaming and FnaticMSI) do you expect to do very well?
Not including ourselves, I think LowLandLions will surprise a lot of people. For some reason they’ve been getting a lot of stick lately and it seems to me a lot of the new players look down on them, there are a lot of people predicting them to go over to America and roll over; I know these guys better.
You will be having a bootcamp with LowLandLions before MLG. Tell us about it, and will it bring more of an edge to your game?
The whole team will be travelling over to Amsterdam, including our coach, the weekend before Orlando, the reasons for this are simple; it will make sure we are playing at our best in Orlando. The first seven or eight rounds are played on split-screen and nobody on our team has played split before on Halo 3 so we’ll be getting a lot of practice on that too.
On the forums, some of you guys have been "flaming" each other. Don't you think it is wiser to support each other for an event that is seen by the community as "Europe vs USA"?
I’m pleased to say that my team mates have had nothing to do with the stuff going around on the forums, we’re putting off any grudges we have with some of the players from Europe and we’ll be supporting any Europeans competing.
That's all I have to ask! Thank you for the interview. Best of luck at boot camp LAN and the event itself. The stage is all yours now for final words and such.
A massive thank you to FnaticMSI and all the sponsors - MSI, SteelSeries, Bigfoot Networks and UGame, we wouldn’t be competing in Orlando without the backing you guys have given us. Shout outs to my team mates, LLL and Power. LETS GO!
Hi, I’m Stefan Djordjevic, or MVP, captain of the new FnaticMSI Halo 3 team.
What are your biggest achievements as being a console gamer?
2009 has been a really good year for me gaming-wise; I’ve had better European tournament placements than any other player this year with a 1st place at i36, i37, UKeSA and the MILK LAN in Paris. Followed recently by a disappointing 2nd place finish at i38, it could have been the perfect season!
What is your goal as a team, what do you wish to accomplish -ie, pro gamers, paid to play, or is it just for fun?
I think with the way things are in Europe at the moment, the only aim is to win every tournament we enter. The Halo 3 scene isn’t big enough in Europe to have a pro standard; but with FnaticMSI sending us to MLG Orlando in 4 weeks time, our goals are getting bigger and bigger.
Could you tell us a little about everyone’s roles in the team?
I’ll start with myself; I’m the captain, out of the game I have to organise practice times for everyone, I do interviews regularly and I try to keep everyone motivated and in a good mood. In game I play a very versatile role, I can be a main slayer when I have to, I can snipe, I can run objective and I try to keep us organised.
CoNz is very much our team motivator; if he’s playing well he’ll let everyone know and it brings the whole team up a level. On top of that he is our main objective player, but can rack up plenty of kills along the way, a sort of objective-based slayer, if you like.
FragTaLe plays a very similar role to CoNz, but he’s very good at getting behind our opposition and controlling their spawns, making it easy for us to pick off players on their own and spawn-trap the others. And finally
ZicKneX, he’s our main slayer by role, but also has great games when he does his fair share of objective. He’s as good as anyone with the sniper and if you see any game plays from his point of view, chances are he’s got a sniper all game.
Could you tell us about the basics of Halo 3, the maps, the game types, etc.?
Competitive Halo 3 is basically run by Major League Gaming. Every competitive tournament uses MLG game settings and maps, and will do until Halo 3 is finished. The MLG settings are comprised of four game types; Team Slayer (First to 50 kills), Capture the Flag (First team to capture a certain number of flags, 3 or 5 depending on the map), King of the Hill (First team to 250 seconds of hill time, you gain hill time for your team by standing in a marked section of the map, or, the hill) and Team Oddball (First to 250 seconds, a ball starts in the middle of the map, players get time for their time by picking it up and holding the ball). Every team is made up of 4 players, and every game has a time limit of 15 minutes.
I think many of our followers know how important power-ups and weapon timing is for Quake. I've also heard this is a big factor in Halo 3. Could you explain a little about them and how important they are?
Power-ups and weapons aren’t included on every map on Halo 3, but on the ones they are they can literally be the deciding factor in a game. All of the weapons and power ups have a certain time allocated to them; this determines the time until they re-spawn on the map. A team that times and gets every power-up (Overshield- a player is given extra shielding from bullets and can take a lot more damage than normal) and every power weapon (Rocket Launcher or Sniper), obviously, has a massive advantage over the other team, games can be won or lost because of weapon control.
And the competitive scene, what are the best teams and what events are there to look out for?
In Europe; the best teams currently are Power Gaming (Reaction, Baxter, BUK 20, BUK 57), LowLandLions (Infern0s, Kamachi, ForReal, Sh1n4t0), Dignitas (Varddd, GriPz, Inspired2Kill, Adi) and us, FnaticMSI (MVP, CoNz, FragTaLe, ZicKneX).
Halo teams also use coaches at LAN events, this is something rather new for PC gamers. What do these coaches do?
A good coach can have as much to do with a team winning a game as the player; even more sometimes. The coach’s job primarily is the same as a coach in any other sport; to organise the team. In Halo 3 a coach can do this a number of ways; by telling the team which previously discussed strategies to use and when, or by timing weapons and power ups and making sure somebody or some people are ready for it’s spawn. The coach is also there to keep the team focused; it’s good to have somebody filling the space between your team and the crowd.
How come E-Sports in Europe has only seen so little of Halo 3, in your opinion?
There just aren’t enough people attending events. There are certainly the numbers online, I’ve played with literally thousands of European players but yet only a couple of hundred turn up to compete at tournaments. Whether this is down to lack of motivation or small prize funds is anyone’s guess. Some people just don’t know what their missing, win or lose, playing face to face with the people you’ve spoke to online before is great fun.
What is needed for the game to grow in Europe?
At this point, I think the only thing that can help the European competitive scene grow would be for MLG to hold an event here, or another company to hold an event at their standard.
Why is the game and scene so much bigger in North America?
They have a company who put in the time and money to make competitive Halo what it is in North America. There just aren’t any event organisers that put Halo first anymore in Europe, not with reasonable prize funds anyway.
Over the year, a lot of top organizations have picked up Halo 3 teams. Why do you think this is?
I’m not sure really, I guess once one organization has a Halo 3 team, everyone else wants one to compete with them. This is one thing that has gone against the grain, tournament numbers have actually gotten smaller in Europe over the last year, but more teams are now representing famous organisations.
What is the reason for you and your team to have switched organizations (from SK Gaming to FnaticMSI)?
As a team our aim is always to be the best, and we couldn’t do that with SK because they couldn’t or didn’t want to send us to MLG. We are thankful for the backing SK gave us while we were apart of them but we just never felt like we had the support we wanted or needed. Hence the move to FnaticMSI; who I have to add have been fantastic so far. We’re incredibly happy to be representing them now.
Do they feel that wearing the tag of FnaticMSI, a big name in the eSports community will add any pressure to succeed?
Of course it does, now if we have a bad tournament we don’t only make ourselves look bad, it falls on the organisation too. And we won’t let that happen.
Do you think you can compare yourselves to top teams?
Top teams in Europe, definitely. Top teams in America, we’ll see in Orlando.
The Major League Gaming (MLG) has only offered events in North America so far, but they have said to be holding events in Europe too. What are the chances of the events having Halo 3 and what do you expect of these events?
The chances all depend on when they come to Europe. If they come next season it’ll definitely have Halo 3, after that I can’t be so sure. And I’d expect an MLG event in Europe would draw the biggest number of competitors that any European console event has, by quite a lot.
So now you guys are heading to Orlando to attend the MLG Halo 3 tournament. Power Gaming were the first European team to attend and did better than people expected. This event three European teams are going, who of the three (LowLandLions, Power Gaming and FnaticMSI) do you expect to do very well?
Not including ourselves, I think LowLandLions will surprise a lot of people. For some reason they’ve been getting a lot of stick lately and it seems to me a lot of the new players look down on them, there are a lot of people predicting them to go over to America and roll over; I know these guys better.
You will be having a bootcamp with LowLandLions before MLG. Tell us about it, and will it bring more of an edge to your game?
The whole team will be travelling over to Amsterdam, including our coach, the weekend before Orlando, the reasons for this are simple; it will make sure we are playing at our best in Orlando. The first seven or eight rounds are played on split-screen and nobody on our team has played split before on Halo 3 so we’ll be getting a lot of practice on that too.
On the forums, some of you guys have been "flaming" each other. Don't you think it is wiser to support each other for an event that is seen by the community as "Europe vs USA"?
I’m pleased to say that my team mates have had nothing to do with the stuff going around on the forums, we’re putting off any grudges we have with some of the players from Europe and we’ll be supporting any Europeans competing.
That's all I have to ask! Thank you for the interview. Best of luck at boot camp LAN and the event itself. The stage is all yours now for final words and such.
A massive thank you to FnaticMSI and all the sponsors - MSI, SteelSeries, Bigfoot Networks and UGame, we wouldn’t be competing in Orlando without the backing you guys have given us. Shout outs to my team mates, LLL and Power. LETS GO!
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