Exile5 HoN Midseason Interview

Exile5 HoN Midseason Interview

Exile 5 HoN

Skillshotz - LoRDo - FiveS - Tripzz - xt_unknown, invertednz - minortotemzz (not pictured)

The Exile5 HoN Division has come off an impressive series of results of late, managing to take out MindFreak.RAZER to take second place in the Thermaltake Nationals Net Cafe Challenge, followed by a narrow loss in the CGi finals, again to MindFreak, that left them with second. Taking time away from their rigorous practice schedule for the upcoming RCG Nationals, the Exile5 HoN lineup caught up with us to answer a few questions.

x5 HoN Lineup
LoRDo: Division Manager
FiveS: Captain, Dr after, Support, Utility Player
Tripzz: Sidelane Solo
xt_unknown: Carry, Middle Solo, Utility Player
Skillshotz: Middle Solo
minortotemzz: Carry, Middle Solo
invertednz: Support

x5: First and foremost, how has everything been going for you all as a team?

FiveS: Good, since the end of CG we’re looking forward to both its next season and the upcoming RCG event. We’re scrimming pretty regularly and getting some great results.

x5: Exile5’s recent adoption of the team followed and preceded a string of impressive performances. How has the experience of being a part of the Exile5 team been?

LoRDo:The support from Exile5 has been great and they’ve really been helping our team to push itself to become better as a team and individuals. They have been very welcoming and accommodating and we have definitely settled in quickly.

x5: Your grand final match showcased a great variation in performances, from a very impressive game 1 to a less than impressive game 2 and 3. Do you have any things to say about those games?

FiveS: After putting our friends at mindfreak deep into that dumpster at nationals i was looking forward to do it again when they were running chicanery aka “we wouldn’t have lost to you if I was playing.” After winning game 1 I was satisfied and decided to give them g2 and g3 so chicane wouldn’t commit seppuku. G2 and G3 were jittery games for us draft and play wise, we’ve learnt a lot already and it’s best not to dwell on your losses, but overall both teams played a great series.

x5: Your semi-final win against tSFg was marred in controversy. After losing 2-1 to them in 3 close games, their result was overturned due to their breaking of the rules by running an unrostered player on a rostered player’s account. Several of tSFg’s accounts have now been banned for varying lengths. What do you have to say about this series of events?

LoRDo: I think the loss we suffered at the hands of tSFg was poor form, irrespective of whether they broke the rules or not. I know for a fact that the team will not let that happen again as we are far better as a team and individuals than tSFg. I mean, KingMagmus, puh-lease.
That said, rules are rules and if CGi players continue to try and test the limits they deserve what they have coming to them. You can’t just expect, in life, or HoN, or whatever you do, that cheating to win, will work out positively.

FiveS: Losing to tsfg was embarrassing regardless of the eventual match overturn. The series should have been a 2-0 clean sweep given the extremely strong early lead we took in game 1, but big throws caused the games to end up the way they did. CG this season was a big wake-up call for a lot of teams with regards to rule-breaking, and I hope that the harsh punishments will be enough to have everyone play fair next season.

x5: This season has been stricken with drama outside of your tSFg games, though. The Fray and Zenith situation took two of the better teams out of the competition. What are your thoughts?

LoRDo: What makes me the most proud about our team is that, out of the few teams in CGi, we, along with MindFreak (mad props to those guys), were in the top tier of teams that didn’t fall back on shady tricks to get our way.

Hopefully those involved in all the scandals and screw ups this season will learn from their mistakes and play with some integrity next season.

x5: Fray’s recent performance in the Dreamhack qualifiers has turned heads and firmly put Australia on the map as a competitor in international competition. How do you think the future looks for HoN in Australia?

FiveS: I think fray are doing fantastically, and will be even more competitive internationally if they can get some powerful strategies to run. As much as mindfreak are a great team, fray are completely untouchable in Australia at the moment, and their recent DH qualifier results are a really good sign that Australian teams can compete with the best in the world. I wish them all the luck in their upcoming competition.

LoRDo: I think it looks great! Recent leaks to the HoN 3.0 patch shows that S2 games is committed to expanding upon the success of the Heroes of Newerth game. I can’t wait to watch Fray dishing some pain out overseas and wish nothing but the best for them. Everyone should be jumping on the bandwagon to try and make some news for Aus HoN.

x5: Exile5 has been lucky enough to receive Dota2 keys. What are your first impressions of the game?

LoRDo:The game feels so much slower than HoN. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it feels totally different. The last hitting is also harder and anti-mage is the most amazing hero you’ve ever seen. I think if the game continues to develop and be polished more and more, it stands a very good chance to do well.

FiveS: I’ve played like 5 games and it all seems a bit meh to me. It’s always going to be the case with stuff like this when it’s so hyped and marketed so well, though.

x5: The most recent patch has changed a variety of aspects of the game. How do you think this will affect competitive play, and do you think that S2’s balance schedule is sustainable? (Adding new heroes every 2 weeks etc)

invertednz: sustainable yes, but that doesn't mean it is a good idea, especially as they seem to be releasing complex heroes rather than the more standard dota ones

FiveS: I’m always looking for the next gay strat to run, but the recent balance patch has been a bit meh considering what I expected of it. I don’t think it’s made any formerly useless heroes competitively viable, but it’s definitely widened the pool of acceptable picks, and I hope to be able to fully flesh out some potential surprise picks in time for our next big match.

x5: You recently added a new member to the team, minortotemzz, moving LoRDo to a more full-time position as a manager. What do you have to say about this?

LoRDo:Minortotemmz aka 1900-inflated-superstar is a great addition to the team. Moving me to a management position was the best and obvious choice to make such as to continue and improve on the success of the team. It allows the team to focus on strategising and practising whilst I handle the relationships between everyone. I’m really excited to see how the team develops with the pick-up of Matt. All things going well Matt should be at RCG Nationals smashing face.

FiveS: Tiny brim managed to crawl his way out of the dumpster he calls a home for long enough to join us as a core member. He brings a lot of versatility to the team, specialising in heroes that our other carry players rarely play. He really is a perfect fit for us given how well we get along with one another, and him joining the ranks has been on the cards for a long long time. Our performance since picking him up has been great, we haven’t lost a scrim with him yet.

x5: Your success at the Brisbane RCG qualifiers has secured the team flights and accommodation to the Nationals, to be held later this year. What do you think this will do for the team dynamic?

FiveS: Everyone’s really keen to go to nationals as a team and put some big plays on display. Excluding minortotemzz we all live in Brisbane, and have all known eachother for a while, so I don’t expect much to change in terms of the team dynamic, but the LAN environment really does favour us given our history together.

x5: Any final words?

FiveS: Big thankyou to our sponsors, Western Digital, Coolermaster, CM Storm and iinet. Shoutout to class aka small arms shoutout to chicane aka haopengyou shoutout to joshmate cant wait to be in ur arms

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