Light Garden Interview
I sat down with the GM of LG, with career accolades of 4-time creator of champions and s3 champion as a player. He led his band of 4 rookies into their championship bid that concluded earlier tonight.
Me: “Ucklar, your team has been riding the wave of "the script" how are you feeling going into the game?”
Ucklar: “We are feeling really good going heading into finals. Semis was definitely the best we have played as a team all season. Everything clicked and we never felt like we were in trouble. There were no doubts heading into that match.
I don't think any of us are really paying attention to the "script". If anything it's working in our favor because people will know that we've already won.
We went into semis thinking that was the hard game and that ended up being a convincing sweep. KC might've had us in the regular season, but we know how they play now.
Our confidence has never been higher and if we play anywhere close to our level against L7 then finals will be a decisive win for us.”
Me: “At cut day you made a somewhat surprising move and finished out your roster with 4 rookies, and yourself coming off a season break, combining that with the "new" season format. Were you nervous going in that the team may not fully prepared for a long grueling season?”
Ucklar: “That decision was definitely the hardest decision I've had to make in VDC through five seasons. I was up until 4am deciding who I should keep and ultimately went with Noshiro because he felt like a player I would heavily regret not giving a chance. Trading for RetiredGod was definitely easier. I never saw RetiredGod play or even spoke to him, but all I ever heard were good things so that trade was more justifiable to make.
I wasn't nervous heading into the season about how we would perform, my expectation going in was to win the tier. At the very least I wanted to feel like my roster decisions became justified by the end of the season. It definitely helped that I've known Overcome for a very long time and that RetiredGod and Brimmy knew each other prior to VDC. It also helped that our first matches were against relatively easy teams, so we were able to get our footing immediately before playing against some of the better teams.
Me: “Did you know when making the trade? or was that just a happy accident?”
Ucklar: “I knew pretty much everything. At the time they were on the same premier team and were actively queueing with each other. Before the trade I asked Brimmy what he thought just to be sure.”
Me: “You've been to a finals before, the first time was with a dominant team led by Ravin and SkepticCheese, this time the team is a little more middle of the pack. What are the strengths of this team that;
1) Stats don't show
2) Compared to that s3 team”
Ucklar: “I'm queueing with team rn, Will get back to you”
He never got back to me
Ucklar: “1) This team has unmatched discipline, specifically regarding postplants and retakes. On match days we are almost always on the same page. That allows to willingly give up sites and hold utility because of how confident we are in retakes. Same with postplants, our site takes are coordinated and people know what their job is. Our mental game as a whole is rock solid as well. I don't really remember a time where a single player got tilted and shut down. Even if the impact isn't showing up on the scoreboard, everyone is still keeping comms up and doing what they can to help us win.
2) I don't believe it's fair to compare this team or any apprentice/advanced team to Season 3 Red Rose. That was the best apprentice/advanced team that VDC will ever see. We had 2 star duelists who ran everyone down and 3 solid players behind them facilitating their every move. That said, since we are not as skilled as that team, season 5 Red Rose is a lot more structured. We have to be, since we can't really call "Cheese/Ravin go kill" as our main strat. Our teamplay and comms are way more of a factor for this team that it was for the other one. We aren't relying on 2 star players to carry, instead anyone on S5 Red Rose can step up and be the carry we need on any given map. We are more flexible and willing to try more things to get an advantage or round win.”
Me: “During the middle of the season it seemed like your team had “been figured out”. The results dipped a little, what was the message you gave to reset the team and push back into playoffs? Was the chemistry there from day 1 or did it take a little time to build into it?”
Ucklar: “Our performance dropped some during the season mainly because we were experimenting on maps we hadn't played yet and we were still trying to finalize our comps on other maps. The team didn't really need to be told anything specific, we were all still chilling and vibing and weren't worried about not making playoffs.
The first time we played as 5 was match day 1 and even then I'd say we had pretty good chemistry as a team. Obviously there were things we needed to get used to from each other, but from game 1 we were all pretty much on the same page.”
Me: “What caused the team to experiment during season matches instead of in scrims?”
Ucklar: “Honestly I didn't have time at all to scrim so we never really did. I also would rather see how it goes in a match that matters instead of scrims where it will probably be more troll and not true to what we will actually experience.”
Me: “Last question. We’ve got little over 90 minutes til gametime. Is there anything you want to say you haven’t already?”
Ucklar: “I really do love playing with every person on my team and I'm proud of what everyone has accomplished this season. They make my life so much easier and I can't thank them enough for going along with all the dumb shit I want to do every game. Hopefully, we run it back next season to win another title.”