We’ll be getting back to CGS coverage shortly, but the article I planned to write for today got a little out of hand. You’ll see what I mean tomorrow, probably.
But, we love content at LANDodger, and this is a perfect time to release my interview of x6\\Misty.
Chances are you’re familiar with him for three reasons. One: he’s a part of x6, the CGS taxi team for Dallas, and they were one of the teams mentioned as more deserving of a draft spot than Pandemic. If that doesn’t ring a bell, he coded the stats page you currently see on LANDodger.
If those don’t jog your memory, and you still know Misty, it’s probably from posting crazy, random, and often disgusting pictures on the CAL forums. It’s kindof his thing.
Needless to say, there were plenty of topics to cover, and personally, I love his answers. I think you’ll agree. Thanks to Misty for taking the time to answer them, and I’ll see you on the other side.
1) For anybody who’s not familiar with you, can you give us a brief history
of your CAL teams, experience, etc?
x6//Misty: My name is Andres Gunaratne, I'm 20 years old and I've been gaming for seven years. I started playing CS:Source season 3 of CALeague and was instantly hooked. It all started when a friend from 1.6, Yack, asked me to ring a few times for his css cal-main team Rookies -- where I apparently made a good impression and was asked to join. Yep that's right, I skipped CAL-o +}. A few weeks later the team did a nose dive and died, so Yack and I found ourselves joining the hurt Distinct5 -- and I've been with the same core group for nearly two years now (brawwr, classified, myself). Other than playing with the Distinct5/Zombler crew, I was on Upper/Check-Six for a brief two months. Now I'm back with my hunni bunnies :DDDD
Misty: I actually enjoy playing Battlefield 2 and Insurgency (go get it! www.insmod.net). I'm really into games where you can just grab a teammate and go crazy Rambo mode on everyone. Remember, games are only fun with Friends :)
3) What’s been your favorite LAN, and do you have a good story?
Misty: My favorite LAN has to be The Bridge Qualifier for CGS. What's better than getting a pug together, naming yourselves nSync, having zero prep. time/strats, and knocking out Pandemic from the Double-Elim? Good story? http://www.gotfrag.com/css/stats/match/2731/ . It speaks for itself.
4) What event/LAN were you most impressed by (in terms of size, teams, how
it was run, etc)?
Misty: The CGS Combine had to be the best. It was the best competition a source lan has ever seen. It was run almost perfect too. There were no technical problems, no big delays, matches were on time, and the admins are great :p
5) I think x6 turned a lot of heads with their strong play at the CGS
combine. What was it like to have such a good performance on a huge stage?
Misty: It was very satisfying to place well at CGS combine, especially at Buy.com lan. Someone even suggested we change our name to "Lower Bracket Warriors" :D . While we're up on stage we tend to focus on the game at hand and completely disregard what's going on in the background. I think that's what makes us thrive more on LAN -- we have the ability to block out what the other team is saying and don't need to shout and hype ourselves up (Which is also a Minus for CGS). Only after the match do we realize what we've accomplished.
6) Obviously, there’s been a lot of talk about Pandemic being picked. Were
you in the crowd when it happened? What was the actual draft like?
Misty: I was in the crowd when Pandemic was picked -- and I have the best story to follow this up. We were sitting right next to team GoodGuys, and the second the word "Pandemic" came out of Dolven's mouth, one of the players from GoodGuys instantly threw up on the ground. Perfect Timing. The draft was fun altogether. Trying to copy the NFL draft was sortof iffy and could be improved on, but meeting Jason Kidd made up for it. Also, I think they lowered the standards to become a Bunny :( :(
7) Was being picked as a taxi team enough to ease the disappointment a
little bit, or was it kindof like that old line about somebody having a
“great personality”? (It might even be true, but it doesn’t change the fact
that the situation still sucks.)
Misty: To be honest, I knew we weren't going to be picked as a CGS Primary team, unless we came in 1st. Rumors of the GM's having biased opinions becoming true wasn't unexpected either. Throughout the event Simp would joke around and say "Well you guys showed up, you didn't do so great, but you're great guys with great skills. Hell, I'm comin' with ya!" And having a great personality was only part of the decision-making. These franchises are out to win. Ok, I lied. Everyone but Dolven is out to win. There are six franchises, and only four make it into playoffs where the prizes will be up to $500,000.. so winning is clearly more important than putting on a show for the camera and audience.
Misty: The only thing we got out of being a taxi team is a Dallas Venom hat :< . Our role as a taxi team is to help the primary team with whatever they want. Taxi teams are not contracted, so they don't get paid. If a taxi team is 'called up', each player will get a monthly salary of $500, not the full salary of $2000 like the primary players. We are supposed to scrim against the Venom, but it hasn't happened yet. In fact, they don't even talk to us! There's nothing really expected of us. We're just 'there' in case a primary player gets injured or the GM feels a change is needed. The chances of any taxi team on the current franchises replacing the primary team is slim to none. Once a taxi team/player is called up, the primary team is no longer able to retain their 'primary' spot. GM's can only make their move once, and this goes for every game.
9) Will you be able to enter the combine/draft again next season, or will
you still be bound to the Dallas franchise?
Misty: Taxi teams are not contracted under their franchise, so I expect all taxi teams to participate in the next Combine. I just hope they require the new Six GM's to get an understanding of each game -- and avoid any Dolven Jr's running around +}
10) What kind of plans does x6 have in the future? BadappleS has been
playing with you guys recently,
is that a permanent addition, and if so who is he replacing?
Misty: Cory (badapples) will be replacing Rob "simp" Bair, who has gone somewhat inactive to focus more on school and play leisure games like World of Warcraft (which should be called World of Walking). Cory will be our new permanent fifth, and our Super Commando Squadron Elite Force plans on attending every upcoming LAN and League there is -- while we wait for Season 2 of CGS.
Misty: http://tehw00t.net/doosh/zomblerz.png Beat that.
12) You did 99.9% of the work for the stats that I’m currently hosting on
the site. Is there a preferred e-mail address where
fans can send you praise, or should they just contact you on IRC?
Misty: IRC. You can find me in #LanDodger :)
13) Is there anything else in the works regarding the stats? Improvements,
modifications, etc?
Misty: There is currently being a plugin developed by JeDi, with the appreciated assistance of Wim "TheUnknownFactor" Barelds. This plugin will allow players to upload their scrim/match logs straight from in-game! No more going through your FTP finding which log goes to which match. Another feature the plugin will consist of is the infamous 'PlayerInfo' feature, used in the previous DSP Plugin CALeague was using.
As for improvements to the stats, I hope to include features where you can do Team-vs-Team and Player-vs-Player comparisons, as well as updating and managing your own Team/Player profiles. After that is done, I'll be expanding to more games (CS 1.6, DoD:S, DotA, CoD2). I will also be launching one of the biggest demo archives out there! Over 100GB of demos will be available to users. If anyone has any suggestions, by all means, contact me via irc @ #LanDodger and tell me :) I'm running out of ideas.
14) Do you have any other projects that you’re working on?
Misty: Currently I don't have any other projects that I'm working on, and I hope it stays that way. With the future additions I'll be making to the new site, I don't see how I'll find any spare time to swat flies or spread the +} plague.
15) Alright. I could probably ask more questions, but I think fifteen is
enough, so I’ll get you out on this last, fun question.
Somebody’s offering you a free-high end computer with free upgrades for
life. The only stipulation is that you have to get +} tattooed on
your forehead. Do you keep your skin ink-free, or do you enjoy the fruits
of modern technology?
Misty: Ink-Free.
Finishing Thoughts
- For some reason, when I read his first answer, it didn’t dawn on me that “Yack” was his friends name until he mentioned him the second time. I originally thought it was a modified for 1.6, and he was saying something like “yecht”, expressing his disgust for the game.
- He was resolute about not getting the tattoo, and I admire that. Being of weak mind and flimsy spirit, I probably would have imagined what computers would look like in ten years and caved like an Imperial Soldier talking to Obi Wan Kenobi. Kudos to him.
- Being a taxi team is much less than I thought it would, could, and should be. I was hoping the CGS was trying to start a farm system to develop and recognize talent, but it seems like they don’t have much purpose at all. That’s really disappointing to me. There are too many talented people being overlooked simply because there’s no good way to get recognized and added to a high-caliber team.
Thanks again to Misty, and I hope you guys enjoyed the interview as much as I did.
