I have a lot of respect for all different kinds of people. I respect Stephen King because my brain looks a lollipop compared to his. I respect Chuck Norris because of his internet fame.
(Just kidding, I respect him because he could beat me to a pulp using nothing but a fingernail clipping.)
But, there are a couple traits I respect more than others, and one of those is being able to take criticism and not instantly hate the person that criticizes you. I admire this because I often have problems with it, myself. It’s hard not to take comments personally.
With that in mind, you can imagine my surprise when Mark Dolven from the Carolina Core contacted me about an interview. Although I’ve tried very hard to differentiate between calling an action stupid (letting Johan Santana become a free agent is stupid), and insulting the person (the Twins GM would be stupid to let Johan Santana become a free agent), it’s a thin line to walk and I wouldn’t be surprised if I crossed it a few times either through specific words or the “tone” of an article. Like, say, during my writings about the Carolina Core drafting Pandemic.
So, I’d just like to give a big “thanks” to Mark for the interview. Not only for the reasons stated above, but because it was a pleasure to work with him on the interview and read his responses. I’ve always been a fan of 3D, so I’m not sure I can switch to the Carolina franchise. But now, at the very least, I’m a Mark Dolven fan. That doesn't mean I'll always agree with his decisions, but you can be sure that any problems I have will always start with: "I respectfully disagree".
On to the good stuff!
1) Let's get right to it. You draft Pandemic. Source fans take to the virtual streets with torches and pitchforks. You explain the reasoning on the Core website, and also in a GotFrag interview, but I thought parts of those were at odds (http://www.landodger.com/archives/20070729-174838.php). Third time's a charm, once and for all, playing for keeps (please feel free to insult and debunk my previous article): Why Pandemic?
Mark Dolven: My opinion on why I really drafted them has changed and evolved since the draft completed, but it has stayed pretty true to the original reasons. Did they have a better chance than some of the other teams because I had built that team? Of course they did. Were they drafted only because of that? Heck no. Coming into the Draft, I had analyzed a few things from the combine and one of them was that the Counter-Strike Source results had been nothing but inconsistent and extremely tight to say the least. Even the undisputed #1 team in the land, Complexity, didn't win the combine. There was no consistency across the board at all in the CS:S results from the challenges to the actual combine. Because of this, I dropped CS:S to my very last priority and draft pick. With that in mind, I knew that my options would be Pandemic, United 5 or a source based team. I knew that JMC and EG would go early and while I may have liked to have one of those two teams on my franchise, it wasn't worth giving away a higher draft pick to do so.
So the decision came down to one of the two 1.6 teams that I really had grown fond of or a Source team. At the time (my opinion has evolved since), I wanted nothing to do with a Source team just because the CGS was going to be a new breed of pressure and stress, so I needed an experienced group of players. None of the source teams lacked skill, they were all very good and still are, but I didn't think I had time to lose matches simply due to cracking under the pressure or stress. So the choice came down to Pandemic and United 5. The world revolted when I went with Pandemic, but there's nothing I can do about that. At the end of the day, I went with my gut feeling and it said take Pandemic. Each team had their respective strengths and weaknesses, so I was forced to draft by instinct. United 5 really interviewed well and showed a lot of character throughout the whole process, but I decided to go with Pandemic mostly because of their untapped potential in Source, combined with their world class experience. I also thought they would be easier to manage than a new team, but my opinion has since changed and it has been quite the opposite. The CGS is a whole new ball game and I've had to change my management style to evolve with it and this hasn't been received as well as I would have liked it to be. I think if I had the decision, I would still choose Pandemic, but one of the hungry Source teams that was on the board would have gotten a better look.
2) The Core's Source team went 5-7 during the season, and the community latched onto the thought that Sam "devour" Chamma was carrying the team. How important was he to the team's success?
MD: Sam played well almost all season in Los Angeles, but more importantly he was the most consistent player. We ended up losing because of our inconsistency as a team (13-5 blowout in this format? Common), but I wouldn't attribute this too much to Sam. Of all of the gamers that were apart of CGS, Sam was one of the few that kept to his normal daily routine of sleeping normal, working out and not falling susceptible to all of the distractions that the Players' Village created. Inside the game, Sam was very important to the team's success because he is one main AWPer. Sam is one of the best in the game, but in Source no matter who your #1 AWPer is, they are the most important player in the game. If you have a poor game from the person that should be leading in frags, you'll lose. Fortunately for us, Sam took his professionalism serious and he put in the time he needed to in order to dominate the CGS. He almost single handily dominated Complexity and won a 1v2 to defeat 3D New York, so you can't negate his important on those facts alone. He wasn't the only reason for our success, but definitely a huge one. The fans should gravitate to him, he's a great personality and player.
3) The Finals didn't go well for the Core CS:S team, but they're off to a 7-3 start in CEVO including a couple wins over fellow CGS teams. Did the team do anything special to stay focused on CEVO after what I'm sure was a bitter end to the CGS season?
MD: The success we're having in CEVO is a product of having more time with the game. We are one of the more active teams in the community and didn't waste much time after the CGS was over to get back on the horse. We have the World Championships to prepare for and finishing well in CEVO is a great start to this. I've had the guys take it very seriously and it has paid dividends as we currently sit in third place. We really didn't do anything special, just took it serious. That's not something I can say for the league as a whole.
4) Unlike the other franchises, the Core had their own practice room. It seemed like that was a definite advantage; who came up with that idea, and would you be surprised to see other franchises copy it?
MD: We were very lucky to have our own practice room and it was mostly because Peekay called in some favors to some former sponsors. This room was a huge asset to our team and really helped the team push their skill week in and week out. I think that things like this are definitely the future of the CGS and professional gaming. I would not be surprised to see us build a full training facility in Charlotte in the next couple years because this is the big time and we need to treat it as such. I think a lot of franchises will do something similar in the future, but I don't claim it to be an original idea, so I expect them to do so.
5) In the big picture, the Core's first season was a success; you finished second in Region 1, and earned a berth in the World Championships. Are there definitive dates out for that, and have the Core players already started (or continued) practicing?
MD: The World Championships will be in December with 12 total franchises in attendance. The specific dates haven't been locked down, but it should be after Thanksgiving, but before Christmas. The Core players really never stopped practicing after the season was over. Offbeat Ninja and Mystik have been extremely active and will actually be heading to a tournament this weekend to compete. The CS team has obviously been having some good success in CEVO due to their practicing and the PGR duo has been putting in time daily to keep up their speed. The wild card of our team has definitely been Peekay. After a rough first season, he could have rolled over and just collected his check, but he has actually done the opposite and become the most active member of the team. He puts in hours and hours of practice into FIFA and is determined to not let us down at the World Championships. He knows that the International players are incredible at FIFA and our success and championships run starts with him competing and sneaking in some victories.
6) The CGS scoring system has come under fire as being unfair. The championship game is actually a good example: the Core won three of the games by wide margins (including a convincing win by the much-maligned peekay), and only suffered one big loss, but the Chimera took home the title. Is there a feeling among the GMs that the scoring system needs to be reworked?
MD: When I joined up with the CGS and they told me how they were going to work the four games together for a franchise match, I was shocked in excitement. This really is a great format and I never imagined this is how it would be put together. With that being said, it is a new format which will mean that there's no way it can be perfect in the first season. We are committed to this points system and setup for the duration of the this season because if it were changed it would lopside people's draft strategies and direction. I think the PGR scoring system needs to be reworked to 4-2-1 (instead of 5-3-1) to make it a maximum +5 to fall in line with the DOA games. Overall as a whole though, I really like the system and the new fans from TV definitely liked it. I don't think there is a problem with losing 3 games out of 5 and still winning the franchise match. It definitely puts emphasis on every point, every goal and every round which is nothing but great for the sport.
In the finals, it hurt that we lost even though we won three games, but in the first CGS match ever we won by only winning two games and then also did the same thing to knock the Optx out in the first round. Being on the wrong end of it in the finals sucked, but what goes around, comes around.
7) There isn't much information out about next season. Can you confirm the rumor that CS:Source will be an individual draft? Will all the players (not just Source) from this season re-enter the draft pool, or is there a way for the franchises to retain their stars?
MD: I'm not 100% sure on what the format for the next season is and we just started entering our planning stage for the 2008 season. The rumor is it will be some sort of individual draft, but we haven't actually sat down and ironed out the details yet because we are still in the middle of the current season. So I can't confirm the rumor, nor deny it because we haven't decided yet. :)
8) It was announced that a WoW 2v2 division will be added for the second CGS season. The WSVG uses a 3v3 format, and still other tournaments use 5v5. How do you gauge talent between the different formats, and have you started scouting teams/players yet?
MD: Well, it will be no secret that finding talent in WoW will be a difficult task indeed. Right before I left Pandemic, I recruited the WoW division for them and they ended their WSVG run this season undefeated with Four World Championships, so I think I did alright there. I may have gotten lucky, but I think when it comes time to draft WoW for the CGS, I'll use my instincts and get it right again. With that being said, it will be extremely difficult though with no strong 2v2 community currently on the tournament scene.
9) What player (or group of players) impressed you the most during the season?
MD: I could rant and rave about my own players, but I think you're asking me to pick someone outside my own franchise, so I will. The only player that surprised everyone was Coolsvilla of New York. She was drafted second to last in DOA Female and she was indefinitely the second best female by the end of the season. She practiced extremely hard and I would always see her in the practice room doing her thing. She had some inexperience and pressure issues to deal with from what I saw, but she overcame them and really played strong to close out the season. She was the steal of the draft for Geffon and I expect to see more great things out of her in the future. Other than her though, there were a lot of impressive people, but I expected them to impress, so what's the fun in that.
10) What exactly are the rules regarding CGS players/teams playing in other events – is there some kind of application or notification process? Will the Core's Source team be able to play at the Winter CPL?
MD: There is a set rules structure for CGS players to compete outside of the CGS. I don't want to go into it in full detail, but basically it's in place to make sure we know where our athletes are at all times. Pending a time conflict, our athletes are usually free to participate in any tournament they want. It just has to go through a formal application process to the General Manager who checks out the sponsors of the event, the organization holding it, etc. We want our athletes to play and game as much as they want, but sometimes we have to protect our investments and not allow them to play in competing leagues or events with competing sponsors. We have not made a ruling on Winter CPL yet and are in discussions now, so I can't give you a definitive at this time.
11) In the first season, a taxi player was only used if one of the starters was physically unable to be there (a player couldn't be "benched" or "demoted" so to speak), and all the contracts were for the same amount of money. Do you think that the GMs will have more autonomy in the future?
MD: The General Managers will grow in responsibility and power in the future, but in year 1 we were limited in what kind of rosters moves we could make. Heading into the draft, it was my understanding that I could move players down and bring players up at will, but as the season progressed, I was advised otherwise and totally understood why it was that way. It did screw up my plan to have Pandemic and United 5 play a midseason set of matches for the spot on the team if Pandemic wasn't playing well, but it is what it is. In the future I can't wait to be able to trade, cut, develop and manage salary cap. This will really add a new dynamic to the sport, but we're not quite there and ready for it just yet. Soon though, soon!
That's it for me, if you'd like to leave any other thoughts or comments, feel free to do so!
Thanks for the interview Mike, I really appreciate it. You do a great job here at Landodger and it is really one of those hidden gems of a website. To our fans, stay tuned to www.CarolinaCore.com in the next few months as we have lots of great promotions coming out in our preparation for the World Championships. Go Core!
