While at CWL in Dallas I met some very interesting people and pro teams. One of the the open bracket teams, 2050, was nice enough to sit down with me and answer some questions and let me spend the weekend watching them compete. While they did not do as well they had wanted, given it was their first time at an event like this, it was all worthwhile as a learning experience and they can only get better as they continue.
Watching them play, as it was also my first tournament experience as a journalist, was amazing. I learned so much about how the teams communicate, how they train, and generally how this team in particular worked together. Below is my interview with team 2050 members: Superr, Creativity, AWAL and team captain Pride.
Electric Bento: Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions and letting me tag along today at day one of the CWL Dallas. Lets get right to it. What are looking forward to most this weekend?
Superr: “I am most excited about meeting my teammates in person for the first time and getting all the experience I can to help the team excel in competitive Call of Duty.”
AWAL: “Just taking part in the whole experience, being a part of it. ”
Pride: “I’m really looking forward to getting to play this game on LAN. The online play still has some issues so I’m excited to get to play the game as intended.”
Creativity: “I’m not looking to just show up and win the event. My goal is to perform to my absolute best and see the potential of the team. Success will follow.”
EB: Do you guys have a favorite pro player and why are they your favorite?
Superr: “Formal because he is calm and collected, yet will get hyped up if something good happens .”
AWAL: “Scump. I have always been a fan of Optic Gaming and I have grown up watching Scump make so many great plays that I have actually adapted my play style towards his.”
Pride: “Scump, easy. He was the player that first inspired me to start competing. Dude is an absolute animal.”
Creativity: “My favorite pro is Clayster because I see the most resemblance as a player and a personality of him to myself. I’m a very hype player, most of my insane plays or kills are driven off my energy and raw hype. I also love Clay because he was dropped from his team back in IW and the next event he came with his new roster and left FaZe is the dust.”
EB: Do you have a favorite pro team and why?
Superr: “Optic because they know what it takes to win and watching their games helps better myself.”
AWAL: “Optic Gaming. They have a different mindset that makes them stand out from others. Their vlogs really help their community grow I believe as it is enjoyable to keep track of them.”
Pride: “Honestly this question is a tough one because there were so many roster changes this year. In the past I’ve rooted for optic as a Scump loyalist.”
Creativity: “My favorite pro teamis eUnited. I love eU because they literally came out of nowhere last year and rose to the top very quickly.”
EB: What are your Call of Duty competition aspirations?
Superr: “To grow this team into a winning organization. And to just grow with each event played.”
AWAL: “To be able to compete at the highest level of competition. To have the confidence to know my team will win.”
Pride: “My goals for the team are just to continue to get better and better. We are the founding team members of 2050 and I want us to set the tone.”
Creativity: “I just to want to have some fun while I’m competing and enjoy the competitive aspect of the game. I don’t necessarily want to go pro or win COD Champs or anything extreme, I just want to try as hard as possible, grow as much as I can as a player, and let the success follow.”
EB: Sounds like noble and very achievable goals! Last question for the day, what do you think are your strengths and weaknesses are in this competition?
Superr: “My biggest strength is being able to adapt and adjust my play style and strategies for the team on the fly, based off what the other team is trying to do. My biggest weakness is getting discouraged after a loss.”
AWAL: “My strengths are that I can adapt to things fast when there is a change of plans during gameplay. Weakness I would say is when we lose and I know we could have won easily but just made stupid mistakes, I tend to get upset over it.”
Pride: “My strengths in game definitely rotate around the objective in any mode. As the team’s primary sub play, the role of objective (bomb carry, hill, flag pulls) are probably some of my strong points. As far as weaknesses go, my ability to wait needs improvement. I can get very anxious and impulsively make a poor play.”
Creativity: “My strongest attribute as a player is that I’m the hype guy of my team. Whenever we’re playing a 2k or scrims, I’m always the guy to want to scream how much better I am than my opponents. My biggest weakness as a player is that I’m sometimes (he air quotes), overly confident and challenge gunfights I shouldn’t or try to make superhero plays I shouldn’t.”
EB: Thanks again guys! I am looking forward to sitting down with you again on Sunday and watching you play the rest of the weekend.
The rest of the weekend I was able to follow along and watch the team play in the open bracket a couple times. It was very competitive and they did really well at times, but eventually were knocked out of the bracket. We spent the rest of the time watching the other teams on the stage or just chatting. Sunday came and I was able to sit down with them one more time with some follow up questions.
EB: Hey again guys! Just wanted to follow up and ask you all a few questions before you head home after this amazing weekend. First off, what was your favorite part of the event? (Creativity had to leave earlier unfortunately)
Superr: “Being able to see call of duty gameplay at the highest level, in person.”
AWAL: “Just the atmosphere of it all. As you walk in, it was breathtaking almost. It’s something you definitely don’t get to experience from watching online.”
Pride: “As corny as it sounds, getting to spend the weekend with my teammates. Getting to spend time with them outside of the game, I feel, has made us much closer and definitely helped our team chemistry.”
EB: What was your least favorite part?
Superr: “How we performed at the event.”
AWAL: “Hard to answer to be honest. I enjoyed everything about it really.”
Pride: “Unfortunately this event was plagued by some pretty serious threats. While this is mostly outside of the CWL’s control, it definitely put a damper on things and put a lot of extra stress on the players. With that being said I am also beyond thankful for how well the staff was able to handle these situations.”
EB: Did you guys learn anything this weekend?
Superr: “I learned that we as a team needed to prepare a lot more than we did going into this competition.”
AWAL: “There is a big difference in how you think it would be like and what it actually is. The competitive aspect turns into something different on LAN because you are actually there in person face to face with your opponents.”
Pride: “Definitely. Getting to watch the top tier players up close is always a learning experience. When those players are playing off stage it allowed me to hover nearby and watch each player individually. This made it very easy to watch certain roles, rotations, and much more that you just don’t get from watching online.”
EB: Anything you would change?
Superr: “I would like our preparation to change to help us grow as a team. For the event itself, it was ran very well, especially with the evacuations.”
AWAL: “Yes. If I could go back, we would be more prepared going into the event. Obviously with this being our first major event together, we couldn’t expect to do too well but we have all learned a lot and are aiming to improve.”
Pride: “I wish there was more to do outside of playing the game. Due to the threats the stations that were set aside for scrims and GameBattles matches had to be used to keep the event moving forward. Even with this though the only “activities” for player and spectators to take part in outside of the tournament itself was the Playstation VR station which was pretty underwhelming to say the least.”
EB: Are you guys planning to attend future CWL events?
Superr: “As many as we can.”
AWAL: “Yes we will be attending other CWL events in the near future and we expect to do a lot better.”
Pride: “Of course! All things aside, the event was still fantastic and the team and I all had a great time. I can’t wait for the next one!”
EB: One more question, as I know you guys have planes to catch home. Any advise for future teams attending CWL events for the first time?
Superr: “Work your butts off, you never know what level of competition you’ll encounter.”
AWAL: “Stay calm while competing and act like you’re at home playing. Zone everything else out and focus on the game. Stick with your strategies discussed beforehand and stay focused on them. Don’t let pressure get to you. Don’t let losing get to you. You never truly lose if you learn from losing.”
Pride: “My advice for teams coming to their first event would be to not be to hard on yourself. Set realistic goals and if you don’t reach them DON’T BEAT YOURSELF UP! Use any mistakes or losses as a tool to make yourself and your team better, don’t let it discourage you. You came to the event because at the end of the day you love the game. So chin up and give it your best, that’s all you can do.”
EB: Thanks so much guys! Hopefully we can do this again at the next event and watch you all grow in the pro circuit!
For more information about Team 2050 and 2050esports check out their website and Facebook page!