Gama Bears vs Gamecom NV

After twelve weeks of competition nine teams have been whittled down to just two: The best of Australia, Gamecom NV, facing off against the best of Taiwan, the
Gama Bears. The result at times seemed predictable, inevitable even, but their paths were anything but predictable, with both teams suffering surprise losses and close calls at the hands of other teams and each other.

The two teams many assumed would be carried by their star Zerg players have shown remarkable depth, both having multiple players with excellent match records that have meant the difference between success and failure in a format that heavily favors broad rosters.

Coming into the Grand Final as the loser bracket participant, Gamecom NV has little control over the maps and will need to find an answer to the Protoss heavy lineup that gave them trouble during their meeting in the upper bracket. The Gama Bears will be confident after their previous 3-1 victory but the lack of race diversity in their roster mean's that a focused NV has a practice edge that they'll be sure to exploit.

The only thing that is inevitable is that one team is going to walk away unhappy, the only thing predictable is that the result is unpredictable and if the games are half as good as Gamecom NV vs Wayi Spider, you best set aside your Friday night.*

*Match has been rescheduled date: Thursday 6th September 2012


Interviews
Derek 'Dox' Reball

Gamecom NV Manager

First of all congratulations on getting into the Grand Final of the xGTL!

Thanks!

You've mentioned in the past that you were unsure about joining the league because of the time commitment when compared to the reward but you decided to just go into it for the pride, now that you're in the finals was it worth it?

It's funny actually - if you asked me this yesterday, I'd have a completely different answer for you. We've trudged through four months of logistical nuisances to reach this point, coming all the way from the Open Bracket in May. Going into this, we accepted that the effort far outweighed the reward, and by the time we'd progressed through half of the group stages, a shroud of apathy had enveloped the event. We reached a point where it had become something that we wanted to rock up and get over with as quickly as possible, so that the guys could go back to preparing for other events like WCS, IESF, IEM, ACL, TGS, MLG and so forth. Playing 4-5 matches per week doesn't sound like a big investment, but when you have the entire team booked out for a 3-6 hour block, it has an impact - especially when most of the guys are juggling university and I'm always bouncing from site to site for work. But today, my answer is different.

Last night triggered something pretty special for the team. When Andy
( mOOnGLaDe) lost his series against Fly 0-2, the tension in the team chat was through the roof. Having only lost a single series (1-2) in this entire event to Carnage's Ninja, I selected Rossi as our Ace. The whole team was on their edge of their seats, watching with anticipation as Rossi played and won a beautiful game 1.

But then game 2 was upon us. As the map countdown begun, Rossi fired a quick and garbled message to me which roughly translated to "PRESSURE!!!" In doing so, he completely forgot to pick his race. He was Random. Fortunately, the dice rolled Terran and the game proceeded. A 1-rax Double Expand vs a terrifying Roach/Bane bust. I'm not gonna lie - I was on a Skype call with a friend who has never played SC2 before, explaining what was happening in the game. "Rossi is dead. This guy is being really sharp with his Banelings - not wasting them on SCV's and instead saving them to clean up the next wave of reinforcements." And then Rossi made a few very small but wise decisions. Instead of just going into panic mode and making Hellions & Marines, he weaved a few Marauders into his production, and positioned them in key locations to absorb Baneling hits. He continued to reconstruct his wall without skipping a beat. I can't even begin to imagine how hard his heart was pounding after he struggled to recover from wave after wave of Baneling busts. But after 10 minutes of non-stop aggression and 30+ dead SCV's, he finally cleaned up the attack and found himself in the favourable position that secured him the game.

All of a sudden, that feeling of pride came rushing back to us and everyone was celebrating. It was a really great moment. I hope we can channel that intensity against Gama Bears on Friday night because their roster is intimidating to say the least.

Who from your own roster has surprised you most throughout the season and why?

Hmm. I guess most people would expect me to say Rossi, given that he has the most outstanding match record. He's been consistent and unwavering throughout the whole event. But he's always been that way - it's one of the reasons I asked him to be part the team in the first place. So I wouldn't really call that a surprise. When it comes down to it, I'd honestly have to say Yoon has been the biggest surprise. If you watch all of his matches over the past few months, you'll see a series of evolving styles, where week after week he's essentially redefining himself. He's constantly bouncing between Bio, Mech, Aggressive, Defensive, 1-base play and lastnight we even saw him making heavily upgraded Battlecruisers! It's fascinating to watch someone grow as a player like that.

If you could only give one bit of advice to all the members of your team ahead of friday's match what would it be?

It's only natural to assume that Gama Bears were watching lastnights match between their two prospective competitors. If they took away anything from lastnight, it's that all of our losses were to early attacks. Whether it's 1-base SCV pulls punishing deth & YoonYJ's 1 Rax FE's, or a swarm of Speedlings sniping mOOnGLaDe's Hatchery, the theme was a common one. So we should expect to see quite a bit of that. And with a roster as thin and transparent as ours, our furry Gamanian opponents will know exactly who is vulnerable to what. Guys, be ready for anything and don't cut corners!

You obviously have tremendous confidence in the in-game abilities of the players you chose to recruit but are there any other qualities that you look for when looking for players?

You often hear about teams talking about needing players to be a "good fit" for the team. Nazgul (Team Liquid Manager Victor Goossens) discussed this at length during the Liquid Rising documentary, and I absolutely agree with it. Most people pass it off as "one of those things" that people just say, but it's true.

When forming the team in the first place, it was important not just to pick good players, but great personalities. Not only as individuals, but as a group. These people need to be more than just people who play a game under the same banner, they need to be socially and emotionally aligned with one-another. And for me, I was very fortunate to find a group of individuals who share the same passions and operate on the same wavelength. Numerous candidates have whisked through our realm of consideration over the last 6 months and although I respect and admire each and every one of them, each person needs to sync up 100% with everyone in the team. This is why I was delighted to present JazBas to the team for consideration because I already knew this would finally be the first person that everyone would unanimously agree: "He's a perfect fit."

As for me, this team is the biggest financial undertaking of my life. I'm investing a great deal of my own money into the team and I want to ensure that these opportunities are going to the committed and talented people who deserve it most.

Any final thoughts?

It's honestly heartwarming to read the cheers and support from everyone in the livestream chat, twitter, forums and Facebook page. It means a lot to the team and I'm proud to see people caring so passionately about something we've all worked so hard to create. I want to give so much back to all of the people who demonstrate such admirable enthusiasm. I guess now is probably a good time to mention that the Nv family will be expanding even further very soon, so that we may bring bigger/better/more frequent content to our fans. Massive thanks to Gamecom, Frag Labs and Horize for their support - it's an honor and pleasure to represent them. My eternal gratitude goes to UHF for really bringing our brand to a whole new level, Takiah for being my face of negotiation with suppliers and sponsors while I'm out of commission, and GTR for showing our players what it is "to go... even further beyond!"*

David 'Rossi' Rossi

Gamecom NV Player

You're currently the player with the best record in the league, What is it about the team league format that you find suits your particular play style?

Well! Team leagues was where I first experienced competition in the sc2 scene. I was introduced to team leagues via representing Terror Australis in some simple clan wars.

I find that the pressure of representing my team and not wanting to let anyone else down puts me in a great state of mind to play my best. Not to mention I have been doing my best to prepare for the opponents that I have been facing!

Do deth and YoonYJ get jealous?

No not at all or at least I hope not! We're all representing the team and doing our best, not to mention the opponents we vs are random so we all tend to face players with a variety of skill levels.

Who (aside from Sen) are you most worried about facing on the Gama Bears roster?

Gama Bears has quite a deep and strong lineup. They have a strong protoss backing in Gow, YoYo and Apro as well as a strong zerg in Slam. To be honest I find them all quite fearsome but I think we're definitely capable of taking them out.

Who are you most proud of beating in the xGTL and why?

I have a few good scalps under my belt but am struggling to actually remember them all! Recently I was very happy with my win over YoYo in our last battle with Gama Bears as I felt the series was very close.

What are you planning on focusing on in your preparation for friday's match?

Well I'd love to find out the lineups as fast as possible. Once I know the maps and opponent I can prepare a build for each specific map.

Any Final words?

Thanks for all the kind words and support for myself and team Gamecom Nv. Please support us by following myself at @NvRossi on twitter and my team at @NvSC2 @GAMECOMau and facebook.com/NvSC2 . Lastly a big thanks to Benji for running this league as it has been quite a fun journey, I look forward to Nv taking it out!

Thank you for your time!

You can catch all the action on Thursday 6th September at 9pm AEST

Stream:
www.twitch.tv/benjisc2

Schedule
Grand Final:
Thursday, 6th September 2012 at 9pm AEST

Learn More:
xGTL Finals Information on SC2SEA.com
xGTL on Liquipedia

Words: Dingobloo
Layout: Dingobloo

Event Sponsors:

[Maynarde]

Very awesome interviews, and an awesome looking one I must add!

Would've been sick to hear from Gama as well but I understand language barriers make it tough. That said though NV FIGHTING!

Quick Comments

Dingobloo:

Definitely would have been awesome, but combination of time constraints, language barrier and my poor planning.

[Baldie]

Nice interview! GLGL lads!

[NOM]

Lovely interview guys love it

[ShinyA]

Ton of respect to Dox after reading that! Good luck in the finals

[FS.Kezz]

Rossi! Best of luck to Nv and Gama in the finals!

Has anyone got a link to the VOD/replay of the Rossi bane-bust hold game mentioned in Dox's interview?

Quick Comments

	Maynarde:	It'd be in the last recorded video at twitch.tv/benjisc2
	Dox:	http://www.twitch.tv/benjisc2/b/330351745 Skip to 4H 12M

[Dox]

Beautiful. Love your work.

[ToR.Arnor]

Originally Posted by FS.Kezz

Rossi! Best of luck to Nv and Gama in the finals!

Has anyone got a link to the VOD/replay of the Rossi bane-bust hold game mentioned in Dox's interview?

http://www.twitch.tv/benjisc2/b/330351745

Its the last Set so skip to about 1/2 an hour before the end I guess

Great Job Dingobloo That formatting is freaken sexy as!

[Dingobloo]

Originally Posted by Arnor@CityHunter

http://www.twitch.tv/benjisc2/b/330351745

Its the last Set so skip to about 1/2 an hour before the end I guess

Great Job Dingobloo That formatting is freaken sexy as!

Here's a direct link, though sometimes twitch messes up the sound if you direct link these days.

http://www.twitch.tv/benjisc2/b/330351745?t=252m00s

[NvPinder]

Great interviews and pre-match writeup, so pumped to cheer on Nv for this one!

GOTTA WANT IT BOYS!

[zendex]

Hi guys, can we have this article featured on gosugamers.net?

Just need your permission and I'll make a publishing there.

Quick Comments

	Dingobloo:	I'm fine with it as long as nirvana is.
	nirvAnA:	of course you may :) Just credit dingo / us appropriately as the source

[LiviBee]

Congrats Rossi, your terran is strong! i watched in excitement when you 2-0d fly!

[nirvAnA]

such a sexy format and write up!

GL for tonight, will be cheering from my army barracks lol!

[FS.Kezz]

Wow, thanks everyone for the links!

[TAXanT]

Quality write up, I've missed a fair bit of this league so was a pleasure to read!

[AxS.Sorathez]

Just saying it might be hard to have the finals on the 31st April since there are only 30 days in April and the 30th was four moths ago :3

Quick Comments

Dingobloo:

Oops, good catch.

[NOM]

Hasn't this been delayed because of Gama Bears?

[Dingobloo]

Originally Posted by NOM

Hasn't this been delayed because of Gama Bears?

Has it? I can't say I saw anything about the delay.

Quick Comments

NOM:

yea, deth told me. Not sure of the reason though. PC issues or another tournie, who knows

[Benji]

Sorry, but yea Gama Bears have a live event today related to TeSL, so we have delayed the game until next week. Will announce the exact day asap.

Quick Comments

	NOM:	^there we go
	Dingobloo:	cheers, I'll edit in the details when they're released.

[JiNxXx]

fantastic read, can't wait for the finals!