[Descent]

“My name is Jordan "Zenabi" Fighera, I am 20 years old and I currently run an Australian based esports team Ecko Esports.”

That’s how Zenabi introduces himself online. He currently runs one of the stronger Starcraft 2 teams in the region. The current hope is for Ecko to expand beyond Starcraft 2 in the near future.

Yet, four years ago, Zenabi wouldn’t have even bought the game.

“One day I finally caved in and bought the game. Since they were both a Protoss and Terran player respectively, they somewhat forced me into playing Zerg which I was more than ok with.”

He plays at a Master’s level -- the top two percent of players -- Zenabi is good at this game; however, that’s not where his heart lies.

“I have always had an interest in management, what goes on behind the scenes and how things are run.” Zenabi stated.

His first endeavour into the management side of thing was the creation of a team with those same friends who convinced him to buy the game.

NaZGaming. The name coming from their school, Nazareth Catholic College. Originally it was only for the guys at the school. Those three, together. Eventually, they wanted something more. With the help of SC2SEA, the clan grew. It grew and grew and things began to happen. Unfortunately, as it does, real life commitments got in the way for many of the members, including Zenabi.

“I took a 2 week break from Starcraft at this stage to focus on finishing a bunch of Year 12 assignments. When I came back, it was decided that NaZGaming had effectively been disbanded. I was sad about this, something we created as friends and were starting to really get going with ending so abruptly.”

Zenabi continued to move forward, joining ToR and continuing to play Starcraft 2.

But he wasn’t away from the management side of things for long. He then created Ecko Esports. “I was still playing the game regularly and had cracked Masters but was still losing in the first round of tournaments to players better than me. So I made the decision to focus less on playing and more on managing.”

So, Zenabi set out to join the likes of Team Immunity, Carnage Esports and Xeria Gaming. There was plenty of untapped potential in the scene at the time.

“My original goal for this team was to create another Starcraft 2 team in our scene to be competitive. For me, it took a very long time to achieve that goal but I would like to think we achieved that.”

The original roster comprised of three players. Kreamy, an Adelaide Terran player. Shampoo, a Sydney Zerg and Probe, a Melbourne Protoss. All good players. All of them did what they could for Ecko, but it wasn’t long before they felt the next to expand. This was announced in April 2013. The roster was then finalised in September.

Jordan "Zenabi" Fighera
Kevin "Kreamy" Luangkhoth
Sean "Probe" Kempen
John "Tazerenix" McCarthy
Andrew "Switch" Roberts
Billy "FLuX" Weeks
Mikael "Schnitzel" Koch
Henry "RivaL" Yum

A nationally recognised Starcraft 2 team isn’t enough for Zenabi: “Probe has had stellar performances for us, RivaL has done exceptionally well in LANs and the online events he wakes up in time for, and for a period of time we were destroying teams in some Clan Wars. But with time comes new goals. For people that don’t know me too well, I am a rather ambitious person.”

Ambitious is one word for it.

“My main goal slowly went from a competitive Starcraft 2 team to an internationally recognised Esports team. Now this goal has in no way shape or form been achieved, and may very well never be achieved, but without large goals, how does one keep pushing to better themselves?”

One of the most important things about running a top-level professional gaming team is communicating with sponsors. “When I first met with them [Katana Gaming Systems] at The Pad, I was nervous as hell! But the meeting went well and we talked out what we offered, what they offered, and it was amazing! Without their backing, Ecko Esports would not have been able to accomplish half the things we have today!

“The Ecko Esports Computer Systems is just another way that they are showing their continued support for Ecko Esports, how awesome do they look!”

But it hasn’t always been sunshine and rainbows for Zenabi.

“I’ve had some ups and downs with Ecko, but my biggest regret at this time was getting someone in to help the team when I didn’t know them well enough. It didn’t affect us too much, and in some cases it was good having that extra pair of hands, but i regret not choosing someone I knew and had full confidence in.”

“I have had some days were I just can't be bothered with it anymore, running an esports team.” But perhaps the most reassuring part of all this, is the line that followed this: “I wouldn't change a thing. I love the lads past and present who worked with the team, and others who have just had conversations with us. If I didn’t love what I do for Ecko Esports, we wouldn't still be around.”

There’s still more to come from Ecko Esports. Despite a rough start to 2015, Zenabi’s looking to bounce back: “2015 brings some new changes to Ecko Esports. Early we lost some players that have been with us for a while, and there are more changes to come in the few weeks ahead. With these changes brings new challenges, which we intend to soar above and provide the scene with more awesomeness.”

This includes plans for more LANs, more players (including rising star, Azure) and growing the brand. “Starcraft 2 is still a major part of our organisation and we intend to go further then we have before in terms of results. But that is not the only venture we are looking at and hope to have some encouraging news to announce in the next few months.”

For Zenabi, he’s looking to the future for Ecko. He wants it to grow to be a big name. He wants it to be bigger than Team Immunity and Frenetic Array. He doesn’t want to be the next Evil Geniuses, he doesn’t want to be the next Natus Vincere… he wants to be the first Ecko Esports.

Shout Outs

“Quick shout out to our amazing sponsors Katana Gaming Systems, you can check out their wide range of computers which includes our own system at www.katanagamingsystems.com.au and like them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KatanaGamingSystems