Last month’s GWSG Left 4 Dead tournament had many firsts for A4D. It was their first foray into the L4D competitive scene, their first time playing together in a LAN environment and their first time coming up against Garena teams. Despite all this, A4D still managed to make it into the playoffs and eventually finished top eight. GameSync interviews them to find out more about the team.
Team members:
- Edward “Glimmerous.Fop” Pang (Leader)
- Ban “Do You Like Pizza” Maximilian
- Nicholas “Kokanaden” Ng
- Chalit “TrAns” Noonchoo
Note: The team’s original lineup for the competition had WhiteSky instead of Kokanaden. WhiteSky was unable to make it on the second day of the tournament, so Kokanaden was called in to substitute for him at the last minute. Kokanaden had not practiced with the other team members for the competition, but had played in pubs and casual games with them.
Give us an introduction about yourself
Fop: I think Zoey is a slut.
Pizza: Awesome.
Kok: LEGEN – wait for it – DARY
TrAns: Nubcake
How did you guys come together as a team?
Fop: We started around December as a group of strangers trying to get achievements.
Pizza: We started with TrAns and Kok since the L4D demo was out
Kok: When I was watching Arsenal-Chelsea and WALCOTT just scored, L4D asked me to replace WhiteSky in the competition
TrAns: Pizza psycho’d used his mind powers to convince me to get the game and play with him
How long have you been playing together?
All: Since December 2008
How did you train for the GWSG L4D competition?
Fop: We played against pubs on Steam and had lots of team talks.
Pizza: Played against pubs, nubs, friends and other clan members.
Kok: Pubs, noobs, whiners, rage-quitters, wankers…
TrAnz: Played with buddies. =)
Any comments about your knockout?
Fop: It was exceptionally bad luck.
Kok: Too late to apologize!
All: (laughs)
So what happened?
Pizza: We all know who made the mistake la, we won’t point any fingers…
TrAns: Let’s not name names but Fop, he went and pressed the (No Mercy 3 lift) button when the Tank was there.
Fop: This is why audio is important.
Kok: Yah, the audio was a big problem.
Pizza: We heard (the Tank) already, that’s why we were shouting “don’t press!”.
Fop: We heard a Tank before that, but it was a Tank from another match.
Pizza: It was also our own tank. I heard it from our own speakers, that’s why we started shouting “Tank, Tank, Tank!”. Then TrAns starting running back and we didn’t press (the button).
So, basically, you couldn’t hear what your team mates were saying?
Kok: That’s why you need to have a proper competition ambiance. Even the way we were seated was against us. We were seated in a semi-circle. When you go to a competition you always sit in a straight line! The sound cannot curl. Actually, that’s bullshit hahaha.
All: (laughs)
Kok: The sound cannot curl that’s why he couldn’t hear us calling Tank. Right? Oh yah, then my unlucky star caught me. At NM5. The instant death thing. It’s very unfortunate. (A Smoker managed to catch Pizza at exactly the right angle to cause an instant kill during the start of the Rooftop finale.)
Any notable teams that you have met?
All: CS1.6 (Counter-Strike 1.6 was the team that eventually placed second at the GWSG L4D competition)
Pizza: They are one notch higher than us.
TrAns: When they play Infected you can really feel it’s different, the way they play. It’s very persistent.
Fop: Very precise, very accurate.
TrAns: Very good teamwork.
Kok: Yeah. Just like playing CS.
Now for some fun questions. Which is your favourite map?
Fop: No Mercy, I guess. It’s the most played campaign.
Pizza: No Mercy. I’t easy and fun to play.
Kok: Dead Air. Took me 10 times to complete on Expert.
TrAns: Death Toll. Jesus rock!
Which is your worst map?
Fop: Blood Harvest. Too open, it’s hard to survive as the Survivors.
Pizza: Blood Harvest. It’s very hard to survive in the open and you can’t see through the trees, etc.
Kok: Blood Harvest. It’s full of shit.
TrAns: Blood Harvest. All of the above.
Which is your favourite boss infected?
Fop: Hunter. The thrill of 25 damage pounce.
Pizza: Smoker. He’s very sneaky and plays an important role.
Kok: Witch. She’s skimpy!
TrAns: Hunter, because of the 25 pounce!
Which is your favourite Survivor?
Fop: Francis. “I hate vans!!”
Pizza: Zoey. Games should have more female characters.
Kok: Louis. Legendary scream.
TrAns: Zoey, cause she’s pretty.
Ok let’s close this up. Any shoutouts?
TrAns: I’ll like to thank Shadow for supporting us.
Pizza: And whitesky for sleeping on us!
Fop: Where are the Steam players?
Pizza: Can I think my mum, my dad, my – no I’m just kidding, I’m just kidding! I’ll like to thank my primary school friends who supported me. I was supposed to meet them yesterday but they were saying that, nevermind, go play for your competition. I told them that I would do it for them today and, yes, we won one match at least.
Then, Fop, you let down so many people? Haha.
Fop: Yeah the leader made the crucial mistake.
Kok: No, it’s ok. What do I have to say? Nothing la. “Hi, I’m a girl!”
Alright, that’s all then. Thanks for your time!
Updated to correct some factual error. It should have been the No Mercy 3 lift, rather than NM4, and it was Pizza that got instakilled by the Smoker, not Kokanaden. Thanks to Glimmerous.Fop for pointing out the errors.
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