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IPL's Ryan Mitchell had a chance to sit down with the loveable Cody "Frisco" Day from Team Aero and talk about the Shootmania Launch tournament.
1. Can you introduce yourself and your team (Aero) to those who might not know where you guys came from? What are your roles in game?My name is Cody Day, better known by my in-game alias Frisco. My teamates are Spucrl, who I have been teaming with since October of last year on Fierce Gaming, and Pluxxi, who has some serious experience in Shootmania, having played against some of the best teams in the world at IPL5. I am the first to attack for our team and also the most aggressive defender and spotter on some maps. Spucrl is our second attacker and known for his massive defense play with the rockets, and on railpad. Pluxxi comes in third and secures some of the most clutch rounds I have seen on offense and defense, he performs well under pressure situations such as 1v1's on pole.
2. You and your teammates have been around the scene for quite some time. You’ve finally qualified for one of our events, taking the final spot from our online qualifiers. How does it feel to have finally qualified, and what do you think you can attribute your success to?
It feels great to have finally qualified for one of these tournaments. My teamates and I have practiced pretty hard to achieve this qualification and it has definetely been worth it. Prior to qualifying we were practicing in pubs and scrims daily, working around schedules to ensure the most practice we could out of the day. After losing some matches in the previous qualifiers that we felt we should have won, we woke up, put the try-hard pants on, and did our best to make sure we would take this last qualifier.
3. What do you think of the map pool for the Launch Event? Does your team have a favorite/least favorite map? Do you like the idea of having 3 maps rotated in the rotation every few months?
I think this map pool is the best map pool out of any tournament I've competed in. I was surprised to see how well the player made maps fit in with competition. Our favorite map is Ironfist, as I feel our defense is strong on it and our attacks are consistent. Our least favorite map used to be Daybreak, we would lose a lot of our defense rounds, but we have since learned to navigate it effectively, and it has become one of our strongest maps. I do like the idea of having 3 maps rotated in every few months. It should add some more diversity to the gameplay and keeps players on their toes.
4. Who do you think has the best chance of winning the Launch Event? Are there any opponents that you especially want to play (or not play)?
I really think that the top teams from North America all have a good shot to take this one home. Everyone has been looking really solid these past couple of weeks and I would be glad if any one of my continent-mates win this tournament. We may also see Aero pull this one off in true underdog fashion :). For the sake of advancing through the tournament I wouldn't want to play any of the top EU teams, as I know they are extremely good and I have never played against a European team before. I would, however, love to play against these teams in a practice match to experience their different playstyle and learn from it.
5. How is your team preparing for the Launch Event? As you guys have had the same roster for quite some time now, are you changing anything up in your practice style or schedule? What do you think you need to work on the most?
After qualifying things started to simmer down in our practice schedule. We will be resuming the same mindset we had during the qualifiers and practicing really hard for this tournament. We want to take the most out of we can from this tournament, so we're going to go as hard as possible. We have been scrimming top teams such as Curse and SpinMove to practice for the qualifiers, we will continue to play the top teams in preperation for the tournament. I think we need to work on our offensive play the most. When playing versus the top teams in North America, we find the most trouble in getting the attacking rounds through.
6. Are there any teams you though might qualify for the Launch Event that did not? Were there any surprises for you about when certain teams qualified?
The only team that didn't qualify I thought would was CompLexity, they have really strong players, but ultimately lost the drive to play. Not to discredit this team, as they deserve the spot that they earned and their players are nice, but I'm surprised that team DM qualified when they did. They were a brand new team coming in guns hot for the second qualifier, and I'm pretty sure they surprised a lot of people with their qualification early on. All credit to them, they are a very good team.
7. Why does everybody love Frisco?
Early in alpha and beta 1.3 I would play public matches a lot and I would try to be nice whenever I could, complementing good plays, and offering assistance when needed. Later, after I started competing, I had already built a healthy reputation as a nice player, and I guess some players recognized me as someone who could easily give assistance when needed. I really love playing Shootmania and encourage players who feel the same way to positively support the community by being nice to new players and posting helpful content on the social media sites such as /r/shootmania.
8. Any shout outs?
Shoutouts to the Fierce/Curse/SpinMove/Aero/FragDolls Community Mumble: bosnaK, Goonesky, Ranjit the Rabid Rapscallion Zypher, Dan, Mason, Casey "b00ds" McLil'Waine, Talespin, Xp3, Grain, Poorbilly, Vince, SiREN, Pixxel, Sabre, and Esper. As well as our late night obstacle guests vVv gaming. My teamates, and www.shootmaniacompetitive.com
Good luck in San Francisco Team Aero!
