Siavash "DrStrangelove" Etesham takes a trip to the desert and back with Justin "Heatwave" McKay.
America has given birth to some of the biggest names ever to grace the game, from PowersGaming to Dallas Venom and in the modern day Team Dynamic. Yet despite being out of the limelight for a number of years one name will always get people hot under the collar, zomblerz. Anyone who has followed the American scene in the past will be familiar with the name and it's for good reason, some of the best American players ever have represented the little green man and his solitary eye.
I decided it would be of interest to our readers to seek out the man who gave birth to the name and the man who has been part of it since its inception. So, I packed myself a carton of cigarettes, a bottle of Johnnie Walker, and a couple cases of beer and set off to Arizona to figure out how the little green mastermind works. I knew that I was in for the long haul, a long night and day of chatting with a good friend of mine; Justin.
The man behind the glasses, the Zombler known as Justin.
So everyone pretty much knows who you are and what you've accomplished in this game, however the vast majority of people don't know what makes you tick. So Justin what makes you keep playing Counter-Strike:Source after all this time?
Well, there are a couple of things that keep me interested. Firstly, when I was in school, playing Counter-Strike:Source between homework and studying helped me to find a balance between work and play. Secondly, the mix of critical thinking and coordination is unique—as in, it can’t be found in the world outside of gaming. Third, winning is fun.
How do you keep American players on a “leash”, since their play style resembles that of a person suffering from ADD?
First, let me say that I don’t ascribe to the ideas about differences between USA and Euro players/teams. I only care about it enough to mention that I don’t care about it. However, when it comes to idiotic pushing and peeking, it’s a judgment call for whoever is doing the pushing and peeking. By the time you know whether you should have done it, it’s already too late.
Here’s what I do with my team: I go over one or two of the strategies I want to use for 5-10 minutes, make sure we don’t fuck up our nades, and dry run if necessary. I spend time going over my ideas with myself so that I can clearly and concisely explain the strat—I can only expect to hold the attention of my teammates for 5-10 minutes. Beyond that time, it’s more efficient to scrim and hope for the best—otherwise people will start TKing me. I also review possible calls that I could make mid-game in order to eliminate confusion about what I want to happen.
So these simple calls that you've developed have become somewhat of a hidden gem within the higher tier of Counter-Strike:Source here in America. Specifically the goofy calls and names you give things can you elaborate more on the idea of developing nonsense to communicate to your team ?
I like nonsensical names because I can attribute any meaning I want to them. “Default” can mean so many things to people, but “Pikachu,” “wheelchair,” or “anchor penis” can mean whatever I want it to mean. If I had to micro-manage each of my teammates mid game, then I would be a worse player than I already am. Maybe some people can talk and frag at the same time—I can’t. Plus, saying stupid things makes calling strats much more fun to me.
Are you the Dr. Seuss of Counter-Strike:Source? I mean you and your team are infamous for creating new memes within this particular suburb of the Internet, where does it come from?
It's a personality defect. I have this live wild wire in my brain that just goes out of control sometimes.
Do people on the team catch on to your quirky sense of humor?
Take a look at Eric “brawwr” Neer. During the 2nd generation of zomblerz, I was making some stupid slurping noise so Andres “misty” Gunaratne started doing it too. Eric said, “I’ll never be like you guys.” Now look at him.
Since you guys obviously have a lot of fun with each other outside of the game and inside, how does that translate when you’re playing matches, is it a mixture of both fun and seriousness?
In matches it usually gets toned down a little bit, but if something great happens then it comes out again. It most frequently comes out in sarcasm, like " Let's peek em one by one and lose the round,” “okay we're up 15-6 right now let's try and take it to overtime” or I'll say stupid shit like, “Don’t be a hero. Be the guy who walks away after the hero dies.”
The one eyed zombler..
Where did the name and tag come from?
The tag it came from a typo, when I was holding shift down when trying to type in a smiley face.
The imagery surrounding how the name came about is too silly for anyone but me to understand. I was looking at something in the second grade, and my little childish mind described it as “zombler”. No, it wasn’t a penis, but that would have been funny too. You sicko.
You've obviously gone through several roster changes throughout the years, seen many friends come and go throughout that time, how do you feel about the newest incarnation of zomblerz?
Changing rosters is never fun, but I’ve found that it (a new roster) will eventually feel normal if you give it some time.
Run us through a day of you running the team.
It starts whenever I wake up. I text everyone the practice time and if all goes well they don't respond and just show up on time. Sometimes people will have stupid excuses because they think the world revolves around them. WRONG! It revolves around me!
Practice time rolls around and I try to hop on before everyone else, then I'll kick it with whoever shows up early. If there’s anyone who is fake-afk or absent, then I start spamming them with every avenue I can. Fucking fake-afkers—
Me: Who's here?
Team: *silence*
Me:“WHOSE ASS DO I HAVE TO CALL?”
Team: “Dude, I’m here, don’t call me.”
Next we either go over a strat like I mentioned before, or start scrimming. During scrims I have to make sure my ideas are being executed properly, and find out why they are working or not working. If a strat tends to fail, then there are usually good reasons for it. The tricky part is finding out what they are. Most of the time, I’ll hear the faint whine of my teammates, “Meeh meeeh, we should be more aggressive. Meeeeh meeeh, we should be more passive.”
Oh really. Can you quantify how we need to be more aggressive? Of course not. It’s was stupid thing to say, so stfu.
I also try to remember what worked and what didn’t work for us. It’s easier said than done because it’s easy to get lost in the fun of it all.
When it comes to picking a time to end practice, I try to kill it before it dies. That means that I try to end practice before people are sick of playing. We are a bunch of old men now, so bedtime usually happens before I have to worry about that.
Grandpa Rich “sauce” Cannon and Grandma Eric “Brawwski” Neer, posing for their annual photo.
Is Eric good or bad or does he think he's good?
Oh he knows he's bad, but sometimes his shots are just..Muah *Italian kissing hand motion*, they're beautiful.
Where can we find Officer Malloy and is he in fresh meat?
Offficer Malloy doesn't even exist.
How many people have you sent to the slums in monopoly lately?
It's been a while since we've played monopoly but one thing we do now is cheese people in Starcraft 2.
How do you make everyone leave mumble in two seconds flat?
Clear out mumble by placing your upper lip against your bottom row of teeth, then suck. Oh, you have to roll your eyes into the back of your head while you do it.
Lastly, what would you say to people who are playing competitively and trying to make it to the top, or for those who just started playing competitively; any words of wisdom?
* a long pause * I don't have anything meaningful to say..
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Thu, 17 May 2012 11:51:05 +0100
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