BlackMane, one of the most well known characters in the Call of Duty (and many more) scene, not only for his ability in game, but also from his emoness. Playing with Dignitas at this event, he is definitely looking to take the team to gold. I had a chance to speak to him prior to the start of the tournament.
The first thing I am going to ask is that while reading this article, please remove any sharp objects from the vacinity (just to be safe!).
PCGS – first impressions?
UH, a lot smaller than expected, and no teams, but everyone is going to play in every tournament, so should be a laugh. Can’t wait to dominate Sam and Pete in CoD4.
How’s the preparation gone?
We were going to play, but I sorted of played WarHammer instead, Raz had work, so we didn’t get much practice in. We had a few decent nights against some Laming Polish teams though.
Obviously it is sad that Fnatic had to pull out, but are you actually quite happy? They talked about how they wanted to have a revenge match against you.
We are definitely better than Fnatic, having beaten them twice in ESL. There is no chance they would have beaten us. Only reason they could get close is they get carried by Tidde and Rivve.
What do you think about Reason then as they are the only other team present that are “pro” as such.
They are the biggest geek team ever, haven’t stopped playing at all. No one plays the game as everyone is waiting for CoD5, but they managed to play every night, like what the hell!!??!!
Do you think they will pose an actual threat to you then?
They actually have preparation so yeah they could cause some problems. But they have people in the team that I don’t think can even speak English, this should cause some . Hopefully we can roll them though.
Blackmane refused to look up, he didn't want us to see his tear-stained face.
Who are your under dogs for the tournament then? Crack Clan? WGAS?
Salvo definitely. Waiting for Sam to step up to the plate, he’s been saying how easy the game is and how good he is at it.
Are you going to try take them on at CS:S then?
We are going to play CS:S, raz has just downloaded it, and I think I’m going to out AWP sam, he is pretty shit at the game, show him out to play, fact!
Back to CoD4, how do you think the influx of the 3 ex MYM players. To quote you, now having , “Jason '#1 eu' Perez O'Connor”. Are you a stronger Dignitas that you ever were?
Well they have brought a lot of chemistry to the team. We got the best 3 players from MYM, their playing style suits us, and we now have a lot better communication now we are all UK players. This is definitely the strongest team I’ve been in. Shame we had to lose Mick though with all his experience.
Experience of being late?
*Laughs*
So why do you think PCGS has only 2 major team signups, considering the amount of prize money available?
Bit of combination of no one really knew about it, and people are generally quite inactive in CoD4. For the prize money I would have expected at least a few more teams here, but all the teams seemed to have died recently or gone inactive.
Are you planning on attending any other LANs this Autumn then?
We were planning on attending SLAP Live, but not sure now as we have heard they may be dropping the prize fund. Then of course there is CC5 and finally GamerLand, which we may go to if we find any more information, if its Legit or not. And then of course i35.
Do you think signups will increase for something like CC5 compared to what they are at the moment or is this the end of the line for CoD4 offline?
Crossfire has always been a huge CoD LAN. Its run all the way from CoD2. Everyone wants to win the it. It’s always well run and definitely well publicised. Prizes aren’t as big as other LANs but it’s still a great LAN to take part in.
Thanks BlackMane, and I am sure I'll speak to you later on in the event.