Lighters explains what went wrong

Reason Gaming just lost to Team CoolerMaster, and they were about to go straight into the 3rd/4th place game. Before that though I sat down with Lighters to try and find out what went wrong.

Welcome Chris. We all know who you are, so let's skip the intro. What went wrong?

Basically we lost a few stupid rounds when we had a man up, and on other rounds we failed to commit. We would lose 2 men quickly, and the rest of the team were just stand still, and we'd get picked off one by one. Then to top if off we had the lead over TCM and had the advantage but we just failed to close the game out multiple times, and lost key rounds that changed the game around. Pretty much sums up in all of the maps really.

Were you confident after the 1st map that you could win it?

After the 1st map we thought the game was really on and it was there for the taking. Yeah we really thought we could win it.

What is it about TCM playing you? You seem to play them a lot in major tournaments, but your record against them isn't brilliant. Is it something about them that you just can't beat them?

That match was so evenly matched, and because we have played each other so many times, everyone knows what everyone is doing. It then comes down to who has more patience on the day, but also who picks it up skills up and that is normally the deciding factor of who wins the game.

How much are you missing Tom from the team? Styles had to step in for this event as Tom was on holiday, but were you missing Tom? He is such a big player in the team from an outsides perspective.

Just like you said, he is very big and influential and he is very hard to replace. I believe Styles did an excellent job standing in, and he was told what to do. Most importantly he tried to raise team morale and suggested a few things we could do, which was just what we needed.

At UKeSA you seemed to lose confidence after you lost to TCM, and it allowed BB to destroy you in the 3rd/4th place match. We have an exact copy of that now but do you think you will still have motivational problems going into this match?

Yeah definitely, without a doubt. I think we are going to make it extremely hard for ourselves against BB. We can beat them, but it will all come down to the 1st map. If we beat them, then we can go on and win, but if we don't get rounds early on then it will spiral out of control.

If you finished 4th, do you think this will affect you performance at the other major summer events?

I think everyone will be wanting to pick it up for the summer, because we will have our main lineup then. Most importantly D1ablo will be hungry for success, especially after being away on holiday, and knowing how much we have missed him.

A lot of people didn't think sLWx would settle into the team, and at UKeSA he didn't really play the best he could. However, against TCM he was definitely playing a lot better. Has he finally settled in?

Yeah he has. Obviously there is more to work on in terms of team play, but that comes with more practice. I believe the problem at UKeSA with Sam was that we tried to force him to play a set position, like zenith. But Sam is far more of a free style play, like Phantasy. If you let him go off on his own fragging, he does what he does best.

How do you think you will do at the other upcoming events?

We are disappointed with UKeSA, and the start at EPS has also been disappointing. I think everyone is going to want to change this, to win a summer LAN, or at least come top 3. At the end of the day we want some success.

And what is going to happen to Reason after the events?

It's too far ahead to really say. It comes down to how the LANs go, how the sponsors get on with the teams. Most importantly it's to try and not think too far ahead, and do the best we can while it's there.

What about CoD4 as a whole? Will that survive?

I think the scene will definitely die down, just like it did as CoD5, but there are a few online cups such as CM Storm and Infused Cup that will keep few die hard teams alive, that want success.

Just before we finish; can you beat ButtonBashers?

Yes

Who is going to win the final?

Whoever takes the first map

Any last words

Thanks to the sponsors and Reason Gaming for supporting us. And thanks to EPS for the awesome tournament.