Corey "Sit" Scoda is a DPS player for Second Wind, a team who recently took first place in Contenders Trials and qualified for Contenders Season 3. Previously, he played with and was a founding member of GOATS.

Sit has never been one to shy away from speaking his mind, as he's mentioned before that light banter can be helpful towards viewership for the T2/T3 scene.

I caught up with him to discuss various topics, such as the growing trend of Trials teams dropping players who have earned their qualification spots; why the underdog Reinhardt in a GOATS 3/0/3 composition mirror match will have more unpredictable Earthshatters; potential issues with Blizzard's rules for brand sponsorships on Contenders teams; and, why Contenders Europe has rougher than Contenders North America.

You noted that some teams in Trials S2 dropped and replaced players upon qualifying for Contenders and ultimately performed worse. Has this practice become more widespread in Season 3?

This practice has become widespread in Season 3, with players literally waiting to hear if they will play based on if another player even hints at joining. This happens because of a multitude of reasons, either it being the coaches or the players themselves who make the decisions. Most players get cheated out of a spot because of people thinking that other players will be better in their spot, when it's either simply that they want their friends on the team, or they are being used as a scapegoat.

Either way, it doesn't matter. Screwing a player out of a spot they earned from Trials and leaving them empty-handed without an official Contenders match is simply scummy.

You've said that when it's GOATS vs. GOATS, the underdog will win because the Rein will play more unpredictable with shatters. Is there a match in specific you were referring to?

I was mostly referring to the Team USA vs UK game, but also our former match vs EnVision at Beat Invitational S4. If you could listen to the comms, it was "F*** these kids, they are all trash, run into their spawn." I think when we also played against Fusion University in PIT Championship, we called WhoRU and Alarm literal trash cans even though they are some of the best players in the world, haha.

You can only really play like that if you know the other team has a better reputation and a chance to win the set. It honestly stems from who wants to win more. A lot of teams feel they are entitled to wins just because they feel they are better than the other.

"EU... has roughly the same amount of talent as NA but yet has to slim down

to 8 slots and makes it difficult for no-names to break in to the scene."

Blizzard has Sponsorship Restriction rules that could complicate brand sponsorships for Contenders teams. Has your team or others you know of missed out on sponsorships because of it?

Yeah, I originally got the notion Blizzard had a rule like that through Justin, the owner of Second Wind, who he himself told me that Second Wind would be salaried by becoming their own org through sponsorships.

Are you able to elaborate more on why Contenders NA got an upgrade but EU got the short end?

Contenders NA got more spots, will have more Academy teams to invest in, and a region lock which makes EU players have to compete with world class Koreans for a spot on an Academy team.

EU, on the other hand, has roughly the same amount of talent as NA but yet has to slim down to 8 slots and makes it difficult for no-names to break in to the scene.

Have any thoughts about Two-Way Contracts? Is it a good model for T2 players to break into T1?

In my opinion, two-way contracts are really good for players are going into OWL, as they will be able to get the best of both worlds: a starting spot in Contenders and possibly OWL, which can help them break into T1.

However, it significantly hurts the players that are lower tier, as they will not be able to get on an Academy team easily without having to compete with players who would normally go to OWL anyways.