We were able to catch up with Pro Halo Player and Halo Streamer, Heinz of Counter Logic Gaming to ask him questions about his recent success at Iron Games Columbus and the Halo Championship Series.

First off, congrats on your win this weekend Heinz. It was quite a battle between you and Evil Geniuses on Sunday but you guys came out on top in the end. How does it feel to win the first sanctioned LAN event for the HCS?

Heinz: Thanks! It feels great. This is the most satisfying win I have had since MLG Orlando in 2011 because we played against the best of the best at this tournament, and pretty much no event has seen all the top players compete in the past 2 or 3 years.

You guys recently finished Top 64 in the first HCS Online Cup after dominating the pre-season with back-to-back wins. Do you feel online play could be an issue for your team, or was the first HCS Online Cup a fluke?

Heinz: The HCS Online Cup was definitely not a fluke. EG is a great team and they beat us pretty handily that day. It just so happened to be in the round of 64 and not in the Finals because of random seeding. Online play in this game is better than it has been in any other Halo so I don’t mind it. Some hosts are worse than others and teams may abuse that when playing in online tournaments that mean something, so the “better” team may not always win, but all in all it is tolerable.

You have been part of Counter Logic Gaming for a month+ now. Walk us through the process of joining the organization, and how they got in touch with you and your team.

Heinz: I was teaming with APG and Lethul for a while when there weren’t too many Halo tournaments, but we were never able to find that 4th we all wanted, so in September I decided to join Ogre 2, Snakebite and Royal 2. Now that they finally had a set team, Tom reached out to Kelby who (now) works for GoodGame and was looking for a team to represent CLG. It was a pretty standard process as Kelby is very easy to work with. We kept it quiet pretty successfully for a couple of months, and then once Halo events and the HCS became official, that’s when we signed with CLG.

Recently your team parted ways with Coach Diesel. Give us some insight on the decision to change coaches right before the event, and how that situation played out.

Heinz: Releasing Diesel from the team was not an easy decision, especially for me. It wasn’t about his “performance” at all as he has done well at every event I’ve gone to with him. Diesel is a great coach and close friend of mine, and has been for over 2 years now. But, as a team, we felt the chemistry with Diesel wasn’t there and team morale wasn’t where it should be, partly because of him unfortunately. We talked about it and realized it was better for us to part ways with him, so we picked up Royal 1 as our coach and he has done a fantastic job so far.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection been out for a month now, what is your opinion on Halo 2: Anniversary as a competitive title until the release of Halo 5: Guardians?

Heinz: I enjoy playing Halo 2: Anniversary competitively. It is certainly a little bit different than the rest of the Halo series, but it is still Halo and it is fun. There are some things that I feel need to be addressed, but overall I enjoy playing it on a daily basis.

If you could change one thing about Halo 2: Anniversary, what would it be and why?

Heinz: If we are talking strictly gameplay here, I would have to change the melee system. At this point, I’m not even sure if I would call it a “system”. I would like “bleedthrough” to be reintroduced to Halo so, for example, if I shoot someone 2 times and melee them, they die, instead of it being equal to just meleeing somebody. It also has an affect on sniping, because I can shoot someone 3 times with the BR and then my teammate can snipe that same person in the body, but it will only make them one shot instead of killing them. Quite frustrating.

The Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta starts in a few weeks, have you liked what you’ve seen so far from 343 Industries?

Heinz: I have seen so many differing opinions on Halo 5 from one end of the spectrum to the other, but I don’t think it looks bad from what I have seen yet. I haven’t seen a lot of gameplay so I can’t offer too much insight, but I’m excited to try it for myself here soon. I’m more on the optimistic side of things.

Sprint has been a hot issue in the competitive Halo community. Do you feel it has a real place in the Halo series?

Heinz: I do not prefer sprint in the Halo series and I’ll always believe Halo is better without sprint, but that doesn’t mean sprint + Halo can’t = a good game. I think if the sprint setting is applied correctly (which I don’t believe happened in Reach or Halo 4), then it is certainly possible for it to play a good role in competitive Halo.

Where can people find you? (Social media, etc.)

Heinz: People can find me on twitter at www.twitter.com/RichieHeinz and my stream which is www.twitch.tv/Heinz.

Any shoutouts?

Heinz: Thank you to CLG and their fans for all of your support. We really do appreciate it! I’d also like to say thank you to my family for always encouraging me to keep on with my gaming career. It helps more than most people know to have a supportive family. And of course, thanks Team Beyond for the interview and constant stream of Halo news and discussion!

We really appreciate Heinz sitting down with us, and we wish him and his team the best of luck heading into 2015 with competitive Halo. Make sure to follow Heinz on Twitter and Twitch!

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