Hello! I am 'macrosdxc', an amateur reporter from Russia. This year I visited Dreamhack Summer to watch the MId-Season Brawl live, meet the international community and make some interviews, and I had a chance to talk to Kala! This is the very first time I'm doing interviews so any feedback and criticism appreciated. Thank you!Please note: that interview was taken before psalm announced he's retiring from Heroes.

First of all, congratulations on finishing at 4th place! I wouldn’t say everyone thought NA team defeating a Korean team was impossible, but winning 3 series in a row against Ballistix was quite unexpected. Do you think this day Tempo Storm was actually the better team?

Kala: Yes, I think so. I also think our style works very well against their style and they weren’t sure how to play against us. I think it really worked in our favor. We weren’t necessarily ‘better’ team — I actually think they’re a fantastic team, it’s just our style worked really well against theirs. We worked really hard on bringing these drafts and we believed we could beat them if we find our own style of drafting.

What you felt like in the moment when Tempo Storm were finishing game 5 and the crowd exploded with an applause?

Kala: It probably was the best feeling I’ve ever had at event in Heroes of the Storm. First off, the fact we performed a reverse sweep against a Korean team was absolutely insane. It was the most amazing feeling in the world - I didn’t even hear the crowd, I didn’t hear or see anyone, all I saw was numbers on the screen and ‘Victory’.

In their first playoff matchup Tempo Storm really struggled against Tempest and lost the series 3-0. Do you think Tempest is any different from Ballistix? How do you think what led to that loss?

Kala: I think Tempest is much more unpredictable team than Ballistix — that was basically the biggest factor. We scrimmed with Gen.G and Tempest before even coming to this event, and we had better results against Gen.G than against Tempest. We actually took a few games off Gen.G; in fact, that’s why Rich in his interview said that we are the team to look out for because we were beating them in the scrims; they were afraid of us. Tempest was just insane — they did things we have never seen, they just rotated around the map and played differently. Hide is such a crazy support!

Let’s talk about your part in team's successes. What are your exact responsibilities as an esports team coach?

Kala: It’s basically all of the spectrum. There is so many different things — it’s hard to just say “I do this and I do that”. We don’t have a manager so I’m busy with internal management stuff. You have to make sure everybody stay focused while scrimming and play Hero League as much as they can. On top of that me and Cattle work on building drafts with a little help from others, but psalm has a final say on everything. We all work together on creating the best team environment. Being an esports coach is about creating your own job, and that’s what I have been doing for over 3 years.

Have you ever had to deal with ‘difficult’ players and solve internal conflicts? What’s your approach to this part of your job?

Kala: I had to deal with that many times. Usually the problem is in communication, it’s the way two individuals talk to each other. Sometimes I had to body into conversation and say “Ok guys, you have to stop. You either come to agreement or agree to disagree and move on». You have to treat esports team as a relationship, and honestly, that’s really crazy. You have to let people have their moments to talk but make sure no one is yelling at each other — that’s absolutely unacceptable. The team I work with is quite mature so we have never had any serious issues. Things can get tough sometimes, but as long as people can just speak to each other, you can usually come out on the other side on a positive vibe.





Follow Kala on social medias:

twitter.com/kurtislloydnbd | twitch.tv/Kala | youtube.com/c/KalamalkaHS



Follow macrosdxc on social medias:

twitter.com/macroSDXC | twitch.tv/macrosdxc | instagram.com/iammacrosdxc | vk.com/macrosdxc (RUS)