Fusion U coach spazzo on facing RunAway: "I expect it to be some damn good Overwatch." Fusion University takes on the world. Photo via Blizzard Entertainment

Since the inception of Contenders North America, Philadelphia Fusion’s academy team Fusion University has won it all. After more than a year of dominating the region, they announced recently that they’re going to try their hands on a new challenge. On the very same day of their clean-sweeping the Atlantic Showdown finals (a tournament that pits the best European, North American and South American Contenders teams against each other), Fusion University flew out to South Korea to qualify for the upcoming Contenders Korea season.





Spearheading the operation is Chris "spazzo" Infante, the head coach and only coaching staff member for the academy team. After first Aero’s and then Pajion’s departure to head coach positions for the Dallas Fuel and the Vancouver Titans respectively, spazzo stepped into a line of great coaching talent that made it into the Overwatch League and are enjoying tremendous success.





Spazzo himself has been around since the dawn of competitive Overwatch, first as a player, but then quickly switching over to coaching in early 2017. Looking at his resume of teams, he has held coaching positions for in Lazer Kittenz, Cloud9 EU, and GGEA. Given the challenging circumstances surrounding these teams, fans who have been there to see these teams perform will understand that it was a trial by fire for the North American coach. Despite those circumstances, he always managed to field a competitive team that frequently developed talent which would get picked up by tier one teams.





Finally arriving at Fusion University in late 2018, spazzo has managed to keep Fusion University on glorious course. In an interview with Upcomer, he talks about their victory at the Atlantic Showdown, their recent migration to South Korea and their highly anticipated match against RunAway tomorrow, June 25th.





It’s been a while since the Atlantic Showdown. Did you think you’d be as dominant as you were? What surprised you about the event in terms of your own and your opponent’s performance?





I knew if we were playing at our 100%, we would win it all. It was only a matter if everything translated to LAN. Our practice always has its ups and downs but these guys have another gear when it comes to performance within matches. The most surprising outcome of the tournament was the performance of the European teams. I didn’t have much to go off of except word of mouth so it was hard to gauge “NA” vs EU in terms of power level.





You directly traveled from the Atlantic Showdown over to Seoul. Could you describe your travel process that led to the delay?





The Korean players had a round trip from Seoul, so the rest of us were on a different flight. There was weather in Frankfurt that lead to their first plane being canceled and barely being able to make a second flight. However, their luggage with all their gear ended up on a different plane, so they didn’t have their gear when they arrived.





How has it been for you in Korea so far? How is the practice facility and how have the players and yourself acclimated?





Korea is a wonderful country. I think everyone has acclimated quite fast. It’s relatively easy to enjoy this country. Fast internet, amazing food, everything is within close proximity. It’s gamer haven.





You’ve been scrimming in Korea for a couple of weeks now. What’s your overall opinion of the region and how do the teams match up against those in the West?





I’d say Korean practice is way more efficient in terms of quality of play and use of time as well. As of right now I’d say Runaway, Gen.G, O2 and Element Mystic would give the best Western teams a very good run for their money. Then again, this is all based on scrim bucks so who really knows.





Some parts of the community seemed to interpret that your 3-2 struggle against Griffin implied that they were a stronger team than EnVy or Angry Titans. Does this hold up?





Objectively false. We had to play back-to-back series due to the delays. With working in Elk [back into the roster], playing a map we hadn’t had time to practice before (Paris), and simply underperforming in terms of adapting to their Sombra is what lead to the closer series. I wouldn’t use that series as a metric of power levels.





Soon you will play against RunAway, a team that some experts still consider the strongest team in South Korea. What are your expectations for the match?





If we’re performing at our best I expect it to be some damn good Overwatch. I’m extremely excited (and a bit nervous) to see how it unfolds.





You’ve won Contenders NA several times in a row and you’ve crowned your achievements with a victory at the Atlantic Showdown this year. What do you have to (perhaps still) achieve in order to call 2019 a successful year?





For me personally, my level of success stems from my players moving up to the big leagues. If everyone who is eligible to play in Season 3 [the 2020 season of the Overwatch League] does, I’d consider this year a success. That’s the ultimate goal of Contenders after all. I think most coaches would have similar goals, otherwise I don’t think they’re doing it for the right reasons. Success of your players is the biggest joy from this job.