On Wednesday, after a 4–0 sweep of the Shanghai Dragons, I sat down with Linkzr to talk about their Stage 2 experience, adapting to new metas and Houston’s Tracer problem.

Some of the quotes in this interview have been slightly altered for flow and clarity, although their original intent remains the same.

So in terms of the meta change between Stage 1 and 2, what do you think you’ve adapted well to and what do you think you’ve struggled with, as a team and also personally?

I think as a team, from Stage 1 to Stage 2, we couldn’t adapt to the right compositions to play. It wasn’t directly compositional issues that made us suffer losses in Stage 2, it was more like the players individually weren’t comfortable on some of the heroes. I mentioned this in another interview but I think it’s important to mention — we took too long to decide who plays what, and we were testing out what works, instead of just deciding on something and then at the end of the stage being like ok that was wrong, or that was better.

You played the Stage 1 meta so well, because you’d obviously learnt what to do in that patch and I think it played to all of your heroes really well. The map pool was also perfect for you. Do you think part of the reason that you’ve struggled in Stage 2 is because the meta isn’t as defined or overbearing? You had Mercy in Stage 1, which was such a big overbearing element. It was very easy to get your head around, whereas the meta is less defined this stage

I think we weren’t able to be comfortable in Stage 2 and that caused us to narrow down on what we did. In Stage 1, even though the meta was narrow, we were still a lot more flexible than other teams with picking different heroes on different maps. And I think part of the reason in Stage 2 our game seemed a bit rigid is because we were just trying the safest thing that works on each map. It’s not like Mercy enabled that. Well, it enabled more things, but because we were comfortable with Mercy, I was able to play McCree, Junkrat, Widow etc.

And you probably got more comfortable with that meta quicker than the meta this stage.

Yeah.

I think it’s fair to say you guys were in a bit of a slump after the last few losses, and from watching the Focus series and observing you guys over the last few weeks, team morale and confidence seem to be a bit lower. Do you think that had an effect on everyone’s performances in the last few weeks?

The last few weeks we’ve been performing OK. I think saying it was a slump… it affected us, yes and it could be considered a slump, but I think it was partly because we were unsure of what to fix and that put us in a slump. That’s what caused lower morale too. If we knew what we could fix, the slump would have been less noticeable, because then we would have been focusing on the same things. But if you’re unsure of what to fix, then a lot of people have different ideas and then the play gets really messy. That’s what happened to us earlier on. Our record isn’t that bad, it’s 4–5 and we have one more game to play. We’re middle of the pack, which is still really good.

Author’s note: the Houston Outlaws won their game the next day against the Seoul Dynasty, finishing the season 5–5 and with a +0 map differential.

And you’re still really good in the overall standings as well.

Yeah.

Do you think part of the reason you got caught up in this whole discussion about how you have the ‘Tracer Problem’ is because you kept switching it around? You were saying before you couldn’t decide who was doing what. Do you think switching Tracer between players enabled that discussion to come up more frequently?

I think in hindsight, that’s what caused it. It was partly because between me, Jake, and Clockwork, none of us really spoke up and said “I want to take this role.” We were constantly switching it around. If one of us had spoke up and was like, “Ok, I’ll take this role,” then instead of trying to strategise and plan what works best, we could have just practiced with that player. It would have been noticeably better.

The meta shift from Stage 1 to 2 was the first time you had to adapt between metas as a team. Do you feel that now that you’ve had that experience of adapting as a team it will be easier to go from Stage 2 to the Stage 3 meta?

Yes, especially with the “Tracer Problem” [makes air quotes]. Now, if there’s a new hero that’s strong, we know to just dedicate one player to it. If that doesn’t work at the start, we shouldn’t switch it instantly. We should be more confident with what we do and then we’ll build strategies from that base.

Today against the Shanghai Dragons we saw you on Tracer a lot more and Jake played Tracer a lot less, except for Gibraltar where you played Widowmaker and Jake played Tracer. Is the plan now for you to take that role on for the foreseeable future unless there’s a really good Widow map where you would swap with Jake.

I think, for now, Gibraltar is a map where Tracer is very straight forward to play. It’s not like Jake is the most horrible Tracer but on that map there are less decisions you have to make as Tracer. He does a really good job distracting the opponent as much as possible and that’s what I need for the Widow to function. So it’s good synergy between us in that sense and in my opinion, you shouldn’t play Tracer over Widow on Gibraltar, unless you’re running full dive. There’s definitely maps where we would run less Tracer, just because we can use a strategy that works without her or one that counters a Tracer.

Dive has been such an intrinsic part of competitive Overwatch for so long now. Would you personally like it to be shaken up a bit and have some other meta come in to challenge dive?

I think dive should always be a fundamental part of the game. It’s such a good composition. It’s Overwatch team compositions done to perfection. I think playing dive should be an integral part of the game. I would like to see more maps where dive isn’t that efficient, as opposed to dive heroes just being straight up nerfed. King’s Row is one of the maps where dive is not necessarily that strong. But right now, with the current meta, dive is kind of creeping up in popularity on the map, because people are running compositions that are weak to dive.

If you think back to Stage 1, Junkertown was a map that had really different compositions played on it. Let’s say Junkertown was in the Stage 2 map pool, do you feel dive would be viable on the map or do you think it would still have those weird comps come out.

I think that on a map where dive is weak, it’s usually because Tracer is weak. Junkertown is one of the maps where you can only dive effectively on one of the points. The first point is really bad for dive because of the map’s design. Maybe not enough teams explored dive on the map, because at the time the Bastion composition was really relevant and teams focused on countering it. It slowly transitioned away from Bastion but still saw tank heavy, slow comps. I can see there being possibility for dive, but the end of the last point, for example, is such a long sightline for Widow. It’s very hard to play Tracer into that.

With the Overwatch League, how hard is it to maintain a healthy work life balance?

[Laughs] Hard. Even Flame is nodding. [Flame nods from the corner] Everyone can attest that it’s hard. I think that I’m actually doing a pretty good job. With past experiences in different work environments and different teams, I’ve been pretty good against whatever comes at me. Usually when the team atmosphere is tense like in this stage, I still manage to keep myself together and be able to relax.

Do you feel the format of the Overwatch League, with two matches a week and only a few days in between each match, is particularly gruelling to get through, with so little time between matches?

It’s gruelling if you’re just thinking about winning every game and training as hard as you can. A league is a long-running thing, right? So I don’t think you have to physically exhaust yourself through every week because you don’t actually enough time to reset. The way I approach it is that for each game, I do my part in the team. Obviously I also play Overwatch outside the league, with the mentality to improve, but you’re not looking to burn yourself out. I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s different for everyone, but you always look to make the most of the work you do and you shouldn’t work too hard for it.

What are your thoughts on Blizzard World as a competitive map and do you think it would be too soon to see it in Stage 3

I think it might be a bit too soon because I know Blizzard has been pretty rigid with balancing the maps, which I completely understand. The map itself is going to offer some fun strategies and offer some really interesting gameplay. I feel that many people are going to be frustrated initially, like with Temple of Anubis. I’m feeling the same reaction that we had with Horizon at the start. Both of those maps are less negatively perceived now, but I feel like Blizzard World is going to get a bit of backlash. But I think it’s an interesting map.

And a bit of a fun question to finish…

Ooh…

If you could choose to be a professional player in any other esport, which esport would you choose and why?

Dota 2. It’s an amazing game. I always like games where there’s millions of things happening at once and Dota 2 is one of those games where you can make so many decisions. It’s not a fast paced game. But when you’re playing it, you’re making so many decisions constantly. There’s obviously fast paced stuff happening with some heroes and situations, but overall it’s about outplaying the opponent and I like the combat. Comeback in Dota 2 feels so satisfying.