Following their 2nd place finish at i55 I caught up with Choke Gaming’s newly appointed coach, Neil “Neil_M” Murphy.

Hi Neil, thanks for taking the time so do this. First things first, why did you choose Choke Gaming as your return to UK esports?

Hey! I was contacted by Immi 2 weeks before iSeries basically to come and help them out for Dreamhack Qualifiers & iSeries as a test run on both sides & speak about it at LAN to see if it would become a permanent addition which it now has become.

Did you have any other offers?

I had one coach & one player offer but wasn’t very fancy. I recently picked up a casting role with eFrag full time during TWC 2015 so I’ll be doing that also during the day. Once Choke contacted me i knew i wanted to be part of the team!

Going back a bit to your Orbit days, was that all it was hyped up to be or was the grass not greener on the EU side?

The hype wasn’t as I thought it would be at all. I probably picked out more headsets for “sponsorships” then I actually owed ever. I regret the way it all came around and regret joining the Orbit organisation. I lost a few close friendships who put a lot of trust into me which I really regret. I don’t regret actually joining the lineup as the 5 did have a lot of potential & Infused wasn’t going great at the current time but I should have spoke up and been more honest & maybe a possible solution could of happened. I’m just glad I am back in the UK scene now & glad that CRUC1AL has got the offer he deserves now.

What did you think about Choke’s performance at iSeries?

I’m really proud of the boys we did really well. Our minimum aim was to get into the top 3 and perhaps break the Infused & EZskins expected final which we did. We had a really long & hardest route after losing in the upper bracket early on which was a real test as a team last weekend but we passed that with flying colours.

What did you think of the event just gone as a whole? Was it a good send off for the Ricoh Arena?

The event was fairly good except the fact I wasn’t allowed on stage for the final which annoyed me a lot! But hopefully that will be solved for i56. And hopefully more prize money will be put in as we had 80 teams signed up for the last one!

Do you think the NEC will be better?

Yes I’m looking forward to see what the NEC will be like I’ve been there before for The Gadget Show & it was awesome

With MightyMax starting uni and stepping back from gaming do you think the team will suffer?

It’s no secret now that Max is going into 1st year of uni! He isn’t sure what his internet & life is going to shape up so we will be trying out some people in the future and see what happens I guess!

And finally – Any shoutouts?

Shoutouts to all our sponsors for supporting us! XFX / Eclipse / Crucial & Skinarena you guys are awesome & also Crazysmurf who is ready now after LAN!!