In the next round of interviews I managed to catch up with REI-25 of the Brisbane Boom. Alongside him will be jsod, Murray, Neru, Owlsy and W*. Most recently in Season 6 of the Oceanink Series he played with Shrimphony, finishing the regular season of Division 2 in 3rd place on points difference. His two brothers that also play Splatoon 2, REI-13 and REI-41 are playing in the Firetail League with the New Zealand Rush and Perth Fury respectively.
On a scale of one to winning a game 9 how excited are you for the league?
Extremely excited! This Firetail League is the biggest Splatoon 2 tournament I’m ever competing in. Especially with my awesome teammates! Being Owlsy, Neru, Murray, jsod and W*
What are you looking forward to the most when the league begins in June?
I’m really looking forward to playing with and against all the top players, I haven’t really gotten the opportunity because I haven’t played in Div 1 for Oceanink Series. Also, I’m looking forward to my Birthday on the 18th!
Right now what do you feel are the team’s strengths and what aspects of the team need significant improvement? (e.g. regarding weapon comps, push timings, communication, managing egos)
I think our biggest strength is our neutral game such as controlling specific parts of a map. Something that we need to work on is push timings. Our push timings are already good, but there’s some room for improvement.
Has the team been playing together in scrims or tournaments such as Training Tuesdays and what have the results been like?
We haven’t really played in tournaments together but we have done a couple of leagues. We encountered Justice Esports and beat them.
How do you think the team is going to use substitutions within sets? Do you have certain players that are strong in particular modes that can be super-subs or just play out sets with the same 4 players?
It’s probably going to come down to what weapons we play and what weapons are strong for specific maps. We probably won’t be having the same 4 people playing a whole set, I think it really comes down to the map list.
Which team in the league do you feel will be the hardest to face and why?
I think Sydney Endeavour have the upper hand in the league, I think they have the best players in terms of mechanical skill such as Geo, Skitter, and Cookie. Combined with Nerezza’s charger, LO247’s Bloblobber and Sylem’s Neo Splash-o-matic, they can pose a great threat.
Do you or the team have a favourite Splatoon-related meme?
Don’t really have one, not really into memes that much.
For the next balance patch, what weapon would you like to see get buffed and what weapon would you like to see get nerfed?
I wanna see Splat Dualies get buffed, a faster dodge roll and more ink efficiency would be nice. I wanna see Bamboozler get nerfed as this weapon, combined with lag, you can literally get one shot by this weapon and Main Power Up on this weapon is absolutely bonkers.
What’s one misconception about AUNZ/OCE Splatoon 2 players you’d like cleared up?
I’ve noticed that there’s a lot of complaints about AUNZ lag, some people are going as far as saying that the lag gives AUNZ aim-assist. It’s really disappointing to see how mad people can be about something that we can’t change.
Who is the best REI and why is it you?
A lot of people would usually say REI-13 because he’s in Sturgeon Turf, but I think I’m better. I’m the underdog between the 3 Rei’s and I’ve always lived in the shadow of the other 2 in the community, and the Firetail League will be my time to shine!