Reddit AMA Breakdown
- theroyalwatchatl
- Jan 28, 2019
- 5 min read
Missed the AMA from Sunday? No problem. We got you covered.
Admittedly, preseason is one of my favorite times of year. Sure, the amount of news can be a bit sparse, but the larger concepts of the sport's philosophy are discussed in greater detail. Ideas such as team building, player cohesion, and season potential get a healthy examination. During this period the processes and intentions of a team are often shrouded in secrecy, be it intentional or simply a lack of time. So when the curtain is momentarily retracted, it's always exciting. That was exactly the case this past weekend.
Sunday the Atlanta Reign participated in an "Ask Me Anything" over on the official Overwatch Reddit page. Most of the team and coaches were present to field the questions of fans from across the interwebs. Topics ranged from McDonald's vs In-N-Out Burger to tips on how to climb in competitive. It was colorful and fun, but also informative. There were some legitimate answers to a few lingering questions which should draw our attention. As such, we've sifted through the slew of comments to bring you all (y'all for our Southern readers) some of the highlights.
On a quick note, Dafran was absent from the AMA. As expected, a great deal of questions were directed at the star DPS player, and as such remained unanswered. I would suspect this may have been intentional. The question is, though, was this decided for him or did he request not to participate? He was streaming during the event, so perhaps he felt that was a higher priority. It should also be stated that Erster failed to make an appearance as well, so we'll give Dafran a pass on this one, but it would have been encouraging to see him interact with the fan base.
As previously stated, there were a variety of questions, and some received more attention than others. Before we dive into the answers that drew the most responses, let's quickly scan the tidbits worth visiting:
1. Gator is indeed Keanu Reeves. Confirmed.
2. In-N-Out is better than Micky D's. Fact.
3. Most of the team would be working in IT if not for Overwatch League, except NLaaer, who evidently is a track star!
4. Americans are nice but the traffic sucks. I concur.
5. Everyone basically yells "Let's go duuude!" at all times.
6. The Selfless team house was in Atlanta. (I actually didn't know that -_-)
7. No info on official team merchandise.
8. No updates were provided on the Homestand weekend.
Now for the real meat of the thread. One of the biggest talking points since the team's inception was the approach of building an international squad from various regions as apposed to bringing in a team that has previous experience together, the same language, or both. More often than not, individuals evaluating teams will site this as a disadvantage, which is fair, so having the Reign brass openly addressing this concern is reassuring. Coach Brad "Sephy" Rajani hasn't been shy in stating his approach in many interviews, and remains consistent here as well. The reasoning is simple: talent trumps all. Here's some of the questions, along with the team's response.
Here's Cas "Casores" van Andel's, the team's Player Development Coach, response.
This philosophy would also be echoed by Coach "Sephy" in one of his responses to a similar question.
As if to really nail the point home, Gator, the team's two-way tank who also plays for Atlanta Academy, summed it up best.
The consistency of these answers begins to paint a rather vivid portrait of the team's value system. Talent was the absolute priority in building this roster. Gator is often very animated, but his answers tend to be quite honest. When he refers to everyone as "absolute units," I believe him. Knowing all of this, it shouldn't be surprising that the team would roll the dice on a player as intriguing as Dafran. The kid can simply play. The wrinkles can be ironed out. It would seem the language barrier falls into the "wrinkles" category as well.
Just because the coaches didn't let the communication issue cripple their scouting efforts doesn't mean they aren't aware of its potential threat during a match. Multiple questions were posed in diverse ways throughout the thread. When asked about their approach to removing the hindrance, almost everyone had elements to add to the conversation.
Many of the responses here were quite encouraging. It seems the Korean players are really picking things up at an impressive pace and everyone on the team is putting in the necessary work to ensure they are able to obtain a successful level of communication before the season starts. It will, however, just take time, but the boys seem to be up to the task.
One of the other tidbits of info that caught our eye was when Coach "Sephy" was asked about the team only having the league minimum of 8 players on the roster. His response was thorough as well as insightful.
Now the first part of the answer is obviously business-minded. However, I don't believe it was truly a determining factor in the decision. Seeing how he elaborated much more on the second points, those are the ones that can give us the most insight. First of all, it seems he has learned a great deal about team environments from his past coaching experiences. It's no real secret that some of Dafran's darkest moments came while living in the Selfless team house. Conditions there were less than ideal to say the least, but we can leave that topic for another time. The Reign house would appear to be the complete opposite of that, as he pointed out in another reply.
The contrast of the two couldn't be more drastic. The Reign house is insane, and from what we can infer from our small glimpses into it, the team seem more than happy to call it home.
Lastly, he limited the size of the team for a reason that so often gets overlooked: chemistry. I love when coaches not only recognize this, but nurture it as well. Just because a team is talented doesn't mean they will inevitably play well together. Developing team cohesion isn't simply an in-game factor alone. They need to grow together. If you follow the Atlanta sports culture, there's a prevalent term thrown around our NFL team The Atlanta Falcons: "Brotherhood". The team's head coach, Dan Quinn, is completely sold on this ideal. He drills it into the heads of our players. "Fight for the man next to you" is mantra heard from many of the players in practice and games as well, and it makes a difference. If your team doesn't like being around and playing with one another, they won't have as high of a ceiling as one that does. Coach Sephy gets this, and that can only serve to help this team become the best version of themselves.
All in all, Sunday's AMA was a great chance to interact with the players and coaches. There was entertaining back and forth between humor, IRL, and game talk. If you have the chance, these are some of the best ways to get to know this team, and we would encourage you all (y'all) to check out the thread in its entirety here. I promise you a good time...with the thread...not me!
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