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This is a close translation of the German language interview conducted by our staff member Craven.
Name: Stephan Schaub
Age: 21
Team: mTw
Task: Teammanager
After Rax announced his inactivity as the manager of mTw’s Warcraft3-Team, someone new was needed to take care of the team. Without delay mTw announced that Stephan ‚zerogravity‘ Schaub, who had been Rax‘ coworker before, will be in charge from now on. He will be supported by mTw’s Bulgarian star player DIDI8, who will act as a team-captain in future. In this interview with readmore.de, zerogravity answers all the questions regarding his new task and the future of his team.
readmore.de: When was the first time you heard of Rax‘ inactivity?
zerogravity: Actually, we are in contact every day, which means that I can’t name a single date. He had thoughts of quitting since Season 5, but he made his final decision right after our match versus plan-B.
readmore.de: Do you think he acted in the heat of the moment?
zerogravity: Yes, definitly. This match was too much for him, although we had other plans a week ago and he liked them.
readmore.de: „Other plans“?
zerogravity: Well, everyone who worked with Rax a bit knows that he has skills that can be used in many different parts of the eSport. He is a good writer and pretty talented in organizing things. So we thought about new tasks at mTw, eventmanagement for instance. He had already been doing some of these things without being in charge of them anyway.
readmore.de: Tell us about your first reaction, when you were confronted with his decision.
zerogravity: I was pretty shocked, although I had been aware that this day X was about to come one day. But when it actually happened, I was not prepared. We were managers of this team for exactly two years and knew each other before. We had a very strong relationship.
readmore.de: Did you realize immediately that you would be on your own now in managing the team or did you think of leaving the team too or engaging a new manager?
zerogravity: I also had my thoughts on quitting of course. You can’t do this job without asking yourself „Why am I still doing this?“. But due to my studies I have time for this job at the moment and you can’t quit something easily you have been working on for the last two years. We were discussing a new manager since WC3L season 5, but we knew very well how this person would have to be and the only one who would fit our team is linked to his team for eternity I guess. (smiles)
readmore.de: And who is this guy?
zerogravity: Who knows the scene a bit and looks at the people in the different teams can easily find out who I am talking of, I don’t have to give names for this. (smiles)
After some speculations we assume that zerogravity is talking of EvE, who works as a teammanger for DkH.
readmore.de: Alright, how did the players react when they heard of Rax‘ decision?
zerogravity: Very shocked, like the whole clan. Rax was not only respected among the Warcraft3-section, but he was known for having a strong personality throughout the whole Clan/Team. It will take some time to realize that he has left.
readmore.de: What about the general mood?
zerogravity: The atmosphere was never bad. The team itself is most disappointed about our recent performance. We talked a lot for some days and now we are fully motivated again. Everyone wants to overcome this crisis and is not only training hard for this.
readmore.de: What brings new hope to the players?
zerogravity: It can’t go worse. We are facing a lot of teams now, which are widely regarded as the favourite for their match against us. We have nothing to lose in those matches. In addition, we have not forgotten how to play Warcraft3. In the first matches we wery a bit unlucky sometimes but now, with the help of Zubie/Zerter as our new, strong 2on2-Team, we are looking forward to our next matches.
readmore.de: Are we going to see the german talents DaviN & BasH more often in the future?
zerogravity: When they are ready for it, they will play. Our roster is smaller now and they are going to have their chance. On the other hand, especially BasH has other, more important goals, although he is extremly motivated. I don’t have to add anything about DaviN. Everyone knows what he is capable of and I really think he has a lot of potential.
readmore.de: Regarding BasH: Goals in soccer or other eSport-activities?
zerogravity: If possible, both. If he has to decide one day, we won’t force him to choose eSport. He is rather young – 16 – and it is very important that there are other things in his life than eSport. Following his own opinion, he would be playing 24/7. I have to take care of this development, eSport may not harm his soccer career. When he has the talent and the chances there he should go this way, although he doesn’t think this way right now.
readmore.de: So you feel a responsibility toward the social life of your players?
zerogravity: Of course. And now we are back with the question: „Why and for whom am I doing this?“ I don’t want my players to regret their effort in a few years. When JanThePig chose to quit he was way older and very motivated for his job in real life. Regarding his age it’s understandable that BasH is not that mature in this matter yet. (smiles)
readmore.de: How do you cope with managing mTw without Rax?
zerogravity: It’s a lot of work right now and I am really glad that I have my summer vacation right now. I’m not concerned that I will have problems in terms of Warcraft3 knowledge, but organizing and matchmaking is quite complicated for me. EvE did a good job in poiting out this in his news about Rax‘ goodbye. (Link (german))
readmore.de: Whose idea was DIDI8’s new position?
zerogravity: It was just a really good opportunity. If you read his Interview with wcreplays.com you know that he was interested in a job like this. But it’s nothing new to us. Long before DIDI8 joined us our leading players were already involved in the management of the team. DIDI8 is a very respected player, especially among the younger ones so he does not really need that title to do his job.
readmore.de: Which changes are planned?
zerogravity: We want to regain our old strength and secure a safe spot in the middle of the ranking in the WC3L. We don’t think that Rax and I made large mistakes in the past, we just want to play more CGs together like we did 1,5 years ago.
readmore.de: Are you sorry for the departure of the players – not the persons – ShoCK and Wizard?
zerogravity: That’s hard to say. It’s no secret that ShoCK had difficulties in motivating himself, we could not help there. He is a person that asks himself regularly why he is spending so much time on gaming. Unfortunately, he never managed to show his potential. Same goes for Wizard. He is still playing the strategies he played during his big times, but there have been some patches around since then. Due to this we let them go. It was always their dream to play in an „US Allstar Team“ and we hope that they find their strength there. We really regret that we lost two really nice guys. Wizard was always very friendly and ShoCK was always the sappy guy who mixed up things. (remember his flight to the ESWC-event) But we will definitly stay in contact. ShoCK is still playing with his mTw-id on northrend and is always welcome as a guest like Wizard.
readmore.de: What about WinneR’s recent performance?
zerogravity: I think it is not as bad as everyone thinks it is. Of cource, his stats in the WC3L are not that good but he was pretty unlucky in his seedings. UDvsORC is a very hard matchup and in an undead mirrormatch many things can happen, especially when his opponent choses Echo Isles as third map and switches to orc. He did not have to chance to prove himself in another matchup yet. If WinneR is calm and relaxed, he is really a great player, but sometimes, when he gets angry about balancing issues, his playstyle suffers. He will be Top5 in Europe if he always keeps his chin up.
readmore.de: The Bulgarian Warcraft3-scene is growing and some new fresh talents show their skills. Will we see some of them in your roster one day, since your captain is a Bulgarian?
zerogravity: In Bulgaria there have always been good players aside from the two big names Insomnia and DIDI8. Especially the two elves Jack (who has already been in WC3L once) and DieSel are doing a good job, as far as I know. When there is a talent really coming on top, we won’t ignore him, but we are a German clan and out focus will stay on Germany.
readmore.de: How long will it take to win WC3L again?
zerogravity: Maybe we will never win again, maybe already next season. The scene is developing very fast which makes answering this question difficult. Our aim for next season is Top6, hoping for the LAN-Finals and a good support for our german talents. I can see some players with a lot of potential, but we have to wait. About the outcome: We will see.
readmore.de: Alright zero, thanks for the interview.