Sascha “Yiska” Heinsich had the chance recently to sit down with coL.Red’s Kelvin “snutz” Nguyen to talk about the newly opened TR as well as the upcoming MLG events.
Hey Snutz. Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Have you had the chance to play on TR yet?
Yes, I have. So far its been fun. *Note: Snutzz on ATR is NOT the same player.*
As always Blizzard will only allow three players at their offline events and as you are a four player roster at least one of you has to find a new team. What’s coL.red’s plan?
Our plan is to run Rogue/Lock/Druid consisting of myself, Sodah and Reckful. We plan to just fool around on other toons. Venruki is going to try different partners and qualify with them.
So will coL.red attend upcoming MLG events with three or four players? Has this been decided yet?
We’re trying to attend upcoming MLG with four players, at least we hope to. We haven’t yet discussed what were going to do.
Your four player roster seemed to be very effective at the MLG Finals last season. Which races are you going for as RLD? Most people say that Human is better in virtually every possible situation, would you agree?
I wouldn’t say so. As RLD, the Warlock gets trained 100% of the game, and only sometimes they switch to the Rogue or the Druid, so if I were to go Human I’d be dropping 150 resil.
True. I saw warlocks running around with the Satrina’s Impeding Scarab and the Corroded Skeleton Key which means massive stamina on top of “two BM trinkets.” No option?
That’s a smart idea. Against cleave teams using those two trinkits can help, but you can also use Dislodged Foreign Object and Phylactery of the Nameless Lich.
Yeah those put out tons of pressure for sure. Do you expect other crazy trends on TR? People said that the Bauble of True Blood will even be worn by DPS classes to help their healer out when times get rough. Do you think it’s worth sacrificing a trinket slot for and do you have other crazy ideas like this, if not for equip maybe for comps? Maybe a Snutz cleave?
I feel that Bauble of True Blood is really, really good, for emergencies but when it comes down to the raw damage that season 8 brings and the pve gear available it really doesn’t even compare. I havent tried it yet, it might be a good idea to use 3 baubles. We’ll see.
Let’s talk about comps. What do you feel will be top tier this time around? Are Wizard cleaves really the teams to beat?
Wizard cleaves will be one of the few to beat. I feel that double healer [x] can go really really far because healers are able to get so much mp5 gear.
What about Warlock comps? RLS, WLD, RLD, do you think these will do any good?
Yes, for sure. Warlocks are really good at the moment and every wizard cleave team will consist of a Warlock and of course rls , wld , rls will be good as well.
How did you perform with your RLD against Wizard cleave in the past? Are you concerned?
We’re somewhat concerned, but at the same time I feel other teams like double healer can beat it so it doesn’t scare us really. We’re not afraid of not being able to qualify at all.
Before we move away from the TR, who do you think is going to make top 8 from the already established players?
Alright here we go:
compLexity Red
compLexity Black
Team EG
Beny’s RLS
Billian’s rmp
Zilea’s TSG
Hoodrch’s wld
Fnatic
If they play enough, I’d also say SK.US, but I can’t give a confirmation aside from us. I’m really confident we’ll qualify.
Nice to hear and I hope you can live up to your own expectations. Let’s talk about the Catacylsm Previews. Did you like your class review and do you think the class will require more skill with those changes?
Uh, I don’t like to read patchnotes unfortunately =P I don’t really care enough.
I guess it’s healthy to live in the now. There is really no information that a top player should be concerned about as of right now as far as class balance goes. Blue posts hint that we will see a switch from Arena to rated battlegrounds. What are your feelings about this and can you see yourself competing there as well?
I don’t know really. It seems fun but Arena is very competitive and I’m not so sure rated battlegrounds can bring that to the table. How can 10 players fly down to a tournament and compete?
That has indeed been an issue in the brain storming of most insiders. Many suggest that they could have new BGs with a maximum size of 5 players. Do you think that could work out?
Yes, I think that would work out but I feel like the competition won’t be as big.
There are definitely some concerns who need to be taken care off. Before we end this, last time I asked you about Inflame and if he’s the greatest Warlock in the World. Now his team mates who he managed to win Blizzcon 08 with are coming out of retirement and the pressure to deliver is on him yet again. Anything you would want to say to him?
I’ll see him at Blizzcon, hopefully.
Immortal7
High Rollers Gaming
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TBA (International qualifier – Turkey)
TBA (International qualifier – France)
TBA (DreamHack Skellefteå V, 13-15 May) 
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2005 – Scott Valencia is Operations Director for the original CPL 