Monday, Nov. 21, 2016, was the night of upsets for OGN’s Overwatch APEX league. In two intense matches, the top dogs of the league were defeated. Team EnVyUs bested the then-spotless record of Rogue, 3-2, to secure a place in the semifinals using a triple-tank and Soldier 76 composition that grounded Rogue.TviQue’s Pharah.
On the other side of the bracket, Lunatic Hai, the fan favorites among the Korean teams, lost in similar fashion to KongDoo Uncia. Before the week began, KongDoo Uncia wasn’t even expected to make playoffs. Today, they are a semifinal away from meeting Afreeca Freecs Blue in the grand finals.
I caught up with Uncia’s DPS player, DNCE, and asked him about his thoughts on the matches ahead, how the meta game has shaped KongDoo Uncia’s play and the secret to improving.
Paolo “Sandata” Bago (PSB): Hey DNCE. First, let’s start with your victory against Lunatic Hai. Before your match, your rival teams said, “KongDoo Uncia is amazing.” Rogue, EnVyUs, and even Lunatic Hai said so. But during the regular season, your team wasn’t as dominating. What do you think changed with your team now after the new patch arrived?
DNCE: D.Va and Soldier 76 being popular in this meta helped a lot. D.Va really helps a lot to protect and shield Reinhardt during fights, while S:76 is useful to have against other tanks.
After the patch, our teams changed up our tanks so we’re stronger than the former meta. That’s why we won against Lunatic Hai. We really prefer this kind of patch.
PSB: I see. Let’s talk about that Lunatic Hai’s match then. In your match against LH, did you expect to 3-0 them? In the post-match interview, Birdring said it was expected. Were you also confident going into that match?
DNCE: Well, the scoreline doesn’t matter really, but I did expect to win for sure.
PSB: You mentioned that you prefer playing on this kind of patch. What about it do you prefer? It seems like teams that can team fight longer are stronger in this patch.
DNCE: Actually, we preferred it but not by too much. The big winner of this patch is actually our player, Fatal. That guy is really good on D.Va, even in the patch before this. That, and S:76 being really helpful for extended team fights, also helped.
PSB: Going back to the LH match, Bubbly says you guys have more planned for the coming matches. Now that D.Va, Roadhog and Soldier is popular, do you think other teams will use a similar style against you?
DNCE: We know some teams like EnVyUs for sure, since they’ve scrimmed with us a lot. In fact, EnVyUs actually copied us 😛
PSB: Let’s talk about nV then. They’re your opponents tommorow for the semifinals. How are you feeling about facing them? Do you think you can 3-0 them as well?
DNCE: I’ll answer that with this: We beat LH, and LH also beat nV, so that’s it. We can’t say we’re going to 3-0 for sure, but I am sure that we will win.
After the meta changed, we beat nV a lot of times on scrims.
PSB: I like the confidence. You said nV copied you, so knowing that now, how are you going to beat them? Is there a player you’re worried about on EnVyUs?
DNCE: Even if they copied us, we are still the original; we made that triple tank and Soldier strategy meta, so we won’t lose to a copycat.
I will say that we don’t have much information about Mickie, but we aren’t worried about him as much. Our mechanical skills are the same, I believe. And since there isn’t much difference between us and nV, we just need to outwork them.
PSB: Alright, let’s talk about you now. You and the team have been steadily getting better and better every week since beginning of APEX. What’s your secret to improving?
DNCE: I always tell my team and everyone who asks that it’s just about teamwork. This is not Starcraft or Warcraft, it’s a team game. Everybody has to stick together to improve. If you fail once, your teammates have to back you up. That’s really the secret.
PSB: Last question for you DNCE: You made that hero move against Lunatic Hai on LiJiang Control Tower. Both teams were at 99%, yet somehow, you managed to delay the point as S:76 by sneaking up on LH. Fans are still surprised and there was no camera replay to show how you did it. So, how’d you do it?
DNCE: After I saw my teammates die one by one, I knew that if I didn’t die as well and make a play by going through, I could make some time on the point and my team would be back to support me for sure. All of the LH players were in front of our base camping us, so it worked. We trusted each other and we managed it.
PSB: Thanks for your time DNCE and good luck in the semisfinals.
What do you think about what DNCE had to say? Let us know by commenting below or tweeting us @GAMURScom.
