Esports Interview - TCM MarkyB - EU Champion!

 

Next in line for the GoG Esports Interview experience is Mark Bryceland, although you may know him better as TCM's very own MarkyB! The man know for his strats and work ethic agreed to an interview after a busy weekend!

Last Sunday, at Twickenham Stadium, under the gaze of the Esports community, TCM beat Epsilon in the final of the CoD European Championships. The first day's competition had been all about qualifying for the World Finals in Los Angeles. With that complete and places in the bag for both TCM and Epsilon, these two powerhouses of the EU CoD scene faced off in the final to decide who would be crowned kings of Europe.
After a solid performance from the TCM line up, they ran out 3-1 winners and took home the title and 15,000 Euros!

A couple of days later, I managed to get Marky to give his thoughts on how the weekend went, and his hopes for the trip to States!

1 - Firstly massive congratulations on winning the EU Champs! What did it feel like, and has it sunk in?
Honestly, it felt great to win the European Championships and to officially have the crown of the best team in Europe. A lot of people doubted us due to our online performances as of late but we knew we could win and we knew what we had to do. It hasn't sunk in yet though, Sunday night was actually pretty depressing as everyone else was going home empty handed so there were a lot of sad faces about.

2 - What do you think lead to you being so successful at the event?
I think it was a mix of a couple of things, our preparation, our desire and the belief in each other as individuals to succeed and to win every gunfight that needed to be won.

3 - Having now qualified for LA, what are your hopes and expectations for that event? 
I want to go as far as possible and to know that we've did our best. As long as that's the case, I'm happy.

4 - What do you see as the teams major strengths, and what things do you think you can still work on?
I see our versatility as our main strength, everyone in the team is comfortable with any weapon in their hands.

5 - With the EU scene looking quite strong at the moment, how do you see the EU teams going versus the NA teams?
I see the skill-gap on this game being a lot smaller just due to the nature of the game. It's really about who turns up on the day more-so than who looks best in the preparation prior to the event.

6 - Any shout outs or thank yous want to give?
Shoutout to TCM Gaming, my team and all of the sponsors BenQ, Burn Controllers, Cooler-Master, CM Storm, CCL and Multiplay.

Marky is such an active member of the EU CoD Esports scene with his Youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/MarkyBNoobSlayin) showing content from recent matches to strats for 'nades!
Marky also regularly streams via his Twitch channel, showing GB's, 2K series and much more - http://www.twitch.tv/themarkyb

So keep an eye on both those links in the build up to CoD Champs Finals, as Marky will surely keep us informed of all the goings on at TCM HQ.


My thanks to Mark on his time in putting this interview together, and I wish him and TCM the best of luck in all future events, especially that little thing happening in LA soon!

You can follow Mark on twitter here - https://twitter.com/TCM_MarkyB
And his team, TCM CoD here - https://twitter.com/TCMCoD

Let me know your thoughts people, and feel free to get in touch -
YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS1bxmAaXM7WqtviRGp822g 

Twitter - https://twitter.com/Old_GrumpyGamer
XBL - NastyNeil WR

Peas out chaps! 

 

Neil

Esports FIFA interview - Epsilon Vinch

Another Esports Interview comes to The Grumpy Old Gamer Blog, but this time its not CoD related!

Fifa plays a big part in my gaming life, so its been great to catch up with someone very much at the forefront of the Competitive Fifa World! 

Ladies and Gentlemen I give you Vincent Hoffmann - Fifa World Champion!

1 - Tell us a bit more about yourself? Who is Epsilon Vinch!?
I'm 17 years old and in real life, I am studying management. I've played football for 10 years so I am really passionate about it.
I've represented Epsilon Esports for 5 months, and I'm the new FIFA World Champion and it is a real honor.

2 - How did you get into gaming, and then move on to play games competitively?
I've been playing since I was really young. I played a lot of Pro Evolution Soccer and I then started to play FIFA in 2008. At the start, it was only for fun, to chill and spend time with my friends. Then one day, two friends of mine told me that I could maybe play at a higher level because they thought I had some potential. They explained to me how to get into the competitive scene and my career was started.

3 - Are there any other games apart from Fifa that you play?
I play a lot on my phone with some addictive games like Flappy Bird! You know, it is a really challenging game! You need to beat your record and the design is pretty fun and cool but the real fact is that you can play everywhere, anytime. I like games like CoD too. I'm not really that good but I have a lot of fun playing games like this when I get home from school.

 4 - What makes the difference between a public Fifa player and a Pro Fifa player?
The real difference is the training and my organisation. This offers me the opportunity to showcase my talent world-wide. I prepare myself for some events very carefully and conscientiously. I have trained my mind a lot too with my manager. You have to prepare yourself like a real professional, it's not only for enjoyment!

5 - How did you feel after your win at ESWC?
In fact, at first, I didn't really realise! It was a really new experience for me. So for the first night, I just had a party with my team mates at the hotel, it was so fun!
After that when I came back home, all my family was really happy for me and it was a really proud moment. One day later, when I was in the street, a lot of people were talking about me. Then, when I went to order a pizza, the man from restaurant recognised me, and it was at this moment I realised for the first time, I was a World Champion!

6 - What are your expectations and hopes for the upcoming Fifa events?
At Gfinity, I sincerely hope I make a good result. I want the win and nothing else. In Epsilon, we never do an event without the desire to do our best and win. So I want to end my season by winning all the events I take part in.

7 - Do you want to give any shout outs to people/sponsors?
Thank you to Epsilon eSport and their sponsors, Nike, Gamdias, Scuf Gaming and Dailymotion for all their support for me. Thank you to my manager ZiK and the Fifa community manager for Epsilon, Radium. Also to all my team mates because without them I wouldn't be where I am.

Since the interview, Vinch took part in the Gfinity Fifa LAN and unfortunately lost out to Tass in a very tense Final!

I'd like to thank Vinch and his manager at Epsilon, Zik for their time and support in doing this. Good luck to them and the rest of the Epsilon Fifa guys in their future events!

Follow Vinch on Twitter at - @EpsilonVinch
Follow Epsilon Fifa at - @Epsilon_Fifa

Let me know your thoughts people, and feel free to get in touch -
YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS1bxmAaXM7WqtviRGp822g 

Twitter - https://twitter.com/Old_GrumpyGamer
XBL - NastyNeil WR

Peas out chaps! 

 

Neil