It's getting closer to D-Day and with ECL just around the corner I have another time out with a top team. This time it's 5th seeded Royalty gaming and I sit down with the full team for a short interview about all things ECL! Enjoy! Emo: Hi guys, thanks for taking the time out to do this. Can you introduce yourselves? Vapez: Hi, I'm Jordan Haydney, 17 years old and I'm currently working full time until I start a Law Diploma in September. Currently living in Cornwall and wouldn't change it for the world. I'm quite a sporty person (even though I may not look it) and have represented Cornwall for badminton and played football, rugby and cricket for my secondary schools and clubs. I'm the objective player in the team, so the person who does the dirty work such as jumping on flags on domo and capping flags on MW2. I can still hold my own though and love pushing spawns with an MP5. Vintage: Hi my names Ben Walker, I'm 16 years old and I live in Northern Ireland. Next year I will be Joining the Royal Engineers as a driver, outside of gaming I just chill with friends and enjoy fishing and golfing. My role in the team is aggressive smg along with vapez. Crookz: Alright, I'm Jack Anderson, 18 years old. Currently looking for a job -_-. If I ever find one in this great economy I'll be studying part time alongside it. Probably business studies. No clue as for a career path right now (pay attention in college kids). Outside of gaming I'm a sports fan, I play football, badminton and squash. My role in the team on CoD4 varies, I will fill in wherever is needed Jolly: My Names Andrew Jolly, I'm 19 from Blackpool. I've just finished my first year in IT and have been working as an utilities consultant which I quit last week because it was ****. I spend most my time with my girlfriend and getting leathered at weekends, in the team I'm usually an aggressive MP5 but as I kind of needed to replace Swanny I've been using the M16 quite abit, needless to say I do his job. Emo: Can you tell us something that isn't common knowledge about yourself? Vapez: I'm absolutely terrified of spiders, literally can't stand them. Crookz: I'm also absolutely terrified of spiders, literally can't stand them. Jolly: I'm not gay. Vintage: I answered above ^ Emo: How did you get together as a team? Crookz: When I came back to CoD I didn't really know what was going on team wise, nor did I know who all the better players were, so Vapez wasn't really an option to me. But I teamed with Ben on MW2 and when he approached me it was a no brainer to pick him up, and I'd seen Vapez had improved a lot in this time. Then we went down a risky route by picking up Swanny (again as I did on MW2) and it didn't pay off. Jolly was the best option out of the free agents within the last week so we picked him up. "Come to Power Mr Swan" Emo: Swanny left suddenly it seemed after losing to team GH in the ECC one night cup final. Can you talk us through that situation? Vintage: Nothing to do with losing because GH are a good team, we could just tell that the team just wasnt going to gel so we decided to make a change. Crookz: It wasn't because of the GH match, it was because Validus violated us in a scrim. Swanny erupted like Mount Vesuvius after getting knifed by Shane. The next thing you know his XBOX was out the window. So he needed a new XBOX but didn't have the money. He rejected South's offer but then found out they were joining PwR, who offered him a free XBOX. Vapez: Everyone knows Swanny has a sick shot but he has a temper to match it. There would be times we would be winning by 70+ points in domination and then we get two capped and literally our heads would be blown off with 'WHAT THE F**K IS GOING ON' which is always makes things harder in these kind of situations. I still have nothing against Swanny but as a team we weren't playing the best on CoD4 and we needed to change. Emo: Jolly was the obvious choice to pickup when you needed a fourth, how did you convince him to join Royalty over SK? Vintage: Was no convincing needed, he said he wanted to be in a good team. Vapez: He said to us we were always first choice over SK, I'm good mates with Jolly and he's teamed with both Crookz and Vintage before so he knew what to expect. Emo: What makes you work as a team? Vintage: Just like to have a laugh in game except vapez moaning alot, but we are try to keep positive attitudes as much as we can. Vapez: We all do our roles well, Crookz and Jolly though tend to fill in wherever needed and me and Vintage are constantly pushing the other teams spawn and putting them under pressure Crookz: Well we've not experienced a lot as a new team, but from what I've seen our roles compliment each other and there is minimal moaning which helps. Emo: Would you class yourself a serious team like Fnatic or more of a mess about team like Rumsey's Angels? Vapez: Serious definitely. Well, we're serious when it comes to the game but out of game we all like to have a laugh and generally rip each other as much as possible. Crookz: We're serious, just not as prepared or as disciplined as Fnatic. Vintage: Serious team, as we will always put up top results, but I think if you are too serious you will stop enjoying gaming and end up quiting. Emo: How did you get involved with the Royalty organisation? Vintage: I just got talking to Gavin and understood that the Royalty squad at the time were quiting so he basically said that he only had one team in his mind and that was us, so we just went from there. When Crookz found out he ran home from college to hear more and that was that. Emo: Royalty have divided the community in terms of how legit they are, quoting many big name sponsors with very little to back it up. What is your opinion on the sponsor fiasco? Jack: If I didn't believe in Gavin I wouldn't have joined. We had other offers. We could have had funding for ECL elsewhere. Having Techman as a part of the org always made me skeptical, but he's not apart of it anymore. During my time here I've seen nothing fishy. Vintage: Im 100% confident that the sponsers are legit, and have to say Gavin has done a great job! Vapez: Gav is a sound guy and I have no reason to believe he's lying. I just think he's a great manager and is doing a great job of running Royalty Emo: Will you miss Techman not being at ECL? Crookz: It isn't a LAN without Techman. Vapez: Techman is sound but really does chat the biggest load of crap I've ever heard. It generally kills me a little to listen to him over xbox. Vintage: I dont really like taigs so not so much no. The team will miss Techman at ECL...... Emo: OK, let's move onto ECL; it's coming up in the next few days. How have you prepared for it? Vintage: Just trying to get on as much as we can and playing some scrims and going over some basic things. Crookz: Err we've tried to use the time we've had, which isn't much. We've played a few scrims. Vapez: We haven't really prepared much to be honest, most nights I've been working until late and then the nights where I haven't been working Jolly was with his ginger girlfriend. We know what we're doing pretty much but there's still a bit we need to go over Jolly: Weve played a little, tbf its kinda hard because Vapez works till 8:30 most nights and I see my girlfriend alot, but were still gonna **** on everyone Emo: The attendance isn't huge but its likely to be the most competitive event yet for CoD4 as no one has any idea who will win. Where do you think you can realistically place? Jolly: 1st Vintage: 1st Vapez: Top 3. There's a load of teams now who I think can all challenge for top 3 so it's definitely going to be close. Crookz: 1st Royalty were proud to win ECL Emo: How can we get more teams to attend future events for both CoD4 and MW2? Vintage: I dont think there is a way the CoD scene is just **** tbh. Jol: I feel the same as Vintage. Crookz: It's a lost cause with the CoD community, honestly. The hope lies in the newer teams, like the old RxG. Thing is we haven't seen any for a while (Vexus disappeared). As people you can't just convert teams, I know because I was one of them before. You just need enough to persuade the few who actually consider it (e.g. prices, location - obviously you can't cater for everyone) Vapez: I think people need to get over the typical attitude of 'there's no point of going if we're not going to win'. That's only half of the experience. Meeting the people you'ved talked to for the past year over a mic is the other part. Somebody made the point of adding other activities such as airsoft (indoor paintball) to attract the not so serious players. Emo: What are your top three predictions for ECL (not your team) and your underdog team of the tournament? Crookz: 1. SK 2. PwR 3. Fnatic - but it depends who performs on the day. eMp are my underdog team. Vapez: 1.) SK 2.) PwR 3.) fnatic. Underdog team: teamGH / 4D Jolly: Fnatic, PwR, SK, underdog team would be Validus, if audy plays well they'l rape, hes probs the most underated player on decerto Vintage: 1.)PWR 2.) SK 3.) GH/Reign , underdog team would be Validus Emo: What do you expect of ECL this weekend? Crookz: In terms of the event itself I expect the best UK LAN yet for the CoD scene. Everything looks promising and the staff line up is the best for the job. Vapez: It's all sounding great, just a shame the CoD attendance doesn't look like it's going to push 20 teams. If it all runs smoothly it will be completely sick. Vintage: I just hope its a great event and we can get 20 teams. Jolly: I think it's gonna be awesome, cant wait to meet everyone I haven't already and seeing the people I get on well with online. CoD4 so much better on LAN so the tournament will be good, the event looks sick and I'm looking forward to watching the Halo. Emo: Who are you most looking forward to meeting and least looking forward to meeting not in your team? Crookz: Most: all the gow lot, too many to name. Least: no one Vintage: Mostly Macca and Sean and all the other scousers. Least : No1 really to be honest. Jolly: I'd say probably Swanny, I met him at EGL but didn't really speak to each other because I didn't know him, since then our friendship has blossomed! Cant really think of anyone I don't want to meet, if I said a name it would be awkward when I saw them. Vapez: I'm most looking forward meeting all the 4D lads, Macca, Stevo. I wouldn't say I'm not looking forward to meeting anyone, this'll be my first LAN so looking forward to meeting everyone tbh. Emo: Before we go into the quick question round, predictions for GoW and Halo top three? VintagE: Gow 1.Royalty 2.Dignitas 3.Cyanide/only other gears team I know tbh // Halo 1. PwR 2. dignitas 3. fnatic Crookz: GoW: between Dignitas and Royalty probably. Romance 3rd. Halo: 1. PwR 2. Fnatic 3. Dignitas/TCM. But Phenom are up there too. Jolly: I'm not sure, I would say Dignitas for Gears but Jack isn't playing, neithers Dom and I doubt Loco is either, so I'm not sure, in regards to Halo then PwR, Fnatic, Mythix.phenom, I was watching them early on the pre-lan stream and they looked beast, R1 is sick. Vapez: Halo: 1.) PwR 2.) fnatic 3.) dignitas. Don't have a clue about Gears. Quick Questions Halo or GoW? Crookz: GoW Jolly: Halo Vintage: Halo Vapez: Halo MoH or Battlefield? Crookz: Not player either. Jolly: MoH Vintage: MoH Vapez: MoH Prefer to be beaten to death with a spoon or a fork? Crookz: Spork Jolly: Fork Vintage: Spoon Vapez: Spoon Most likely to choke at ECL in your team? Crookz: Vapez Jolly: Crookz Vintage: Vapez Vapez: Vintage Most likely to choke outside your team? Crookz: Pacino Jolly: Pacino Vintage: Pacino Vapez: Pacino Ever been recognised by a fellow gamer in the street? Crookz: No Jolly: Nope but someone bought lessons off me in a public the other day cus he was a fan of me Vintage: No Vapez: Not really, just the usual ***gots who you talk to at school about getting nukes in ranked matches as if I actually give a damn Rather your girlfriend have a huge afro or be bald? Crookz: Afro Jolly: Afro Vintage: Afro Vapez: Afro Coke or Pepsi? Crookz: Pepsi Jolly: Coke Vintage: Pepsi Vapez: Coke The Royalty ECL accommodation Orange or T-Mobile? Crookz: Orange Jolly: Orange Vintage: Orange Vapez: O2 but I suppose I should be saying Orange Premier Inn or Travelodge? Crookz: Premier Jolly: Premier Vintage: Premier Vapez: Premier Nike or Bench? Crookz: Nike Jolly: Nike Vintage: Nike Vapez: Nike Techman or Valthos? Crookz: Valthos Jolly: Valthos Vintage: Valthos Vapez: Valthos Finally, Snog, marry, avoid your team? Crookz: Snog Jolly of course, marry Vintage, avoid Vapez (no homo) Jolly: Snog Vapez, marry vintage, avoid crookz at all costs Vintage: Snog Jolly , Marry Crooks, Avoid Vapez *He wears a cape* Vapez: Snog: Vintage Marry: Marry Crookz Avoid: Jolly for obvious reasons but yeah, wouldn't touch any of them Emo: Thanks for taking the time out to do this, any final shout outs or comments? Crookz: Shout outs to Switchback, Switch, Red, Loco, Abs and Gavin. Jolly: Yeah thanks to Gavin for letting us represent Royalty. Shoutout to Swanny, Audy, Tobi, and United for not getting annoyed at being the 3rd best player in Blackpoool and for taking me to ECL. Also Sidunn for giving me a controller for ECL. Also big shoutout to Switch for being my LAN buddy, we've so much in common! Thanks for the interview Emo. Vintage: Shoutouts to , Macca Sean DANJOO Stevo Necrome switch. & just looking forward to meeting everyone this weekend & Huge shoutout to Gavin for everyrhing he is doing for the team Vapez: Shout out to my main man Peter Watson, LuCkY, Danimal, Rapture, Ting, Stevo, Minime, Gav, and last but not least, Macca. So there we have it, Royalty Gaming getting prepared for ECL. We wish them the best of luck in the tournament this weekend. You can view FULL coverage of ECL live here on Decerto with interviews, scores, pictures, videos, an ECL podcast and more!
Loved the Reminded me of charlie and the chocolate factory, the bit when he gets the golden ticket. haaha
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