Hey Venruki, it’s been about 2 weeks since MLG Orlando where you finished 2nd. Looking back, you had a very good tournament and finished 2nd right behind coL.Black. One big step towards this was 4-0’ing Button Bashers. Did you expect to do that well against them? Moreover, the community knows that BB trained in about 3000 games for this event and you still managed to win against them. Does this make WoW a skillless game where practice doesn’t matter?

coL|Venruki: It took some convincing on my part for my team to want to run PMR, when I told people from other teams or staff from MLG that we were planning a mirror. Most of them thought I was rediculous and that we were throwing away our chances to win. We had a good strategy that not many teams have seen before. I was confident that we would be able to take them. I think they overlooked us, which is odd, considering before Orlando we were 5-5 with them overall. I don’t think WoW is a skilllless game, but I do think it’s a game were you need to adapt. For example, playing against one PMR is usually very different than playing against another. You need to analize what’s happening and adapt accordingly. Unfortunatly, when you’re losing a series, frustration and egos can get the best of you. Instead of talking about what more you could do a lot of players just think, “We can take em, they’re just getting lucky,” or something along those lines.

You are good friends with Pookz and Azael who were part of the SK.EG team. I asked Reckful before the tournament about the strength of that team against RMP and he said that he could see them defeating BB without losing a map. Now, we know that Button Bashers won against them pretty easily. Why do you think that is? Did the different Korean playstyle strike again or was it because the synergy with Tenderloin is simply better than with Kollektiv?

coL|Venruki: Everyone knows that Button Bashers practiced 3000 games, Orangemarmalade told us that almost all of those games were practiced against Shaman/Mage/Warlock because that’s all they were afraid of for the tournament. To put that in perspective, my total games played on live throughout Wrath of the Lich King is about 6000 games. These guys play a lot, and when you’re dumping that many games into practicing just for one comp there’s a good chance you’ll do well, and they did.

In retrospect, could you have done anything different to beat coL.Black in the finals? Twixz said in his interview that they played a different strategy against your Wizard-Cleave on live to trick you. Was that really the reason you went with Wizard cleave? Do you think that this was the right comp to play?

coL|Venruki: First of all, Twixz didn’t “trick” us at all. We knew from the start that Wizard cleave has a much better chance on live than on a season five tournament realm. I really didn’t think we could win as Wizard cleave but at the last minute my team decided that’s what they wanted to do. Looking back, we all think it was a silly descision, because it was.

Due to some difficulties with the roster in Edmonton, you sadly won’t be at the Global Finals. Last weekend, we saw the European Finals and I think it’s pretty safe to assume that Button Bashers will make it to the top 3 in Asia as well. With that, we know 10 out of 12 teams at the Global finals at Cebit. Did you watch the European Finals and if so, who would you say is hot for the event in Hanover?

coL|Venruki: I didn’t watch the European games, but I saw most of the results. I am proud when anyone that runs PMR does well and I thought that Team Dignitas played great. Watching some interviews, I am a big fan of SK-Sansibar. They seem like nice, modest guys so I’m happy they did well. I think those two teams from Europe have a great chance at the Global finals and I wish them luck.

According to credible sources, the ATRs are coming up in late March or early April. Will coL.Red try to qualify for the American Regionals again?

coL|Venruki: Of course we will try to qualify. I’m not sure what we’re running yet but we’ll see. We all take that realm very seriously.

Did you end up getting Relentless Gladiator on any BG?

coL|Venruki: Yes, we did get relentless as far as I know.

According to armory the team did, in fact. really get Relentless Gladiator on the American BG Emberstorm. You can check the armory here. The team consists of Snutz, Venruki, Reckful, Sodah, Tenderloin and Azael.