RTCW 2018 Interview Series: #4 - Caff
Virus047: On the heels of our last interview with Source, we have yet another interview lined up with a member of the community who has been around for ages. I’ve had the pleasure of playing against and with him for much of my career and I believe this will be an enjoyable interview for the entire community to finally get to know the RTCW’s very own underrated caffeinated player!
Virus047: Caff, Welcome! Let’s go ahead and get this interview rolling with some of the more basic questions the community needs to know. Tell us a little about yourself, your hobbies, your dreams, your passion, etc.?
Caff: Hey Virus. Thanks for the interview. I appreciate all the work you do behind the scenes. Despite what some deluded people think, none of this would be happening if it weren’t for you. I’m on my 3rd career now. UPS guy for years, then elementary school teacher, now I’m finishing up nursing school and hopefully into the operating room. Powerlifting is my main hobby (385,275,535 - not bad for 41 @ 190 lbs). I used to hike a lot, but since I got married some years ago and responsibilities increased -well, going into the mountains for a few days at a time just became untenable. My wife is a vet, so our lives revolve around dogs and cats - one way or another. Games in the evenings are usually the way that I unwind at the end of the day.
Virus047: Why Caffeine for a name? Do you have some hidden meaning or message that the name means to you? You have also played for a time as T-1000. Any reason behind that name?
Caff: When I started gaming competitively I was drinking a shitload of sodas every night. Just seemed logical to play as <3 caffeine. The T-1000 name that I used originally - I honestly loved that name - not really sure why I changed it. Loved the movie, loved that particular terminator. At the time I think it was maybe just so that I didn’t take myself too seriously - but honestly idk.
Virus047: Your name is immediately recognizable to most players as being a staple member of TeH Birdz, Vengeance, as well as the RTCW community. Can you give everyone a quick rundown on your gaming history, what clans you played with and how you ended up playing with the Teh BirdZ?
Caff: My first clan was triple zilch. I was just a pubstar for a while and then I ran into some guys from asc and =000=. i got recruited somehow into triple zilch. Some guys (gatorade and panzer bait) that were hanging around both clans sort of recruited a bunch of us from both clans and started teh birdz. Some people have changed, some have come and gone, but the core of the group still hangs out and games together today. There’s a birdz groupchat that is, interesting. We’ve even had a few birdzcons now. The latest most of us went to goose’s wedding. It’s strange man.
Virus047: Teh BirdZ core group of players have been together for years. What’s kept your group together this long?
Caff: What’s kept us together this long is what made us have the small amounts of success we did. I think our team honestly cared more about the names on the front of the jerseys than the names on the back.
Virus047: When it comes to the NA RTCW community from back in the day when the community was still fairly large in scale (lots of leagues, lots of clans, lots of players, still active, etc.), your name seems to always get mentioned as someone who was underrated in terms of value you brought to your team as well as your versatile nature in terms of what you can do in game (multiple classes, etc.). With that in mind, what about your play style do you think leads other players to feel you are underrated or why do you bring value to your team?
Caff: I was never the top shooter on any of the birdz/vengeance teams. I used to do all the shot calling in our games, calling strats and making decisions about what d or offense to run. I also was in charge of running the spawn timer (me and eights). I also like to think I’m probably one of the top coms guys around. So back in the day we had 3 offenses and 3 defenses for each map. We ran them all to keep teams honest about what we were doing. Then typically our last round in the match we’d run whatever we felt was the strongest. So some maps would be 5 meds/panz, or 2 lts, or 3 engies. I was always the guy who changed classes while other guys always played a particular class. I was lucky enough to play with great medics (spud, mutha, eights, paladin), so I played lt a good bit. Not having a great gun i learned the art of spamming. So these are the values I think I brought to birdz.
Virus047: Let’s talk a little about rivalries and “grudge” matches. During your time with BirdZ and Vengeance you have been a part of some pretty epic “grudge” matches or rivalry’s with other clans in the RTCW community. First let’s dig deeper into the famous fX vs. Teh BirdZ match. Tell the community about this match and all that lead up to the eventual loss for your team. How did your team feel even though you lost a closely contested match?
Caff: Honestly we used to get treated like shit by the main teams when we first started. We were low on teh totem pole and teams used to dog walk us and there were lots of shit talkers on the good pub servers. Starting with team vengeance - paladin and i were roommates. Man we used to watch old infensus demos and sit out by the campfire and talk about strats we’d run. Then we just scrimmed our brains out as I said above. Scrimming main teams when we were in open. Getting better. By the end of that season we were blasting main teams in our scrims. Nobody knew about us. Beating team silence of village put us on the map. Then we won open and beta that season. This went next level when we became the birdz team that faced fX. At the time we were still not really known, and fX had all the best players left in the game. I don’t think they lost for like 2 seasons at this point. The match was epic AF. I think the final was 3-2-2 (again on village). We had every detail worked out for that match man. From boosting out of spawn at the start to gain a slight edge on tav. to what we’d do if we were facing spawn camping (which happened). Best match and team I was a part of right there. After that match people were pming us on irc and giving us tons of respect. We all felt great and at the same time heartbroken. These are the events though that keep us all buddies today. Nobody blamed anyone (except for goose, we always blamed him for everything). We all just put our boots back on the next day. Mesh actually made a little documentary of birdz and he did a whole episode of the fx match. It’s on YouTube and it’s pretty awesome - called “a day in February”. Maybe search “meshlab birdz” if you care to see it (best revive med train in our team’s history on 1st push (short) in cemetery).
Virus047: Another huge moment in RTCW history was the now famous United 5 vs. TeH BirdZ match. We had the ET powerhouse in United 5, come over to RTCW to “prove a point” in some ways by beating BirdZ on BirdZ best map (Village I believe). What lead up to that match, and why did it go so badly for your team? Do you recall a moment during the match that stands out as the true turning point as to why your team lost the way it did?
Caff: Most of this is pretty foggy in my mind. At this point I’m pretty sure fX had moved on - so we were one of the top teams left. Well we beat u5 in the original grudge match (on beach) to my knowledge. My memory is pretty vague about the details about why that grudge match even started. They had some loud personalities, and so did we (me). Maybe at the time it was just the 2 big boys on the block. Sooner or later they are going to fight. The match you are talking about on village I think was part of some tournament. Village became known as “our map” after the fX match. We destroyed a lot of teams on it. But man u5 had some great players. There was a stink with the admins in this match b/c Alea (their panzer) was banned or DQ’d for some reason, so we told the admins that if they didn’t let him play - we would forfeit. Then we made a secret handshake with u5 that whoever lost would forfeit officially. We felt that we wanted the best that their team had to offer. The admins (Wippuh and some other jabronies) made us out to be the villains in this story, but I think if you ask most of us - or the u5 guys - they would tell you otherwise. Anyway, we lost the match badly I think. Just didn’t have it that day. Somedays you don’t.
Virus047: Your teams have lost its fair share of these “grudge” or rivalry type matches, but on the flipside BirdZ and other teams you have been member of have been very successful. Your teams generally win a vast majority of your matches and generally speaking end up with regular seasons or events with positive w/l ratios. One such highlight in your career was winning the TWL OSP Season #11 Championship over Jolly Roger. Tell us about this match and what was it like to take down Jolly Roger in a close match (3-2 on Beach if I remember correctly)?
Caff: They became our rival after fX had moved on. Yeah it was some 3-2-x long ass match. Foetwinny shoutcast it (god bless him). I’m sure it was over 3 hours. Winning that was important for us as a team. Lots of the old crew reunited for that team (mutha came back, mesh just got home from deployment overseas, rampage joined us, as did sonic). Donka was one of those guys I mentioned before, who always had an air of superiority to our players - talking shit on us in pubs b/c we weren’t fast right away or b/c we played like shrub players, instead of actually showing us how to play and move around. Fucking dickhead we didn’t play quake 1, 2, and 3. We were busy banging your mom when we were teenagers. So he recruited some guys who we had rivalries going back to vengeance days (Hiki and Kalamzoo, Alien). I’m not sure who else. It was such a satisfying win to send him packing. Some of the other golden era dickheads would talk shit and say we only won when all the good teams left. But we didn’t care.
Virus047: During your career you’ve played in plenty of other big or important matches. What other match stands out to you that perhaps the community doesn’t remember or know much about that you recall as a moment in your career you look back at fondly or as a good match? Tell us about that match?
Caff: The team silence match man with vengeance. A long match on village. Troll was secretly the best panzer in wolf for about a 2 year stretch and this was the match where he went from OK to dominant. (check the fX match on village to watch troll destroy warzone if you can) - Others may disagree and I’m sure I’m biased - but that’s my honest opinion. His pistol was better than anyone in the game. We handed them their ass at the time when we were a bunch of unknowns and they had quite a # of players who had a quite a bit of competition experience.
Virus047: You in my opinion are one of the better more versatile player left in the game. You have the ability to play almost any class without any production value lost. What’s your personal favorite class to play and why?
Caff: Thanks for the compliment. Lt- just so much freedom involved with how to play it. You can just shoot all the time if you want, or be spammy AF, or toss endless grenades. I do like playing med, but only certain maps and certain sides - I’m not a great med when it comes down to playing as a true medic. Similar story with panzer - only certain maps. Please don’t ask me to sniper.
Virus047: If we changed maps from say Frostbite to Village? Would that favorite class mentioned above change? Why?
Caff: No, Village I’d prefer to lt.
Virus047: The current community knows all about “Mondays” and the fact that Team Cross Breed and Teh BirdZ have been longtime rivals. However in the most recent years the two groups have basically joined forces to create our own unique group of friends who keep playing together on Monday nights. Who is the one player from Team Cross Breed’s roster that you feel would have been a perfect fit on Teh BirdZ’s rosters from back in the day? Would that player have turned the tide in some of those previous matches I’ve mentioned before that BirdZ lost (fX and u5)?
Caff: Challenging question. Probably cypher is the guy I’d say is most like the people we surrounded ourselves with. But he’s technically not Cross Breed so I’m not sure there is a candidate from the CB part of the Monday night crew. Luna and Tragic are good players but too worried about stats to do the stuff we used to do. Kittens is too reckless, as is Reker. Honestly none of those guys would’ve turned the tide in our match. We had the best team we could’ve had at the time. It just didn’t go our way for whatever reason.
Virus047: As a Team Captain during the current Draft Cup, explain to everyone your thoughts on your current Draft Cup’s team. What was the draft process like for you? It is notable that you drafted several of your “Monday” might friends into your team, was this your goal originally or did you have other plans? Also do you feel your teams current record of 0-3, reflects just how good your team actually is?
Caff: Common asked me about it post draft. I drafted good medics who were good team players (Corpse, Spud, JT, Dill, Sonic), Guys who were most like the guys I was used to playing with. Some of the guys I really didn’t know. Oreo was one of them who has turned out to be one of the better guys on our roster. I drafted Viking so that he and I can move past our political differences. There were guys who were on my do not draft list, regardless of skill. Obviously I think we’re better than 0-3 and last place in the tourney, but sometimes you are what your record says you are. i think our top 6 players could win every game.
Virus047: You have earned a reputation throughout the years to some players as being an expert “shit talker” or someone who “doesn’t hold back what he’s feeling” about issues or certain topics. Some might even view you as being annoying or way to vocal for your own good. In terms of you being a Team Captain for this cup, how does this “reputation” come in handy for you and your team?
Caff: LOL idk if people consider me expert anything. My reputation is what it is. Like I said above, I used to just be the one to be vocal so that teams or players that our team had problems with would just deal with me, and not the team. (For a few seasons we had MAJOR problems with the twl/cal admins). A large part of it came from us having to stand up to the bullies from main and alpha - respect issues. I went to a funeral of a man I respected a lot when I was young. One of my dad’s buddies. At his funeral when they were giving homage about him one of the people started talking about his character assets and brought up this - “with roy you always knew where you stood with him. good or bad”. I live most of my life like this - the best man at my wedding brought this up in his speech. Sometimes this is to my/my team’s detriment. I’ve lost and damaged some friendships and relationships b/c of it. I’m sure we always got certain teams’ best effort b/c of it. Ultimately I’m at the point in my life where I really don’t care what most people think of me when I take a stand on an issue - if you’re not my wife, my mom/dad, or people at my job then chances are I’ll just say what I feel. I’m not afraid to speak my mind. Is this something that I need to tone down? Is this a part of me that I need to change? I’m not sure. Maybe your interview will make me take a look at myself and see if I am who I want to be or if I need to make some changes.
Virus047: That being said, who is your “Caff” in the community? This can be a current player or someone who hasn’t played in years? Who is that person who gets under your skin and why?
Caff: Elusive always got under my skin for years. Some of the parts of him that I don’t like are parts of myself that I don’t like unfortunately. I made peace with him during this last revival and he accepted it. But for years I hated that guy and his teams.
Virus047: Who is going to win the NBA Championship this season?
Caff: As long as curry comes back healthy, Warriors - easily.
Virus047: Thanks so much for the interview. I really appreciate the time and energy you put into your responses. Finally do you have any shout outs to anyone from the community? Or have any comments towards anyone?
Caff: 3 of BirdZ guys are veterans (paladin, ramp, and mesh). Thank you for your service. Thank you admins for the tourney, and thanks again virus for taking time to put this interview together.
Virus047: Thanks again! Enjoy!
NEXT INTERVIEW COMING SOON!