RTCW 2018 Interview Series: #1 - Warrior
Virus047: Tell us a little about yourself. Let’s get to know the man behind the infamous nickname.
Warrior: My name is Vincent and I’m a 30 year-old software engineer. I actually didn’t have a computer growing up until I was like 14. I found out about RTCW from watching my cousin play at his house and was able to convince my parents to buy my sister and I a computer for school. I bought the game a week after and never shared that PC. My stint in competitive gaming lasted through high-school, majority being in RTCW but also COD and CS Source at the top CAL level. After high-school I went cold turkey, dropped the desktop for college, and learned about women ><. Then after college I got a job at Intel working on the USB 3.0 architecture team so I figured I’d build a new computer since there were some sweet discounts. Soon after I got a text from CKY for the RTCW revival cups in 2013 (I think it was). Been on and off ever since, nothing nearly as serious as the addiction in high school :D.
Virus047: What brought you to RTCW all those years ago and what has kept you here this long?
Warrior: Well, I lean completely towards FPS team games. I like RTCW because it has speed, respawn, and interesting strategy dynamics/variations (or at least it use to). Although I was playing at a competitive level at the other games, none of them really brought the rush of RTCW. Now when I play, since my aim is kind of washed (especially with the ping), I try and add more tactical/unique elements to the game.
Virus047: Most people know you simply because of your exploits from some of the earliest competitive events/seasons in RTCW history. Can you however tell us about your time with 82nd and your experience with that group during the run to 82nd’s CAL Open Championship all those years ago?
Warrior: Hmm I’m not entirely sure what exploits you’re referring too. The only one I thought people try and tag me with is using center view, which actually never happened. I was just a kid who played ABSURD amounts with a sub-30 ping (which is a relatively big advantage in this game).
82nd was such an interesting/pivotal time. Basically, what happen was I convinced my best friend John (Nightwolf) to install RTCW. We would always play in Happy Penguin for the most absolute maximum cArNaGe. We were curious why everyone had these weird tags on and eventually found out there were leagues for online games. So Nightwolf and I (at the time I was playing under the name Sniper) picked the most normal looking tag (82nd) and asked if we could try out for their squad. Nightwolf was like… ‘dude if we join this team you got to pick a cooler name than Sniper… what about effin’ warrior?’. So we tried out, joined (at the time I think 82nd was like 3 40-year old buddies out of Michigan), and played in some weird OGL leagues. I started learning more about the other leagues and eventually jumped ship to join Liquid (|LQD| - which I think was Cal-M at the time). LQD was a pretty solid squad but I missed playing with Nightwolf, so I had my mini-Lebron moment and took all my cal knowledge back to 82nd. We completely revamped everything about that team and went on to win the Cal-O championship, which at the time was the coolest freaking thing. I think that squad was Nightwolf, Chao$, Khan, Hunter, Dr. Death, CKY (briefly), and myself. We got bumped up the next year, met some new players, and formed the original Team Effect.
Virus047: You went to QuakeCon in 2003, can you let us know how that experience was being on the big stage with some of the best gamers in the world competing in RTCW?
Warrior: QuakeCon was a pretty big disappointment for me. Originally, Team Effect (Nightwolf, Impulse, Wyldcard, Vatican, Reaper, and I think maybe Siberian was on the team at the time) was, in my opinion, the most gun dominating team in RTCW history. We played several seasons together and absolutely wrecked shit. We even qualified for QCON as the #1 seed. We were all pretty gitty after defeating Infensus in the qualifiers (although they had a massive ping disadvantage).
A little known fact about this fX team was that after qualification I went out and sent a bunch of cold emails to companies looking for sponsorships. I actually wound up landing a small deal with this company “Karma”. They were going through a rebrand so our goals lined up nicely (I don’t think they knew I was ~16 years old at the time [or didn’t care]). As a start, Karma sent us mousepads and mice for the team. They were actually prototype mice and they were hoping to launch the official product with the rebrand and thought it would be cool if they had players tagged to the launch. Unfortunately, the mice were still “in development” and it would have cost the team a performance hit if we went through using them. That company Karma wound up rebranding to the massive PC company known as Razer today :o.
As QCON inched closer, a few of the Effect guys said they couldn’t go to Texas anymore and left Nightwolf and myself scrambling for a team. Nightwolf eventually landed on ICF and I landed on Frontline. The Frontline guys were RTCW vets but the only player I had some history with was Rambo. I don’t even think we scrimmed Village which would explain 4Kings embarrassing us in spawn. In my opinion, my Quakecon performance was relatively fair though I think the community was expecting me to be the headshot whoring pub champion I was known for, so overall disappointing. I will say the combination of personalities on Frontline (Rambo, Valdez, Leethal, Daniel) were some of the funniest guys I ever played with so that helped ease the loss.
Virus047: Throughout the years you played on some pretty epic teams with other big name guns, super strong egos and goofy aliases. Do you have a player that stands out to you now (whom isn’t playing still currently) you would like to see come back and play this game with you again? Why?
Warrior: I’ve been fortunate enough to play serious and competitive with lots of different players with different styles from 82nd, LQD, FX, LoT, Darkside. It was only until the later years of wolf where things got really freaking fun and hilarious. Since now is all about the community and having fun, the sMn team would absolutely thrive right now. Mindgame (pre-dad), Spec Opz (where is he), Conf (rip ), Alpha (pre-verbal-rager), Common and Warzone brought so much color to this community, they always got a special place in my heart. We’re talking about the birth of ‘throw me sum jacks’ and ‘scusi’ doc running with this group of guys. Obviously if I could only bring back one player it would have to be the legend Conf. Kid was one of the nicest, hilarious, and most vibrant personalities we’ve met and it’s truly heart-breaking he passed away.
Virus047: In a hypothetical matchup of your 2004 fX roster that won the Season #4 TWL Alpha championship (Nightwolf, Impulse, Wyldcard, Reaper, Vatican, etc.) vs. your 2004 sMn roster that won the Season #7 TWL championship (Warzone, Alpha, Mindgame, Opz, Multitask, Conf., etc). Who do you think would win and why?
Warrior: fX hands down. To me, the difference was both teams had slightly different objectives. fX was way more competitive and had a longer duration of time together (Nightwolf, Wyldcard, Impulse, myself had several LANS together) so our chemistry was rock-solid. We’re talking about having planned airstrikes to herd sheep’s for the panzer in our strats. sMn was more of a ‘the community is on its last hoorah, we’re pretty good, let’s do some disrespectful funny shit together’ vibe. So the entire chemistry was built around comedy hour which wound up working really well.
Virus047: Warzone as a panzer was widely regarded as one of the best to hold the noob stick in NA RTCW history. As he was a teammate of yours for several seasons and on several teams, do you recall a standout panzer from NA RTCW history that you always felt was a real challenge to face much like Warzone was back in the day?
Warrior: I’m sure I’m forgetting a couple but I always thought the west coast teams had good panzers. NARFs panzer, was it shaggy2dot? and wSw elusion were always threats. In the latter years, when I wasn’t on his team, I remember Vatican being a pretty nice soldier too.
Virus047: RTCW in its current state is still “alive” and “kicking” with the recently started 2018 Draft Cup underway. Do you have any thoughts on how you feel your team will do during this cup? Can you give us any insight as to why you drafted some of the players you did?
Warrior: I think if we can get everyone on we should be able to bring some pretty competitive matches. Our biggest problem is we have 3 solid panzers and a bunch of solo stars. I picked Brandon because we have a history, who also has a history with End. I think Raiser is underrated. Virus is a threat as a solider. Gut, rykn0w and Pow are vets. I hope Brandon and End can brawl out and leave Raiser and myself to do the obj.
Virus047: Is there a player in the current community you enjoy playing against? And why?
Warrior: Source. We’re old teammates, he’s smart, has a laser, and is a challenge on every encounter.
Virus047: Finally, after all these years RTCW too many of us is still a game that will never be matched in terms of balance, skill, team play, etc. Do you think another game will finally take its place? Is there a game on the horizon you are looking forward to playing?
Warrior: I don’t think so. DirtyBomb and OverWatch had similar aspects but both have their respective issue. We’ve waited 10 years for something else but developers are having problems cracking the code :D
Virus047: Any shout outs or messages for the community?
Warrior: As crazy as it sounds, RTCW was a big part of my childhood. I attribute my career path in computers and a lot of the entrepreneurship and leadership traits I have today because of wolf. I’m truly grateful for the time spent in this game and most importantly, the community around it (for good and sometimes for worse :)). Special shout outs to the Good Knight crew; Cky, Elusive, Booty, Donkey, Source, Alpha for being part of the early revival and dominating. The 82nd OG's; Nightwolf, Chao$, Abomb. The QCON crew; Rambo, Valdez, Lee, Daniel, Sephy. Virus and the rest of the current admin team for keeping the community kicking. And anyone else I've ever played with for creating a ~decade worth of good times and learning. Thank you!
Virus047: Thanks for your time! Enjoy!
NEXT INTERVIEW COMING SOON!