Bunny & Hush to play in WTL America under DuSt Gaming

With the great exodus of Korean teams many have been waiting to see which teams will make fresh pick-ups from the Korean scene, though there has been a severe lack of activity which has mostly been put down to the lack of information on the 2017 WCS system. Very recently Solar was picked up by Splyce, as they begin their venture into SC2 and yesterday the news came from DuSt Gaming that they had signed former CJ Entus players Bunny and Hush.

DuSt Gaming are currently registered to take part in the WTL Americas Division. They have had a large presence in team leagues over the years and even run their own team league - DuSt League - which shows how serious they are about team based competition. With their new pick-ups they have become very serious contenders to make it very far in upcoming WTL season. We took a few moments to talk to the DuSt Gaming manager, Ricky "Bidoux" Robidoux.

First of all congratulations on your pick-ups. You've had Korean players in the past, so was it always a goal of the team to try and sign Koreans again at some point, or is this just a reaction to number of available Koreans due to the recent team-exodus in Korea?

I wouldn't say it was always a goal to get Koreans. When it comes to having them on our team we've had really bad relationships and really good relationships with them. Our team kind of supports a lot of regions and countries anyways. We have our own criteria for picking up players and it doesn't really matter where they're from. The team-exodus was a huge factor obviously in this one; almost every top Korean right now is team-less and I assume a lot of foreign teams that nobody would ever predict (like my own) will pick more up in the future. It's a weird time to be involved in SC2 right now, but I think in a good way.

You've signed these players prior to the release of WCS 2017 information, which is what many believe to be the reason that the signing of other Korean players has not picked up yet. What are you hoping for with WCS 2017 and your new players participation in the system?

The WCS 2017 information has no affect on us at all. DuSt has always been a team that is just run by management that are passionate about SC2, so if SC2 is still around then we'll be around. We get a high from promoting players and watching them grow and succeed. We have sponsors that support the hell out of us like Tt eSports and next year we'd like to have more of a WCS presence if it's there, now that we're jumping into GSL and SSL exposure. More of a LAN presence too (knock on wood DH SC2).

We're going to try to dominate the team league scene with WardiTV Team League and with our own DuSt League. Mostly we want to put out more content that people will care about as well as getting more people involved with our team. I hate seeing players join teams and then just disappear and that happens a lot recently. We'll be actively posting around to see what the fans and community want, and doing our best to deliver. DuSt League having coverage this season is a big deal, we'll be trying to put our new pickups in the spotlight anyway we can and that goes for any player on our team.

Hush and Bunny are super motivated to win everything, they were on CJ Entus for a long time and their goals and motivations haven't changed. The only thing that's changed is our team gets to be apart of it now. We're happy to support them and continue their dream.

Sounds like you have a really promising relationship with these players. If I'm not mistaken you are now one of the few teams in the WTL America who will run with Korean players in their line-up. Do you feel Bunny & Hush are going to be the push you need to bring home a victory in WTL (or other team leagues in the coming year)?

I think Hush and Bunny are going to be a huge push to win this season. I believe we can win the whole division because our roster in general is just so solid. I think this season is ours to win. We'll do the same in DuSt League S4 and hopefully join the next season of NEO Starleague on the Korean server. The good part is we have our goals set for this year and we have ambitions and hopefully we can get there. I think the presence of Bunny and Hush in the foreign scene will spark a surge of foreign teams following suite and picking up players of their own just to be able to compete. Then it will get really interesting.

Thanks for your time answering our questions. We wish you the best of luck in the upcoming year and especially in WTL America. Do you have any final words of mentions you wish to make?

Thanks for your time in the interview and interest. I'm a big fan of WardiTV as well and the work you put into the community. Big shout-out to our sponsor Tt eSports who support everything we do and make so much of our operation bigger and better. For those reading this, every Sunday starting December 11th at 7:30PM EST will be DuSt League's stream where you can see these new pickups play. I'm excited for WardiTV Americas League and I look forward to you sending us that cheque and title for 1st place.

Thanks again to Robby for taking the time to talk to us. WTL America is looking to be better than we ever could have imagined with top teams such as OSC-ROOT, PSISTORM Gaming and Team Ascension Pro also competing within the league, starting December 5th. Keep an eye out on this website & on the Team Liquid calendar for the matches!