Meet Your SC2ITL Playoff Teams - Russian Universe of Warhammer
Russian Universe of Warhammer, more commonly recognized as RuW for short, are a team who have come a long way with very little. Slowly but surely they are building up an absolutely ridiculous line-up of players. Just moments before I wrote this I learned that they have just picked up 2013 WCS Premier League Russian player Noname, who will certainly add a nice bit of punch to any line-up they send out in a match. Alongside Noname there is 2014 WCS Challenger player Stakiman, who had the misfortune of meeting Naniwa in his BO5 Challenger League match (somebody please explain how this is a good Challenger League format?!)
Alongside these WCS players are two names you may recognize in sYz and Satiini. Satiini, a previous Warcraft 3 player, has a surprising fan base and sYz is much in the same boat, being one of if not the best player from Portugal. Playing their best line-up you will not see RuW fielding an all-star line-up like some teams are capable of in the SC2ITL Playoffs, but you will see them posing a much scarier line-up than many would expect.
They did look shaky throughout the group stages, with losses to Derava Kapsa and eSuba Academy pushing them down a few places in the Group Table which they really should not have dropped when you compare the skill of the teams they lost against. They were able to defeat Vega Squadron however, which was a vital victory for them to advance from the group in the end. Unfortunately their greatest challenge lies ahead of them this Thursday when they will play against mYinsanity. We've already said it more than enough - mYinsanity are the straight up favorites to win the league and so it is not an easy introduction to the playoffs for RuW.
But they have come a long way since the beginning of the league and they will be looking to put their losses behind them and to strive towards new goals with their ever-strengthening line-up of players. Hopefully sometime in the near future they find some sponsors to support them because they are definitely becoming a team everybody turns their eyes towards in the coming months.
I had the great pleasure of asking their manager, Suniva, some questions. This is hands down the best interview we got out of all the SC2ITL interviews - so sit back and enjoy this insightful read into the minds of RuW.
Wardi : Hey, congratulations on making the playoffs! How has the league been for you so far?
Suniva : Thank you. That was very exciting. We played a lot of interesting matches. Few words about the league: I really liked the line up of the players participating in. Plenty of strong teams, so that means big number of interesting matches are played and they are exciting for both players and viewers. Format of the league makes it look like the league is not going to be long-lasting. I prefer long-lasting tournaments. Opportunity to arrange the date and time of the match to be played with an opponent is very satisfying for us, because we play a lot of different tournaments and leagues and this is very comfortable. The following things are lacking on the league: need more statics in match's details (player vs player list, maps, score), there are no match lobby so the players could get direct link to it. It would be really great to see top streams to broadcast matches of top streams. I understand that this needs additional funds, so just take it into consideration for future plans of development. But in general we really enjoy playing on your league!
Wardi : You took down Vega Squadron in the group but lost in some close series against Derava Kapsa, Alien Invasion and eSuba Academy - are you happy with this performance in the groups?
Suniva : We considered Vega and Ai our major competitors for reaching the play-off , but guys from Derava Kapsa and eSuba Academy fought till the end. In Derava Kapsa Tomikus did a really good impression as a player. He carries the team on his back. That's why I've been pursuing to add him to our roster for a long time, but he's not willing to join us Definitely good player. And if to talk eSuba Academy we didn't gather out top players so that led us to the defeat, but we have no right to diminish the achievement of our opponents. They played really good games. This is game and everything can happen. That makes the process of competing interesting. We are happy with the result we got as far as we reached the play-off.
Wardi : Now you have made the playoffs you will play against either mYinsanity or Cascade who have been unstoppable in Group A - do you think you can take these teams down?
Suniva : With our friends from Cascade we have really long-lasting rivalry. We know each other well, and I predict it to be a close match. Chance of winning are 50'50 . If to talk about mYinsanity it's complicated, because their roster includes a lot of top-class players. It all depends on the mind set and will-to-win of my guys. I believe in them and I think we are going to surprise everyone. In general mYinsanity are favorites to win this match. But if we compare things with group stage, I think that play-off is like different tournament, and things may change completely. To win play-off you surely have to have the balls of steel, if you know what I mean.
Wardi : RuW has a strong line-up, but a lot of your players are fairly unknown - is there anybody we should be looking out for in the Playoffs?
Suniva : First of all it's KensShow. Andre received proposals from a lot of different teams, but he stays loyal to our team sYz and Satiini are really experienced players on eSport scene and still can deliver great results. sYz was the "creator" of victory over Vega in the group stage. Satiini might help as well if terrans will get buffed . StakimaN and MetHiX are increasing their own popularity, that's why I am sure that they will be more ever motivated to bring good results in the upcoming matches. Our team will be really interesting to follow because we are able to deliver sensations :D
Wardi : We saw StakimaN reach the WCS EU Challenger league this season - how important is this kind of exposure for your team?
Suniva : That's how we found him and picking him up was really cool for us. In match form Premier spot he had no luck with draw – Naniwa. Top non-Korean player from WCS’13 ratings. He will for sure get more opportunities in future. And we are going to help and support him on his way.
Wardi : Any other goals or expectations for 2014?
Suniva : Goals are usual: to develop, to find good partners and sponsors, to retain our current line-up, to get many more players. To obtain perfect team mind set get more fans for our team. And of course we are going to play all leagues and tournaments. It's essential part of our ideology. We have deep player roster and we are very active in any tournaments that happen. What is team for, if not to participate in different team activities?
Wardi : Thanks for your time - if you have any sponsors or shoutouts you want to mention then please do! :)
Suniva : For our potential sponsors I can say following words : We are community of people that are fond of eSports and we have a lot of creative ideas for the development , a lot of resources for realization even very ambitious plans. We are open for any proposals and suggestions, we are ready to start dialog. We certainly have required resources in our order to make potential partners interested . We achieved all of this without partners, and just think about what we could have done together!
Few words for all the people involved in the SC2 scene. Guys! With each year passing by the number of SC2 fans is decreasing. We often get news about disbanded teams and you know what? Hold on! We need to stay together (crisis is coming and everyone is cutting on their budged). The things we do – they are not for money, they are for our common passion for SC2, passion for eSports. Even the loss of a very weak team is bad for us. That are losses. Be patient and we shall hold. I wish everyone good games and enjoyment from the things you. Money is not the main thing. That's a resource. The main things are good atmosphere inside the community, spirit of competitiveness, emotions of the victors and of those who lost. Remember that things and shall the best of us wins!
Thanks a lot to RuW and Suniva for such an in-depth interview. RuW play against mYinsanity in their first match of the RO16. It will be a tough match to come out ahead in - will they be the team to upset the favorites?
RuW take on mYinsanity in the RO16 on Thursday 27th February at 1800 CET and you will be able to watch all of the action at http://twitch.tv/wardiii as we will be covering the game live. We look forward to seeing how much of a punch RuW can pack against the league favorites.
RuW - Group D - Position : 3rd - Wins : 10 - Losses : 3 - Map Wins : 46 - Map Losses : 18 - All-kills : 6