Blitzkrieg Masters Amsterdam 2018 - Interview with AVENUE eSports

AVENUE eSports are one of the few examples of teams which have competed in all of the Battalion 1944 Events up to this point, determined to become the best. This attitude was certainly made concrete in the following interview with Ryan Daxten Jones, a 23 year old competitor from the roster which also consists of the following players:  cDe, kaysk1ng, SOULZZ and loony. Let's learn more below. 

1.) How are you preparing yourselves for the upcoming event, the first ever Battalion 1944 Major? 

Our main preparations involve developing some strategical setups that play to all our strengths. Our main aim is to get to a level where we don’t have any weak maps and can play confidently on all of them.  This coupled with simply putting more hours into the game is what we believe is enough to do well at the major

2.) For how long has your team been waiting for an opportunity to play Battalion 1944 at this level?

Well, of course, since it was announced everyone pretty much decided they would want to attend as it would be the biggest offline tournament to date, so probably since the announcement. With Gallantry’s Budapest LAN being quite a successful one for us (even though we didn’t finish top 3) considering we only prepared about a week, we’re confident that with the time we have left before the major we can set ourselves up to do well once more.

3.) What are your goals heading into the event? What placing are you aiming at?

Our goals are to let no team out-work us, out-desire us. The drive and passion we have to become the best team gives us the motivation we need to do what we do best. In terms of placing we want that first place, the same as everyone else. If we didn’t think we could win it, we wouldn’t have attended the qualifiers.

4.) What was your experience in the online qualifiers? Where there any negatives and positives you’d like to point out? 

The main aspect that hindered us was that it was held on a weekend, this is an unusual time because that is when most players have other stuff they’d rather do. This meant we had to play with substitutions a lot of the time and I know for a fact that other teams had to as well.

5.) From the online qualifiers, what is your team’s judgement on the level of competition at this time in the title’s lifespan? How much room for improvement is there? 

There are a lot of strong teams, however with the number of roster changes recently, I don’t think we’re seeing 100% (including ourselves). I think there is room for improvement and the level of competition will definitely increase as teams have time to gel with their new members and adapt accordingly.

6.) If not yourselves, what teams form the top competition for the first place spot?

As mentioned before, there are a lot of strong teams, such as CRG, DEMISE and 1UP, however, Endpoint would be my guess, let's just hope Mark isn’t allowed any beer while playing and we’ll be fine!

7.) Do you plan to keep competing in Battalion 1944 after the Major is finalized? 

Right now, we have no plans to stop playing after the major, regardless of the outcome. If the results aren’t desirable then we put in more work and return to the next event stronger.

8.) How do you view the updates which have recently hit the title? Have they all been general improvements?

Yes definitely, the game is headed in the right direction and I can’t wait for update 2.5 and MU3. However, I think Loony is going to miss the crouch jump!

9.) What would you change, if you could, in Battalion 1944 mechanics, maps and weapons? 

I’d probably change the inconsistency of wallbanging. For example, you can wallbang all of the wooden doors on ManorhouseV2 but can’t wallbang the dark room door on Liberation B site. I would also change Invasion B site; there is a huge invisible wall that blocks what I feel could be some necessary smokes for taking the site and just, in general, it seems easier to just go A as allies.

10.) Any advice for those Battalion 1944 rosters which are struggling to reach the level of competition needed for the event? 

Not sure if I’m qualified for this! However, I would say that playing with a consistent lineup is quite key, building that team chemistry and knowing how your teammates play can be crucial in mid-round decision making and how you adapt to both the way your team plays and the way the enemy plays. Besides that, just sink them hours in and find the playstyle that suits you best.

It's clear that the team still has a bunch to go through before the main event, settling their own sense of teamwork and individual skills in order to reach the top. We'd like to thank Daxten for the speedy replies and his contribution to giving us insight into this team's attitude and perspective of the event.