Header Art by Major Sniper
Editor’s Note: This Interview was conducted two weeks ago, before the first match of the group stage, and was delayed due to technical issues here at INN. Of Essence has since exited the tournament coming third in its group. You can watch back its matches on the CCP tournament stream and the Anger Games stream (vs. New Eden Villain’s Valley, vs. Spooky Action at a distance). They will be playing a show match during today’s Anger Games 6 at 17:40 EVE.
Who are you?
I am Chad Flame, Captain of the team: Of Essence. I’ve been in the Alliance since its creation at the end of 2022.
As an Alliance we have been in one AT under this name and one under an alliance called Percussive Pizza Time Diplomacy. We also took part in the Captain’s Cup. We got into the scene because we saw the AT over the years and we half-jokingly said that we should do it. So, we put a team together and put our names in the hat for ATXVIII, and have been playing and looking to improve ever since.
Our driving factors are the grind, the learning, teaching, and growing as a team, and always hoping to do better than the last time we played.
What have some of your past results looked like?
Both ATs we have been through the redemption path in the feeders. Ending in the final match or 2 in those feeder redemption matches
What do you enjoy about participating in Tournaments and what is your goal for Anger Games 6?
We would like to at least get 2nd in the group stage and hope to take a match or two in the redemption bracket.
How do you approach this tournament and the fact that it allowed scripted EWAR from a theory-crafting point of view?
We are looking at it in the same way that we looked at the AT. We get the team to understand how much the specific EWAR ships can change matches from both sides of the grid, and how we need to play matches depending on these factors.
What do you think will be amazing in this event meta?
I feel like there is going to be a wide start to what people will think is “Meta” through the group stages, even more than we see in other tournaments. I personally am more interested to see what other teams are tapping into and watching all the different styles of play and theory.
What do you think the ‘Ship of the Event’ is likely going to be?
Personally, I think most EWAR ships are going to be the ships that define matches. High skill, high rewards. This even sometimes works into the theory of matches too. Good pilots in ships can really make a difference. They are all extremely impactful.
Are there any teams you would really like to take down this event?
Our First match is against Villain’s Valley (Dracarys’) We lost to them in the ‘win and In’ during the feeders last year. We want a rematch as it was extra close.
How do you do scrim planning and track what works and what doesn’t for ship comps?
I just reached out to a lot of people that we have played across multiple tournaments and have them as regular scrim practice partners. We have a few teams fill the slots to rotate in some different play styles and meta views.
is there anything you think that people who might want to give tourneys like the anger games a shot should know or would help them to get into it?
You will get better by practicing with scrims and doing the tournament more than just playing and hoping you “will one day be good enough”. The quicker you get involved the faster you grow and learn. It is also really fun and you won’t know if you like it if you don’t try it.
Who is Of Essence and how might people who are interested in joining on reading this make contact?
The alliance is a Gallente factional warfare alliance. We focus mainly on the factional warfare aspect but do it on a small gang fighting in the warzone. We are always fighting to complete objectives, but we enjoy the content/fun along the way.
We support a casual playstyle. We focus mainly on letting people do things they enjoy while being in the warzone and fighting for Gallente. We run standing fleets and work together.
We are mainly USTZ. If people have questions or are looking to join we use this discord to answer questions and get to know our soon-to-be new members – https://discord.gg/pVhzd7d2
