Troubley: "I see us in the top four"

Shortly before DH Winter, Planetkey Dynamics had to shuffle their team as VAC-banned Anil "⁠cLy⁠" Gülec made way for Alexander "⁠alexRr⁠" Frisch, formerly of ALTERNATE.

In recent weeks, Planetkey Dynamics established themselves as the number-one side in Germany, but they have yet to make their mark on an international level. At ESWC, the team finished fourth of their group following defeats against Cloud9, LDLC and Virtus.pro.

It is, thus, with renewed hope that the team approach this event. Read on to find out what Tobias "⁠Troubley⁠" Tabbert has to say about cLy, DreamHack Winter's GSL system, the CZ and more.

How well prepared do you feel for DreamHack? Did you change a lot of things in how you play or simply focus on refining your current style? Will you be taking part in the official Inferno Online bootcamp, considering the problems having all teams on-site might bring?

We bootcamped at Inferno Online Stockholm and feel well prepared. Due to our recent roster changes, we had to change our playing style, come up with new tactics and change our ingame roles.

What’s your stance on the stickers? Were you surprised at how much money teams made from them for ESL One Cologne? Do you think more of the money should be allocated towards prizes? As things stand, the Legends capsule pays (per Cologne) more than winning the event.

Sticker money is not the reason reason why players take part in such tournaments. It is just a bonus. We were really surprised to see how much money one can make by just participating. It is awesome to see how the scene is growing and how much effort players are putting into the game.

How do you expect your group to play out? Can you talk about each of the teams in your group in detail, what you expect from your potential match-up against each of them, and how do you expect to fare?

We have a tough group as we have to take on two top teams, NiP and LDLC. It is not the first time we have to face these teams, and we have learned from our recent mistakes and tried to improve our game against them, hoping for a huge surprise in this best-of-one system. In order to have a chance against them, we will have to work hard and everyone will need to bring their A game. Of all three opponents, ESC are the "easiest", although they are very strong and can cause a lot of trouble. They had good results in recent matches and will not be underestimated, of course. All matches will be tough and close.

Troubley thinks Planetkey Dynamics can break into the top four

Our recent article “Major problems” brought up multiple issues such as the online qualifiers (cheating, DDoS), inconsistent format (best-of-one groups) with very few matches, etc. What is your stance on the qualification system and the tournament format? How would you like to improve the majors?

In my opinion there should not be any more online matches at all, especially qualifiers for Major events. We had a lot of problems in the qualifiers with cheaters and DDoS attacks. About the format: I do not accept the fact that there are still best-of-one matches, although underdogs might have a higher chance of surprising in such systems, which would help us in tournaments. Overall, best-of-three matches are more exciting to play and watch.

Another big issue for debate right now is the CZ-75. Suggestions for it have ranged from altering its rate of fire and damage, to even making it an SMG while upping its price. Do you think it should be changed, and if so, how would you recommend Valve do it?

In certain situations, the CZ is stronger than a rifle, and this cannot happen due to its low cost. It is too accurate and should be removed completely, simply because there are enough pistols out there that are also very dangerous. They should again improve the Desert Eagle, and if they do not remove the CZ, they should make it cost exactly $800 or even more, lower its fire rate and decrease its accuracy.

Obviously going into the event the favorites are fnatic and LDLC, but so far the favorites have never won a major. Is there someone else who you think could surprise us and win it all? Who do you expect to place in the top four?

I think that HellRaisers will win this major. Besides them, I see dignitas, fnatic and, of course, us, Planetkey Dynamics, reaching the semi-finals.

alexRr replaced cLy

What do you make of this cheating scandal? Were you surprised players might have been cheating at tournaments, or did you expect it? Do you believe the players caught cheated in LAN tournament

I am really disappointed, all top players are good enough to play without cheats. It is up to Valve and how much effort they put into wiping cheats out of the game. Since the scene is growing so fast, this should be their number-one task right now. They should ban all these players and try to finally make playing on LAN like it was in the 1.6 days, clean and challenging.

You removed cLy from the team shortly after ESWC and replaced him with alexRr, who had been the team’s backup player. Was that the plan all along? Was it cLy’s VAC ban that made you remove him?

cLy was a good player and it was hard finding such a player in Germany again. We knew that it was impossible to continue to play with him and searched for an alternative since he got his VAC ban in order to replace him for this major.

Was it hard for the team to deal with the criticism regarding cLy? Did Planetkey Dynamics insist on removing the player?

We all knew that cLy did not cheat in 99% of his matches, that is why we still supported him after his VAC ban. He is still a good mate of us. It was necessary to replace him in the end, though, showing that this scene needs to be clean again!

What are the main differences now in the team with alexRr, compared to when you had cLy?

alexRr plays the AWP, which cLy did not. Like I said before, we had to mix everything up and start from scratch almost. Considering how little time we've had since the roster change, I have to say we have done good and have even improved our gameplay.