daps: "There is still a communication barrier that we're working on with BnTeT"

After Gen.G won DreamHack Open Anaheim, we caught up with Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele to discuss his team's undefeated run at the event and the process of building another title-contending roster.

Gen.G had a dream first LAN tournament as they came out on top of the second DreamHack Open event of the year without dropping a single map. After topping a stacked group with close victories over ENCE and Complexity, the North American team continued their impressive run in the single-elimination bracket, defeating North and FURIA 2-0 to collect the grand prize of $50,000 and secure a spot at the DreamHack Masters event in Jönköping.

All eyes were on former TYLOO member Hansel "⁠BnTeT⁠" Ferdinand, but the player who stood out the most was Sam "⁠s0m⁠" Oh. The former Envy member averaged a joint-high 1.33 rating, a career-best, to help the team to an unlikely title triumph - which resulted in a 28-place leap in the rankings in Monday's update.

In an interview conducted shortly after Gen.G's victory on Sunday, we sat down with daps to talk about s0m's individual form during the event, how this Gen.G roster came together, and BnTeT's contribution in the server thus far.

You just won DreamHack Open Anaheim on your LAN debut with Gen.G, so let's just start with you run here. You didn't drop a map and you had a pretty dominant run up until that last map against FURIA, so talk me through your approach to this tournament.

We had a really good bootcamp before Anaheim, one of the best of my career. Because of that we had a decent amount of confidence coming into the event, but obviously you can't take scrim results for their face value.

For us, it was really big to start off the tournament by going 2-0 in our group. Even though the games were close and we made a lot of mistakes in them, I think that just beating those two teams helped propel us to win the event.

With your victory here, you've earned a spot at DreamHack Masters Jönköping. Since you are also a part of FLASHPOINT and will end up missing out on ESL Pro League, getting a spot at that event helps you garner some crucial points in the ESL Pro Tour circuit. What does that mean to you?

It means a lot because right now, the scene is really, really challenging, even the online environment. Not having to play an online qualifier or having to hope that we get invited to a tournament is a huge weight off our shoulders, for sure.

s0m individually had a pretty stellar tournament, averaging a 1.33 rating over six maps, which is a stark contrast to his time on Envy. What makes him shines so much more in Gen.G and under your leadership than he did on his previous roster?

I can't speak for how Envy was, I'm sure they probably had their share of problems, looking at their roster and how people got cut. I'd say our team environment is pretty good, we keep the mood pretty lighthearted.

We don't troll as much as my old team, on NRG, over there we used to troll a lot. We definitely have a good level of seriousness and fun, which is something I had a hard time finding in my career, on both ends of the scale. That environment helps to keep the team's mood high and puts s0m in a good role.

Also, the experience that koosta, autimatic, and BnTeT have in the game makes it easier for me and they help make everyone on the team better. We don't have a player on the team who is really good but doesn't help other teammates, so it's nice to have everyone contribute.

The trio of you, koosta, and autimatic left Cloud9 to start a new project. How did Gen.G approach you and how did you go about finding the last two players?

The three of us requested to look for a different organization, and then Gen.G came out and instantly said they were interested. It took us a while from there, a couple weeks just to decide who else we wanted to pick up and who was worth it.

I had known s0m for a while, I'd been playing other games with him and we would hang out in TeamSpeak, so I knew he had a really good attitude. He wants to win, he has the hunger and drive on top of it, so even though he struggled on Envy I looked past it because he has the skill and the right mindset.

For BnTeT, we didn't think it was even possible to get him until we got some intel that he was willing to come on board, so once we found that out it really was a no-brainer. He's been the best player in Asia, alongside jks if you count him, so it just made sense to get him.

With BnTeT having been the in-game leader for TYLOO, how much does he help contribute to your calling during games?

On the T side, it's mainly autimatic and I who do most of the calling. Generally, I call every freezetime and then autimatic and I will do the mid-rounding, but everyone contributes with ideas.

Once BnTeT's English gets better, probably in three to four months, he'll be able to add more input, but right now there is still a communication barrier that we're working on. His main impact at the moment is on our CT sides with s0m, they play most sites together and I think his experience and attitude really help them as a duo.

After your run at this tournament, how do you feel heading into FLASHPOINT, which is coming up in March?

We're feeling pretty confident. I don't know all the teams in FLASHPOINT yet, we have no clue really, but I'd say a lot of the teams here are better than the teams in FLASHPOINT currently, so the result here is really promising.