ohnePixel: "I wanted to support some guys who otherwise wouldn't have the chance to go to a Major"

The German streamer will stand behind DRILLAS in Shanghai.

2023 HLTV Streamer of the Year Mark "⁠ohnePixel⁠" Zimmermann is an unlikely participant in the Shanghai RMRs, swapping streaming from home to helping manage — and now coach — DRILLAS.

The squad, led by Volodymyr "⁠Woro2k⁠" Veletniuk, qualified for the Asia RMR starting in the open qualifiers and saw off competition from Onyx Ravens and NOM to do so.

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DRILLAS replace AMSALEM with SENER1

It was a spontaneous decision for the German content creator to get involved with the team, just before the qualifiers kicked off. "I wanted to be involved and support some guys who otherwise wouldn't have the chance to go to a Major," ohnePixel told HLTV.

"Maybe get a sticker in the game, but that's not the main goal anymore: I want to see the boys happy, it's just fun to be involved. It's more than the sticker now."

Date	Matches
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Asia RMR
11/11/2024	Lynn Vision 11:10 DRILLAS	Match

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We're with ohnepixel, the coach of DRILLAS. So gob b's not here, enkay J's not here, but you're here as a German coach. How does it feel?

Exciting, my first time in China, my first time out of the house when it comes to content creation. I should be doing more content here but when it comes to streaming or tournaments for CS this is my first time. I couldn't be more happy to be here. The team are super nice, they want me involved, which I really respect because I am just a streamer. China is nice, the people are nice, the food [in the hotel] is... okay [laughs], but it's good.

You did win the battle over the logo. How funny would it be to get that sticker of your face in the game?

You say it was a battle, it was a battle because of you guys at HLTV [laughs]. Can I say this? Because, for me it's crazy. Now I know behind the scenes of having a team, being involved in a team, there's a triangle of approvals. PerfectWorld says they can only accept a sticker if Valve says it's okay.

I messaged Valve — I never usually message Valve, I don't want to bother them — and they said you have to ask HLTV and Liquipedia because it has to be the common representation of the team. And then HLTV says, you need to ask PerfectWorld. So it's this triangle of there, there, there, and nobody said yes. But now PW accepted our logo and it's on HLTV too.

ohnePixel was voted streamer of the year by HLTV users in 2023

You had a bootcamp before you came here, at BIG, how involved were you in that? I think you've said before, that you're not providing salaries or anything, so can you tell us a bit about what your actual direct involvement is with the team?

I'll give you a bit of background. It's not a team I'm signing forever. I came to zipeL, my friend Oliver, who has been involved with ECSTATIC, and Jay, spacesal. I always wanted a team and this is the last time there is an open qualifier. In EU, no open qualifiers, so we thought about how we could make it happen.

There was this stack, with Woro2k. They were already together, playing together, and were looking for someone to manage everything: Get them from A to B, make sure food, every bill, is covered, organize a bootcamp. And I said, 'let's do it.'

I talked to the boys before, it was nice, and they were all friendly as hell, and without much thought. It was all spontaneous as well, I think it was two weeks before everything started that we went through the process of organizing it, and then you have to do contracts and everything as well.

At the beginning, you asked if I was involved that much, honestly, not much because at the end of the day I was still in streaming mode. I thought at first, I would co-stream the games, and that's where it ends. Maybe have a talk here and there, do a few interviews on stream, but now it's become more than that. Now I'm here, it's just not doing IRL streams in China, but now we're here with the team. They want more from me, and I'm absolutely down for it.

I thought maybe they don't want it, because I thought the pro players might think, 'oh it's just this guy that's shouting at games,' but now we're friends. If they need something, I'm there, zipeL is there, Jay is there.

Also, my viewers know, I've been gone for two months or something. I don't want to say I had a burnout, I don't know if this... caused it. I don't think it did; it was a bunch of stuff. But, the team role was also very stressful.

You saw it as well, maybe you had a question planned, we had to change a player, AMSALEM. There were some issues in the team that were not possible to fix, and the players came to me and said, 'hey, not possible.' AMSALEM, as well, said at one point... I don't know if I can say everything, but that a change needed to happen.

As well, for all the people who say, 'Asian RMR,' now we are four people not considered by Valve for the Asian region. Some people say we planned to substitute a player in, but no: You have SENER1, who we were connected to. We knew his manager, a guy who does Skinbid with me, those guys. I always loved him, the team already knew him, and we thought, because of some problems with Woro's visa, IGLing, rolling, everything, that it made sense to get SENER1 as a substitute just in case something happened to Woro. Now, something else happened, the team needed a change, and now it's... yeah, four people from a different region.

But, at the end of the day, do we make the rules? No. I signed a team, I wanted to be involved and support some guys who otherwise wouldn't have the chance to go to a Major. Maybe get a sticker in the game, but that's not the main goal anymore: I want to see the boys happy, it's just fun to be involved. It's more than the sticker now.

To expand on that, do you understand the backlash, and where the community is coming from a bit?

Yes and no, again, because I was saying my side. I don't make the rules, the rules are a little bit... question: Why is it possible, first of all? That's all now changing so the topic of discussion won't be needed anymore with no open qualifiers. I don't know... there's a chance to make it to the Major. I want to have a chance, the boys want to have a chance, we follow the rules. If you don't like it, I do understand but we play the game, they play the game... what do you think?

Probably not the time and place, but EG have done it before. It's the rulebook really. I wanted to ask as well, is it a long-term ambition to own a team full time-

Yes!

- because a lot of content creators are starting to do this. Is that something you want to do?

Yeah, yeah. 100%. Everyone knows it. I've said it to all of my fans on stream, I want a pro team, but it would have to be a little bit different. zipeL is my friend, Jay was already zipeL's friend and is now my friend as well, and the system we had was a lot of stress for everyone. Not just I had burnout, someone else did as well, I don't know if he wants to have that out there, but we would need more people on the team as well, not just my friends and then we all get burned out.

I still want to stream every day, but for sure, one day, if there is the right setup. And by the way, just so people don't think that, 'oh yeah, they were probably mismanaged,' no we did fix everything, and if we couldn't fix it we had people immediately then fix everything. On the team it was basically all seamless.

Long-term, of course it's a dream of mine. Whether it will be my face on it or joining an org and taking over a bigger part of a role. I don't know if I want it all on my name again, because if something happens it's always to me and I want to focus on streaming as well. It's a big thing, I don't want the players to suffer due to me not delivering properly because I can't.

There is a bit of a funnel from the casual side to pro esports, through you really. Is having a team a way to do that? The average viewer of yours is probably skin-based, really, but do you think you're making a difference?

It would be nice, [laughs]. I wouldn't be against it. I think already a lot of casuals watch my stream, come for the co-streams as well. A lot of people say, 'hey, i've not been into esports but now because of your co-streams I watch tournaments.' The team is a factor for that as well, sure. The players love it because they have so many people cheering for them, they check their messages and they're happy. It's nice.

Are you making it to the Major?

We were at the BIG Clan bootcamp, and spoke to the players there as well. One of them said that you shouldn't try — and BIG have qualified three times — and think, 'I'll buy this.' If we make it with the money, don't make any plans. Play your best game and that's it so I'm not going to say.