Pandemic capped off their legendary 2007 year with their sixth straight tournament victory at the CGS World Final, but since then, they've seemingly fallen off the map.
With Blizzard's arena tournament initiative, though, that's about to change as the team that dazzled crowds all last year will be back in action to teach this year's list of title usurpers how to win events.
Currently, Dave “sck” Quick, Joe “NoktyN” Romano, Mason “Nitrana” Groendal, and Chris “douja” Cossey are LANning at the pad of Pandemic owner Chris Lemley, practicing for Blizzard's lengthy qualification ladder.
If you've been longing to hear what the guys have been doing leading up to their return, here's your chance.
It's been months since we've heard anything from you guys; what have you been doing in the quarter of a year since winning the Dell Invitational at the CGS World Final?
Nitrana: Although it doesn't seem like it, we've been keeping busy. Our Rock Band play is outstanding out of late.
Noktyn: Practicing a lot. We've really been getting down and just getting games in on a weekly basis, kinda laying low on the radar and just doing what we've been doing since arena came out.
Sck: Not a whole lot. Keeping up to date with the game changes of course, watching the trends, laughing at how bad Gameriot is, the usual.
Recently, a bunch of you have moved in with Lemley to prepare and compete in Blizzard's online ladder competition. What's that experience been like so far?
Nitrana: It's been great living with four other like-minded people.
Noktyn: It's been awesome, we have everything we need and it allows everyone to have that LAN feel at all times when we play. I personally miss the tournaments and I can't wait for them to start up again. It's going to be nice to see a lot of new faces and the whole World of Warcraft PvP scene progress even further as far as eSports go.
Sck: It's been great. I think it's really going to help us a lot once things get started. Being able to go over video footage immediately following matches to see what went right or wrong is something I'm really looking forward to. People that aren't playing being able to see our games and give input is also something that is really going to be nice since there is obviously no spectator mode in WoW.
Who is the most annoying teammate to live with?
Noktyn: Nitrana, all he does is yell all the time and break things.
Sck: Scotty (Lem's dog).
Nitrana: Lemley, by far. He always offers to pay for everything!
Does anyone keep you up because they snore?
Noktyn: Well everyone on our team snores, myself included, and I'm a heavy sleeper so it doesn't bother me at all.
Sck: Noktyn.
Nitrana: Upon arrival Douja had me up with his snores, but they've since stopped. Jet lag can do some crazy things to people.
What's the setup like for you guys at the Lemley pad?
Noktyn: It's solid; it's exactly what we need: four Dell XPS 1730s and all of our miscellaneous peripherals with (two) solid internet connections. What more could you ask for?
Nitrana: Rock Band, Super Smash Bros Brawl, DotA, WoW, plus many more readily available games with great players at each. Not much more I can ask for.
Douja didn't attend a tournament with you guys last year, but he's an official member of the team now. Why did you guys decide to add him officially now?
Noktyn: Douja's always been a part of our team and we've always played with him, so nothing really changed in that department.
Sck: He's been a member of the team since season two started, he just never went to events with us until now. No one knows why we added him, I think he has a sweet timer macro or something.
What does Douja add to the team?
Noktyn: He's always been a really good shaman in 5v5 and I think if we didn't have him we would've lost a lot of matches. In a 2345 (shaman/paladin/priest/warrior/mage) group, your shaman needs to be on point with purges, damage, back-up heals, and more, and if he isn't you will lose.
Sck: A lot of knowledge and experience. As most people know by now him and I have been playing together since the beginning of the game so we have really good chemistry and compatibility. We're glad to have him be a part of what we do.
He's the only one of you who hasn't attended a tournament as a player; do you think it'll be a tough adjustment for him to get into action?
Noktyn: Not really, because he is surrounded by people who have attended multiple tournaments and won every single one of them. We're LANing now and getting used to playing with each other in person, so the adjustment in front of a bunch of people won't be hard to make at all in my opinion.
Nitrana: Douja is an animal. He'll be fine.
How much does it help to play together in person vs. your practice sessions online?
Sck: A ton. It is going to make all the difference for looking back on games.
Nitrana: Playing in person only builds upon our already amazing synergetic relationship.
Noktyn: It is much better to play in person. Fixing strategies and playstyles is super easy to do when you have a third party critiquing your play and giving you their opinion on what they think of your play. It really brings the whole practice experience up a notch.
Look for part two of this exclusive interview in the next few days, covering many of the tough issues you're probably waiting for: the event realm, adjusting to the big metagame changes over the past few months, and more.
