As many of you know, The Bacon Landlords are legends in Division 7, being veterans in their third season. They are known for their fun and unconventional strategies, as well as their positive attitude to everything. I've had a chance to ask a few of their players some questions.
Hello, everyone. Could I have a quick introduction about who you are and what your role is on the team?
Sizzle (aka Aramorg): Good morning Mr. Drakvor, I am Sizzle, the captain of The Bacon Landlords, taking the torch from the fabled Baconsoccer, and I am the main tank of our team. Being a captain comes with a lot of organising and planning, but I take pride in offering my team the best Heroes Lounge experience they can have. As a main tank, I keep the rest of the team safe while also enabling our damage dealers to achieve those crucial picks that help us win team fights.
Baconsoccer: My name is Baconsoccer but people know me as Baconsoccer... I am the captain of TBL and the creator... My role in the team is to keep everyone happy and enjoy games together as a team... I keep it alive and well... Sizzle is my right hand and is the captain of this season due to some time I took off.
Clairw: I is Clairw.
I play mostly healers but have occasionally whipped out my beautiful Rain of Destruction Gul’dan when we decide to fail miserably at juice pirates. I got known in the community due to Khaldor’s comments on my Deckard plays, but I rarely get to play him anymore, as it is either banned or my team forces me to play something else.
Mikasor: I'm mikasor, one of the original members of The Bacon Landlords, and I've been playing with the team since Season 8, when it was formed, and it's been a very fun journey so far. I mainly play mages, sometimes switching to auto attackers or healers. More recently, I've been attempting to shot-call for TBL with various degrees of success.
Brightwing: Hello, I'm Brightwing. I joined The Bacon Landlords last season and I play Offlaner.
What is your history in Heroes Lounge?
Sizzle: This isn't my first ride on the clown train, but my best one yet. We joined Lounge 3 seasons ago, if I recall correctly, and we have come a long way from back-dooring core when there were no keeps taken yet. The Bacon Landlords have picked up a couple of new members on our way here and this season we are stronger than ever before.
Clairw: I only started playing HotS in May 2018. I joined the Cult of Emperor Physicsman, which sadly disbanded, but I then started subbing for other teams and that is how I came across The Bacon Landlords, who invited me to become a part of their team.
Brightwing: I played the last 2 games of the regular season with the Landlords in season 9 as well as our playoff games. The Bacon Landlords are the first team I've played for in Heroes Lounge.
What are your thoughts about The Bacon Landlords' success in the early rounds of this season?
Sizzle: After two seasons in the league repeatedly placing in the middle/lower ranks I was definitely not expecting to go undefeated for so long. However, I believe it is due to our individual players starting to operate as a team more and more and gradually improving in all aspects, though it does take some time with the little opportunities we have for practice.
Baconsoccer: My beautiful team that I adore has been doing alright this season, we started out really strong, not losing a single game until we somehow lost and now we can't seem to win... It's the typical thing of TBL anyway so I am not surprised.
Clairw: Hopefully, it’s not because I didn’t play in those rounds. o.o
The thing with TBL is that most of our players are really skilled at certain heroes, but we also have better and worse days. Having a good day on the heroes we are most comfortable on tends to go our way.
Mikasor: The first match of the season feels like such a long time ago, so I didn't even acknowledge that we won 4 matches in a row. I think focusing that much on wins and losses gets you more stressed about games and you start playing worse, so I just focus on the actual game during the match and have a good time playing with a coordinated team. After all, having fun is more of a priority for me than winning a lot of times, as nice as it is.
The past few weeks have been rough for your team. How did the team respond to the losses after your brilliant start to this season?
Sizzle: Some of the Rounds have been rough, indeed. However, rather than breaking down and lamenting on our losses, everyone is more determined to formulate strategies, learn maps better and further improve as a team. I am proud of their resilience and their willingness to stand back up after getting knocked down three times back to back.
Baconsoccer: Well, some of us weren't happy with it, but I am a very positive fella so I didn't really care about it that much. I always tell my team that we'll do better next time and conquer our place OUR way... So I don't know, I felt the same because we still achieved to do really well in the beginning.
Mikasor: After the first loss, our captain, Sizzle, tried to organise team practice times, but it's very difficult to gather people outside of matches, so I don't know how successful that is going to be. I think we are all collectively disappointed because we know why we lost, but we don't have the experience to react appropriately in-game in time. Partly, I feel responsible, as I've been playing HotS less recently due to school, but overall, I personally am not too stressed about the losses.
Brightwing: Our losses came to the top teams in the Division, all of whom were undefeated at the time of playing (500ms, Kubota Yellow Sox and Red Dragon Gambling). Also in terms of how we've actually been playing, I personally have been very pleased with our performance. We've had a couple of new players this season in Maxxie and Hinata and we're still in the process of learning how to play with each other, and yet despite that, we've been capable of going toe to toe with pretty much everyone so far.
What are your thoughts about the upcoming Playoffs for Division 7?
Sizzle: I think we are definitely capable. We have played the toughest opponents in the division and have learned much from our games, so I believe we will make it to playoffs again.
Baconsoccer: Our goal is just to have fun and think of crazy strategies to do together... Of course, we would like to be at the top, it gives us a good feeling, but I feel that this team is staying together not because we win but because we all feel connected...
However, I do feel comfortable about the play-offs, I am sure my team can still manage to do it and get in there like last season.
Mikasor: It sure would be cool if we made it into the Playoffs, but I'm more or less indifferent to them. I'm not that keen on following the team rankings and as a result, it would just feel like extra matches, which is always fun.
Brightwing: I certainly think we're capable of making playoffs this season. As for expectations, I feel like we're strong enough to make it out of groups this time. Speaking purely about myself, I don't think I played well in playoffs last season and we only managed one map out of our 3 games. I think we can definitely improve on that.
Your team has always been known for your innovative drafting techniques, until recently. Can we expect to see more crowd-pleasers in the upcoming weeks?
Sizzle: We have had a talk about this just yesterday and decided that having focused on general improvement for a while, it is about time we return to our roots and show the people who the Bacon Landlords are, so keep an eye out for some... unconventional picks.
Baconsoccer: That is something that I leave in Sizzle's hands... If it were up to me then I would meme the shit out of Heroes Lounge and use the most random stuff, but we'll see what happens... Let's make it the best though! We're gonna do our best nonetheless.
Clairw: It is honestly the reason I decided to join and still play with them, even though it sometimes gives me a heart attack attempting to heal them. TBL are fun to play with and especially when we play unusual combos or heroes we tend to laugh the whole game whether we win or lose.
As for our recent comps, I’m not sure it is all that toned down or if our picks have just become more what is expected of us and our comforts, we haven’t done as much odd combos but we also don’t tend to practice much and it seems in general people have become much busier.
What is one thing your team does really well? And what is one thing your team struggles to do?
Baconsoccer: The one thing I wanted for my team was for them to have fun and enjoy the game that we all play, this is why I started the team, not to win but to have fun together... That is something the team does pretty well and I am happy that we can all be chill around each other…
What we can do better is playing more, we are all really busy people so we are barely able to play except for the match games... I hope that will change one day, but it's not a major problem.
Mikasor: If having fun counts as an answer, then we do that very well, because our voice comms often include stupid inside jokes which always brighten everyone's mood. If it doesn't, then I think our team fights are very good. We all have the individual skill, and when there's an opportunity to capitalise on it, we do, often getting whole team wipes.
I think we struggle with drafting heroes, as we do not have any set comps and instead it's usually a panicked "can you play someone with sustained damage?" at the 2-second mark. If we find out what works for us, and stick to it, I think we would have a lot more success.
Here are some more personal questions so the readers can get to know you better. Who is your favourite hero, and why?
Sizzle: Hmm. It's hard to choose only one, but when I am tanking I really enjoy Garrosh for the versatility of disrupting the enemy team with a good follow up on a throw and also the defensive and offensive capabilities of throwing allies. In solo queue, however, Greymane is a big favourite of mine for the reliable team fighting as well as the macro he provides which can be lacking in lower-ranked games and it’s something that can turn a match very easily.
Baconsoccer: My favourite hero has to be Varian... He is my king, the one true king of the Alliance...
I am a massive WoW fan so I was really excited when he first came into the game... I downloaded the PTR just for him and mastered him before he was even released, I really like the way he plays and I have a warrior character in WoW as well, so I know what his abilities do.
Clairw: Do you even have to ask?
No, but I honestly enjoy playing supports like Deckard and Ana with my team, as I feel I can make more impact than on, for example, Malfurion.
But one of my most played heroes and also a hero I enjoy playing (I hope I am not lying now) is Nazeebo. I just really like spreading frogs everywhere and being OP in the end. Plus I like the dings.
Mikasor: My absolute favourite hero to play is pre-rework Whitemane. I loved having the ability to turn team fights singlehandedly by dishing out crazy damage and healing and the minigame of balancing mana and Desperation stacks was very engaging and unique. Whitemane is a very aggressive healer, and taking advantage of that, which is easier to do in lower ranks, was what kept me coming back to her. Since she is getting a rework, my other favourite hero is Orphea, because she has huge mobility, damage and self-sustain if you land her Q repeatedly, and she feels natural for me to play.
Brightwing: That's a toughie *points to name*.
But in all seriousness, it depends on the context. In Heroes Lounge, Blaze and Imperius have been my go-to characters. I love their ability to hold a lane but also have a big impact in fights. Outside of that though, a big reason I fell in love with this game was the old Specialist characters. I always felt like they had really fun kits to play with. Zagara, Azmodan, Murky, Gazlowe. These characters that I really enjoy playing but are also extremely niche and/or bad.
Clairw, what is one thing your teammates do that annoy you as the healer?
Clairw: Some of our players are ridiculously good at sidestepping potions. If they only were as good at sidestepping skill-shots... It’s always a struggle to play Ana but that is also the nature of her, but they also have an extreme tendency in running in with low or no health.
Brightwing, what are some of the stronger picks in the offlane, based on your experience in Division 7?
Brightwing: I think I'm one of the worst people to ask about meta picks, but I feel like I see a lot of Blaze, Arthas and Rexxar in the offlane at the moment. Having that tanky bruiser in the offlane that can sustain and clear, I think, is pretty invaluable especially in Division 7 where the macro game isn't always perfect and those extra few seconds can get you a large advantage for your team.
Mikasor, what are some damage dealers that are strong in lower levels of play?
Mikasor: I think the strongest damage dealers in lower ranks are those who can punish mistakes very hard, like Alarak or Greymane. People in lower ranks make a lot of mistakes in rotations, positioning and map awareness. Heroes that can singlehandedly kill them for that are very strong, as most Division 7 teams will hesitate to then fight a 4v5. This does, however, assume the person playing the damage dealer can spot and punish those mistakes.
Thank you guys so much. Do you have any closing remarks for the readers?
Sizzle: For our future opponents: when you see the Medivac land, it's too late.
Baconsoccer: For the people that don't know TBL, we are The Bacon Landlords, the meme dream team... We are just a random group of people gathered to play for you! You can see us all over the HotS community and we will try to be there for as long as possible!
I hope you will enjoy seeing us play and…
WE CLAIM THIS LAND!!!
FOR QUEEN CLAIRW!
Clairw: Aviater smells.
Mikasor: plz enjoy game
Brightwing: To any prospective Heroes Lounge players who aren't quite sure whether joining (or making) a team is right for them: Take the plunge, it's honestly one of the most rewarding things I've done as of late and you'll make a bunch of new friends to play with on top of that.
Also, come watch our games, either live or VoD. Win or Lose, we always try to put on a show.
Thank you all for reading. And special thanks for the Bacon Landlords for taking the time to answer these questions.
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