Greetings one and all, Robb here! We are joined today for another edition of Inside Lounge, and this time our guests are Division 2 Champions Estoril eSports! I got the chance to sit down and have a chat with the Portuguese team.
Please note this interview was conducted before Estoril played their first round playoff match, and before Boosted Bonobos disbanded.
I am very pleased to be joined by the Season 3 Division 2 Champions, Estoril eSports. To start off, can you all introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourselves for our readers.
Phabyum
Hello! Let me start off by thanking you for this invitation. In behalf of Estoril eSports, we're very humble to be a part of this interview. Now, who am I? Right! My name is Fábio "Phabyum" Braz, 29y old. I have the pleasure of being the captain of this brotherhood, and I main Ranged Assassin. I've been playing Heroes of the Storm since Feb 2014, basically, beginning of the Tech Alpha. It was very easy to "fell in love" with the game, since I'm one of the biggest lore freaks Blizzard has ever seen! Since then, I've been in many teams but none had the team spirit and personality synergy this one has. Its no longer just a team, its 6 friends having fun and competing together!
HyDrA
Hi, I'm Miguel "Hydra" Alberto. I've been playing Blizzard games since forever, and Heroes of the Storm was a love at first sight for me. I'm really competitive, being a former semi pro Starcraft 2 player. As such, competing in Heroes was also a must for me, and I've been doing pretty well in Hero League for the past few seasons. I've been invited to play with these guys, for fun, but things got serious when we joined Lounge and started kicking ass. I really hope this project thrives through, and as a flex I'm having all the fun
ZorackTheX
Hello my name is Celso "ZorackTheX" Bispo I have 21 years and I'm a Hots competitive player. I've been playing Hots for about 1 year and an half although I played other mobas in the pass such as LoL and Dota2. I really enjoy playing hots and always had a passion for blizzard. Since the beginning I strived for being the best I can and struggled to level up my game. I was approached with this offer to have fun and then we started to want more, we became ambitious and started to play REAAAAAL GOOOD. I hope we achieve greatness and as a tank I'll keep protecting my teammates. ROCK ON!!!
ZeusThaBomb
Hello, my name is Francisco "ZeusThaBomb" Lage I'm 26 year old. I have been into blizzard games since i can remember, I started playing HOTS since ALPHA , I also played wow for 11 years and some times i play some cards! I played LOL as well so i decided to give HOTS a shot and i really enjoyed it. I met Phabyum in a Facebook community we started playing together, some QM and TL, Phabyum invited me to join the team because they were in need of a sixth member so he talked to me. It's been really cool so far, I hope we do good in the playoffs and keep playing together as a team and most importantly, having fun together.
Jydro
Well met! I’m Pedro “Jydro” Figueiredo. I personally don’t like Heroes all that much but I do enjoy playing it with friends and participating in these small tournaments. Curiously enough, I was not always a support main in these types of games. Most of my experience comes from the five years I spent playing League of Legends, three of which were dedicated mastering the “Path of the Support”. As for my play style, I mostly focus on getting my job done and making sure I follow all the given calls by our captain. I supply the bread and water for my team, they take care of the rest. Ahah!
Acronix
Hello, my name is Hugo "Acronix" Matos, I'm 23 years old and I play Heroes of the Storm since the early alpha. I've played several games in a competitive level, but only recently I've joined the MOBA universe and I am loving it so far :D. In the last 2 years, my experience in this game has been very positive. I had the opportunity to be part of a few competitive teams, but this one has been the best by far. At the moment, I don't have a lot of time to play, but the one I have I use it on Heroes!! Regarding my play style there isn't much I can say xD I am an aggressive player and I play the melee and off tank characters mostly. Basically we get the kill on the target or I die trying ehehe
Pixie
Hello lads! My name is Andreia “Pixie” Gonçalves, I’m 23 years old and I’ve been inside the Blizzard universe since FOREVER! Heroes of the Storm was my 1st MOBA ever and it was easy to fell in love with and soon I understood that playing this game as a team, either competitively or just for fun, was the best way to get along. And I dream everyday about having a full Portuguese team in high competitive Heroes of the Storm! With this enthusiasm about Heroes and my work around the Portuguese community, Estoril Praia eSports invited me in to be the coordinator of the MOBA section, which includes HotS and LoL.
My job is to organise events or activities (competitive or just for team’s visibility) and to negotiate with others in order to ensure that they work effectively. Heroes of the Storm is not a popular game in Portugal, such as League of Legends, Counter Strike, Fifa or Overwatch, so it’s an every-day hard task to bring Heroes to its full glory and to make it a respectful game as the others. If we, Estoril Praia eSports, wanted to take Heroes seriously we had to get serious persons about this game too. And we found Phabuym, Acronix, Jydro, HyDrA, ZorackTheX and ZeusThaBomb, 6 players who put their hearts in this project who ended to be the best Portuguese team in Heroes of the Storm. Estoril Praia eSports wants to work with them in order to bring this team to the top competitive Heroes play and to show to the world that Portugal have heroes itself! It’s a long step-by-step road and we want to thank Heroes Lounge for giving teams the opportunity to compete and overcome every challenge!
You are part of a growing trend of sporting organisations starting eSports divisions. How did you guys get involved with Estoril, and were you fans of the football club before joining the organisation?
Well, like you might already know, we're all Portuguese and part of a good and solid Portuguese HotS community. Most of us had already played with each other before, some casually, others in previous teams, and we basically meshed together and decided to give it a go! We started getting good results and we joined Heroes Lounge as "Falstad Air Travels". Afterwards, we received contact from Estoril, to be part of their esports organisation as their first Heroes Team. Estoril is a big club in Portugal, so this invitation meant a lot to us, made us proud and happy to be part of this family, and we'll give our best to make them even bigger, in the esports scene.
As one of the few teams in heroes lounge with an actual organisation supporting them, do you feel any added pressure to perform? In what ways has having them supporting you helped you?
From the beginning Estoril as been really supportive in a way that made us feel really loose. No pressure added at all. They made sure we felt confident enough to represent them in the best way possible, and if we feel it's beneficial for us, we'll continue to do so. If at much, it's an healthy pressure for us, since being part of this club is a great honour. Having their support has made us take this project a bit more seriously and also pushed us to another level of effort and commitment.
You won Division 2 only losing one game in the process (against Boosted Bonobos). How would you rate your season, and how did you enjoy the Heroes Lounge experience?
The season started smooth with a solid win against Don Our Fedoras on our first game. We started gainning momentum and probably a bit of overconfidence. When we faced Bonobos, we were testing different play styles and compositions and we had also introduced a new member to the team. The loss made us realise that there's no room for errors, nor overconfidence in every single game we play. So yes, it was a definitely a needed wake up call for us. However we got really tested when we faced Nightmare, but we succeeded in an enormous fashion, granting us the so desired first place, our main goal. As for the experience, Heroes Lounge deserves a big credit, since the Heroes scene is slowly growing thanks to these kind of initiatives, and it's been really fun so far. We can't wait for the playoffs, and the next season in the division 1!
You guys are taking part in the playoffs this season, and your first game is against Always Wu. How do you rate your chances in the playoffs, do you plan on doing a “Throw Inc” (note, Throw inc were a div 2 team last season that upset multiple div 1 teams and had an epic run in the playoffs) and would you like another shot at Boosted Bonobos?
We don't know what to expect from Div 1 teams compared to top Div 2, as we unfortunately didn't manage to get a scrim against any of them. Even though we're expecting a greater challenge, we are ready for it! We will be playing game by game, always giving our best. If we face Boosted Bonobos, they better make sure to be ready to face our sweet sweet revenge!
Having won division 2 this season, you are eligible for promotion to division 1. Have you decided if you plan to take the promotion? And do you plan on taking part in any further heroes competition next season (such as the HGC open division)?
As we already mentioned before, we'll definitely be taking the chance to play on the top division of the Lounge! For now, we're focusing strictly on the playoffs. After its conclusion, we'll get back planning and preparing next season. HGC Open Division would be a great challenge to us, and I hope we can give it a try next season!
Finally, would you like to give any shout outs/plug you twitch streams/twitters?
Yes we would! First, shout outs to Estoril Praia eSports for all the support and motivation that's been given to us. To the Heroes Lounge community and organisation for the chance to play in an healthy and competitive environment and for their effort on the Amateur Heroes Scene. Finally, a big hug and shout out to the Portuguese Community, which we hope it keeps growing in the friendly and nice manner we know! Thank you. In behalf of the whole team, thank you. Don't forget to like our Facebook page and follow Hydra on Twitch and on Twitter!
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