In this edition of Heroes Lounge, we bring you one of the longest standing roster in Heroes Lounge: Balance Of Interest. BOI as a team can only be described as a box of chocolates. They are a team well known for being unpredictable; able to take on the strongest teams with equal potential to clown. Balance of Interest have been around since the inception of Heroes Lounge and having stuck through sunshine and rain. How did they manage it where others have failed? Come find out!
Hi BOI, let us get introductions on the way. Would you like to introduce yourselves to our readers?
MacDino: I am MacDino, i play mostly mages on the team. In season 1 I also joined the organisation team of the Lounge and created the whole casting thing as it is now. Some may know me from being a mod maybe ;-)
Blinke: I’m Blinke, I originally played support in season 1 but switched to mostly playing ranged assassins. I also designed the original Heroes Lounge logo :)
Carvisjocker: Hi I’m Carvisjocker 26 year old from Sicily. Captain, shotcaller and most often tank player of BoI. Been around since season one, doing some co-casting (whenever I can) and helping the mod team with some mod stuff.
Escapism: I am Escapism 19 and the Melee/Flex player for the team, I’ve been with the team since season two when I joined with Realism our support player.
Tell us the origin story of BOI
MacDino: Well as we are an old team, naturally that is a long story. Carvis and I signed up for Heroes Lounge as Free Agents back in Season 1. Before the season started we were 3 active free agents on the team together with Wadepool. Then Carvis asked if Blinke would like to join us and I asked Pantah to join us; so that was our Roster for Season 1. For Season 2 we changed the roster a little when Wadepool and Pantah left, and we found Realism and Escapism to join us. They were really a perfect fit for us and I think that's why we enjoy playing together ever since :-)
Carvisjocker: As for the name we couldn’t decide on anything even though I’ve suggested a few good ones like Slavic Truck drivers and Napoleon Dudes. Balance of Interests is just the first thing that came up on random wiki and is a thing in american law apparently.
How would you describe your team’s style of play?
MacDino: I would say we like to be aggressive and blow the opponent up. That has worked out pretty well in the past for us ^^
Blinke: As Dino said, we like to play aggressive. Some of our favourite compositions revolve around blowing someone up instantly and pushing the advantage that gives us.
Carvisjocker: Since Blinke is the most aggressive and greedy player I know I tend to try to make the drafts using that to our advantage. I’m also quite an aggressive tank player so going face just feels right.
Coming into this season, you’re known for Illidan Abathur compositions. Despite that, Illidan has only featured in one game and Abathur none this season. What prompted this change of style?
Escapism: It’s hard to draft into because of our lack of melee players so it can oftenresult in a weak frontline as well as the increase in the strength of anti-AA e.g.Arthas buff and the nerf to the CD of Hunt reducing the global strength of the comp.
Blinke: If I remember correctly we have practiced Illidan-Aba compositions in TL but it has just not worked out for us lately.
Carvisjocker: Also I think we can pull this out when we need it instead of it being a usual comp. I’ve been known to try to force comps when they already are countered and this kind of draft tend to get countered pretty easily. Obviously we’ve been trying to move away from getting hard countered ^^
Balance of Interest is a team known for winning games they have no business winning and clowning games they should be winning. What is your respond to that claim?
MacDino: I’d say that analysis is pretty on point.
Blinke: Greed is a real problem sometimes in games that we feel we are/should be winning. I’m especially guilty of being greedy at the best of times and getting too confident in our chances is not good for me.
Carvisjocker: We’re pretty inconsistent yes :) I think it’s also due to some of my drafting. Playing standard meta heroes all the time is the most boring thing ever. We’re always trying out new stuff and obviously sometimes it falls on it’s face, really hard. Sometimes we’re a month ahead of pro meta strats. I did however tell the team to say no if my drafts go more stupid than creative.
It is amazing that you’re one of the few teams that have stuck around for so long, and with minimal roster changes. What’s the secret?
Escapism: Personally the fact that all the other members of the team are genuinely nice people helps a lot, as well as Realism and I being good friends outside of HoTS for nearly half our lives not to mention our trusty sub Cynicism who is also a good friend.
MacDino: I really enjoy the company of all team members. So it’s not only synergy in game, but also having fun together between the games. And lastly I think Carvis is doing a pretty good Job in keeping the band together, being a great captain!
Blinke: Everyone on the team is fun to be around and we are all pretty good about not letting the salt get to us (except maybe Carvis sometimes ^^). I’ve known Carvis since we were ~11 years old, having an old friend on the team really helps staying invested and motivated to stick with the team.
Carvisjocker: Well obviously some really nice guys in the team! They haven’t been pushed away by my tilted tantrums which I do find weird. I think I’m top 3 easily tilted persons in the lounge. Also I think a lot of teams quit when they have too many bad results. Moba players might be the most defeatist people in the world and their spirits tend to get broken by the smallest gust of the wind. We’ve mostly been in the middle of the pack every season so we just keep on. Also for new teams. Get a new 6th player it truly helps!
Being veterans of Heroes Lounge, how has it been for you this season? What went well, what could we improve on?
Escapism: We had a lot of absences, especially in the early rounds and even now we are playing with a sub for the last 3 or 4 rounds - Realism and I are also currently moving into our uni-accommodation to make scheduling even more of a nightmare for CarvisJocker ;) - I think the fact that amidst all that the fact that we are in the running for the playoffs is quite impressive.
MacDino: For me this season was hard, as i had a lot real life stuff going on and didn't have much time to play the game at all. I am really grateful that my team was understanding in that regard. Regarding the Lounge i think it's always hard in the beginning of the season to schedule with new teams, as most still need to learn the ropes. I think the lounge could do a better job in preparing the new teams (and old ones) so that everybody knows what to do and how the rules are.
Blinke: It’s been a bit of a rough season, especially early on. About halfway through we tried to bring some more structure in our communication in-game. Morale as well as match results improved drasticly and I hope that we can keep that momentum into the next season.
Carvisjocker: As already mentioned this season started really rough with alot of irl things and people pretty much unable even to play the game. But as we slowly got back into the game the results have followed. As an example I had nearly no time for HL and my mmr dropped by 700 over the resets. But now I’m back to grinding ;)
Any shoutouts?
Escapism: Teamism which will hopefully return to take division 4 by storm soon and thanks to Cynicism for beingavailable 99% of the time.
Carvisjocker: Shoutouts to the team, official thrall, official Li Ming, all the people I met at DH and those coming to the Blizzcon gathering in Stockholm in November!
That wraps out our interview with Balance Of Interest! Thank you to MacDino, Escapism, Carvisjocker, and Blinke for the interview, I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I have.
As always if you have any feedback, suggestions, interview requests, or would just like to tell me how awesome the interviews are, you can always find me on discord. Any other kind of feedback, suggestion and criticism can always be directed at us through our Discord, or via Twitter or Facebook. Don’t be shy to come say hi, and meme with us.
On other news, we have a new hot item in store, a sloth chibi shirt as shown on Khaldor's stream earlier this week! Make sure you take a look
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