Today Inmaniac from ACL took some time out to have a chat with the boys from ACL's newest Halo Reach team, In Sync. We have a (quite lengthy) discussion about their gaming history and what we can expect to see from them in ACL's 2012 circuit.


ACL: Cheers for taking the time to have a chat with me guys. Firstly, for those of us who don't know you, could you tell us a bit about yourselves?

Vibe:
Name: Christopher Grant
Age: 19
Gamertag: Viiibe
State: VIC
Favourite Gametype: Nexus Hill, Pit CTF
Controller settings: 4 sens, no vibe
Hobbies: Surfing, Guitar, Mates, Editing, Travelling

Karloo:
Name: Karl Birchley
Age: 18
Gamertag: karIlOO
State: QLD
Favourite Gametype: countdown TS
Controller settings: onza BJ for super jetpack
Hobbies: skateboarding, texturing/animation

Mental:
Name: Johnny Deutrom
Age: 18
Gamertag: MMental
State: VIC
Favourite Gametype: Nexus KOTH
Controller settings: Default 4 Sensitivity
Hobbies: Making music, chillin' with friends, pwning noobs

Minxlike:
Name: Sam Beasly
Age: 18
Gamertag: Minxlike
State: VIC
Favourite Gametype: Zealot TS
Controller settings: Not stated.
Hobbies: Not stated.

ACL: How long have you guys been playing games for and what got you into playing competitively?

Vibe: Been playing since the glory days of the n64 then box an xbox when my mate got one.

Karloo: Gamed on the sweet n64 - 10 years later bought an xbox.

Mental: I got into competitive gaming because I wanted to improve and join a team.

Minxlike: From about 11 onwards I played Nintendo 64 with a passion, Conkers Bad Fur Day and Mario Kart were my only games so I played them pretty hard. After that I got a ps2 where the only game I played was Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (forever better than fifa) for probably 2 years and I would get mates over and play etc. Mental/Johnny, one of my best mates from school got me into halo 3, unfortunately I was a noob and always joined Johnny's important MLG parties to tell him I just got a 21 in Lone Wolves. I always wanted to play MLG with Johnny and at the end of H3 and reach coming around, he was nice enough to try and start up a team with me which is when I got into competitive gaming.

ACL: How did you find out about ACL?

Vibe: Haunted.

Karloo: Doofus.

Mental: I used to play a lot of MLG Customs with Australians and i just saw it in players bio's and went from there.

Minxlike: Again through Mental at the same time we joined the team, after Online Round 1 I signed up.

ACL: In Sync has only recently been formed. Can you tell us how the team came to be, and what are your backgrounds, teams you’ve played on etc?

Vibe:: Well after Bris Lan Natural Talent decided not to play anymore so Fade, Karl and myself were going to go as a to3. But Fade decided he didn’t play anymore as well. So Karl and I decided to go as a tO2. At this point Sub were still a team, but a few days later we ended up talking about teaming. Sam (Minxlike) and Jhonny (MMental) felt like they need knowledge in their team, at this point I was still not sure about teaming with these guys. I didn’t really know how dedicated they were. I’m really good mates with these guys so after a long talk we decided we’d give it a go.

As for my background: Played on Outbreak which had Dingus, Kryptic, Simplistiq. Joined up with Fray back before Melbourne which was: Haunted, Dark and Hopey. Then After Melbourne Teamed with Toddles, Az and Dingus. Got picked up by nE a couple of months before Syd Lan which was Blaze, Natural Talent and Fade. After Syd Lan nE had a few team mates: Fade, Jayce, Talent, Karl, Shaarpy.

Karloo: Previously played with x&y and nE. Kind of wish i still played with Blainz and royal. Minx and Mental are great mates which is a great foundation for us to improve as a team on + Viibe is da bomb.

Mental: Sam (Minx) and I have always been teaming together, and were friends with Chris and Karl beforehand. After Brisbane nE broke up and Hazza left our team, so it seemed like a great opportunity. I made Substance Abuse at the start of 2011, and got Sam into Halo and made him team with me. We started off with Julian (Galaxy) and Demon. After Melbourne we picked up Hazza and Wrath and didn't change the lineup till now.

Minxlike: From the beginning of Halo reach myself and Mental have always been on Substance Abuse with numerous other team mates. After being eliminated from Online round 1 due to the site being hacked and us not knowing what to do in that situation, we were determined to do well at Melbourne. We teamed with Galaxy and Demon there, and placed 9th, an unfortunate result as we had performed well in pre-lans beating Vibe's team 3-1 who ended up placing 5th. When we got to the event though we were unaware of how important daisy-chaining was, and with Tezza's team screaming in our ears we could hardly hear each call out. Demon then left for Fury and just before Sydney we picked up Wrath and Hazza, again placing 9th in that tournament (dat Wrath choke <3). Online round 3 we played well just losing to iC in a 5 game series to again, get 9th. Brisbane Lan we were confident until we played against Counter Cap where we just had inner fights in the team during the series and we played below par and lost the series, with a little help from Wrath again with his questionable clutch play decision making After the Brisbane Lan Hazza decided he was done with competitive gaming which left mental, wrath and I. We wanted to originally team with Karloo, but he wouldn't leave Vibe, so after much discussion myself and Mental decided to team with them which unfortunately meant Wrath was the unlucky one in all of it.

ACL: How do each of you feel about the way you played this year. Was the way you played a determining factor to join In Sync?

Vibe:: I didn’t get the end result I was after but I felt I personally had a consistent year, I learnt so much throughout the whole year from various teams. In Sync was formed because Karl and I wanted to keep playing together and start fresh.

Karloo: nE was sick. I learned so much in so little time. A bit more practice would of been extremely beneficial for me. The reason for forming InSync came after Chris and myself leaving nE for various reasons. Our placing at Brisbane wasn't the reason me and Chris moved on to form InSync. I believe Talent has stopped competitive halo now anyway. Minx and Mental have tons of Potential, we are gonna try and have a good year of haloz.

Mental: Well, as you know we placed 9th at every event, so at least we were consistent, but we didn't want to settle for 9th, so we teamed with Chris and Karl.

Minxlike: I think I grew a lot as a player after Sydney, I didn't have the greatest tournament and really worked hard to fix some of my issues. By Online round 3 I was happy with my progress and I stepped up to the plate when we needed it in that tournament. Brisbane Lan again I was confident with how I was playing, but I made a huge communication error against Counter Cap in yelling at a team mate pretty aggressively which upset the team balance and affected the result in a big way, which I have learnt from and won't do again. I don't think my ability played a factor in joining this team, as Chris (Vibe) just wanted dedicated team mates that he could work with which myself and Mental are.

ACL: Speaking specifically to Mental and Minxlike, you guys had the “9th Place Voodoo”, coming 9th in ACL’s Melbourne, Sydney AND Brisbane stops, not to mention an online round as well. Does Vibe and Karloo have what it takes to help you guys achieve a higher placing?

Mental: For sure, their really smart players, and have taught us a lot already.

Minxlike: Definetly, Vibe adds that professionalism and leadership qualities that we never used to have on the team, and he is our tutor essentially, and I have grown a lot as a player under his guidance in the short 2 weeks we have played with him. Karl hasn't been on much due to work commitments, but he had a deadly shot and a good understanding of the game, once we get in some decent practice with the whole team I feel we can go far.

ACL: A lot of debate has gone around recently in the world of competitive Halo, specifically regarding settings. With the introduction of No Bloom into ACL competition kicking off with the ACL Regionals events, followed by OR1, how do you guys feel you will play with these new settings?

Vibe: I feel like we get punished harder from our mistakes with no bloom, which is something we find difficult because we’re a new team. It’s faster paced and relies heavily on you shot, it’s also a lot harder to break out of a spawn trap now because of the quicker kill times so there is a quicker learning curve needed to survive when spawning.
I agree with Karl in saying in the end I’ll play whatever is chosen so it doesn’t really matter. I think we’ll play well in OR3 if we play in it, but not to the best of our abilities as we need more practice and time to judge yet.

Karloo: Love the speed/pace of NB but i understand how other aspects of the game need to be changed/adjusted to fit and play well. I still do like the pace of the dmr with bloom and the extra time to slow down your game. But then again, I am a reach kid - What do i know? To be honest, don't really care, I'm going to play the game regardless, unlike all these agitated halo 3 players waiting for a perfect game.

Mental: JOHNNY DOESN'T LIKE NO BLOOM. I don't think it works with the current maps, and the rate of fire is straight up ridiculous.

Minxlike: Personally I much prefer Bloom, No Bloom plays at an insane rate and if you get on spawn kill against MF for example which has happened a fair bit, it is so difficult to get out. I am getting used to it, but I think it puts too much empthasis on a good shot, more so than good teamwork, which is one aspect I don't like about it. Team wise I don't think it'll affect our team or any team that much, the top teams won't be taken down just because of this minor altering in the game mechanics. I am interested to see how it works on Lan, until I play it on Lan my mind isn't 100% made up.

ACL: Generally, you guys haven’t been able to crack the “top spots” besides a couple of exceptions with Vibe (4th Sydney, 1st OR3) and Karloo (4th Melbourne). What will be different with this new line up and do you think you have what it takes to make Top 6, or even Top 4?

Vibe: Well I think the main difference is that we all agree on needs to be done, which in the end is important as you can’t spend 90% of practice arguing over who you think is right. For me it’s all about dedication and willingness to learn to put your knowledge into the game. My team mates definitely have the dedication and the right attitude to learn. It’s hard to say where we will place at the moment because there is plenty of learning still to be done as we are only a new team. But we will aim as high as we think is achievable for our current goals.
We hope to place top 4 at the gold coast Lan, but we have a long way to go yet.

Karloo: I believe our aim for late 2012 is to break into top 4? We are different because we all get along quite well.

Mental: We're willing to put in the time to improve, and I don't see why we can't break the top 6 with practice.

Minxlike: Vibe has consistently placed top 6, and I think Vibe and Karl were unlucky with their placing at Brisbane and could of done a lot better. The team chemistry is very good, we are all really good mates and I have already been to Vibe big house to hang out, we get along well and that really helps when we are someone is playing bad and we can have a laugh and get over it. The dedication is high in this team, so once Karl gets his work sorted we will be working very hard to make these top placings a reality.

ACL: ACL Regionals has been announced for a while now. What do you think of this new step for ACL and will you be attending Regionals events in future?

Vibe: I think it’s great, because for me it’s all about lan practice and being consistent on lan. However the numbers haven’t been that great leading up to Melbourne Regionals which is a bit disappointing for me. Halo Reach doesn’t seem to be grabbing the community by numbers.

Karloo: I'm attending melbourne regionals. Hope it will be good.

Mental: I love the idea of Regionals, and as long as the community supports it ACL will continue to grow. We will be attending as many as possible, starting with Melbourne.

Minxlike: Vibe, myself and Mental all live in Melbourne so we are attending Melbourne Regionals, and Karl is flying down from Brisbane so we can go as a team and get some Lan practice. It is a really good opportunity for teams and players to get Lan practice separate from the National events, it also helps lesser known players gain valuable experience with the top notch teams. It's great from places like Perth and Adelaide to, who don't get national tournaments there, and I think from this new players will be present in our national circuit too. As long as there aren't any conflicting dates, I will be attending all Melbourne ones.

ACL: A question asked to a lot of Australian Halo teams is one regarding #1 team, Team Immunity. They have been undefeated in Australian competition since 2009. Do you think 2012 is the year this will change, who do you think could contend for top spot and who should the community generally look out for in 2012?

Vibe: I think 2012 could be the year iM lose an event but that depends on how far teams will put in to get them there. If anyone could do it would obviously be Mind freak.


Karloo: They won't be beaten this year. Only MF, BE and possibly voxe could contend. Mf to take games off them though, hopefully.

Mental: At the moment I think the only team that will be able to contest them at Mindfreak. I think if they stay together they can start taking games off Immunity at events, and maybe even take an event out. They just have to stay together and practice as much as they can.


Minxlike: MF and BE are the only teams I see that will have a chance of it, BE are getting a lot of practice in and are improving at a phenomenal rate, and MF continue to get better. While BE do have a good chance of catching them with solid dedication, I would look to MF to possibly take a Lan tournament off them this year, maybe the second half of the year, they have some great players in that line up, and really importantly they have players like Pulse and Hopey who can catch fire and destroy teams single-handedly, an element I think you need to beat the experience and talent of iM.

ACL: Awesome! This has definitely been one of our best Time Outs guys, I appreciate your time. Now.... SHOUT OUTS!?

Vibe: Thank you Josh for the interview,
Shout out to My Boys Jared and Andy, my team mates, love you boys. Ricky Rickardo, Jeremy, Lekdog, Yoyoma, Bic Boiii

Karloo: Thanks for this opportunity! Mental the aspiring mexican. Minx<3Royal-2012

Mental: Shout out to the staff at ACL, you guys are amazing, and do so much for the community. Hazza, Wrath, Hangzy, Ricky and Dr Pepper for making the tastiest dam beverage out

Minxlike: Thank you to Vanz, Beware, Hoggy, you Josh <3, Hooters and any other ACL staff I have forgot who is really helping the ACL and Reach community grow in Australia. Shout out to Peteh for being god of jump maps, to my team mates Karl, Vibe and Mental and lastly to S5 Unit, this player is very underestimated and really wants a commited team plus he is an incredible communicator, someone pick him up!