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This week ACL sits down with ACL Pro Team BAMF, fresh off a 7th place finish at ACL Sydney.
Welcome boys, thanks for your time. To start this off, how about you guys tell us your names, tags, age, and locations?
Peteh: Pete, lolPeteh, 19, Newcastle.
Niig: Name: Kenneth Allison (Kenny), Tag" NiiG iZa BAMF, Age: 20, Location: Brisbanus.
Rat: Well, I'm Justin, I'm 18 years old and live in Melbourne. My GT is Rat iZa BAMF.
Hoggy: Chris, Hitman Hoggy, 18, Brisbane.
How long have you guys been gaming in general? Additionally, how long have you been playing Halo 3 competitively?
Peteh: I've been on Xbox live since late '08, and have been playing competitively since about 2 weeks before Brisbane nationals last year.
Rat: I started gaming late 2009 when I got Halo 3 for Christmas. Hadn't played Halo 1 or 2, started really getting serious in early 2010.
Niig: Ummmm gaming for about 5 years, used to play Resistance on PS3, then my bro bought an Xbox when I was in year 12, about 3 years ago (probably not best time for him to have bought it). Halo 3 for about 3 years, only competitive gaming for about a year and half or so.
Hoggy: I use to play Halo 1 and 2 at a mates house when I was younger until I got my own Xbox. Not long after getting my first Xbox I bought XBL and just played for fun until I found ACL. I've been playing competitively for about 1 year now.
Alright sweet, now lets have a bit of a team rundown. You guys have gone through a few team changes. How about you walk us through how you got from your BrisLAN line-up of 2009 to the one that will attend 2010's ACL Brisbane?
Hoggy: Well kenny and Quinn (Temper) randomly asked me to join their team of 2 about 2-3 months before BrisLan '09. Shortly after Quinn found our Fourth, Didier (Fractal Kinetics). After R1 we decided to drop Quinn for Peteh. A few months after Didier told us he would have to stop gaming to concentrate on Uni for the rest of the year, leaving us to find a new fourth. Peteh/Kenny to finish?
Peteh: I are got this. We went through a few weeks trying to find the right fourth, we eventually decided to go with OfficerJeny (iKania).
Niig: I wouldn't say we dropped Temper, it was more him not being on as much as we needed, so we started using Pete as a fill in. I told Quinn we were going to try Pete for a bit and he told me he was going to quit.
Peteh: Unfortunately due to personal issues, Kania couldn't play in R2 and we had bman, one of my mates from school fill in for us. Royalfan also filled in on Friday night while Hoggy had to work. After R2 we were on the hunt for a fourth again as we decided that Kania wasn't working out for us. Melbourne LAN came around and we still hadn't found someone, Kenny couldn't go to the LAN due to uni commitments, me and Hoggy were looking for two and fortunately for us B2B split up a few weeks out from the LAN. We ended up going to the LAN with a Gillette Fusion Power / Back to Baysicks hybrid of Banger, Rat, Hoggy and myself - called BAMF.
While on that, you attended the Melbourne LAN with Justin (RAT) and Jay (Banger), a bit of a throw together team just for the LAN. What made you guys pick up Justin after the LAN?
Rat: Well, after Melbourne Jay told me that he quit halo via the ol' FB (Facebook). So, Pete offered me a spot straight away so I took it. The next day, Jay says that he was only having a break.
Niig: Some people think that I "replaced" Banger after Melbourne (e.g. commentators at Sydney LAN)... but this wasn't the case, because me, Pete and dinner always intended on staying together after Melbourne.
Peteh: Truth, but yeah. We already knew how Justin played and we liked what we saw. I pretty much jumped on the chance and i quote myself from Facebook, "We've got a spot for you if want it." I knew Hoggy and Kenny would be sweet with it. the night after we were in a party, and it was so.
Hoggy: After meeting Justin in Melbourne I realised how much of a bad ass he was and I wanted him on the team.
Niig: Ummm yeh, might be a bit late for this now... but I wasn't sweet with it.
Rat: HAHA.
Peteh: He had a shirt before you.
Niig: I was born a bad ass... He had to be moulded into one.
The aforementioned shirts, L-R; Banger, Pete, Rat, Hoggy at ACL Melbourne.
How much do you think sticking together as a team accumulates to your success? It seems like in this community you can hold a team together about as long as you can hold water in your hands. Do you think it gives you guys an edge over the rest of the competition that you guys actually have the dedication to stick together?
Niig: Well as you've seen from pretty much all the teams in the pro bracket, nearly all of them have been together for longer than most teams in the open bracket. So yeah, I believe it definitely helps us build team shot and work to improve ourselves.
Peteh: Hell yeah it does, I can confidently say that we all enjoy playing with each other, there isnt a moment we're in a party with each other when we haven't be pissing ourselves with laughter.
Rat: Definitely. We had a natural chemistry and by staying together, we can obviously work on the smaller factors without worrying too much about if we mesh or not.
Hoggy: All you have to do is look at bE. They have been together for ages and they are now in the top 3 teams in the country.
Ok lets talk about ACL Sydney now. Fresh off a top 8 placement - placing 7th. How did it feel? Where you happy with how you played? Stoked with your result, or think you maybe could of placed a bit higher?
Peteh: We were pretty stoked with our placing, there was one or two series' where I feel that I personally failed a bit, having said that we were very consistent teamwork wise and that reflects our result.
Niig: Overall we were very happy, we went to Sydney aiming for top 8, and we got it, the placing felt even better considering we had to play off for 7th/8th place against BAS (Banger, Somedude, Kobes, and Raygun) who had beaten us 2-1 in pool play. So coming back from being 2-0 down to win 3-2 felt amazing. So yeah we were extremely happy with 7th.
Rat: I know I was extremely happy with 7th. As we said earlier, the level of competition for the top 8 was a lot higher than at Melbourne. In a sense, I think we all know we could have played better against nR. But yeah, we stepped it up against KAAB for 7th which was probably the highlight for me about the tournament.
Peteh: That series was amazing.
Hoggy: It feels awesome to be in a position I thought I would never be in at the start of the season. We were extremely happy with 7th place. Couldn't have asked for anything better.
Which Players or Teams from Sydney impressed you? There were quite a few upsets on the weekend and some unexpected turn of events.
Peteh: 8max. They had some funky positioning, you'd think you had it up on them but they'd have someone behind you getting them full map control again without fail. They also pushed a lot of what I see as 'better' teams to really earn a result against them. As far as players are concerned - Weasel... get your aggression on plox?
Rat: I was really surprised by 8max. There starts were so unexpected but they pulled it off which was good to see. I loved watching Kobess play as well.
Niig: Well nR was the team that impressed me a lot and even though we didn't get to verse them, RAW seemed to be playing real well for a semi new line-up at the time.
Hoggy: In Pool play I would have to say 8Max, props to those guys. They came out firing and I can tell you I was not expecting it. Overall I would have to say RAW. I knew Godlike and Virus were quality players but I wasn't sure what to expect from Advance or Trigga. RAW proved to everyone that they are definitely a top 8 team.
Peteh: Also, Benco is a machine, I watched him in a scrim and he whipped out a psycho rampage against NBH (No Holding Back).
Hoggy: Yeah that rampage was sick.
Niig: Weasel also impressed me a lot with his crazy aggression, which actually worked because he was 4 shotting everything, except me in a FFA warm up. I have to say it, I ninja'd the poop out of him, but yeah he's a sick player.
Now you guys haven't always been at the stage you are now. Starting off as a somewhat 'Social Team', you guys have been known to muck around in Social Slayer, go into Doubles to make Ninja Tages, load up a bit of MW2 and annoy everyone if your lobby by using nothing but n00btubes and now your permanently placing in the top quarters of our ACL ranks. When did you guys notice the improvements in your game? Do you guys still muck around over XBL?
Peteh: We sort of just clicked before R3, we decided to play more like a random team and try not to force teamwork as it came to us naturally. As far us mucking around, oh my yes, myself and Kenneth have a new 'tage coming out that will blow all your minds.
Hoggy: We always muck around, I don't even know how to play serious. Basically a week and a half before online R3 something clicked. Our team work improved out of nowhere. We just had a team chat and then it just started all coming together. I can't really explain it.
Niig: Well we do play the game for the fun side of it just as much as the serious/competitive side, so yeah we do still muck around a fair bit, especially me and Peteh in team doubles. I think the mucking around does also help our game, more individually because it makes us a bit more "sneaky" in a way.
Rat: I just kept playing random customs, got help from the blaintrain (kshok) and we just kept practising as a team. Getting to know each others play styles and after out result from R3, it clicked that we were somewhat..... bad ass. It's great to go into social and just chill. I think that's what keeps us so close..... love you guys.... back on track.... we don't argue at all and just HAVE fun pretty much.
Peteh: Also, we have heaps of fun playing with each other, probably one of the reasons we have stuck together/will stick together. If any one of us fails in a scrim or comp, we won't blow up at each other. We're more likely to piss ourselves laughing.
Niig: Yeah the only reason we try our best not to fail is so that we don't get crap from the other 3, there's no real rage and if there is, noone gives a crap because we've been together for ages.
Peteh: Also, the amount of times I've shouted "NICE", when one of us loses a BR battle we probably should've won is redonkulous.
You guys have broke top 8 twice on LAN now, 8th at Melbourne, 7th at Sydney, and 10th Online Round 3. You guys have definitely proved yourselves as a Pro Team - Congrats. How did you guys get over the hurdle from top 16 to top 8? And what advice would you give to teams aspiring to do the same?
Peteh: *insert cliché answer here*. Stick together and practice, that's all it is honestly, just be a sponge, learn from every gameplay you see, little tricks help so much in the long run. But before ANYTHING, don't be afraid to fail. you get better by f***ing up first.
Rat: I'd say stick together. If you have one bad scrim together, don't call it quits. Go back into theatre, figure what you did wrong and fix it. Just keep playing together to the point you know exactly where your teammates will be.
Niig: Pretty much just staying together has been our main advantage, as we know each others play styles so well. I'm going to take it back to the "mucking around" part of things, I think that we have improved on our team sh** A LOT since we first started off because we will go into doubles together, and just run around team shotting kids as pairs and I think that has helped us a fair bit.
Hoggy: Thank you. Stick together as a team and practice!! Friendship is also extremely important. These 3 guys are many of the awesome friends I have made through ACL and it always helps to have your mates playing and sitting right beside you.
Niig: Having fun will always give you the upper hand on a team that is only concentrating on doing the same strats over and over.. If you have fun with it you'll learn a lot more as you'll be trying a lot more things.
Ok, so I of course have to touch on the BAMF v KAAB (formally BAS) rivalry. Most might not understand you guys are actually great mates outside competition but when you guys are face to face on the battle field its a different story. Tell us how this rivalry started?
Peteh: Oh man... I dunno how it really started, before round 4 we played a lot of scrims against each other that were pretty even. Mainly we are just great mates and obviously you want to beat your mates in the end. Every single series we've ever had against these guys has ALWAYS gone to a decider and I always have redonk fun against these guys. Also before Sydney myself and banger had a 'little' falling out, but that was solved before Sydney and I love his face.
Hoggy: Just because we are all good friends. We just want to beat each other so bad. Haha. Nothing else really.
Rat: I don't really know how it started. Like you said, we are great mates. I guess we just all strive to do our best and that's where it starts. Trying to out do one another. Banger and I are pretty competitive and when we were on separate teams, I wanted to destroy him. I think Schmutt added to the rivalry too, constantly coming into our party before events and saying, "Justin, I hope your going to destroy Jay, you know....give him the bag".
Niig: Firstly, the KAAB boys are awesome guys, we've been mates for agessss and like Pete said, you want to beat your mates. Firstly Banger is a freak with the snipe, I have huge respect for the guy and each time I see him with a snipe in his hands I run the opposite way. Raygun's a bk, nuff said. But nah awesome guy and awesome player and Kobes is just overall a great player. After Sydney I know he's an awesome guy and heaps of fun to hang with, Eric (who was on KAAB for Sydney and R3) just an awesome guy, gets sooo excited over scrims/lans which shows his love for the game. He's an extremely smart player and will add A LOT to any team he joins... fray Somedude???
How does it feel now being 2-0 up on the KAAB boys? Having beaten them Online Round 3 to climb higher up the bracket and also beating them at ACL Sydney to secure a finish one above their own.
Niig: Well I think overall we're even in wins/losses over R3 and Sydney combined, which shows you how close our series have been, but yeah in the end we always end up going clutch to win the decider. It does feel really good though to have that record against a team full of such great players...and Raygun, nah jks, love you.
Rat: Honestly, yeah it feels good but it feels better to know that we are still great mates and that there are no hard feelings. I still can't believe we came back from 2-0 down and beat them on Pit CTF (which we have never beaten them on before).
Hoggy: It felt good but they are our mates and personally its not about who wins or loses its whether we are having fun playing.
Peteh: Even having beaten them twice, I still feel we are on the same level as them, as I said before, our series are always tight. It always feels great to beat a solid team, but I’m just happy we're still mates after each series. We always joke about every series we play and I love that we can smack talk each other without risking our friendships.
Ok enough of the past. Lets look forward now. Round 4 is scheduled to take place something in September. Have you guys already started practising? Or feel any pressure coming into the event now that you are an ACL Pro Team?
Peteh: Well since Sydney we have been slack, we’ve played one legit scrim in 3 weeks and the results reflected our amount of practice. We had a talk last night and now that the pressure IS on to perform, after this interview we are definitely going to make much better use of our time. BAMF to take out the Lobby Warrior Championship '10.
Niig: We have taken a bit of time to just relax and play some MM/MW2, but we are planning on starting to practice this week sometime to lead us into R4. Personally I don't feel any pressure, because I know R4 is online and I mean there will be a fair few new teams, so I’m more interested to see any of the new talent out there. I think our main focus is going to be BrisLAN.
Rat: To be honest, after Sydney, the boys wanted a break from the serious side of things for a bit which is good. But, after a few weeks, I was saying, "come on guys, we got to start practising more often if we want to contest". But, we really didn't aye... which caused me to go into RAGE MODE and let's just say we'll be practising from now on.
Hoggy: Well we have only played twice together since Sydney and let’s just say we haven’t gone forward. Over the next couple of weeks leading into R4 we want to practice hard and hopefully improve on our 10th placing from R3. Personally I don’t think there is any pressure what so ever. I don't think you can really classify us as a pro team YET. We still need to prove ourselves and what better places to do it than at the BrisLAN finals where we will hopefully be at our strongest.
Niig: In saying that, I do still want to do well for R4.
Peteh: Yeah basically we had a real wakeup call that could’ve upset our team a lot. We find that we are online ALOT yet still don’t get much practice in so we will be making much better use of our time.
Hoggy: I honestly just can't believe how far we have come in one season. R1 we didn’t even make it out of pool play and in R2 we got 17th.
How do you reckon you guys will place? Everyone knows XBL is never as accurate as LAN. Do you think you guys will be able to pull out a top 8 placement?
Niig: Well we will obviously be aiming for a top 8 finish. There are however, going to be a lot more teams competing, so I will be happy with another top 10 finish.
Hoggy: Right now i highly doubt it. But after this month leading up to R4, let’s say we should be ready and set to hopefully make top 8. In the end though I am honestly not fussed with making top 8 in R4, BrisLAN is when it is going to count the most.
Rat: I think we can definitely contest for it. I mean, Pete is pulling host again and I'm a sponge, so yeah!
Looking forward even more; ACL Brisbane, The last ACL Halo 3 event ever! First up, two of your members live in QLD, let’s talk Pre-LAN’s. Got any set up yet? Spare no details, even if it’s unconfirmed.
Niig: Well we haven't discussed it yet, even though I’ve been told Hoff made a post about me hosting a Pre-LAN, I wasn't aware of this lol. I’ll hopefully be getting an apartment soon at the coast, as well as having my parents place in Brisbane. So I can maybe convince them to shove off for a day or so to the coast so I can try organise something, too early to say at the moment.
Hoggy: I like that idea Kenny.
Peteh: We're positive someone will host a LAN, I’ve talked to a few people already about it. I’m more looking forward to riding on Kenny’s boat and playing Lonely Island songs ALLLLLLLL day.
Niig: Oh and nobody listen to what Jackamo has to say about Cleveland (where I live at the moment), it’s not full of crime and poop, he's thinking of the Cleveland in the US because he's a dumb sh**.
Heading into the weekend, the competition will be fierce. What do you think will be a realistic outcome for you guys? And what current teams do you think are around your own skill level that you will have to watch out for?
Peteh: Currently I’m not really sure what kind of teams will be around for BrisLAN. We’re looking to contest for top 8, but we also understand that all the teams from 6-16 will be tight.
Niig: Well once again, top 8 will be our aim. The competition will be huge, so I think any team to make top 8 will be stoked! I can't really say much about "current" teams that are at the same skill level coz there will probably be some team changes from now till BrisLAN.
Rat: A top 8 finish would be amazing, but like Pete said, I don’t know a lot of the teams going at the moment and there still a lot of team changes going on.
Seeing as the BrisLAN is still a few months away, how about I just ask for a Top 5 prediction for each of you boys?
Niig:
1. Fray
2. bE
3. Some sort of BBR? Sorry not up to date with the teams attending
4. 2N
5. nR
Peteh:
Based on CURRENT teams;
1. Fray
2. nR
3. 2n
4. BBR (if they go)
If not:
4. TSW
5. bE Hybrid
Rat:
1. Fray
2. nR/bE
3. nR/bE
4. BBR
5. TSW
Hoggy:
1. Fray
2. nR/BBR(if there is one)
3.nR/BBR
4.bE(depending on who is in the team)
5.TSW
I have to ask, seeing as Halo: Reach will without a doubt be picked up next year as the flagship title here at ACL, what do you think of the game? And will BAMF be sticking together for Reach?
Peteh: As far as I’m concerned, if these guys want to touch halo reach, I’ll be with them.
Rat: I really wasn't a fan of the Beta but with all the changes made, I guess it could grow on me. I reckon we will stick together definitely.
Niig: Well from beta I thought there were some obvious changes that needed to be made and hopefully once MLG get their hands on it, there will be some epic-ness to be had. Hopefully stick together and see how we go.
Hoggy: Reach should be a good change of pace. If the AR is taken out it should be a good game. I'm not getting my hopes up but so far it looks pretty good, if you can master the bloom. As for sticking together, I'm with Pete.
Peteh: I see reach as a clean slate, we all pick stuff up very easily and I really think we can be up there with the best when reach comes around, none of us have played Halo 3 for very long at a high level.
Cheers for your time boys, shoutout time.
Rat: Sweet. Well, firstly the KAAB boys. Jay, I've known you for so long, you're a great bloke and I love yo-....your snipe *cough*. Ray, you’re such a good bloke and am glad I met you. Eric...oh Eric, I love getting woken up to your voice at 4.30 asking...wait for it..."HAVE YOU SEEN MY SHOES". Kobes, we have a special bond my friend.
Shoutout to our cuddly bandwagoner, Darcy. Thanks for all your support dude. To my mates, Liam (Jamal), Aaron (Cudder), Cam (Spindrill) and Russ (Wookie), you guys have had a huge role in my improvement as a Halo 3 player and I thank you boys for that. I also want to make a shoutout for TuDee. He is a great guy and is constantly playing customs and looking to improve in so many ways. He is a really dedicated player and would be a good pickup. Last of all, I have to say a huge thanks to Vanz. I can't believe how much you have done for this community. It's amazing.
Niig: In no particular order; KAAB boys (Banger, Kobes, Eric, Raygun), Matty, kshock, shaki, my bro and josh for driving down to syd to support us, Tezza (soz on behalf of pete and justin for not letting you into the room at Syd). Everyone on my FL not bothered naming you but you obviously know who you are, all of the ACL staff. Special thanks to Vanzr, probably the most epic human being to roam this earth!!! And off course you Damo you sexy human.
Peteh: First of all damo, thanks for this opportunity and also being a good mate. Epic thank-you’s to snorlhax, flariion, phamous, conno and brandz, you guys are f***ing hilarious. Bman, such a MC, best mate, first time playing halo 3 online with this guy was the funniest sh** ever and all the times we played after that has been awesome. KAAB boys (Sydney lineup), you guys are amazing, such an awesome mix of playstlyes and all such great guys. Royalfan, you are awesome, Hoff, Kinetics and theArusheRushe: Holy sh**. If I had a nickel for every time one of you guys made me cry with laughter, I would have a f***ing shitload of nickels. Russell: Glearghlearghlearghlearghlearghlearghlearghlearghlearghlearghlearghlearghlearghlearghlearghlearghlearghleargh. Naxik, Mitch and Shockz... I want ALLLLLL yo' babies. Darcy... oh Darcy... my love for you is like a Panda’s love of bamboo... dipped in honey... which is like... heaps aye. Last of all; Vanzy my heartiness of you is off the reichter, you are amazing.
Hoggy: Thanks Damo. Shoutouts to Vanz for his commitment to ACL, he is such an amazing human and deserves all the praise he gets. Also the staff put in so much effort behind the scenes, so I have to say a big Thank You for making this season of Halo 3 even possible Shoutout to Jay, Jake(kobes), Jake(raygun), Eric, Matt, Mitch, Andy, Damo, hoff, didier, Quinn and Everyone on my FL. Last but not least, our #1 fanboy Darcy!! <3 R u still Disappoint?
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sick as blokes was a pleasure to stay with u guys at syd. GL for R4 and Brisvegas.
