We took time to sit down with Spencer “Slashug” Oliver, the captain and in-game leader from the #2 seeded team in North America, Rogue. We asked him questions about preparation and mindset leading up to the Paris Major on August 13th, picked his brain on some of the most recent additions to his team, and what it means to be a leader.
Overall, your team has performed very well this season, ending the mid-season and going into the Paris Major second place in North America. However, you’ve had a few struggles as well. What are you looking to improve heading into such a high skill international event like the Paris Major?
Slashug: So for our team, one of our biggest problems is staying consistent between games. We can let mistakes snowball sometimes, so we want to work on keeping a level head throughout the game. We are always looking to improve our communication, we think it is one the most important aspects of the game and is something you can always fallback on when something in the strategy goes wrong. Also, we’re looking into making our strategies more consistent in general, so that everyone will know what is happening at every stage of the round to allow people to better play off of their teammates.
The Six Major is the type of event that gets a lot of focus, and brings a lot of attention to not only Rainbow Six but specifically Rainbow Six esports. For those who are unfamiliar with team structure, can you explain what it means to be a team captain? What are your roles inside and outside of the game? How did you land yourself in the role of captain?
Slashug: As the captain I have to make a lot of decisions regarding our strategies and also our roster. Ultimately, the captain is responsible for making sure the team is winning. The captain needs to make sure the team is having productive practice, adapting and creating new strategies, and keeping on top of the meta. The captain is usually the in-game leader as well. The in-game leader is responsible for picking the strat at the start of the round, making sure everyone is doing what the need to and not getting ahead or behind the rest of the team. The in-game leader has to be able to make fast decisions to identify the openings in the opponents strats as well as in there own strats, and make changes to either exploit the opponents weaknesses or fix the weaknesses in their own teams strats. For landing in the role of captain, I think I’m sort of a natural leader in my regular day-to-day life. I always strive to be in control of whatever I’m doing. So, when I joined the team, it just sort of naturally happened that I was taking charge and making sure everything was happening the way it was supposed to -- it just fit. I feel like a lot of teams do the same thing… where people aren’t really picked up to be in-game leaders; someone usually just naturally falls into that position, they’re typically a person who just has a natural understanding of what’s going on and the ability to step up and take on that role.
So Geo’s been on your team for a while now, and you just recently had your first LAN event with him at DreamHack Valencia. How has the addition of Geo affected the overall structure and play style of the team?
Slashug: Having Geo around definitely helps with our overall fragging power, since he’s probably one of the best individual players in the game, not only the region. So he helps us win a lot more of our fights. Also, he’s way more of a calm player, he always keeps the “positive vibes” on the team as we like to say, and stays calm when things get heated. We have a lot of strong personalities on the team and he helps to keep everyone calm and not going after people’s throats.
How has your role of IGL changed since the addition of Geo and Easilyy?
Slashug: I have a lot less responsibility than I used to. Before it was me doing all of the leading; and you’re not always going to have the right answer. Especially with Kevin, a lot of the time he helps me decide what to do. Kevin and Geo also help with defensive strats,which has previously been a weak point of mine. So they have really helped take some of the burden off of me. It also allows me to focus on my own play-- when I need to I can focus on myself and know that Kevin and Geo will be focusing on following the strats and stuff so I can play better individually.
Is there anyone on your team who has improved significantly in the past season? If so, who and how?
Slashug: I think everyone has always been playing at the top level. I don’t think we’ve had anyone not play well on the team. However, if I had to pick someone I’d say Tyler (Ecl9pse) -- he’s really been putting in a lot of effort into his gameplay recently and I think it’s showing - in our recent games he has just been destroying everyone.
As a whole, how do you see the North American scene in comparison to all of the other scenes? Any scene that you think will particuarly shine or surprise at the Major?
Slashug: I don’t think NA is any weaker than any other region. I think people are too quick to judge whole regions off of the one or two teams at the top. Just because PENTA beat us and EG it doesn’t mean the EU region is better than us overall. I think as well, NA is a lot more competitive between than most of the other regions. Just in our Pro League alone, you can’t really tell who will win a match, you have to watch until the end to know who’s going to win. It’s different in EU where you can mostly guess who will win a match by the teams that are playing. In regards to who will shine at the Major, I think the EU teams will still be really good. Obviously Penta, Millineum, and Team Secret are super strong teams. But I also think some of the smaller LATAM teams might step up and surprise people as well. I think there is the possibility for these guys to upset a few big teams. They have a lot of oppertunity to surprise people.
Which teams have you identified as ones to be on the lookout for at this event?
Slashug: Obviously PENTA is a team to look out for, they always are - they have an insanely talented roster and they’re always going to preform well. I think Nora-Rengu is also a team to watch out for; they showed their skill at Atlantic City. I think they could definitely upset some teams that people wouldn’t expect to lose to them. I have to say my own team as well, obviously! We’re going to come in swinging. We have a bootcamp in France before the Major and we’re going to enter the event very prepared and focused. Also Vitality, they’re known for a specific playstyle which they play very well; but if they change it up and switch up their playstyle, they have the oppertunity to shock some teams by playing different than they normally would.
Are there any teams you’re hoping to play against?
Slashug: I would like to play against EG in the grand finals and win. I think that would be the most satisfying ending to me, sort of making up for when we lost to them in the Invititanal grand finals. I’d also like to play against PENTA because of Atlatnic City, I thought our match there was really close that we have the ability to pull out a win in a rematch against them. I’m also excited to play IDK because our matches were so close at DreamHack Valencia. Basically, I just want to play against the teams that we’ve lost to, and take my revenge.
Any teams you’re looking to avoid?
**Slashug:**Most LATAM teams, because I feel like they have a really different playstyle. There’s definitely weaknesses to it, but they keep you on edge constantly. The same thing that Nora-Rengu does. And with Nora-Rengu, there isn’t as much footage on them since they’re from an isolated region, so there isn’t as much material to use to prepare against them.
There’s been talk about your team moving into a Team House this year. Is this still in the works? What do you think living in a team house will do for the team as a whole?
Slashug: We hope to some day move into a team house. I think the benefits would be that no one could sleep through practice (GEO!) and any issues that you want to solve can be solved on the spot and in person, which will make people a little more open to criticism. Being in person rather than online, people always respond better to feedback. Also with a team house, you get to know your teammates more, you get closer... it makes you want to play better and win for them.
Do you have any advice for people new to the scene and looking to get involved with Rainbow Six esports?
Slashug: I would say just play the game as much as you can. I think that’s the #1 thing you need to do, just play the game. There is no magic trick to it, you just have to play the game and grind it out, learn the operators and the maps. Play in as many open tournaments that you can and get the practice you need. No one really comes out of no where, most of the pros have been playing the game for a while and have just grinded it out.
Is there any closing statement you’d like to leave people with before heading off to the Major?
Slashug: Thanks everyone who supported us this season, we hope to make you proud at the Paris Major and bring home a win. And to quote our coach, Ranger: ‘Thanks to all our fans, thanks to all the support and uh…. Go Rogue!
Check out Slashug on Twitter to stay up to date with Rogue’s progress during the Paris Major, and be sure to follow Rainbow Six Esports on Twitter and Twitch to catch all of the action during the event, August 13th – 19th!
