160 players will enter the battlefield but only one will walk away with the crown. The big day is only one away and as players are gearing up and putting on their game face, I figured I would preview the event.
To start things off, I sat down with some heavy hitters and talked shop.
Back in the ye olde days of yesteryear, Dewsick wore a crown. In the inaugural GlobalUnreal KOTR which feels like ages ago.. Dewsick convincingly took the championship but has since been unable to recreate the magic. He went full Robert Baratheon and had no idea what to do when he actually got to sit on the throne.
Brave historian PACO actually documented the event and has decided to upload the picture despite coming last in the finals.. I know her name probably gave it away but MaGma was on FIRE.... I swear.....
First and foremost, thank you for taking the time to sit down with me.
It is my pleasure. You are THEINCREDIBLEPACO and the honor is mine. How courteous! My first question for you Dewsick is who do you see as your biggest competition? Anyone in the top 10 at the moment. You're not running for politics and as much as I am dissatisfied by the answer, I won't pry since there are three other candidates waiting to be interviewed. What do you think of the maplist? I like the maplist. It's a combination of new(ish) and old. What exquisite taste you have! Which player(s) do you see surprising people? Nick has a shot but so do any of the stronger players.. .... Who do you see taking an unexpected early exit? I see myself taking an early exit. This is an interview.. you are not receiving points for being humble. Ohh.. I thought you wanted this as professional as possible. How about these stats? I made sorn my girlfriend: http://www.globalunreal.com/utstats/?p=match&mid=40631 Much better, thank you. How will you be warming up/preparing for the tournament? I'll be warming up by coming on and showing up without practice! I don't like to warm up too much. That's like me saying how do you plan on exercising and you replying I'll be exercising by not exercising which doesn't make sense and has thoroughly displeased me. I'd cut the interview off right here but I have one last burning question.. Did you name your child PACO? If I did, can I have ops? Doubtful but in 15 years he would have a shot..Dewsick has a legitimate chance at winning this tournament and a scout on the inside told me that he saves his best stuff for inaugural tournaments. He's not phased by pressure and has demonstrated that he has the endurance to keep up with an event like this. Word on the street is that he's rocking 144hz which is only a small step down from the illustrious 778hz.
Unrealshots has been hands down one of the most dominant hitscan players of the past few years. His defense is impeccable and his fragging is off the hook. Despite impressive showings in almost every hitscan gametype.. shots best finish in an iDM tournament was fourth. In the last installment of KOTR (IV), Unrealshots surprised everyone and lost in the quarter finals. I was actually in the same heat and ended up advancing. #justsaying
Hello Unrealshots, welcome to the interview. I just want to remind you this is an interview and not a tournament so please refrain from any early exits.
.... heh heh heh.. now that everything is clear, I want to start by asking you who you think your biggest competition will be? Hatchet is everyone's biggest competition but aside from him.. it could easily be Sonic/Finalz/Dewsick. That's a pretty solid list. I think that all four are contenders but Finalz is on a tier below. What do you think of the maplist? The maplist is good. The order in which the maps are being played is also pretty good but I've never liked Bellicose. I just never got into that map since day one. It sounds like you are fairly positive about the maplist and the ordering. I appreciate the fact that you appreciate the list/ordering that I came up with. I really do. Which player(s) do you see surprising people? Lockpick has been tearing it up the last few times I saw him play but so has the newcomer Caspa. Is it true that Caspa = Caspah? Definitely not the same person. Caspa is smarter CTFwise, less frag happy and actually plays to win. Who do you see taking an unexpected early exit? Really hard to say who will take the early exit. It just depends on who is having a bad day. Some players might struggle on Malevolence and I could see a lot of good players get chopped off on that map. You really went out on a limb with that one. Malevolence is the second last map so of course good people will be getting chopped on that one. That's like me asking if you studied for the test and you saying NO because you didn't read the last two pages in a 500 page textbook. I'm sorry. I forgive you and since you owe me one.. I figure I can ask a more candid question.. Have you improved your gag reflex or will we see another choke? I replaced a broken mouse. You definitely won't see another chokefest. I sure hope that isn't slang for something! How will you be warming up/preparing for the tournament? I plan to relax as much as I can before the tournament and have a few bottles of water to stay hydrated. I'll probably then grab an energy drink to keep me going. Is there a chance that a Euro will be de-throned on Sunday? You could very well see a Euro be dethroned. If I'm on my A-game I can beat anyone: http://www.globalunreal.com/utstats/?p=match&mid=40624Unrealshots is confident. He has beaten all of the top players in exhibition and will look to capitalize in the actual competition. This is a yearly event and the bitter taste of a quarterfinal loss should be enough motivation to at least push Unrealshots to the semis.
Ravonix is a beast and he's probably one of the most underrated players in the community. He can single handedly shut down a team in iCTF and he can frag with the best of them. Ravonix is low profile and humble but his courtesy outside of the battlefield does not translate to his in-game play. Ravonix won two of his heats in the last KOTR and managed a spot on the podium in the finals. He was within 5 frags of Hatchet (155 --> 150) and was on a blistering pace in the second half of Bellicose. If the game lasted another minute, we could have seen the Swedish Chef turn into the Swedish King.
Hi.. I am THEINCREDIBLEPACO.
Hi.. I am THEINCREDIBLEPACO. This is not a good start. You are clearly not me. I do not want you to ever do this again. Now that we are past this blip, who do you see as your greatest competition? SHOTS :< That's a fair answer but your failure to mention Hatchet might give him some extra motivation. What do you think of the maplist? The maplist seems alright. Deck is first so that is more than fine with me. 
Let me be right back. I'm paging MaGma. You're toast. Get it? Lava is hot. ... Which player(s) do you see surprising people? I have seen many people (Nick, viperz aka Mr. Dongerino, lockpick to name a few) shooting well the last couple of weeks. I'm not sure they can keep it up when it comes to the last 2-3 maps BUT the biggest surprise will be me going out on first map... I HATE DECK. I'm guessing you're not into boughs of holly? ... Who do you see taking an unexpected early exit? Aside from yourself of course! PACO LOLOLOLOL.. oh you said unexpected? Finalz? I'm a nice guy so I'll let this one slide. How will you be warming up/preparing for the tournament? Just like the last time.. a beer and some vodka! How upset would you be if I beat you in this tournament? Let's leave that to when it happens I guess this interview is to be continued...What I took from this interview is that Ravonix will almost certainly pass his first few rounds but a field sobriety test might be iffy. Despite getting one of the interview slots and being weighed down by dozens of accolades, I expect Ravonix will still be seen as one of the "sleepers". I'm considering giving him some lessons on how to drip swag and be a baller if he's willing to teach me how to point and click.
If you play IG, you know the name vitz. He is one of the most explosive players and punishes the opposition with brute force fragging. While he's not as active now as he was in his prime, vitz still boasts two crowns to his name with two victories against some very steep competition. He's the Tiger Woods of iDM and everyone wants to see if he can win another major.
Hi. Good evening vitrae. 
Hello Mr. PACO. I'm not used to interviewing you without a liter of beer but we will have to make this work. Who do you see as your biggest competition? Myself. That's deep man.. that's deep. What do you think of the maplist? I don't like any map with the exception of Deck and Cityzen. I personally think that Maleovolence is a horrible iDM map because of the lift factor. Thoth is also bad in my opinion.. it also has areas that serve absolutely no purpose and overall the map is too narrow and mazelike for my taste. Bellicose isn't great either. People point flaws in other maps regarding camping points but Bellicose has a few of its own. Well you like the first and last map so thank me later... Which player(s) do you see surprising people? You mean like underdogs? Is Sonic an underdog? The man has weak legs but we're going to have to do better than that.. Too many to list. I don't think there will be many surprises, it will be more or less in accordance to the pugs. I could name 15 favourites and 10 other up and coming players, but I'd prolly still miss someone. Everyone who plays in ipug know who they are anyway. Interesting that you mention 25 threats. The level of talent is very high and it will cause problems for some top players if they have a bad map in the third round. Who do you see taking an unexpected early exit? No idea, but I'm definitily one of the candidates. I have too many things going against me, especially the ping. I'm not too bothered eitherway and I'll still try to make the finals. How will you be warming up/preparing for the tournament? I've been playing in public servers a few times a day for the last 3 months. I also played a couple of pugs. My warmup will stay the same.. I might pug a couple more times before Sunday if I have the patience. Will we see an American walking away with the belt? It is possible.. There are a couple strong American candidates that I can think of but I'll take this time to promote my brand *** ALLPING ***. We are expanding and we all use french flags. Watch out, we are coming for you America. France is not running away this time. Freedom fries vs French fries.. How much is RickJames paying to sponsor you? I'm wearing his name because I want to and because I feel honored to do so. He is a nice guy and honestly he's just overall misunderstood by the community. In my books, he is a boss and I do like my tags with boss material in them. It's funny because RJ's haters can be divided into Americans being jelly of his love for euro and the TSM crew of clowns who come from a rotten and dead weapons community. I just hope that wearing his name will have no effect on whether you rage quit the tournament.. heh heh heh ... Anyways, that concludes this interview.. thanks for participating. Do you think I'm doing this for free? Really? ..... Yes.I think that vitz is playing it cool but deep down, he would love to walk away with a third crown and really separate himself from the competition of his era. Hatchet and Dew are one win a way from matching his mark and I'm sure that he would like to create some distance. The fragpower is there and vitrae certainly has no shortage of experience. If he can master his emotions and P1NG!!!, he has as good of a shot as anyone for taking the crown from the current champ Hatchet.
Sonic is easily one of the most versatile players in the OwnedWell community and for the first time in a few years, he will finally be able to attend a DeathMatch fragfest. He's known for his top play in weaps and his crafty CTF flag running abilities.. but in the past few years, Sonic has also demonstrated that he can hang as a top fragger. He might have skipped leg day in real life but he worked himself into a well-rounded Unreal Tournament player.
Hello Sonic greetings, how are you?
I am doing great, thanks for asking. My day was going well but it is going even better now that I get to sit down with you. You are too kind. In one of my last vlogs, I asked if you were jealous of my body as I posed in swim trunks.. I never got a reply. What's up with that? I am still in awe. Fair enough.. anyways enough about me, let's start talking about the tourney. Who do you see as your biggest competition? Hatchet. He's the reigning champion and he's the man to beat. What do you think of the maplist? I like it for the most part. The only map I'm not a fan of is Thoth. I'm also a fan of the maplist. Looks like we have a lot in common. Which player(s) do you see surprising people? Cromaniac, Nick, Viperzz, Steel A few of those players have been getting mentions but I agree that those four have a good shot at making waves. Who do you see taking an unexpected early exit? JYB, Vitrae (only because he won't win. The Miami Heat of iDM. Win or bust), PACO(not a surprise). The jerk store called.. Also I'm up for a vitz relocation to beautiful Cleveland. How will you be warming up/preparing for the tournament? I will be cleaning my mousepad today. Then I'm not touching the game until 1 hour before KOTG starts. I will drink a cup of coffee, and do my pre-game iDM Deck16 with 10 novice bots. No frag/time limit. Usually 100-150 frags as fast as I possibly can. You missed a few iDM tournaments.. would we have seen a different champion if I didn't schedule it on your birthday? I don't know which one it was exactly but I practiced (A LOT) for it. I thought I had a decent shot at winning and my only competition would be Unrealshots. Since I couldn't make it (thanks -_-) I predicted shots to win it. We all know how that turned out. If your play matched your predictions, you would have been in trouble! Thank you for your time, this concludes the interview. Thanks for having me!Despite monster killing his way through pugs, I think that Sonic is another legit contender who is flying under the radar. He's in a similar boat as Rummy.. both are dynamic players in other gametypes and people always overlook their fragging capabilities. As an added incentive, it's his birthday and his greatest present would be a win. He's a gorilla in the gym but he's also looking to go full king kong in the arena.
I reached out to riven but his agent responded with this:
Apparently bridges were burned and he was not interested in doing a sit down. I also reached out to Hatchet but he said that he doesn't like to express himself with words, only videos depicting his thoughts and feelings at that exact moment in time.
That wraps up the interview portion of the post however now we get to move onto some PACO Predictions (tm).
I'm calling the top 15 but not giving any particular order since I think it will be really close and that any of these players can win.
Dewsick
Vitz
Unrealshots
Hatchet
Ravonix
Sonic
noobX
Riven
bug
Nobody`
Rum
uenz
bleh
ph34r
Finalz
Some people flip while other people flop...
Out of the top 15, the most likely players to flop will be Finalz, Unrealshots and Vitz. I view these three as the go big or go home types and aside from Vitz, we have seen early exits from Finalz and Unrealshots in past tournaments. Outside of the top 15, I think that we can see players like HuMPtY flame-out early but he might do well just to spite me. Scott was a first round flop last year and anything short of a trip to round three will be a disapproving shake of the head.. The pressure is on.
Also we can't forget about these two guys..
I promise that no middle aged women will be splashed in the process.
Every year, a few people end up surprising us and exceeding expectations. This tournament is a decent place to make a name for yourself and I feel like some players will start to establish themselves as elite fraggers. First and foremost, shout out to by boy Ultearr who has promised me that he will be bringing his dongerino along with his A game. Viperzz is known as a BT guru but has been making a name for himself in sDOM and IG gametypes. He has a few obstacles that he will need to overcome but I see an outside shot of him making the finals.
Another player that I think will surprise is Hertz. He's tucked away in Chile and while he has ping issues to overcome, talent has never been an issue. In the past, he has had decent showings in iDM tournaments but with his new 144hz monitor, I think he has a chance at becoming the first South American player to crack a spot in the semifinals. wujajejeje
Hate him or love him.. whitechoc is an enigma. He won't be able to play solo D but he can go 1v9 which might work out nicely for him. He's never been a DMer or a fragger but he's the type of player who just gets stuff done. He won't make the finals but if he's able to catch lightning in a bottle, he might go deep and finish ahead of some of the big names.
My final sleeper pick is caspa. A lot of people don't know him or confuse him with his loathsome American counterpart Caspah but this guy is a legit hitscan talent. He's going to ESWC and competing for cash in Shootmania and has also dominated the 2k4 IG scene. He recently got a taste of 99 IG and has been on a pugging spree, taking the channel by storm. Everyone is frantically asking.. WHO IS CASPA? Well I have the answer.. He's your worst nightmare.. maybe.
Anyways.. this wraps up the KING OF THE GIB preview! I hope you enjoyed reading it and if you did, there will be a recap to look forward to. The event starts at 2:30pm EST (20:30pm CET/19:30 GMT) however coverage will start 30mins early on http://www.twitch.tv/OwnedWell as mrgrins/m3ss get you into the mood for some Unreal Tournament deathmatch. I would like people to check-in 30mins early and if your heat is ready to go and you don't show up on time, you will be subbed from your heat and placed back into the substitution pool. It is not too late to signup and if you are around as a free agent on the day of the tournament, there is a VERY good chance that you will be able to play.
As a reminder:
Round1: Deck16
Round2: Thoth
Round3: Bellicose
Round4: Malevolence
Round5: Cityzen
YOU MUST USE A COLORED SKIN. CHOOSING THE NON-COLOR IS UNACCEPTABLE AND YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED IF YOU DON'T FIX IT RIGHT AWAY.
Fatboy will be disabled in rounds 4 and 5.
#OwnedWell on irc.utchat.com will be the main hub for organization however players will split off into separate heat assigned channels and free agent channels.
The tiebreaker will be most deaths however if those are equal, we will then look at monster kills and if they are equal, ultra kills and if you are still equal by the time we work our way down to double kills, I will be thoroughly displeased.
I look forward to seeing all of you at the event. Let people know about it. Like it on facebook, tweet about it, message friends and tune-in to the stream! Anything you can do to support the community is appreciated.
Thanks,
THEINCREDIBLEPACO
