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Imagine you’ve trained to do one specific thing. You worked yourself through the ranks. From the bottom to the the top. Now you’re in the big leagues. All that time spent grinding, practicing, and scrimming so you can show you’re the best at what you do. And then – you get asked to do something else. What would you do?
Like a first baseman asked to play outfield or a right winger put in as the goalie, blase, a dps specialist, found himself put in the brig. What is the brig? For the uninitiated, the brig is a special type of hellhole for those like blase who specialize in dispensing death to the masses. Instead of headhunting, smashing with your fist, or shooting grenades, you’re made to shieldbash. To hand out repair packs like halloween candy. Or to get all your teammates together and throw out a rally. What a miserable existence.
To have such an exceptional skill set, to be on the grandest stage, and to be told – to do something else? That has to set off an array of emotions. We got the chance to ask blase about it, how the Uprising are doing, and where he sees the team going.
Boston Sports Extra’s LoadScr33n:We’re just about halfway through the 2019 season – what are some of the highlights for you and the team?
Jeffrey ‘blase’ Tsang: Some highlights were being able to play DPS on certain maps like Koth where I got to show my doom off. Another highlight is our three reverse sweeps in a row which was pretty cool to pull off, and also making the Stage 1 playoffs when the odds were stacked against us.
LoadScr33n: It seems the Uprising have been able to deal with major roster turnover both as the season started and as it progressed. What are some reasons why this team has so quickly developed such strong cohesion?
blase: Everyone on our team is nice and easy to approach, no one has a huge ego and we all get along. We also have a great coaching staff that keep everything in order if things ever go awry.
LoadScr33n: Let’s talk about week 5’s two matchups. There were low expectations for the Uprising going against the then Stage 2 undefeated LA Gladiators. What did were some big things you did to prepare for the match?
blase: We knew that LA Gladiators wanted the perfect stage and to accomplish that, they needed to win one more match which was against us. We knew they were pretty nervous and the way we thought about it was the way we lost to the Hangzhou Spark and we could do the same thing against them. We could be the Spark against the Gladiators, like the hole in the road they were against us. We just played our game and tried our best.
LoadScr33n: You guys played a lot of DPS comps on Control and Assault maps against Washington/LA – why is Boston not only willing to play that way but successful at it?
blase: After obtaining RCK, we were able to flex more to triple DPS compositions because we also have good DPS players in Colourhex and myself. We are also not perfect at goats much like the top teams so DPS comps are a good “cheese” to beat certain teams that are weak at it.
LoadScr33n: Boston is 12th in the league standings – far away from the automatic season playoffs cutoff of sixth place. What are some things the team can work on to better their position and improve as a whole?
blase: We just need to keep practicing and be more consistent with our performances and keep a certain level of skill even if we play a weaker opponent. It’s also probably going to be more goats in stage 3 so we will keep at the grind to be a better goats team.
LoadScr33n: Fans learn about the team and players from watching matches, following Twitch streams, scanning Reddit, and several other online news sources. Despite this plethora of information, what would you say are some things fans don’t know or understand about the Boston Uprising and you specifically?
blase: I don’t mind playing brig but would like to play a different meta.
Everyone at Boston Sports Extra appreciates blase taking the time to speak with us. At 7-7, Boston sits at 12th place in the league. Missing the Stage 2 playoffs, the team has its work cut out for them. Stage 3 begins this Friday, June 7th at 8:45pm. Uprising are hosting a free watch party at the Hard Rock cafe for fans. Get there early.
All photos by Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment
For more Boston Uprising content and gameday banter, follow Loadscr33n on Twitter #BostonUp
