Interview With Dig RL Player ViolentPanda On RLCS Season 7
I chat with ViolentPanda about how he and the rest of the team are preparing for another successful RLCS run this year.
With RLCS 7 fast approaching, I spoke with Jos "ViolentPanda" van Meurs about what's been going on in the offseason. With hopes of taking their World Championship title back after losing to C9, they've been working on team synergy with their new third, Yukeo. They've also named their sub in Jessie and employed a new coach, Snaski, who has been around the Rocket League scene for year.
RLCS 7 begins in roughly a month (April 7th) – how are you feeling so far with the progress you have been making in the offseason with Turbo and Yukeo?
ViolentPanda: DreamHack shows its results, I guess. It has been going good, and we’ve been playing well together. We’re just getting to know each other more every day and just practicing and working on general strategy.
What excites you the most about this coming season?
ViolentPanda: Probably to try and win that championship because we lost it against Cloud9 the last time. We at least just want to make it as far as we can of course, but winning it is our endgame to see if we can get that title back. Also, to play against Vitality to beat them.
What have you enjoyed about having Yukeo on the team so far and what do you think he brings to the table in regard to the synergy of the team?
ViolentPanda: Synergy is always something that has to be worked on, but play-wise he’s a very good individual player that brings a lot to the team. Synergy and team play are what we’ve been working on since the start. He’s a very fast player and it’s awesome to be playing with someone like that.
Even though you came away with the Finals win recently at DreamHack, were you completely satisfied with the way you guys played together? Anything you think could have gone better?
ViolentPanda: No, it was still early on for our team and I think we did well in regard to how soon it’s been since Yukeo has joined. In general, it went pretty well with how short we’ve been playing together.
How do you feel about the other EU teams? Are there any that you think will give you guys a harder time compared to the others?
ViolentPanda: TSM and Vitality are probably the two main teams that we’re looking at. Actually, let’s name Savage! in there as well because they were looking good at DreamHack.
Dignitas went undefeated in S6 and won 21 out of 25 rounds played – are similar results achievable in S7 in your eyes?
ViolentPanda: It’s too early on. We have a lot to work on. If we manage to work on those things, then maybe. On a competitive level, with how hard it’s going to be this season, it’s harder than any other season before. It’s the same thing every season – competition gets harder every season and it’s still happening. It’s going to be a tough one.
You’ve been playing professional Rocket League going on almost 4 years now – do you see yourself still playing professionally five years from now? Is there anything that would happen that would ever make you consider retiring?
ViolentPanda: I don’t think so. Maybe, once I get older and I’m not as good as I am now – if I start falling off my level of competitive play then I might find something else in esports, like something behind the scenes.
You announced on Twitter that Jessie would be the sub for Dignitas for S7. What led you to this decision?
ViolentPanda: He’s a great guy and we love him. He’s a pretty good player and he’s a good fit. He wasn’t going to find his own team this season, so we brought him on.
Were there any other players that you had considered seriously instead of Jessie?
ViolentPanda: We didn’t think that much at the time about it, but Jessie was the best choice. Snaski could have been our sub before we knew he was going to be our coach.
Snaski – what was the process like in picking him as the Dignitas Coach?
ViolentPanda: Basically, I was looking for a coach for a few months and couldn’t find the right one. We posted the article about trying to find an analyst and heard something about Snaski trying to get into coaching. I sent him a message to see if he was interested, and he was like “Yeah, sure” and it just went from there. I would rather have someone with RLCS experience like him coach us, someone that knows what the game is about and knows what’s needed to play in RLCS, than someone who hasn’t played in RLCS.
As a final, easy question – will Dignitas take that RLCS 7 World Championship title?
ViolentPanda: We’ll try to do our best – it’s going to be a hard one.
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions! Is there anyone that you would like to give a shoutout to?
ViolentPanda: Shoutout to our CEO Mike Prindi – he’s helped us a lot from the start when we joined Dignitas. Dignitas in general and our sponsors. My fans and family as well.
Be sure and follow ViolentPanda below to keep up with him and all things Dignitas RL!
