During Blizzcon 2016, our interviewer Novalas decided to catch up with our ranged assassin player for HoTS - Josh 'Snitch' Bennett. After going through the tough qualifiers for Blizzcon and showing that they were a strong team, Team Dignitas HoTS came to Blizzcon 2016 with confidence, awareness of their enemy teams, and a bunch of fans!

During the interview, Novalas talks to Snitch about multiple things, such as what they expect from the Korean Overlords of the HoTS and eSports world, how a high energy, supportive crowd helps not only Snitch but the whole team make big plays on the stage, and much more!

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So, how are you enjoying the event so far?

Snitch: It's been a great time, I really enjoyed Blizzcon last year and getting to attend again has been a really great experience for me. I loved seeing all the fans here and just seeing the massive rush of people wanting to experience all the new content, and watch all the eSports and it's just an amazing time!

It's been pretty insane, I mean just walking over here there was that possibility, people have been looking. How does it feel that people are willing to swarm me at this event?

Snitch: It's actually pretty new, I don't think we've had an event previously where we've had so many fans approach us. Last years Blizzcon was kinda similar where there was a lot people wanting to watch Heroes, so we had that swarming effect. But most of the European Championships, even though our crowds are normally quite big, the fans themselves don't approach us as much, but it's nice to have fans here who are willing to walk up and say hello. And you have the people who've even travelled out to see you, it's definitely a really cool thing to experience.

On the topic of the fans, alot of the people who came to attend Blizzcon, many of them were North American fans. After both Astral Authority and Denial were kicked out, alot of them have converted now, or are just rooting like crazy for Team Dignitas. In fact I feel like yesterday during the game against Please Buff Arthas, we basically took over the entire audience. How does that feel while you're playing to hear people just chanting "Dignitas!" over and over again?

Snitch: I mean having the audience behind you is a pretty crazy experience. You can always feel the audience cheering when kills and things happen, which is something you can't experience anywhere else, like it makes the game so different when you see JayPL jumps and then makes a big play and you hear the crowd suddenly go insane. I think it helps all of us play, I can understand why it makes some teams nervous, but it doesn't have that effect on us anymore, and we definitely use it to fuel our own performance.

Speaking about then, can you hear the audience very clearly? Or is it muffled by the headsets you're wearing?

Snitch: It's muffled for sure, we can't hear anything they're saying but we can definitely hear when they get loud and excited, and you can feel the stage moving! It's definitely obvious that they're enjoying the games and yeah, like I said it does help fuel your performance.

Do you feel like that actually affects your performance in any way positive OR negative?

Snitch: Oh as I said, I feel like it is a positive thing for all of us, I think we all kind of live off of being on stage a bit more, out of game practise is never as on point as our on stage plays. I think it's definitely a positive experience for us all.

Since coming to California, other than practising has there been anything else you've been up to?

Snitch: Nothing really, we've been very seriously focused on this tournament. We've pretty much only gone out for fast food outside of just playing the games, so we've been very serious about practising and preparing for this tournament specifically because we have a really good show.

That's unfortunate, no Disneyland? So, let's talk about your road up to Blizzcon, and the event itself and the games you've already played. Specifically, out of the games you've already played, you just played against Please Buff Arthus, and shortly after that you had that interview where you basically discussed and stated that you were kind of disappointed that they didn't show up or you were just confused as to why they didn't, talk to me about that. What were you expecting?

Snitch: Based off the games Please Buff Arthus has played in the earlier group stages, they seemed to have a very good grasp of the game and a lot of good strategies that are of their own accord. They had their own regional style where they were just kind of playing what they thought was good which I thought was very unique, and it seemed to be working against very good teams, teams like eStar and Fnatic were looking a little bit sloppy VS them. We were definitely not underestimating them coming to this series, we were worried they might be a bigger threat than we could realise but when we actually got to the games, it seemed like, I don't know... Maybe it was the crowd that put them off, but it just seemed like they just weren't as on point as they were in the group stage, so we seemed to take it pretty easily.

So all the while the crowd positively effected you, it might have negatively impacted them. So, first of all I want to compliment your Falstad play, very dirty. Those gusts, definitely helping secure a lot of victories for us. So, talk to me about the Blizzcon announcements themself. There was Ragnaros being announced as a new champion additionally with Varian, those two and then the new map Blackheart's Revenge, what do you think about the changes that are being implemented?

Snitch: I think that both the new heroes are cool. I haven't had the chance to play them yet, I might be able to find some time today I'm not sure. I think they both are very interesting, Varian seems to have a really cool design where they've given him a bunch of different options and really extended the reach of the talent system as far as they can. And Ragnaros seems to have a lot of unique things put into his kit, especially his trait where he takes over a fort, looks really fun! The new brawl mode they added is a really cool idea, I love how flexible they're being with brawl, because it seems like they've made an entirely new map, which is far beyond what I thought they would do. I know they did something similar in Overwatch, where they had a recent brawl which is like a PvE brawl but I didn't expect anything like that to come to Heroes any time soon. I'm really excited to see that Blizzard is going all out with the new mode, and I think it's a really cool investment by them to do so.

Let's talk about your expectancies for the Korean Overlords that you're about to be playing against. So Korea, dominant in about every eSport... shortly before Blizzcon you were in Korea scrimming against Ballistix and MVP Black, how do you expect to play against Ballistix today? (edit: Team Dignitas lost 0-2)

Snitch: I don't think we're favoured by any means, I think we 100% have the ability to take the series, I think it will undoubtedly be close because they're a very very good team, they have a very unique playstyle where they're more focused on playing the map and playing their own strategy then any other team are, and that's very scary to play against because they have a very unique to every single map, they have unique comps for every single map, they're a very very smart team. It's tough to prepare for that, but I do think we have the potential and the ability as a team and 5 players to definitely outplay and take the series, but I would definitely say they're the one's who are favoured for sure.

If you do win, on the assumption that MVP Black wins, do you believe that's going to be a much easier matchup, or it's going to be equally as difficult?

Snitch: I think it'll be equally as difficult, MVP Black are a very different team. I think they're easier to understand, but at the same time the skill of their players is so astronomical, Rich is such an amazing player, and Sign is so incredible with his map movements and positioning. They're teamfighting is on a whole other level, I don't think Ballistix's strength is as much teamfighting as it is their intelligence in drafts and map movements, but MVP are a very different beast, and I think the way we have to tackle both teams is very, very different but as I said, I think the same way with Ballistix, I think we can 100% take the series from MVP Black but once again I think it'll be close and we'll have to give it our all to do so.

Final question just to round it all out, after the events are over for HoTS, what else are you going to be planning on doing at Blizzcon?

Snitch: Probably just walking around hanging with the fans, might try some of the new heroes and stuff. Just see what else is going on, I haven't had much time to walk around because we've been so busy preparing and practising for this event. Like I said it's very important to us that we have a good showing and try to make our mark on the scene. But probably just walking around trying to find fans and things like that!

Do you have any last shoutouts? To Team Dignitas or fans?

Snitch: Yeah, shoutout to Team Dignitas of course, thank you so much for sponsoring us, and all our sponsors who help that. Shoutout to the 76'ers who recently acquired us, it's going to be a great investment for eSports, I think the next year is going to be incredible for all of us. Shoutout to all of the fans and my parents who have attended this event, it's been great to see all the faces out there in the crowd supporting and cheering for us, it's been a truly incredible experience this year. I'm very thankful for all of you helping make this happen!

If you're interested in catching up with Snitch on his social media, you can always follow him on Twitter. If you're more into seeing some plays you can also find him on Twitch.tv too!

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