Jiri "LiNkzr" Masalin is the flex player for the Team Dignitas Overwatch team. This year, LiNkzr had been invited to participate in the BlizzCon 2016 Overwatch World Cup, a tournament that had many teams from all over the World participate but only 16 qualified for the event. LiNkzr participated with Team Finland and made it to the top 4 after defeating teammate BromaS who played for Team Spain. dignitas Novalas caught up with LiNkzr shortly after his victory against BromaS on day 1 of BlizzCon 2016.

Hey Dignitas Fans! I'm here with LiNkzr at BlizzCon 2016. How are you enjoying the event so far?

LiNkzr: So far, the event has been great. There's a specific area for us to hang out. There's food. There's computers so we can eat and play. There's drinks all the time. We don't have to worry about getting any food. We have a manager looking out for us so we don't have to worry about being at the venue, about interviews, or when we have to leave. It's been really relaxing and it lets you really focus on the game.

So you've been here for 10 days now? Talk to me about outside of BlizzCon. What have you been up to?

LiNkzr: So on the first day, we went to see some kind of marketplace. It was actually completely deserted. I went to go pick up some new shoes and stuff. We walked around a bit. We didn't go to Disneyland but checked out the area. We haven't really gotten to eat outside yet. It's been really hotel focused with hanging out and stuff. There has been a lot of action at the hotel. There was a meet & greet, a party, and all that kind of stuff. I haven't really gotten to experience Anaheim yet.

Talk to me about your social media game. Of all the players on the Team Dignitas Overwatch team, you are the most active. I have seen many, many tweets on... Doritos. I mean, Doritos are great but what's your obsession with them?

LiNkzr: So in Finland, we don't have them. All the chips in Finland are really bland compared to what you have in North America. One day, I think it was in e-league, we had one of those little baskets of snacks and stuff. There was a little bag of doritos there. It was... It was waiting for me. I was like "Hmm.. What's this?" and, I don't know why, but I got really addicted to them. Like really addicted. And now, everytime I go to America, I'm just like "I need to get doritos. Right now." It's just my thing.

Haha, alright. Let's get to a more serious tone. Talk to me about BlizzCon itself. Talk to me about the World Cup. I just grabbed you after your loss against Russia, 0-2. What do you think went wrong in that series?

LiNkzr: So we talked with the team, what went wrong. Before we went into the game, we talked about Shadowburn and how he was their key player. They like to do their nano boost and Genji ultimate combo. It's really important to shut them down but, in the game, we just couldn't execute the strategy that we talked about. Whenever Shadowburn goes in, he gets like 3 abilities on him. He gets heals, he gets Zarya shield, and he gets nano boost. It's important to destroy the shield and then get the counters on him such as sleep, flashbang, earthshatter; anything that can slow him so he's easier to deal with. In the game, we just didn't get through the shield and everything after that didn't work out. We were just delayed on our actions to really counter him and the combination that they really like to run.

I also noticed that a lot of the times, you were put onto Reinhardt. You're a flex player but you're mainly notorious for your Genji play and your Widowmaker. Talk to me about the team decision that put you onto tank picks.

LiNkzr: In Team Finland, we don't have a Lucio player, Reinhardt player, or an Ana player. So basically, mafu and hymzi get their own roles; taimu gets the dps role. Their roles were already set. Then, after that, the more flexible players; Zappis plays a lot of Ana in competitive. He picked up Ana. He's been doing really great on her. So I volunteered to go tank. I was like "I'll just get this down." I learned the character really fast. After that, in the qualifiers, I had already been playing Reinhardt. There's been a long process of me practicing Reinhardt. But when we got here, it got harder. Your opponents have better Reinhardt players. For example, on Team Russia, Redzzzz likes to play a lot of Reinhardt overall. So I felt like I was a bit of an underdog every single time I went into a game. For example, in game 1 of Spain, Winghaven has been a Reinhardt player his whole life. He also plays for Reunited, a really good team. So it's been a really interesting experience as Reinhardt. It's fun but not really my style. After this tournament, I'm not going to touch him for months.

So prior to that, you played against your teammate BromaS. Talk to me about that series. I believe Finland won 2-1. A lot of people were saying that Spain were heavy favorites because they demolished in the set prior to the series where you won with BromaS going off on McCree. What do you think went right in that series?

LiNkzr: In the Russia game, Genji was the threat. In the Spain game, their threat was dispersed a bit. It was more like making sure we didn't get caught into the Mei walls, not getting caught in the ultimates. So we managed to play around those things better. I think our overall game plan against Spain was easier to execute. They played lineups that we've played against a lot. It was easier to play against that without having to think too much about what we had to do. We just played how we normally do and it let us win the series 2-1.

Let's talk about what's currently occuring in the team itself. Both numlocked and art1er left the team shortly before BlizzCon. Team Dignitas has picked up two new players. Has the team practiced much together yet?

LiNkzr: We managed to practice for about two weeks. It's been going great. The new additions, evokje and Veineless, they have been playing support a lot and know their characters. Now, it's all about getting all the parts together like how we work as a team, the kind of playstyle that we like to play. We didn't get enough time to figure out all those things but now that there's new stuff coming out, it's going to be easier to start from the ground up. It's going to be interesting to see what happens in the future. I'm really confident that we're going to get to the level that we were at a few months ago.

That confident, huh? So Draceus is the new captain. Do you expect that you'll be even better under him versus how the team performed under numlocked?

LiNkzr: So numlocked was the team captain but now that he's not, his responsibilities are shared a bit. So every player feels more responsible about their own behavior, their own gameplay,and their own team spirit. Everyone takes everything more seriously. We have to start working together to get to the level where we need to be.

Let's talk about a new announcement that Blizzard just made. The Overwatch League. How do you feel about that?

LiNkzr: I think that the Overwatch League is going to be a great addition. It gives the game a lot more stability. It creates a bigger fanbase by making it more public. It's not just about organizers making tournaments. It's a lot more constructed. They talked about monthly salaries in the league so it's more stable for the players who're playing. You don't have to be worried about what's going to happen. If you're in the league, you know that for a certain amount of time, you'll get money so you can plan the future more. Right now, the future of a pro player is pretty secure but it's always nice to have something to back you up a bit more. I'm really happy for it. When I heard the announcement, I was really happy. I know that the moment I get into the league, I can maybe travel all over the world and establish a proper fanbase.

Do you have any last words to Team Dignitas and the fans?

LiNkzr: If you see me, you can bring me doritos. Also shoutout to all of our sponsors for making this possible!

...I mean, you can. Alright guys! Make sure to check out LiNkzr on all his various social media and follow the Team Dignitas Overwatch team in the future!

LiNkzr's Twitter

LiNkzr's Twitch