Please briefly introduce yourselves to the readers.

sCsC: Hello, I’m Seungchul “sCsC” Kim, the assassin for Ballistix.

Noblesse: Hi, I’m Dojoon “Noblesse” Chae, the main tank for Ballistix.

I imagine you’ve had a pretty hectic schedule going from Power League and Super League to BlizzCon and Gold League. How does it feel to finally get a break?

sCsC: I feel pretty good about the 2016 season. We’ve all been staying indoors and spending time talking to each other on Skype.

Noblesse: Apart from occasionally hanging out with my friends, I’ve been happy staying at home. I tried many other games during the break, but I always found myself coming back to Heroes.

sCsC: Other games are not as fun. [laughs]

How long have you two known each other?

Noblesse: sCsC and I have known each other since back when we were in middle school, playing the original Starcraft. From the days of Starcraft 2 pro, TNL, and now to Ballistix. I never imagined we’d come this far.

TNL seemed to struggle against Snake, MVP Black, and other foreign teams in tournaments, but Ballistix doesn’t show any signs of stopping. What do you think changed?

Noblesse: I think that maybe TNL has better individual skills but less team synergy than Ballistix does. Although the members of TNL played together for a long time, we were less coordinated because we communicated less in the game. With Ballistix, we were able to play our games without too much pressure, probably because we didn’t set winning tournaments as our goal. There was more free communication and more teamwork.

sCsC: TNL didn’t have a dedicated off-tank player like Ballistix currently does with Jeongha. When TNL did well in tournaments, we often had two tanks. I think TNL may have had better individual skills but players didn’t fit their positions well.

TNL is known for Noblesse calling most of the shots. Did this change with Ballistix since teammates more freely communicate?

Noblesse: Jeongha and NacHoJin are the ones who actively participate in shotcalling. You know, my judgment can’t always be right. We didn’t assign anyone to shotcalling duty, but those two are the most vocal. Jeongha tends to be the dominant voice during teamfights.

Just last season, people were a little skeptical of Noblesse being on ETC, but the Chieftain is one of your main picks. What do you think changed?

Noblesse: ETC looks great when the team is winning, but looks pretty bad in defeat. [laughs] I’m not sure if I’ve improved my ETC plays. I guess because people kept telling me how good I was on ETC, I was able to manifest that in my plays and be more aggressive.

What’s the secret behind you having what seem to be “instawin” picks like Valla for sCsC and Muradin for Noblesse?

Noblesse: It may seem that way because of our draft strategy. I tell my teammates that we should play our best heroes. So if someone excels at a hero, I try to keep him on that hero. It’s the same reason I played Murandin and sCsC used to play Arthas a lot. I played many heroes with high win rates in scrims, so that we have comfortable picks going into the games.

sCsC: I’m not sure how good my Valla is yet. I also think it may seem that way because of my team draft comps that are centered around Valla. It’s similar to when I pick Tracer in a comp that revolves around her. That isn’t to say anyone could do it, though. [laughs] I think our strategy worked well in tournaments and I became more confident and better as a result.

It’s difficult to compare individual skills between other assassin players and myself. But I do believe my team adapted to the new meta and executed the one-man strategy the best. When we drafted a Medivh, Tassadar, and Zarya comp, Noblesse did everything he could to support me, so I could deal the maximum amount of damage. That’s why it’s difficult to evaluate individual skills alone.

You didn’t readily accept the newest meta in Super League, but rather featured innovative picks since BlizzCon. Do you think you’re slow to adapt to new metas? Or, did you not want to commit to something uncertain?

Noblesse: I don’t think we’re slow to adapt to a changing meta. We experiment a lot in scrims and only bring the best strategies to tournaments. If we face something we haven’t seen before, we adapt accordingly like we did against MVP Black in the Super League finals. After losing to the Alarak and Malfurion comp, some people on the team wanted to ban Alarak. At first glance, that comp looked as if Alarak was the core pick, but it was Malfurion’s follow-up that made it work. I thought we could deal with Alarak, though.

With the release of new heroes, what do you think changed in terms of the meta and draft?

Noblesse: I think teams have more strategies to work with due to the addition of more heroes. Unlike other teams, we used an all-in strategy by focusing all the heals and shields on a single assassin in past tournaments. Of course, there’s no one-size-fit-all comp, so it’s important to adapt according to the opponent.

Can you talk about some of the international teams you faced in BlizzCon and Gold League?

Noblesse: Fnatic is excellent at punishing poor positioning. We scrimmed the most against them before BlizzCon, and they gave us the toughest time.

I think NA draft is a little different. NA teams lead in the early game but can’t quite close out in the later stages of the game. I feel Dignitas is a team that suffers from inconsistency.

sCsC: I had high expectations for the Chinese teams, but we didn’t have too much trouble, perhaps because we scrimmed with them a lot. Dignitas felt similar to the Chinese teams.

Back in Season 2, MVP Black’s merryday famously said that the pool of viable supports is too limited. Since then, new battlegrounds and heroes have been added to the game. How do you feel about the update direction of Heroes?

sCsC: Let me start off with Braxis Holdout and Warhead Junction. From a pro’s perspective, and not a player’s one, I think those maps leave much to be desired. I didn’t feel comfortable playing in those maps because they are played drastically different from how other battlegrounds are played, and force certain comps and playstyles.

Noblesse: Braxis Holdout is where laning is more important than macro plays. We’re not weak in Braxis, but it’s a map that we aren’t the most excited about.

sCsC: I think it’s good that new heroes are consistently added to the game, but I wish they were well-balanced. Varian and Samuro rarely see professional plays, and Ragnaros seems too overpowered. Also, I hope there will be more viable ranged assassins; this patch was mostly geared toward tanks. I think the number of ranged assassins is rather small. Off the top of my head, I can only think of a couple heroes that can work as main damage dealers. The rest of them are highly situational. I hope the developers will balance the game by buffing underperforming heroes.

People often say MOBAs are a teamplayer game. What’s the most important aspect in forming a team?

Noblesse: Teamwork is definitely important, but I think teammates first have to be able to trust one another. Although there are many teams disbanding after a single disappointing season, I feel that they should be able to tell each other to play better in the next season. To be a better team, players have to actively exchange feedback. Those kinds of teams are the ones that get better and better.

Do you have a message to the rest of your teammates?

Noblesse: Let’s not be cocky just because we did well in this season and give our 100 percent next year, too.

sCsC: They went through a lot because of me, so I want to tell them sorry. You know, I switched positions. Despite everything, my teammates were there for me and we were able to do so well.

Any final words?

Noblesse: To be honest, we treated this season like we were playing for fun, with no pressure. Now, it’s come to a point where that’s not the case anymore. I hope to play well with my team in the next season. We’ll try our hardest and we hope you root for us.

sCsC: There’s someone who helped us in winning BlizzCon and Gold League. Minwoo “Nameless” Ahn summarized other teams’ draft and picked us up when we were down. I want to give a special thanks to him. Oh, there’s also a Ballistix mount coming out, and I hope many people enjoy it.