Marty "Lazerchickenzzz" Strenczewilk, the owner of Splyce, reminded me of Orgrimmar PvP in World of Warcraft. There, you learned how to enjoy triumphs, gain from failures, and most importantly, embrace the value of continuous challenges. You could always find someone who'd be more than welcome to face next challenge to learn from.

"I was an esports fan for a long time, starting from competitive World of Warcraft 10 years ago."

As he mentioned WoW to explain how he decided to form an esports team, I thought it was nostalgia that took me back to Orgrimmar. After listening to his stories, however, I realized that it wasn't just nostalgia. He might not be a player for Splyce, but he was still looking for new challenges, just like the regulars outside Orgrimmar.

When Splyce wanted to become a proper esports organization from a hobby website, they needed more funds. Usually, the money would come from someone's pocket, bank, or even venture capitalists; Splyce wasn't like that. Instead, as an organization that strives to triumph over other teams, they took a more competitive and challenging path - They won their funding through winning the grand prize of a venture competition.

"In the beginning, we didn't buy the teams - we didn't have the ownership for our CS:GO, World of Warcraft and Smash team. We were not funded by a venture capital either. Instead, we won the top prize of $25,000 in 2015 Rochester Venture Challenge, and we used that as seed money to buy the teams."

The challenges continued for Splyce and Marty, as owning an organization was a continuous fight against budget.

"Some games are getting close to earning more than they are spending, but many are still spending much more than they earn, especially League of Legends. Salary of LoL players is generally very high, so not many teams can operate at a gain while avoiding relegation.

There are even teams that that operate mainly with the stipend provided by Riot. It's understandable because nobody really wants to spend beyond that money due to the danger of relegation. However, keeping good players will need a lot more money that what Riot is currently giving out as stipend."

To meet their goal, Marty was interested in further developing organizations that would unite the teams, such as Professional eSports Association (PEA), even after some trouble that happened along the way.

"PEA is necessary for the North American esports scene, and so is World Esports Association (WESA) based on Europe. There's a saying that goes "a rising tide lifts all boats." That's what happened with the NFL. By coming together, teams get more opportunity and stronger as a unit.

Sports teams are media company. It's not just about playing sports anymore. To leverage this in esports, Splyce and everyone needs to get together. This includes NA's PEA and EU's WESA: In the long term, there needs to be collaboration between the organizations, at least between EU and NA. Although there were some stumbling blocks that became public, they are just learning experiences. Everyone is thinking in terms of 10 years or more, and I believe PEA is doing the right job in long term."

Even as he just talked about how he formed the organization and how he fought back against difficulties, I could sense some competitiveness in him. As he started to talk to us all about the goals and challenges that he would face as the owner of Splyce, I was more and more convinced that he had that passion,

"My ultimate goal is to make Splyce a North American brand but with a global reach. Right now though, we are focusing on Boston and the Bruins to give the region a home esports team. Also, most people watch multiple games with esports, so I want people to be fans of Splyce for multiple games too.

Until now, teams didn't really last long, but now that we have settled down into solid organizations, we see people being attached to teams. We have a lot of Call of Duty fans, and when we branched out to Halo, we saw many CoD fans supporting our Halo team too.

We may not have players like Bjergsen in TSM, but we still want to see more fans, and we want them to be fanatics that support everything that we do."

Then he said something that made me sure that he was one of 'us' - a competitive spirit who enjoys challenges like the regulars of Orgrimmar. It was a sentence that he personally related to, and was also a mantra for the entire organization.

"What did you do to make a new Splyce fan today?"

Creating loyal fans is a challenge for esports teams. It's not just about performing better than the other teams, but it's also about being a team that people can support even as players and games change. Having good players will help, but the management surrounding those players will matter just as much. Marty knew that it will be a challenge, but it's a challenge that he would be willing to face.

"It's about making lifetime fans. There are teams like NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers that has fans going 'all-in' - they even buy Steelers toaster. If you are a Splyce fan though, there aren't a lot of options yet. We are still happy with where we are today, because it also means that we have a lot of growth opportunity. I want to 'Splyce up' their lives and turn them into a Splyce fanatic."

When he told us how his Call of Duty team did him proud, we could see how thrilled he was when his challenge to the Call of Duty scene went well - well enough for them to be supported by entire Europe.

"Last year, we have expanded into European Call of Duty scene. We took a rookie team and they managed to qualify for the World Championship. CoD is a game dominated by North American teams, and we were only a newcomer; not many expected us to do well. Despite that, we went beyond expectations.

After some roster changes, we went into the World Championship. Although our goal was to get to the Top 8, we immediately got knocked out into Loser's Bracket. What happened next was something that no other European teams have done before - We went straight towards the finals against Team EnVyUs. So, we had European fans and other teams cheering for us, and EnVy had American fans and teams supporting them.

Although we lost, European CoD fans were really proud of us, and we proved that European teams can stand up to American teams in Call of Duty."

Of course, it wasn't all glory and fame for Splyce. Marty had a mistake that cost him the trust of his previous CS:GO roster. However, He didn't mark it off as a failure. Instead, he told us how he learned from his failure and vowed not to make the same mistake again with his new CS:GO and other teams.

"I vowed that I'll stay connected to teams. To let the players know that I really care for them, I spend time with players as much as possible. Last Friday, I went to watch a Dodgers game with my CS:GO team. I wake up at dawn to watch my Korean SC2 players playing. The players know that I'm always looking after them, and I want to recognize if anything is going wrong as soon as possible.

Also, I want to say that I haven't yet figured out everything that I need to know to run a team well. Fans can expect their team to be run perfectly - I would expect the same as a fan. However, I just want to let everyone know that we will make mistakes on the way to perfection. We don't know the formula to build a winning team yet, and it's going to be different for each games. In the end, a team with good staff and enough patience will see growth with problems being fixed in the long term."

As we wrapped up the interview, we asked Marty about anything there was anything that he'd like to say. It was then I was sure once again why I had been reminded of Orgrimmar. From starting the organization, trying something new, learning from mistakes and feeling the success; he always welcomed challenges, and the feelings that he got from them. When I heard him throw down a challenge for all Splyce fans, I saw someone who'd fit right into the regulars in front of Orgrimmar.

"I'd be really excited and happy when we get fans who can challenge me as the number one fan - because that would mean that I have succeeded to create hardcore Splyce fanatics."

Even as he left his competitive WoW days behind, even though he was an esports team owner instead of a player; he was still looking for a challenge that he will take on.

"I will always be the number one fan of my players, and I love fans that challenge me on that."