Rexi's sight on the HoN scene

Rexi, ingame leader of fnaticMSI sat down with GosuGamers for a few Questions. Read below why he prefers fiVe over LOAD, about their plans regarding World Cup and Dreamhack, and RotterDaM.


Hello Rexi, since the HoN Scene is very new, would you introduce yourself and your team, please?

- "Sup everyone, I'm Antti "Rexi" Saarenpaa, one of the Finns that play in FnaticMSI. I used to play competitive DotA but got bored and had a break; after a while, HoN came out, I tried it out, and found it more fun than DotA. Even the concept is pretty much the same. So now I'm here playing in this big eSport organization called FnaticMSI."

You have managed to qualify for the Neva and the Honcast tournament very fast. Who do you see as your biggest rival? KDe since they are located in Europe as well, or teams like fiVe or LOAD, who are said to be the best in the world?

- "That's quite a tricky question, I think we don't really have so called rivals, but I personally hate LOAD the most cause they always want to play on US servers even though fiVe, for example, is able to play on UK or FR servers. Basically, they always want to get the server advantage, which is unfair. When it comes to skill all three of those teams can compete for the top spot, including us of course *laughs*"

I agree with you about the four teams competing for the top spot. What do you think is the main reason? fiVe and LOAD were dominant over a long time, and KDe became very good with the addition of ex-DotA stars H4nn1 and LevenT. Do you think having played DotA before is a huge advantage?

- "Well new game and new teams. Like us, we were lacking some skilled players, until we got Fresh and Kay. It's not that simple, with 5 skilled players there usually are some disagreements that end up in flamewars. So you need to work on with the synergy in the team and you really need to keep the good atmosphere up even if you lose, so keep your heads calm folks! That's the biggest reason why new teams don't always work out. To come to the picks and bans, as it's a new game and new teams you need to figure out what play style works best for your team and after that you need to figure out good hero strategies. Hero draft plays a huge role in competitive HoN so since everything was quite new its hard to know what's the "best" strategy. That is pretty much the reason why there weren't that many top teams in early stage of HoN but the longer the scene is alive the more really good teams will arise. Of course DotA experience helps some, at least in mind games and on lane play since the concept is almost the same, even game mechanics are totally different."

Since you talked about team-synergy: RotterDaM is barely seen in your matches lately. He stated in a blog entry , written in March, that his connection is poor. Does he still suffer from that, or did his focus shift to Starcraft II? Will we see him returning to HoN, or are you remaining five the players to go?

- "To be honest, Rotterdam never was that skilled (no offense Rotti *smiles*) but he played decent support and we were really lacking support players. He also was our contact to fnatic in the very beginning. RotterDaM is awesome person but after the connection issues he had and also schedule issues it just didn't work out and he was already playing a lot Starcraft 2 so he decided to quit HoN and move to Starcraft 2. I don't think we will see RotterDaM in competitive HoN ever again; but who knows? We are not going to remain as a five player roster, we got a sixth player, he just needs to be announced officially"

With the launch of the WorldCup the biggest event so far announced. Do you think the system is suitable? Will Europe and America defend their roles as leading HoN regions there, or can we expect some weird Asian strategies, as we have seen in DotA numerous times?

- "I'm sure there will be some epic games between every top team from every country but the sad part is I think servers will play the biggest role. I personally can't remember if I have played against any Asian teams but I really hope we gonna see some unorthodox strategies from them since it helps us in the long run to look beyond one's own nose."

The other big event is Dreamhack Summer '10: Will you attend it? What are your expectations?

- "Yeah we are going to attend it and we are going there to win obviously, who wants to lose ?"

Nobody does, but someone always will. Now to challenge your creative side: What do you miss in HoN so far, what should S2 change to make HoN more suitable for big tournaments?

- "I really miss the old Scout with the Windwalk-like Vanish and Sniper-like ultimate (no % damage). Scout was meant to be heavy ganker, not a farming carry. Well S2 should get more partnerships with old DotA sites, just like they did with MYM and Gosugamers that will make HoN scene grow fast. Dunno if there's any real changes they should do, if they can somehow get servers where US/EU players can play with lets say 150ping, that would be amazing."

Thanks for taking your time. If you have any shout outs, this is your time.

- "Well shout outs to my epic fanboys if I have any ;'(, for KATSIE<3, my sweet teammates, obviously for whole HoN community and of course to FnaticMSI and our sponsors: MSI, SteelSeries and BigFoot Networks."