zeal on playing for Xtreme Gaming: “The Chinese team expects more from me, and sometimes I feel the pressure.”
Xtreme Gaming offlaner Nicholas Lim “zeal” En Han spoke in an interview after advancing to the playoffs of PGL Wallachia Season 9 about his preparations for the tournament, the differences between teams from China and Southeast Asia, and admitted that he often watches replays of Evgeny “Noticed” Ignatenko.
On preparing for the tournament
We trained for 9 or 10 days in China, and in Europe we only had one or two days. Then the tournament started, and we trained in the evenings.
[Did the practices go well, too? Did you think you’d go 3–0?]
Not really.
On Dark Seer
For us, Dark Seer is still strong, but his win rate wasn’t that high, so we had some doubts and decided to try playing against him.
On the difference between teams from Southeast Asia and China
When I played on a team from Southeast Asia, we had a family-like atmosphere. In China, we’re like brothers too, but here, it feels more strict. I don’t quite feel like myself.
[What do you mean by “stricter”? Do you have to, for example, play a certain number of pubs a day?]
No, there’s no set number of pubs I’m required to play. It’s just that, I guess, the Chinese team expects more from me, and sometimes I feel the pressure.
About my teammates at Xtreme Gaming
They’re all very experienced, so I mostly just need to focus on my micro and macro play, and the rest will sort itself out.
On working on my game
I’ve played a lot in pubs, and lately I’ve also been watching Noticed a lot. His replays helped me brush up on some of the basics. Now I feel more confident on the lane, because I used to have problems with that.
[Is there anything specific about Noticed’s playstyle that you noticed in his replays?]
Basically, now I just buy Healing Salve.
Xtreme Gaming defeated Pibbles Corp, Conventus Stellarum, and LGD Gaming in the group stage of PGL Wallachia Season 9. The Chinese team lost only one map. Team Yandex also advanced to the playoffs with a 3-0 record.
Photo: PGL.
