Guard’s RamBeau: “I love making people smile and laugh. I love pumping up the crowd. We get to play in front of the crowd two to three times a year, sometimes not even that. I’m just trying to make the most of it.”

RamBeau is one of the ALGS' biggest characters, and his team The Guard are heading into the Grand Finals after a convincing 5th place in the winner's bracket. Esports.gg spoke to the charismatic controller player ahead of the final match of the ALGS Split 1 Playoffs.

Also be sure to check out or ALGS Split 1 Playoffs Hub for more interviews and content.

Maly: Fifth place. Massive. Was there any doubt in your mind at any time?

RamBeau: "I think we were pretty confident. In esports, in Battle Royale, there's always a little self-doubt because at times anything can happen. You never really know what to expect sometimes going in. But we've been playing fairly well. 

I think we played better today than we played in the past two days. Which is nice, that's what we want to do to get into the Grand Finals. So yeah, I mean honestly, going in, we felt pretty confident. We knew if we played our playstyle, our game we'd be alright."

Maly: I talked to a few pros at this event like SSG's Frex and Moist Esports' Wxltzy. They're saying the Seer and Horizon meta is very uninspiring. What do you think?

RamBeau: "Yeah I think it's very very mid. I kind of preferred Wattson Wraith Pathfinder back in the day. Something kind of like that. Or even back in the old old days there was Octane Bloodhound and Gibby was a really good meta. And that was a lot of fun because that was still a lot of gunfighting, it was still a lot more methodical.

In a way, Seer is just like, throw my ult down and I know where everybody is at 24*7. It's not the most exciting meta. I wouldn't say it's the worst but it's like whatever to me."

Maly: As a player playing in that condition where they know where you are, how does that affect how you play the game?

RamBeau: "Oh yeah, I mean it's everything. Our comp, we don't play Seer. Really the only counter to Seer is to have another Seer. So you can't really do anything. You just have to crouch in the corner (laughs). That's all you can really do when you're in a Seer ult. You just have to wait it out and hope that they don't get angles and push into you."

Maly: You recently switched from Valkyrie to Wattson mid-season. Why'd you make that change?

RamBeau: "I had a lot of experience with Valk at ALGS Champs last summer. And you know, Keon just started playing with us, just started his comp career. So he doesn't have the experience right now to be that off-angle person or that aggressive Valk that I have the experience on for my Champs. So we just made the swap. He is capable of doing it but I just had the most experience doing it at the time and we just needed to swap something up.

We made the swap when we had a 14th place or something and we just wanted to try things. The first time we swapped we got 1st in the Pro League so yeah it was just basically about the experience really." 

Maly: I saw in an ALGS interview you did that you said sometimes you had a bit of self-doubt, but that after Pro League it gave you new confidence. Has that carried over into this tournament or is every event a new beginning?

RamBeau: "You go in definitely with a little confidence. Sometimes it's from a past tournament or something else. But when you are on a fresh slate, it's kind of like we expect to do good but at the same time, anything can happen. It's nice to be able to build up to play nice through the whole weekend or the whole tournament. So yeah, the first few days, we did decent enough to get to the winners' bracket and then today we played decent enough to make it to Grand Finals. 

We didn't have to sweat anything. It's very stressful sometimes being on the borderline to qualify so we didn't have to do that this weekend which was nice. We got a lot more confidence going into tomorrow than we did going in if that makes sense."

Maly: Hakis of Alliance was saying results of group stage do not matter as long as you make finals. Is that the mentality in general for all the players?

RamBeau: "In the group stage, your placement doesn't matter, it's just points. It's like of course you want to do really well and getting first is really cool but at the end of the day the group stages doesn't really mean anything.

We (The Guard) kind of just had the mentality that 'Hey let's qualify and then we get to winners and the lobby will be super sweaty. They'll play to our playstyle'. Because groups are like a clown fiesta at times. There are just a lot of teams running around feeling it out. It doesn't really play out to our playstyle, the way we want the lobbies to play out. So yeah, we just knew we needed to get into winner's bracket, and then our playstyle would thrive and we can move on to finals."

Maly: How did you want it to play out?

RamBeau: "We like it where it's a lot of teams in the zone. A lot of teams rotating, 18-20 teams in Zone 3, and Zone 4. Because nobody is willing to make those stupid plays. Even in our region (NA), a lot of teams just like to run around. They just turn their brains off and they just push, push, push. Oh I see a guy! Push, push, push! That kind of mentality. 

When the lobby is not doing things like that, we have to play to our advantage. Today that happened, we won a game and got second." 

Maly: I was talking to Frexs from SSG and he was saying in the current meta people are just walking around and people are just dying. They're so confused and he's like 'Oh that's nice, let's pick up some points'.

RamBeau: "Yeah I mean it's like that in NA and in our Pro League and our scrims or other tournaments, you go to Zone 3 and there's like 11 squads and we're like 'Oh! alright!'"

Maly: So what's been unique about this tournament? Which team has impressed you from your lobbies?

RamBeau: "I think NRG really impressed me from the winner's bracket. I knew Sweet is really insane IGL and Nafen and Gild are really good players. So I was really impressed with them and I kind of saw that coming. EXO was really impressive so far. Pulverex was also impressive. Off the top of my head, E6 has been really really impressive.

KSwinnie is a really good friend of mine so I'm super excited to see him in the Grand Finals. I think some people on the outside don't realize that even if you go to the bottom 20 in such a tournament, it's still super impressive to make it honestly. I think anybody that makes the LAN is impressive in its own way."

Maly: You're obviously a big character in the scene. You're like Apex Legends' Boaster. I found in general that esports players, if their real life is very comfortable and content they don't need their game to be the be-all and end-all of their happiness. Is that how it is with you?

RamBeau: "Yeah, I always said that if Apex would end tomorrow, I'd just go back to doing what I kind of was. That's fine with me. My quality of life before Apex was really good. So I kind of just want to have fun in Apex. Just smoke it out as long as I can make it last, have fun with it, and then the day it ends, it's not like the end for me. I'd just kind of go on and still do what I used to do and have fun. And yeah, I've always managed to have a good balance and everything and have fun no matter what I was doing." 

Maly: What about the showmanship? Does that come naturally or do you do it for the crowd? 

RamBeau: "It just energizes the crowd. It's kind of like how it's always been. You know just kind of upbeat. I'm a happy person. I love making people smile and making people laugh. I love pumping up the crowd. We get to play in front of the crowd two to three times a year, sometimes not even that. Just trying to make the most of it."

Maly: What's your best memory from Apex so far?

RamBeau: I would say when I did that clutch play in ALGS Champs sure. It was the first game of the Grand Finals when I valked up and I came down and won the game. That was easily the best play in my career. I'm hoping I can do that again but it will be tough because it'll probably go down as one of the best plays in Apex history."

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