TSM Reps: “I really don’t like Digital Threats… You really don’t stand a chance against it”

The ALGS Championship is approaching its finale, and despite a slow start, Team SoloMid and Jordan “Reps” Wolfe are still in the mix, having secured their spot in the Finals after an outstanding performance in the Winner’s Bracket. 

Esports.gg sat down with Reps on Friday, September 8, as TSM took a well-deserved break from the hectic action of the ALGS Championship. He spoke about this year’s ALGS, TSM’s performance on the first two days, and who his biggest rivals are.

We’re here in the Resorts World Arena, Birmingham UK for the third LAN of the year. How do you like the venue and the location here compared to the Copper Box in London? Or do you have some fondness for the Copper Box given that you’ve had a lot of success there?

Jordan “Reps” Wolfe: “Definitely like the Copper Box still because it was nice winning there. Then coming back, [for Split 2 Playoffs] I felt like we belonged there and like we were going to win again, but unfortunately got second place the second time there. 

But I actually think this venue is nicer, but it’s just a little more out away from like, you know, the town and the city. So there’s a lot less food options, for example, around us. But I think the venue itself is really nice. And It’s nice being so close to the hotel right next to the arena and everything.”

Obviously we’ve had three LANs now in the UK this year. Do you like that consistency or would you like to see more travel? Like in 2022 we had Stockholm, we had North Carolina for the Championship. Do you like that? Or do you like this kind of consistency coming to the same place?

TSM Reps: “I definitely think it would be better to be going to different places every LAN because you got to think about the viewers. For example, if you don’t live in the UK, who really wants to fly to the UK, to London, for example, for the last two LAN, to fly to the Copper Box? And watch one Lan, and then a couple months later go back to the same exact spot. You’re probably at the same hotel, you’re really not experiencing anything new except for the events.”

Talking about the games a bit: On the first day for Group A & B, You guys went out in the final circle on Game Three, World’s Edge. Then Game Four, another win, back to back. When you have those back-to-back wins, does that take a lot of pressure off you? Does it change how you want to play for the rest of the stage? 

TSM Reps: “I wouldn’t say it necessarily changes how we want to play on the stage. It definitely relieves a lot of pressure because, you know, like, “okay, we’ve made a good amount of points, like we’re on track to being qualified for the Winners,” there’s no pressure on us for going to Loser Bracket. But we definitely don’t change how we play. I guess it just makes us feel better because we have that pressure gone of away that we could maybe go down to loser bracket so like compared to that though, the pressure is less.”

Later in the day, youhad the A&D Groups match; you start strong, looking pretty good, another win. But then two games in a row, no points, not really getting anything going. How do you reset your mental after a pair of games like that?

TSM Reps: “I mean you just gotta. You don’t really have time to dwell on a bad game. You just kinda have to look at what happened, figure out what went wrong, talk about it with your team, realize, “hey guys, like we can’t make that mistake again, we need to learn from this mistake.” And then you just go into the next game knowing like all it takes is one good game for us to get back to the top.”

Day 2, just yesterday now, it seemed like that set with the A&C grouping, you struggled a bit more with the teams in that. There was obviously Optic, Oxygen, Fnatic, DarkZero, Disguised, all in the mix, and you were kind of slipping down the ranks a bit. Did the rest of group A step up, or was caused by group C coming in and causing chaos with everything?

TSM Reps: “It was us beating ourselves. I think we came in with a lack of energy. It just didn’t seem like we were trying as much as we usually are. Maybe it was because it was a late-night set. Maybe we’re tired. I’m not really sure what it was, but it took us a couple games to, you know, get going a little bit and just couldn’t really get much going. We also got a little unlucky with crafters, not having Digital Threat in the crafter, we didn’t get a single one.

But yeah, I really think we just all individually made a couple mistakes that, you know, made us perform how we did.” 

So having that day off now, I mean, obviously, you’ve got the media responsibilities today, it’s not a complete day off. But does having this day to reset kind of and go over those mistakes, does that help or does it interrupt your momentum? Would you prefer to play all four days or all five days?

TSM Reps: “So I think after having a fairly rough day yesterday, it is nice to have that little reset because now we get a day just to chill, reset, VOD review a little bit, watch the loser bracket, take some notes, see what other teams are doing. Just polish up our game and be ready for winners. So I think it was good for us to have that little reset rather than us having to go to bed annoyed with how we performed and then wake up and have to play the next day right away.”

So, talking about those teams that obviously you faced recently, is there one team in particular, maybe apart from DarkZero, that is kind of your kryptonite this tournament so far? One that’s you’r kind of butting heads with, you’re struggling with?

TSM Reps: “I honestly think it’s only DarkZero. I mean it feels like everyone apart from DarkZero we’re okay with.”

Who’s personally your biggest rival in the scene right now, the player you really love to beat.

TSM Reps: “I’d say probably Zero because he plays a lot of the same characters I do and he’s also like IGLing for his team. You know, he’s had so much success with DarkZero and you know, he’s won a lot of LANs. So, probably him. I definitely want to do better than him.”

You were Split 1 champion, you were Split 2 runners up. Are you going to slip down that podium any further? Or do you think you’re back on top? 

TSM Reps: “No, the plan is definitely to be back on top. *laughs* We’re not planning on going any lower.”

Okay, Brilliant! To end on just a more general question about Apex at the moment. How do you enjoy the balance of Apex right now? I’ve heard some reports that this season is very good, really good balance. And then I’ve heard some who say that’s not the case. Is there anything you want nerfed, changed, removed, or are you pretty happy with the situation? 

TSM Reps: “I don’t really like the balance right now. I think… I really don’t like Digital Threats. And everybody’s running Bangalore, and then if you get a crafter you have Digi in the crafter, you’re just so much stronger than every other team in the game. You really don’t stand a chance against it. If you have three Digis versus a team with none, you actually don’t stand a chance in the fight. It’s basically impossible to win the fight. 

Other than that I don’t like I also don’t like the beacon changes. Because it adds a lot more RNG to the game. And there was a good example in one of the games. I don’t think it was our group, but there was a game where it looked like it was going to be a Skyhook zone from zone one. But five teams didn’t have beacons or something, and there were five teams just sitting in all the Skyhook buildings, and the zone was in staging. So nobody was even in the zone. And that just comes from having the lack of beacons and more RNG in the game.” 

Okay, well that’s all the questions I’ve got. Thank you very much for your time. And good luck with the rest of the tournament.

TSM Reps: “Thank you very much, I appreciate it.” 

TSM and Reps will be back in action for the ALGS Championship Finals on September 10. Stick with esports.gg for more Apex Legends news and info!