Quincy MSS: “I was actually thinking, ‘Am I actually gonna keep playing?'”

Quincy Crew continue their dominating streak in the NA DPC. After getting yet another 2-0 over Wildcard Gaming, the team is in a great spot to make it to the upcoming Arlington Major. With this win, the team still have to face huge challenges in facing Evil Geniuses, and Nouns Esports to finish first this tour.

Game one was almost exactly even for most of the match. Wildcard had a faster paced draft with Chaos Knight and Dawnbreaker. Quincy Crew tried to play the longer game with a scaling Dragon Knight and Medusa. Though both teams traded kills, after 30 minutes, the Yawar "YawaR" Hassan Medusa got out of control and Quincy blew open the game. The second game took a similar path. The game was largely even and went slightly in favor of Wildcard for a time being. They had the favored late game draft with a Luke "Yves" Wang Faceless Void. However, after a key teamfight, Quincy started to assert control. This would eventually snowball into a win for them.

The panel then talked to Arif "MSS" Anwar after the game. Neal "tsunami" Khandheria first asked how it felt to be back with his former teammates and if anything had changed. MSS responded that "things changed but the vibe is still there. We still got that synergy going a little bit." He followed up saying that "we were a bit rusty in the beginning, and thinking we're kind of feeling it now. I think it's pretty easy to kind of mesh together again. But I think personally, individually we all kind of grew up.

Tsunami then asked what changes MSS had experienced personally. MSS said "honestly, I did a whole lot of nothing. I didn't really play a lot. I was spending time with a lot of my friends." He continued: I was actually thinking, 'Am I actually gonna keep playing?' Very dark thoughts were going in my head at one point. It was a very dark time, to put it bluntly."

tsunami then asked if he could clarify the timeline for when he was thinking like that, because of his stand-in stint on Evil Geniuses. MSS said that "it was before standing in. You know it was like that period where you don't get on a team and you're kind just like alone. You don't really have anyone to talk to and stuff. You're not sure where your future is headed and stuff." MSS then elaborated on his stay with EG: "when EG asked me to stand in I was really bored, so I just wanted to play any completive game I could. After standing in for EG, after standing in for Quincy, I kinda got that fire back."

tsunami then wanted to know if MSS had considered joining a team in any other regions besides NA. MSS told him that "initially I wanted to play on a European team. That kinda fell through. I one point I was even looking at a SEA team but it just like never progressed. At the end of the day I just ended up with nothing, which I think was important during the break in hindsight." He explained that "I needed the mental reset, just to refresh myself cause I was in a very dark place. I had no motivation, no fire. I didn't really find Dota fun for a decent chunk of time."

Next, Mira "Ephey" Riad asked the next logical question: is Dota fun again? MSS said that "I think Dota is fun. I even play pubs now it's crazy!" He continued: "that was one of my flaws as a player before, I just didn't play pubs. I think it reflected in my gameplay, but now I'm getting my pubs in. They're not destroying my soul or my will to live. I'm enjoying playing with the boys again. I enjoy playing with Fata. Dota is fun!"

Ephey followed up by asking about MSS' opinion of team captain Adrian "Fata" Trinks and of MSS' comments that he was one of the Dota greats. MSS said "yeah of course, he's just been in the scene a long time. He's been hanging with the top dogs, honestly for pretty much the entirety of Dota." Ephey then asked if MSS had learned anything from Fata so far. MSS responded: "I think he brings something that we haven't really gotten from any other captain. He kinda puts us in check, you know. He also addresses stuff that needs to be addressed, very bluntly." He elaborated that "[Fata]'s also very vocal in the game. That's something we haven't really had in the past. So I think those are like, the big changes. He's helping us a lot. I think the direction we're going in, it really shows. I think it's helping us all improve, slowly."

Kevin "Purge" Godec asked the last question of the interview, if the break was really all that MSS needed or if it had anything to do with the patch. MSS said that "I think it was just the break. I don't think it was the patch cause that patch didn't really do much. I think sometimes you just have too much and you just need a reset. I think it's not just for me, I think a break helps a lot of people, whether they realize it or not." He then expanding on that advice: "I encourage you, if you're gonna grind Dota, give yourself some time to do whatever other 'side missions', have some fun. Hang out with some people eventually cause you really need balance in life."

Will MSS's break be enough to put Quincy in the top spot in NA. Continue to follow MSS' and Quincy Crew's rise in NA right here on esports.gg!