Hey guys! Dazerin here and we're back with another Player Spotlight this time for Araussi ! I'll be flying out to DH ATL tomorrow so there might be a gap between the next spotlight till then, enjoy!

 

 

So first off how did you get into Rocket League?

I was on twitch pretty often and found a few of the bigger streamers playing Rocket League. It looked fun, so I bought it with my friends. It ended up being the only game I played for the next few months.

 

What inspired your name and more importantly your profile picture?

I’ve always wanted an alias that was hard to pronounce and would confuse people. I mixed up a bunch of letters and the outcome ended up being the weirdest name in the RL community. As for my profile picture, I once googled ‘meme’ looking for a new steam picture and “Hide The Pain” Harold became my identity.

  

Outside of RL, do you play any other games a considerable amount? Have you ever competed in gaming for another game?

I’ve always played World of Warcraft on and off, as well as other Blizzard games. The only other game I competed in was League of Legends, with my highest ranking being Diamond 1 in Season 3.

 

How long have you been playing Rocket League?

I’ve been playing Rocket League since the week it came out, however I did take a break from October 2015 to January 2016. I currently have around 2500 hours played.

 

People have described players around your skill level as ‘bubble’ players meaning players who are just outside the top 8 bubble. I know this might be a weird question but how does that make you feel being known as a bubble player?

People might see it as an insult, but I look at it optimistically. I know for a fact I’m not as good as NRG, G2, The Muffin Men, etc. But being a bubble player means I’m one of the few competitive players that are closest to them. Being only a few steps behind the pros puts a smile on Harold’s face :).

 

 

Do you prefer scrims to ranked matchmaking? If so, why? 

When practicing with a team, we use ranked matchmaking as a filler while we try to find a team for scrims. Scrims are a lot more serious and give you competition that you would find during the final rounds of a tournament without much at stake. Scrims are a much more efficient way for practicing with a team.

 

How many hours do you put into playing a day?

Nowadays, I’ve been coming home from work and playing in a weekly tournament or at least scrimming with other teams. This usually lasts 3-5 hours. If I wasn’t working full-time I would probably put in a few more hours per day since the next RLCS season is fast approaching.

 

What the biggest thing you’re looking foward to in this upcoming RLCS season.

The biggest thing I’m looking forward to would be the tier 2 of RLCS. Now, bubble teams can make an impact during league play and make a name for ourselves. It will also bring in more of the larger organizations, as it would guarantee publicity for more teams.

 

When did you know you had the ability to play rocket league at a competitive and almost professional level?

The main thing that brought me into the competitive scene was my Season 1 rank. I was high Gold 3, right under platinum for most of the season. Other players started to notice me and ask to play in ESL together. Once I started finishing top 8 or top 4 in most ESL tournaments, I started taking the game a bit more seriously. I jumped teams a couple of times and here we are now.

 

You’ve played on about 9 different teams up till today talk to me about your competitive past and the people you’ve teamed up with in the past.

Get ready for a wall of text bois. My first team was called Impact, we were just a bunch of people that found each other on reddit within the first 2 months of the game coming out. It was Ticon, Sevas, Bigg Dunksley, FrisK, Outcold, Dreamer and I. We had 2 teams called Red and Blue. This team was by far the most fun to be on, as we were all still learning the game and progressing through ESL tournaments. My next team was with TheClasse and Gordito Bandito, we were called No Boost Zone. A small organization named Elysian picked us up for RLCS Season 1. The best part of being on this team was playing in the first RLCS qualifiers on stream in front of thousands (if you search up ‘Elysian esports’ on youtube, it’s the first video). My next team was for that same RLCS season, but for the 2nd qualifier. The team was called Chef, and it was with Jerry and Hefty. They were a team for a while before I joined them, but our personalities clicked instantly. We had lots of fun, but we never really took anything too serious. I then joined ‘No Capes!’ with Emptiness, Tyme, Wildee and Wlil. I learned a lot from this team during RLCS Season 2. Emptiness taught me a lot about the game, as he took on the coaching role while playing as our captain. Next we have Retrograde, an organization created by former teammate TheClasse. It also included one of my first teammates, Bigg Dunksley. I knew this team would be incredibly fun to play with, as it had Hesh_from_texas, Icicicle and Sadkoala. Some called us the meme-team xD. I didn’t actually end up doing RLCS with Retrograde, as we slowly fell apart because of our lackluster results. For RLCS Season 3, I teamed up with familiarleaf and gorocksgo on ANIXIA. We did alright during qualifiers, but ended up losing in the last few rounds. I stuck with familiarleaf as we became good friends and picked up Yirps and Troops. We qualified for the Mock-it Championship Series and got signed to EanixGG. Although ‘No Capes!’ was my highest Power Ranking at 9th, I feel like Eanix was the best team I’ve been on because of our competitive nature. Wall of text finito.

 

What’s your current team situation?

As Eanix recently disbanded, I am currently looking for a team for RLCS Season 4. I have a few options for teams that I’ve been playing with, and will announce my new team within the next couple of weeks :).

 

What are some teams you think viewers should watch out for during the upcoming RLCS qualifiers?

The new Fibeon A squad is one to watch out for, as I’ve had a harder time competing against them than some other RLCS teams. They are a good bet to make it to tier 1 RLCS league play. Another team that could turn some heads is Lights Out! They have been around the bubble for a few weeks now and are putting up some good results against other bubble teams. There are still a lot of free agents that could form really good teams, so as for right now, I’d say any team Satthew joins.

 

What’s your biggest challenge going into RLCS season 4?

I think my biggest challenge is finding a team that I enjoy playing with as much as I play well with. I think that if you enjoy playing with a team, the results will come naturally if you all have a competitive drive.

 

If you could give players any kind of advice as to how to improve in Rocket League what would it be?

The only advice I was ever given is to play more Rocket League, and so I did. A lot of players that are breaking into the bubble have found a few things they are good at, and worked on those specific things. Fixing all of the fundamentals you are struggling with will come naturally while playing more, but becoming an expert on a few tricks will put you ahead of an all-around player. This isn’t a good idea for competitive, however your rank will increase significantly. As a result, you will face better players and learn quickly.

 

I think the Rocket League competitive scene has evolved immensely since season one. Do you think we will continue to evolve as time goes on? Do you have any ideas as to how?

I have a feeling there are some things in Rocket League that we have yet to surface, such as perfect boost consumption and movement around the field while picking up boost pads. I also believe the game will become too predictable, and the meta would become to place the ball into the most random area possible to catch others off-guard. For a small example, for the past few months players have been sitting on the side wall waiting for a defensive clear from the opponent’s corner because they think the ball would come straight to them. Now, the meta is to take the ball slowly and turn it away from the wall while clearing. This would be easier with a diagram, but hopefully I explained it well enough. Also, there are probably some mechanical tricks that we haven’t figured out yet. Kind of like the ‘wave-dash’ or ‘half-flip’ tricks that players figured out months ago.

 

Thanks guys for reading! Expect more soon!