Behind the curtain of every hero is a story. Behind every story is a self. The essence of heroes is an ambitious interview series that aims to uncover the nature of each hero by asking its most skilled specialists to reveal their thought processes. In doing so, we also learn a lot about the hero behind the keyboard. This time we ask: What is essential to “Tracer’s chase”?

“You need to look at Tracer like a clown, yes, a CLOWN !” -SoOn

Going far back into the beta days you were actually a support player for G2. The same thing is true for Taimou who played Mercy for k1ck. Another name in that category is Nevix. Looking back at it now, with the sheer talent you guys have it seems ridiculous that you started out that way. Why were extremely gifted mechanical players like you playing support back then? What made you decide to switch to the DPS role?

At the beginning of the game, I started to play on Team Unknown (with Winz, AKM, uNKOE, Kryw, Nadir and me) and I enjoyed to play off-tanks, like Roadhog, Zarya etc. So I told them “I want to play off-tank !” and then I started to play Zarya.

But Winz, who was playing Lucio, was bored playing this hero and said to the team “I’m done with Lucio, I really want to play something better” and I answered that he can play Zarya, I don’t really care, I just want to win.

So yeah, I played mainly Lucio for a while until we started team Graviton Surge where Kryw told me I’ve got a ton of potential and put me on main DPS. Kryw was an old teammate from ShootMania, it was one of his decisions to put me on DPS.

I personally became aware of you for the first time during the TakeOver tournament. Back then you were playing with Graviton Surge, a line-up that with small changes to the roster would later become Misfits. Interestingly all of your current teammates were also present and actually won the event with the old Rogue line-up. Even KnOxXx was there with Creation and NicO with melty. I was at the venue at the time which was a large gaming bar with a chill vibe, perfect for talking to players of other teams. Would it be fair to say that you got to know these guys there and this is where the seed for your current roster was planted?

No, I played a bit with KnoxXx from G2. Both Nico & KnoxXx I never heard of or talked to them before.

I only knew Winz & AKM who played ShootMania before, and I know uNKOE cause we were teammates on ShootMania for years, one of my best teammates. =D

Looking back at those matches at TakeOver the roles were all over the place and everyone was playing everything. Zebbosai was on McCree, Nevix on Lucio and Winston, Kryw on Pharah and Genji and you on Genji, Widowmaker and so much more. At the time I foolishly wouldn’t have predicted for you guys to finish 3rd as you were rather unproven at this point. You then won a bunch of online cups but bowed out narrowly in groups at the Atlantic Showdown to Fnatic. Looking at your achievements of all those first places and top 3 finishes, this must have been disappointing for you. Was that a wake-up call for you guys that things had to change? Do you think Misfits would’ve been as successful as it was if it was not for that upset?

At TakeOver, it was our first LAN event. We knew we’re good, but not enough to beat the top 2 teams at this time.

About Atlantic Showdown, we were playing with Zaprey, who was playing main DPS. He was young and it was his first event and during the group stages, he was too hyped. We didn’t like playing on the Internet, so the communication and skill wasn’t here for us, and we made a lot of mistakes. I was disappointed. I always do my best and after this event, we tried with the team to fix our problems.

These problems at Atlantic Showdown made Misfits successful, I’m 100% sure.

You continuously kept tinkering with the formula, moving towards the team that would eventually win Overwatch Open with two substitutions no less. It felt like the full potential of the roster was unlocked when you guys put Nevix on DPS and Zebbosai on Lucio. What was the process of finding your roles like? Was there a lot of talk needed to arrive at this stage? Did you play what was asked of you or did you actively participate in that discussion? Were you satisfied with playing McCree and Reaper?

We tried to fix problems after Atlantic Showdown, and we listened to each other. Zebbosai was still working and loved to call in-game, so we decided to put him on Lucio and lead us.

About Nevix, he was on the top of the ranking system, he loved playing Genji and we decided to put him on DPS because he got a huge potential.

Talking to each other is the key to come to this stage. Most of the time I and Zebbosai made the finals decisions. If we wanna try something, and I and Zebbosai agree, we are doing it.

It’s funny to play McCree and Reaper instead of Lucio of course, but when I play this role, like today, DPS is the most important role. Making a mistake is not allowed for the team and you can make the difference during the fight.

Let’s move towards the present and “Tracer’s chase”. I joked on twitter what your first team meeting must have looked like. Currently, you have a stellar record with Rogue by playing a phenomenal Tracer. What made you fall in love with her? What is it in her kit that speaks to you? Is Tracer the hero that fits your talents the best?

The first meeting was “What we gonna do?”. Play dive comp or the popular tank comp?

Skipjack was the first to try the tank comp together, but that didn’t work because the old Rogue lineup was always being aggressive and the tank comp needs to play passively.

I’m stubborn, and I said to the team we should play dive comp because from Misfits I knew, with a good coordination, we can beat the tank comp!

We took month to know what we were going to play, tank or dive.

I didn’t really fall in love with her. One day, we played dive comp with Misfits and Zebbosai said: “Play tracer now”. So I played what we told me to play :D

For me, Tracer is like Genji, a high skill-cap hero who can make the difference with your aim, tracking, bomb or positioning.

You’ve been playing her in most situations in the last couple of events. Do you think Tracer is strong enough to work in every meta? Do you think you will be able to play her for a long time?

You need to look at Tracer like a clown, yes, a CLOWN!

Because when you play Ana or McCree or Soldier or Roadhog, these heroes got a high impact on a team fight.

If a Tracer gets into the back lane, disturbs/bothers an Ana, McCree, Roadhog, Soldier, etc… theses players will focus instantly on Tracer and Ana stops healing her team. McCree and Soldier stop dealing damage to Tracer’s team. So yeah, it works on every meta and unless she’s nerfed, I will probably play her for a long time.

By the nature of what a flanker does, it feels like a lone wolf experience where you create your own plays. In a recent tweet you spoke vehemently against that, stating that you think Overwatch is a team game and that the spotlight was too much on you when your teammates set you up for success. What does Tracer need in order to be successful? What’s the communication like before you make a play?

Yes, Overwatch is a teamplay game. Any pro player can be God because they are playing versus a lower team, or because they’re playing with a huge Ana who’s healing him every fight for example.

I don’t know what Tracer needs, but Tracer gameplay for me, I need to stay away from the team, bother the enemy team, and then, when the fight started, I need to communicate and coordinate with my team to kill people faster, with Nico’s on Genji, or heal with Winz and uNKOE.

Your strategy of building ultimates and indeed your ultimate build rate and how quickly you fire them out when you have them (source via Winston’s lab) is massively outperforming your opposition. It makes you unique to most other Tracers we see in the pro scene. Oftentimes we see you just farming up on a Roadhog who then is healed and grants support ultimate charge. With that clear trade off, you must have extremely high confidence in your ability to pulse bomb and indeed it works amazingly well. Do you think that is a fair analysis? Is that playstyle something you had to convince your team about? Are you the kind of person that wants to make the game-deciding play or pick? How do you carry that burden?

We’re focusing Roadhog ‘cause he’s the most dangerous hero to a dive comp. He can hook someone at the beginning of the fight and we start at 5vs6.

But instead of that, I focus the front lane before the fight because they’re the closest target and if I do a lot of damage on Winston or the Rein shield, it is an advantage for my team.

Winston can die faster cause he’s jumping mid life, or AKM can free farm because the Rein shield is low.

I have no real playstyle, it’s just strategy and positioning. If my team said it’s better for me to focus Ana, then I will change my playstyle and focus only Ana ‘cause it work in scrims and that’s the best way for my team.

The burden is playing my best ‘cause if I waste my bomb, that makes a huge difference. I remember sometimes I clutched and won only cause I put my bomb at the best moment and finished them with low life.

How second nature is she to you at this point? Do you even have to look at your ability cooldowns anymore to know when they’re up? Can you judge the amount of damage you can deal accurately? Do you know when you press recall at which specific point you will land?

When you OTP [Editor’s note: One trick pony] Tracer, you don’t need to look at your ability, you just need to check one time to know when your cooldowns are done.

In some situations and duels, I know how much damage I can do, like if the Zarya already used her shield and doesn’t pay attention to me, I know I can kill her with 80 bullets.

I press recall automatically after putting a bomb, when I have no more dash versus Roadhog, McCree or Soldier with abilities, or when I took a ton of damage like from a Pharah direct hit rocket.

Could you share one piece of tech, like small gameplay trick of Tracer with us? Something you see few people do like for instance a specific combination of abilities or an aim-technique?

You need to be like an assassin, play behind them, bother them, and be close to an important target to use your bomb with one, two or three dashes.

SoOn shared an example of what he is describing and man, what an example it is.

You are asked to create an RPG character. Its purpose is to be the best Tracer player in the world. You get 10 skill points you can spread across different categories. There are no limitations as to how many points you can spend per category as long as the sum is 10.

a) Aim/Mechanical skill 4

b) Game sense 3

c) Shot calling 1

d) (Name your own categories — can also be more than one) Coordination 2

Complete the sentence.

If Rogue went to Apex Season 3…

…they will show some of the best matches in Overwatch.

Korean Overwatch is…

…beatable, like APAC season 1, but they’re so friendly. I love esports when I playing against them.

KnOxXx is the most…

…French guy in the team, drinking coffee every morning, and most salty guy ever :D

The best thing about being on a full French roster other than speaking the same language is…

…the atmosphere =)

Thanks a lot for your time! This space is for you to say whatever you like.

Thanks to you for conducting this interview, for Rogue and our sponsors, Metathreads, The Loop Hotels, Clutch Chairs, Leet, CVBN Law, and Steve Aoki to trust in our roster. To our fans, we love you =D

This interview was conducted by Sascha “Yiska” Heinisch. I’m currently looking for a publication to have my content. You can contact me on twitter @Yiskaout or via email Yiskaow@gmail.com.