MSS: "North America has a small player base, little to no resources or support"

The final part of the DPC Ranked Season 2021/2022 is gradually coming to an end. Quincy Crew are performing as part of DPC NA 2021/2022 Tour 3: Division I. The team occupies the first line in the standings, having won at the moment in 5 matches and not losing a single map. Blix spoke to Arif 'MSS' Anwar, position 4 in the roster. Below are the most interesting fragments of the interview.

On how he spent his time outside the rating season:

Most of the time passed for the purpose of a psychological reset and self-reflection, when a lot of thoughts were spinning in my head about whether I wanted to continue playing or not. I thought about returning to my studies, but as you can see, I decided against it. You could say that I had a downtime of 6 months and I am entering Tour 3 with fresh ideas. I'm also quite motivated, so this pause has had a good effect on me.

On thoughts about ending a career:

Of course. At some point, I thought about continuing my studies. Sometimes I sat and thought: “Is that all? If yes, then this is an extremely dubious way to end a career. Combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, I was very depressed, but now you can say that I was able to pull myself together. Now everything is fine with me.

On the development of top teams in North America:

To be honest, in general, not much growth has happened, if you look objectively, since the same teams are in the top. They just switched places due to the fact that the only team that didn't change was TSM, who are constantly getting better. Then EG and QCY made lineup changes that didn't work, resulting in them performing worse. And while they were getting worse, TSM was only getting better. But the top 3 is still the same: EG, QCY and TSM. There is some growth in terms of the fact that everyone is still developing, but it is not there in the sense that the leaders are all the same teams.

About the situation with the Tier-2 and Tier-3 scene in the region:

North America has a small player base. There are practically no resources and support here. It is difficult to expect rapid growth without more support.

On how the game changed in position 4 before his break and after:

For me personally, playing 4 is more about what hero you play and how, during the laning stage, you act like position 5. At this point, supports have one task: to provide farm for their core and density. You need to guarantee cover for your core to get gold and be as annoying as possible to your opponents. Basically, I'm less greedy, I would say. I used to be a lot more greedy as a support, but now I'm giving more to the team.

Recall that DPC NA 2021/2022 Tour 3: Division I runs from June 7th to July 13th of this year. The top 8 teams in North America compete for a $205,000 prize pool, 1,150 DPC points and 2 slots in the PGL Arlington Major. The 2 worst teams in the division will be forced to go down in class.