To kick things off, what’s your history with Siege and when did you get into the game?
My history with Siege began in Operation Velvet Shell so, Year 2 Season 1. Me and XRTROIKA had been playing Search and Destroy on Call Of Duty and watching early Get_Flanked videos where he had started to move to Siege. We both took the plunge as we liked the look of the 5v5 no respawn gameplay and bought it on PS4 to make the switch. We both ended up completely hooked from day 1 and somewhat randomly became good friends with Get_Flanked along the way.
When playing online who are your go to attacker/defender and why?
My go to attacker is without a doubt Thermite. I’m hard support all the way, I find a lot of satisfaction in making smart calls, not exposing myself to unnecessary risk and getting that defuser down in tough circumstances. It’s not that easy just holding F!
On defence I like to go for the intel ops so depending on the team I’m playing with it’s mostly Valkyrie/Maestro/Mozzie. Mozzie I play if I’m in a squad that might need me to contribute more in terms of kills whereas if I’m in a team with a couple of strong fraggers I’ll play more site based. I’ve always found I have a great knack of giving very clear, concise communications so can feed those high kill players. Thinking about it, maybe that comes from the casting!
You share a name with one of our new operators Ace, but if you could create your own operator what would your ability be?
An operator I would choose to make, I have had an idea for a good while to be honest and interestingly it would actually be a counter for my namesake. I’d like to see a defender that had, in place of the normal two reinforcements, two ‘super reinforcements’ that would take additional hard breach utility to get through. I would probably allow Thermite to still breach as normal but then Ace and Hibana would only breach half way through the ‘super reinforced wall’ meaning two sets of X Kairos pellets would now be needed to create a single sized hole you could see through, she couldn’t open anything big enough to walk through. It would also become the first ever counter to Maverick as he is one of the only operators in the game right now that doesn’t have one. Maverick would only be able to breach the wall once Hibana had gone halfway through.
You have been casting Siege now for coming up 2 years, in that time you have also managed to travel the world, but what is the standout moment for you?
The time I’ve spent casting has been an absolute dream to honest. I have a full time job and family, I love my life outside of Siege but getting the opportunity to get away and do these really cool events sometimes is also a huge source of real pleasure and satisfaction for me. Ever since my first LAN event at the Premiership Final in Leicester I’ve looked at them all as ‘cup finals’, I thoroughly enjoy the games, which I think comes across in my casting, and I’m just there to enjoy the moment and do the best I can, getting more is a real bonus then.
Whilst the first Premiership casts I did will always be great memories for me it’s hard to pick anything other than casting at Six Invitational 2020 as the best moment. It had never entered my head as a possibility so to get that email and be called upon for the biggest tournament in the world, it was nothing short of mind blowing. I remember the first morning when we were opening up and anchoring the Alpha Stream for the day, the fear was real let me tell you.
Rampy soon settled those nerves with a first round ace against NaVi, the excitement hit hard and the rest is history. As much as I try to keep myself grounded and enjoy the moment, those kinds of events really do leave you very hungry for more moments like that.
Create your own team – you are the coach, what 5 players are you picking up? It can be any players Pro or Am across the world.
My team, now this is a tough one, I’m not sure I’d make the best coach so these players are going to have to be good! First up it would have to be Pengu, for my money the greatest player to touch the game, such great all round ability too, just a pleasure to watch. I’d take Rampy and CTZN as my two entries, both of them are unbelievably skilful and have very few genuine peers. Two spots left, this is tough, I need an IGL and a support really. I think I’d bring Shockwave and Goga into the last two spots respectively. That looks like one scary team to me!
A huge thank you to Ace for his time, you can catch him casting in the upcoming season of the UKIN!
