Summary
Building the roster
- Dephh was the first player signed on the roster
- Zekken was the second player secured
- Other 3 spots were open ended
- The 2 Brazilians and Tenz were locked in as the last 3 pieces
- Teams already started practicing in Nov/Dec and trialing players
- Sen started in early jan due to visa issues. 2 months behind
- Sen took a risk without trialing b/c of aggressive rostermania
- Tarik/Ludwig event was good lan practice, tried to not show comps though(ran troll ambitious comps)
- Rob Moore advocated for sen to join the event to find their identity as a team
Kaplan addresses sen's biggest issue-
- They did not have a core roster coming in like other teams in the league
- need to play a ridiculous amount of games to catch up to other teams with a previous core from last year
- expectations are high, lots of bandaid fixes in the meantime due to short and aggressive season
- lots of role problems. dephh as igl needed to be with the team to make calls
- igl needs to micromanage due to team never playing together previously
- pancada switching to senti was comfortable to due to controller role being played similarly
- role switches were a necessary evil
- anticipated chamber going out of meta, tenz would not play duelist
- tenz was asked to play kayo in rank in offseason
- did not predict 2 controller 1 senti meta
Signing 6th man
- before roster lock, sen needed a sub
- marved was a great option. super qualified. no brainer to sign ice man
- marved is perfect for double controller meta
- no choice but for marved to stay on roster due to dephh stepping down himself and roster lock
- who will igl now that dephh has stepped down/retired?
- marved volunteered himself to try igling
Tokyo Playoffs + LCQ
- playoffs was not realistic after dephh stepped down
- playoffs was not the focus, focus was to win LCQ for long term plan
- now sen has new roster, everyone on their comfort roles, new igl, and totally different team chemistry
- new starting roster had much more positive energy
- new team enjoy playing the game together
- preparing now for long term future of lcq and champs
- tenz says new team is a breath of fresh air coming in. energy was a step up from before
- team is gelling more now. pancada is more vocal now compared to before.
- pancada is more comfortable with the team. now not conveying frustrations through sacy but directly to team members.
- team is bonding more, getting along
- tenz "map pool, agent comps are coming together"
- sen now preparing for 2 months while other teams take breaks