Interview with HEET player Jake "Monstrum" Byrne

Yoann: Hello everyone. Today I'm with Monstrum from HEET, and I will go through some questions about himself and the team. When and how did you get into eSports?

Monstrum: Well, I've been gaming for a while, all sorts of games like Overwatch, Fortnite, and Counter Strike. But when Valorant came out, I wanted to compete a bit more and use my skills to get some work potentially. And I just started grinding, and it happened from there, jumping from team to team and getting connected with a few players in the scene.

Yoann: Cool. So, how can you describe your playstyle as a player?

Monstrum: I'm very aggressive, um, and fast, like I like to be as a duelist.

Yoann: How do you feel about Pearl? The last Valorant map.

Monstrum: It’s exciting. It has got some weird parts to it. The sewers area reminds me a lot of counter strike maps, but it also reminds me a lot of Icebox as well. I feel like it's very similar in that aspect where Viper's quite helpful. I think it’s played similarly. But I don’t have too much experience with it yet, so we'll see.

Yoann: What's your preparation routine one hour before matches?

Monstrum: Well, usually I do some aim training and warm up. But then it would depend on the opponent we're playing or our own strategy. We'll go over that as well.

Yoann: So you are playing for HEET. Can you tell me more about the team?

Monstrum: Yeah, well, we are a very hard working and very unique team. I think we've got a lot of skilled individual players, which means that not many teams look like us. But compared to many pro teams, we are often the underdogs, but we want to prove ourselves.

Yoann: What's your play style? Are you very fast and explosive, like PaperRex or methodic like Fnatic?

Monstrum: I think we've got a healthy balance of both. I think it depends on the map and the team composition we're playing. It would depend on the situation and what we think will work well against the opponent as well.

Yoann: How do you prepare for your opponents? Do you have a coach?

Monstrum: Yeah. We have two coaches. One of them does a lot of anti Strats on the enemy team. The other coach mainly focuses on our team and how we play together.

Yoann: Which play styles are the hardest to play against?

Monstrum: I think it's two extremes. In-between is relatively easy to play against, but the extremes are brutal. Requires a lot of adaptation. 

Yoann: Do scrims reveal the team’s true potential?

Monstrum: We perform well in scrims against quite a lot of high-tier teams, obviously. It's scrimming, it's not necessarily a direct correlation of how well you do against them in a game, but we show a lot of promise and a lot of good performances, and we learn a lot from these.

Yoann: How important is it to have a great team environment inside and outside of the game?

Monstrum: I think it's one of the most important aspects of being an eSports player. It's very, very important to be happy and to be motivated. And it's much easier to improve as a team if you have a good team environment. And you know that when you point out mistakes, they'll take it the best way. And you grow together as a team.

Yoann: And take losses as good ways to improve as well.

Monstrum: Yeah, exactly.

Yoann: Which team would you like to play against in the near future?

Monstrum: I think Fnatic; it would be great to play against them. They play the best Valorant, and I think playing against them would really test where we're at. 

Yoann: What are your thoughts and maybe concerns about the new Valorant franchising program?

Monstrum: I think it's quite good. I think they've got a long term plan for it. On the top tiers and ways to get promoted to it. So I think it was a bit concerning when it was initially announced, but the more information they've put out, the more it seems like they've got a plan for everyone.

Yoann: What kind of ambitions do you have for yourself and your team in the future?

Monstrum: I think we obviously wanna be at the top. We want to be competing against the best teams in the world. We wanna make it to champions; these are all big ambitions, but I think right now we want just to show ourselves to be a strong force.

And then hopefully begin to compete against these top teams and show them what we're made of.

Yoann: Who will you be supporting during champions this September?

Monstrum: There are a few EU teams like FPX, Liquid, and Fnatic. I'd wanna see all of them do well, as I like some of the individuals in those teams. And I just like those teams in general as a whole. So I think all three of them, to be honest.

Yoann: Is there anything else you want to add to this interview?

Monstrum: I’m excited to see what the new year can bring in terms of Valorant because this year's been a bit stale towards the end, so I'm hoping that next year when all the tournaments are planned, we can finally get up and running. 

Yoann: Where can people find your team and yourself?

Monstrum: Oh yeah, you can find HEET gaming on Twitter. In terms of individual players, you'd find them on Twitter or just streaming on Twitch. So for me, it's @MonstrumGB. That's where I'll be on Twitch and Twitter.

Yoann: Thanks for your time and your answers, and good luck for the future. 

Monstrum: Thanks.