Interview With Ataraxia: The Man, The Myth, The Allstar

Nathaniel 'Ataraxia' Mark is a Welsh ADC player and founder of European SPL top 3 team 'Hungry For More' alongside CaptainTwig (Jungle), PrettyPrime (Mid), Frezzyy (Support) and Variety (Solo) with Zindurn as a sub. The team is managed by Prime's girlfriend ArcticPrime. He was previously the driving force behind Aquila's run to worlds second place in the 2015 Smite World Championship, losing out to Cognitive Red. This success enabled them to get picked up by the now defunct organisation Titan. He is seen as an innovator of hunter builds and god usage and often changes the meta with them, but is equally adept at taking the standard builds and god picks and making them work to his advantage.

We caught up with him to talk all things Smite, enjoy!

What exactly does Hungry For More mean to you, was the forming of it just down to not getting picked up for an established team and knowing you were good enough to compete, or were you just looking for a different direction without possible sponsor pressures?

Ataraxia: A bit of both. I know it's not a popular opinion among the pros, but I am not one to go into the sponsorship for the goodies you get out of it. I care a lot about appearances, and it's important to me that if we're picked up for a brand (i.e Titan), we do our utmost to represent it at the highest level, in and out of the game. It's a privilege to belong to such distinguished orgs like Dignitas, TSM and C9, and one I won't go into unless I know we can represent it at a high enough level.

 

When Hungry For More formed you were perhaps seen as a bit of a 'last chance saloon' for all 5 original members, you seem to have disproven that but what were your thoughts when forming the original roster?

Ataraxia: Hungry for More was quite the opposite for me, in fact. Following the split of Titan, I had a short list of players that I felt I could build a top-tier team with, and really make a strong go at making SWC this year. This year is all about winning above all else for me, and everyone we picked for our roster were people that I had absolute faith in to take us there. It started with Prime; we have a great friendship and have a good relationship for discussing the game; it was a great foundation for the team. From there, we discussed together the jungle role. We both only had one person we wanted, and that was Twig. He's very clearly a great player, and we had a hunch the atmosphere in Fnatic wasn't clicking for him, and I felt that the similarities he and Prime have in terms of attitude and approach to the game would make them a fantastic mid/jungle combo. After bringing Twig into the fold, our next step was the solo laner. Similarly to the situation with Twig, we all held Variety in high esteem, especially after his then-recent performance at Super Regionals. Support was a bit more complicated, we actually had a few trials and ending up going on Zindurn for the long goal of improvement. Unfortunately that didn't work out, but it did give us the opportunity to bring the savior of HFM onto the team - Frezzyy, and because of that, I have no regrets.



You recently lost at Dreamhack but at the start of the SPL split it looked like you had absolutely no hope of even qualifying for the LAN, eventually dominating the second half of the split to qualify as one of the top 3 European teams. How much of a future mental impact has that had on you personally, fostering a ''never say die'' attitude?

Ataraxia: I'd like to think I've always fostered that kind of attitude. I'm not the kind of guy who can half ass things, or, as sad as it sounds, just have fun. I'm very much try hard, I think it stems from me being far too vain for my own good! Point being, if I have a go at something, I give it everything, every time. No half measures!

How much has Frezzyy really changed the atmosphere of the team in and out of game? I know he's is seen as somewhat of a troll but that doesn't seem to affect you as a team and seems to have really released some tension when in game, allowing you all to relax more and take the wins.

Ataraxia: Frezzyy is the best thing that happened to the team, honestly. I think between me, Twig, Variety and Zindurn (former support), we had a few too many people who cared "too much". People who can't let things go, y'know. Frezzyy doesn't have that. He's a very selfless player, and regardless of how the games are going, personal performance or otherwise, he never lets it get to him, or even us. He's a true example of someone having star value both in and out of the game.

What, as a team, were your plans immediately after attending Dreamhack. I know that some people went off on holidays but are you all back together and scrimming ready for the next set of qualifiers?

Ataraxia: We took a little break. We're already back to scrimming, but I believe it's important we all get our own personal time away from Smite in between splits, so you can re-focus and foster your love for the game again. While our performance at Dreamhack was anything but good, I'm confident as we move forward. We proved what we needed to in the split, and we'll be using that as our reminder that we can be the best in Europe, and we'll be trying our hardest to make that our reality.

You've been on the casting panel before when not qualifying for tournaments. Does watching the high level games from the safety of the analyst desk really make you want to dive back in to Smite so you can qualify for the next tournament instead of casting it or is it just a case of being happy to be asked to participate in any capacity and not needing the extra motivation?

Ataraxia: It definitely gets me motivated! I'm a very easy to motivate person, anything can trigger me and get me pumped to succeed. I've been on a string of motivation cues so to speak recently with the EU Hunter MVP for Spring Split, being voted for EU's All-Star squad and watching Wales do an amazing job in the Euro's this year! Watching the team, and in particular Bale do so well really got me pumped to translate that into Smite and I'm still riding that motivation into Fall Split!

Even though you weren't invited to the Epsilon Invitational as a team, you were voted as the European All-Star hunter playing alongside Trixtank (Support, Paradigm) Adapting (Jungle), Dimi (Solo) and Yammyn (Mid, all Panthera). How confidence boosting is it that you, above everyone else, were voted to represent Europe even if the rest of your team won't be there?

Ataraxia: It was a major confidence boost. I always try to be realistic with my own skill at particular times, and while I think another hunter in EU was more deserving of this, it still lifts my spirits to have the community vote for me. I always end up being overly critical of myself, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as it's the best way to improve. However, it's always nice to have your efforts rewarded and I can't put into words how much it meant for the Smite community; the very people who allow me to live my dream by playing Smite for a job, chose me to represent EU.

 

You're a bit more creative than some with builds and have been responsible for some rather janky builds that have seen large amounts of play. When you're changing a build is it out of wanting to maximise potential or just out of a bit of boredom with the meta?

Ataraxia: Bit of both! I think it's really important to question what the current metas are in the game on a very regular basis, otherwise we'd never change. I get a ton of enjoyment out of theory crafting and experimenting with builds, so it's a good motivator for me to practice. It's not just about boredom though, it mostly stems out of something I feel I could be doing better, or some way I feel I can't contribute like I should. For example, with the S3 changes I felt that I couldn't actually output any damage in the early-mid game if I built lifesteal so I began experimenting with builds that didn't feature any at all. It gave me that needed damage to feel relevant, and I've learned to adapt to the early game without lifesteal.

 

Who would you attribute to helping you personally improve as a player? Does it stem from watching somebody like Zapman who, when you were rising to prominence, was one of if not the top hunter in the world? Or is it simply down to personally grinding the practice?

Ataraxia: There's two people who I'd attribute my attitude to improvement to. Firstly, would be my brother. We were super competitive growing up, and I always wanted to beat him at whatever we did. I rarely did though heh, but I never stopped trying and it always pushed me to find ways to improve. The other person was Day9. I've never spoken to him personally, but I always credit him because his Day9 dailies taught me to be a better person, not just better at games. The lessons he taught about StarCraft I consider life lessons, and although I don't get to watch him like I used to, the guy is truly an inspiration and I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for him and his shows!

How important is it, in your opinion, that you're playing with a group of friends who want to be together instead of a group of teammates who are just playing as a party?

Ataraxia: I think it's pretty important yeah. Having a group of guys who like each other, but most importantly, that respect each other and have faith that they know what they're doing when it comes to Smite is super important. The second you start having those thoughts in the back of your mind of "oh, is my teams good enough at what they do, he always gets picked out of position I don't trust him at all" is the second the team goes downhill. It's important you can criticise each other healthily, and all work to improve together. Being friends definitely helps with that

What advice would you give to any individual or team wanting to compete in the SPL in the future? Not necessarily Challenger Cup players, but maybe people who haven't had any competitive experience before?

Ataraxia: Make sure it's what you really want, and grind. You gotta put the hours in, and you've gotta be making those hours efficient. It's better to queue 3 games of ranked a day and actively try to learn without getting upset or worked up over losses or "bad team mates" than it is to grind for 14 hours a day and be mad all the time, chalking your losses up to "that awful ADC I had". Ideally, you want to be able to play long periods of time, and healthily look at your play. Much easier said than done, though.

What lessons can be learned from underdog stories in other sports? For example, Wales and Iceland exceeding expectations in the European championships?

Ataraxia: How much passion can do. When you watched those teams do well, you could see not only the players, but the people back at home swell up with pride. You could see how much they cared, how much they wanted it. That's what will drive a team to take over and become the best, or go much further than they should. It's not manufacturable, you either have it or you don't

Ok, so you can choose any 5 players for a global Allstar team, NA or EU, who would you have?

Ataraxia: Leaving out my boys, I think I could draft a solid team! I'd put captain and support PainDeViande in there for sure. The guy never seems to get salty, makes fantastic calls and has so much insight into how to play the game properly. He'd make an excellent voice of reason. I'd put Zapman and Adapting in as your carries. They're the guys who'll pop off when their team gives them the option, they might not pop off every game, but they'll single handedly carry games like nobody's business given the chance. Yammyn would be the mid laner rock. Never has a bad game, you can count on him and Pain to set up Adapting and Zap to do their stuff, happily making them look great. Finally, Mr. Baskin in the solo, the way he plays inspires the rest of the team to do really well. I don't know what he's like as a person, we've sadly never had much of a chance to speak, but I think he'll bring the fun troll atmosphere to the team that'll keep practice light, which is really important!

 

Ataraxia can be found on twitter here and while Ataraxia himself doesn't currently stream his Twitch is here and he requested that you check out his teammates streams at CaptainTwig and PrettyPrime.

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