Interview with Mene "It was still important for us to win and show the rest of the world that we take every tournament seriously"

Team Dignitas takes home yet another EU Regional title at Gamescom. After the players got home and had some time to relax, we had a chance to ask the teams Ranged Assassin player Thomas "Mene" Cailleux about the tournament and the interesting new meta picks.

Yet another EU Regional championship won by Team Dignitas, you guys seems to be on a roll this year. What is it that works so well for you compared to the other teams so far?

Mene: Well, to be honest we didn’t expect to win this tournament, our practice before this Regional was terrible, we were doubting our meta a lot. The LAN pressure made us play well.

 

So, Team Dignitas won the first EU Regional fall championship in Valencia a few weeks back and by that secured a spot at Blizzcon. Was it a more pleasant experience to play at Gamescom, as you were not required to win the tournament?

Mene: It was still important for us to win and show the rest of the world that we take every tournament seriously and want more and more titles. For me personally it was not the same feeling as in Valencia, but it still felt good to win.

 

EU seems to become a stronger and stronger region with no set top 2 teams. Is it a good understanding of the meta? Or the fact that most teams keep the majority of their rosters after each tournament? Or a whole other reason that EU is doing so well right now?

Mene: I think overall EU understands the meta pretty well. Yeah, of course keeping the roster after each tournament is important but the main reason is that the top teams all work very hard to improve.

 

Well, we can't talk to you Mene without asking about Jaina, why the sudden focus on this hero? Is it her wombo-combo potential? Or has she performed the best in scrims lately?

Mene: The Jaina picks were more due to the playstyle of the team, with Team Dignitas I play Jaina with the one-shot build, not the Q build. I play deeper and flank more than other teams do. Even if we didn’t perform super well with her in scrims it’s still my second baby and it has shown good value for us to pick her.

 

You are often pointed out as the best mage player in EU. Do you have any tips and tricks for people who want to be good at playing the different mages in the game?

Mene: Try to know your limits with every mage, look at which hero you have a good synergy with and don’t try to make plays instantly – you have to practice and know every situation.

Lets take a look at the Grand Final series against Misfits. This Grand Final was so back and forth, one of the closest Grand Finals this year, and it all comes down to the 5th deciding game on Blackhearth's Bay. What were your thoughts when Misfits picked Butcher out of nowhere?

Mene: To be honest we just said to Bakery "You stay far in the back, you cleanse the Lamb to the Slaughter, and we win this easy", and he played it perfectly. The plan of the game was to not take any unnecessary risks. As long as we respected the pick, there was no way to lose this last game.

 

Team Dignitas was the only western team to knock out one of the teams from China/Korea at the last Global championship in Sweden. Do you think that you can go all the way and compete for the win at Blizzcon?

Mene: I think we can at least reach the semis this time if we start understanding the meta at the tournament early on. Practicing against others regions before Blizzcon will be important aswell.

 

What are the things that you and the rest of the team will have to focus on in preparation for Blizzcon?

Mene: We will focus on finding our comforts picks, practicing more hero combos and playing against others regions beforehand.

 

And a fun little question to wrap up the interview. Where did the name Mene come from? And have you had other gaming tags in the past?

Mene: It comes from World of Warcraft! There is a two-handed hammer called "Might of menethil". I also used to play under “MeneXXL” and “Menegodx” (no, I’m not cocky).

 

Thanks for the interview, do you have any shoutouts to your fans and sponsors?
 
Mene: Shoutouts to my fans and also thank you to Team Dignitas's sponsors: Alienware, Corsair, TP-LINK, WD, iiyama, AKRacing, GFUEL, SCAN, and Twitch.