PROLOGUE: Going by the handle “Noname,” Elroy Pinto is anything but. This expressive writer from Mumbai, India is one of WC3’s most respected writers. Elroy made his bones with his prodigious and often prolific interviews with pro-gamers on the MYM gamesite. Recently, Elroy graduated from “Noname” to “TheName,” having been handed the keys to one of WC3’s most prestigious clans, fnatic e-sports. One of the many changes he’s had to get used to-- as fnatic’s newest WC3 manager.

THE TEAM FNATIC ROSTER
Kevin "RotterdaM" van der Kooi Juha-Matti "Satiini" Bäckström Samuli "elfittaja" Sihvonen Mikhail "XyLigan" Ryabkov Johan "Naniwa" Lucchesi Robert "Rob" Abdrakhmanov Alexei "Abver" Drunin - inactive Oskar "aNty" Stoltz - inactive

You were elevated to the role of head manager relatively quickly following triMble’s departure to 4K. When you transferred from MYM, did you have prior knowledge of triMble’s plans? Did fnatic already have you pegged as their successor, or were you all expecting triMble to still be fnatic’s manager while you apprenticed under him?

To answer the first part of the question, I was quite amazed myself when I learned that triMble was leaving the team. As we know, he founded the Warcraft 3 section so I think he was looking for something different and more challenging. In a way I could see where triMble was coming from, having just left MYM for a more challenging role. I felt he was right in wanting to explore.

Well, initially the plan was for me to join and get to know the team well enough and then it would be time for me to become a co-manager with triMble and have one of those successful partnerships but, alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

I wasn’t really prepared and when I joined it was perhaps one of the hardest phases as a manager, since we were dealing with some internal structure changes and the team wasn’t doing too well either. I can safely say May was a very hard month but might I add the worst is probably over; we’re back on track.

It’s difficult enough coming out of the cold to be the new manager of a clan, but fnatic is your first shot at head managing, correct? What has been the biggest challenge so far? Is there anything you feel your experience at MYM has taught you that you’ve been able to successfully incorporate as fnatic’s manager?

Elroy Pinto, fnatic's new manager.

I’ve had some decent experience when it comes to managing a team but fnatic was my first real shot at becoming a solo manager, the earlier project which I was working on in MYM (now known as MYM.SCA) didn’t end up the way I wanted it to be.

I think the biggest challenge so far as a manager would have been to get myself acquainted with the team and of course earn their trust and respect as well as performing as a manager consistently.

I know for one that fnatic has always been a bunch of really good solo players who somehow don’t seem to click as a team. Just trying to understand how group dynamic like my team was/is is the biggest challenge.

Last season, fnatic suffered perhaps its worst season in WC3L play. For the first time since your inception in Season VIII, your WC3 team did not make it to the carryover phase for the following season (XII) and are now forced to fight your way up through the qualification bracket after losing a close playdown match to mTw. How is the team’s morale and motivation level? Is it harder to practice when the team you’re facing is not a 4K or WE?

Firstly, the match vs. mTw was not close. That was one of the worst weeks in fnatic. Couldn’t help it back then since there were a lot of reasons for players not being as motivated as they should have been.

It’s a team though and we take equal responsibility for getting the boot from WC3L. I joined fnatic on the penultimate playday and I must say going by our record in the season, we didn’t really deserve to probably win against mTw. Their players were super motivated and they were just the better team that day.

I can tell you one thing, though, after that incident with the coming of ASUS/ESWC Qualifiers and Satiini’s desire to start practicing, the team just took a 180 degree turn. The team has picked itself up very well. I remember before the ESWC Qualifiers and before the match against iP, everyone was just practicing within the team and trying out different things and there was a lot of happiness in the team. The desire to play and compete in a team is what needs to be fostered in a team and that is what we were doing.

At this point, I must say, as soon as we lost against mTw, we decided to implement some measures to prevent a relapse. I appreciate how the management is so fast and quick to respond to the problems of our team. For the qualifiers, what we’re doing is pretty simple. I think the basics of functioning as a team needs to be covered and that’s what we’re doing. Just stick to basic practice, keep focused before our match, and we’ll take the win and make it for WC3L Season 12.

Speaking of which, you just made two big moves—acquiring Naniwa, the Swedish Undead formerly of mTw and the Russian Orc, Rob, ex-member of WE.JuSt. What made you choose these two over other potentially available players? Was there added pressure to make a big splash, so to speak, having taken over from one of the most successful managers in the business, triMble?

I keep hearing how I have to fill triMble’s shoes. If I leave, will the person after me also have to fill triMble’s shoes?

Adding Naniwa was a team choice. We were looking out for an active player who was practicing like crazy and RotterdaM and Naniwa are good friends, and naturally Kevin wanted him in the team. After discussing, we decided to add him, since he also brings a whiff of new air into the team but he also brings a degree of skill, which is quite fitting to our standards.

I always hear that Naniwa is ‘blah, blah,’ and he’s so bad mannered and doesn’t respect anyone and how people are losing respect for fnatic because we picked up Naniwa. I think that’s pretty weird since he’s changed a lot, maybe not completely but I think from what he was earlier, he has mellowed down and decided to let his games speak for himself. Wisest decision he made would be not to reply to SK forum flames anymore.

Rob is such a good player to have. His loyalty to WE.EU was, in my eyes, very respectable and I think he has the right level of skill to fit in with the rest of the team. Although the level of Russian manner in our private channel has gone up, well, I can always enforce rules there! But jokes aside, he seems like a nice kid and he shares the same birthday as me! How bad can he be after that, eh ;)?

Rob was added to balance our player skill and give me more options as a manager to use in a clanwar. It gets hard to set a lineup with inactive players and also if sometimes our players can’t make it. With Rob and Naniwa, I get a better choice and I can afford to mix around with the lineup. All in all, they’re a good package for our team.