CJCJ Player Interview

Today marks the first of Frontier's Rocket League player interview series, and what better way to kick it off than with the glue in the Renegades powerhouse, CJCJ, as he begins preparations for the LA Winter Major.

1. What got you into competitive Rocket League initially?

I started playing Rocket League basically the day it came out. It was free on PSN for the first month and I picked it up and really enjoyed the idea of it instantly. I played a lot of ranked and before long was in the top 100 of the ranked pre-season (before season 1!). I began competing in a few online tournaments including ESL NA weeklies, and worked my way up forming new and better teams. I played off and on through 2016 until RLCS Season 4 where I teamed with Kamii and Kia and ended up competing in a couple of local LANs before qualifying for the Season 4 World Championships in Washington D.C. The rest is history.

2. What made you decide to initiate the famous Season 5 walkout, and how did it feel at the time?

At the Season 4 World Championships I held up a sign that said follow @CJCJ_RL on twitter. I didn't think much of it but that actually gained a lot of traction itself so when Season 5 rolled around I was brainstorming some walkout ideas. A kid in twitch chat actually came up with the idea of a toddler car whilst I was streaming one day, and I thought it was a pretty funny thing to do. I didn't quite realise how viral it would go, and it was just a fun experience at the time where I was just embracing the moment with some awesome fans.

3. What's your favourite moment personally in your Rocket League career?

My personal favourite playing moment would have to be the Sweden Major as a whole. The team environment we have right now with coach LBP at the helm is super enjoyable, and when we were able to play as a team on stage and just enjoy the experience. Outside of playing, LANdon and the crowd there was unbelievable, loved it.

4. Which team do you find most difficult to compete against within OCE?

I still think that Ground Zero are our biggest competition in OCE, at least personally. They always give us a run for their money and are a super consistent team. I'm expecting them to bounce back next split.

5. After being beaten by Dire Wolves and Forkidden (Now Pioneers) in the first regional of the split, were there any concerns about qualifying for the major?

We had a bit of a slow start to the split, however there are 3 regionals and having a 3rd placing isn't going to ruin your chances. We knew we'd improve from that first event and we ended up taking out the 2nd regional. Our focus isn't ever the Major or Worlds or anything, it's just playing the best we can each series and doing our role for the team.

6. Do you prefer the new format of the past two seasons, with frequent matches and events, or the previous round robin and playoffs format from the earlier seasons?

I love the format of the last two seasons and much prefer it to what we had previously with league play. Obviously there's a lot of discussion right now surrounding the format, and there can certainly be improvements made to the format such as single elim finals which are a must in my opinion.

7. What are you most looking forward to about going to the LA major?

I just can't wait to get another opportunity to compete with this team. We had our first taste in Sweden, and now with a longer bootcamp I know that we can put in an even stronger performance than what we showed there.

8. Any hopes or expectations about the team's performance over in LA?

We don't set any expectations for ourselves, I just want us to be playing our style in every single series and setting the pace of the match. We achieved 9-11th in Sweden, so we'll see how far we can go this time.

9. Who is your pick for 1st place at the major?

I'll have to pick BDS for the back to back majors here. They didn't look great going into Sweden, yet really showed up when it mattered. This time I believe they are coming in a little stronger if you remove the last regional where they had already qualified, so I'm expecting another big performance.

10. Do you think Australia will be seeing a LAN any time soon?

I really hope so! It would be unbelievable, and I promised on Reddit if we do have an Australian LAN I will lose in the first round so I can do shoeys and get hammered with the crowd.

11. Finally, if you were to give any tip to an upcoming OCE pro, what would it be?

Just keep at it! There's so many awesome resources right now with tutorials on YouTube and twitch streams to learn and grow from. I didn't have any of that when I first started playing and it has really increased the growth rate of new players. Also, if OCE is as bad as the rest of the world say we are then it can't be too hard to become a pro in this region! Can it?