November 17, 2019

Interview with srpss – “I don’t like to play Fanatics or Jade, as they can get countered easily”

By insiders, and especially followers of 13lade’s Coliseum tournament series, srpss has been known for quite some time already as one of the absolute best Rivals players. Now he has won his first major tournament, the Bandito Smackdown for $425.

The 25-year old Martin aka srpss comes from Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital and is a member of the Terminus Shores alliance.

srpss holds up the Bulgarian flag in the international Rivals community


Q: Hey srpss! Thanks for doing this interview, and congratulations to your big win in the Bandito Smackdown tournament! Let’s start with a curiosity question: Where does your nickname come from?

srpss: Thank you!  Regarding my name – I liked these letters, so I put them together. Over time, I learned that It could mean a lot. My favorite interpretation is “Sirpuss”.


Q: Interesting! I could have bet that it’s a short form for “surpass”.  Can you tell us a bit about your background in gaming?

srpss: I played all sorts of multiplayer games, anything on the market. Global Agenda was the game that I played previously competitively (just for fun).  I got into Rivals by simply being a fan of the Command & Conquer games and Kane.


Q: Tell us a bit about your big tournament win. How did you prepare? How did specifically the series against AliciaDestiny (3-0) and Suzaku (3-1) feel like and play out?

srpss: Well, I gotta thank Sasteek and Agent Shadow. One of them showed me the Razorback deck (which I pretty much played only) and the other helped me practice it.  And regarding my opponents, I would say that it played out perfectly. They were not prepared for what I played.
Overall, I guess I got pretty much got lucky.


Q: You’ve been known to favor the Orca Bomber (“Borca”) for quite some time. It seems to be a tricky unit to play like, but you’ve mastered it. What’s your Borca secret?

srpss: Play on a high frame rate phone, with nice internet connection. So you can do all the moves back and forth. For example, I cannot play Borca on PC/Bluestacks.

A recent smaller tournament final that srpss played against Dutchman NaturalSky

Q: Recently, you played less Borca. Just to become less predictable, or because you figured out genuinely better decks?

srpss: I suppose I like being less predictable. And I am in search of better decks. I usually like a deck that can beat everything. I am not very good with switching to the right deck for the map or player.


Q: Speaking about whether certain units are too weak or too strong. You don’t seem to use a lot of the units that most people say are too strong (e.g. Fanatics, Jade) except for Liang. What’s your take on the balance right now?

srpss: In my opinion, most ‘meta’ decks have too many weaknesses. I do not like decks that can be countered easily by certain units. For example,  Fanatics lose to Snipers and Razorback. With Jade, it is the same.

Regarding balance: Overall I guess it is fine, there are few problems. The big one is ‘tech’ units. It is not very fun to play against some of them (mammoth, artillery, zone troopers, etc) and most of them are simply not worth playing.  So it would be nice if EA/Redwood balance it in such a way that this will be resolved.


Q: You’re playing Rivals Team League, where your team (called 'Ten Minute Queues') comfortably qualified for the playoffs, and where you’re 27-8 in maps. What’s your expectations for the playoffs?

srpss: I believe our team (13lade, Suzaku, StrikerVX, Nukin, srpss, Alarak) is very strong, we should be able to pass any obstacles!


Q: What’s your favorite opponent(s) to play against, and why?

srpss: ‘The Rivals Bot’, it is quite casual.


Q: If you had one wish for the devs, what would it be?

srpss: I wish we could make a 2v2 mode, how fun would that be?


Q: Thank you srpss, for taking the time for this interview! Any famous last words?

srpss: Kane Lives in Death!  Also, check out 13lade’s Twitch stream for great Rivals content!


Read more interviews with Command & Conquer Rivals players and personalities!

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