Toronto Defiant Mangachu on pressure, Torbjorn, and positivity

Olivia Richman Published 02/08/2019

After a lot of back and forth action, ties, and some overtime, the Toronto Defiant defeated the Shanghai Dragons. This brought the Defiant one step closer to the playoffs, but it’s still a tough road ahead according to Liam “Mangachu” Campbell.

WIN.gg chatted with the DPS main after thir victory to discuss the future of Torbjorn in Stage 4 and how the team has helped him through a depressive state by staying positive.

How do you feel about the win over the Shanghai Dragons today?

Mangachu: I was very surprised.

Going into the match, how were you expecting it to go?

I came in mentally boomed. I was in a mental rut.

Why is that?

Random depressive episodes. That was a problem with me in the Contenders. I didn’t want to go into the Overwatch League with that happening all the time.

Towards the end of my time on the XL2 [New York Excelsior’s academy team] it stopped. I felt comfortable going into the Overwatch League at that point. It’s the first one I had in a while, actually. But I played well. I can’t complain too much. I got out of it thanks to my team.

How did your team help?

Just how positive the team is. Logix and Gods are very fun people to hang out with. Sharyk is very funny because of his reactions. He’s very quiet, but the way he does stuff is funny sometimes. It really helped with people being supportive.

Last year, there was a lot of issues with the Overwatch League schedule. Do you feel that this season wasn’t as hard on you mentally?

I heard it was a lot worse in Season 1. Everybody had to come to the Blizzard Arena to practice. Being stuck in those rooms for six to eight hours a day sounds pretty stressful. Being at home, playing online, being able to relax every once in a while is really nice. They did a good job of making things less stressful overall.

In the final map today, you switched to Sombra and got a lot of successful EMPs. Can you explain how you were feeling as the Dragons inched towards that third point?

There was one EMP that I hit. I think it was a three-man. When that happned, and I heard the nano’d Reaper go off, and saw he wasn’t hacked, my heart sank. I thought he was going to blossom. I went around and flanked and got a manual hack on him, and we won the fight because of it.

Sombra isn’t one of my strongest heroes. But the two times I’ve played her against Washington and now the Dragons, I feel I’ve played pretty well with her.

You’ve been playing a lot of Mei. How have you been utilizing her in the 2-2-2 role lock?

Her wall is busted pretty much in 2-2-2. There’s not much they can do to break it easily, even though it got nerfed by 100 HP per pillar. But the great thing about it, it denies sight lines and pull hook combos, and you can use it as a shield.

Like in Lijiang Tower Garden, I would scout to see which side they’re holding the point from. Then I’d wall off that side so we could cross in for free without investing cooldowns or taking damage, because Orisa’s shield is more important than a Mei wall.

Do you think you’ll have any chance to play Torbjorn in Stage 4?

No. I want to, believe me, but my team does not.

What strategy would really benefit from having a Torbjorn?

Full dive, honestly. He’s only good against dive right now. If they’re running Wrecking Ball, Sombra, Tracer, D.Va, Lucio, Moira, something like that. Before his shotgun nerf, he was good against Winston. Now the shield is too much. But you can drop off a turret and it will farm for free.

I just overheard Gods say he was going to shave his head if you guys lost this match.

He’s already bald. There’s no investment in that bet. It was just a funny tweet.

Would you have done it?

Never in my life. I have no interest in going bald. I love my hair.

As it stands, your team can’t lose a game if you want to make it to playoffs.

Yeah, we have Philadelphia, which I’m worried about. They’re very good at double sniper, which destroys the Mei composition we ran today. And then we get Dynasty. They’re good. And then Mayhem twice, which is more winnable.

How do you plan on beating the Fusion?

We just want to play really well. I don’t know. All the players on that team are really good. I have a lot of respect for everybody on there. It just comes down to us playing our comps better. It’s hard to talk about countering them because they’re such a good team.

Are you feeling any pressure?

Oh yeah, a lot of internal pressure alone to perform. We want to win every game the rest of this stage. Losing to Washington was pretty bad. They’re a good team now, but it’s bad for our chances. Hopefully things will improve from here. After going 0-14, we just won. Climbing out of that was pretty nice.

What are your team’s strengths in Stage 4?

Orisa, Roadhog, Mei. Anything of that variety. Then Logix picks any hitscan hero and just carries us.

How are you feeling about 2-2-2?

I like it a lot. I personally enjoyed playing GOATS. The skill ceiling is really high with GOATS. To have it go away is definitely a shame for people who really understood the game.

But it was really boring to watch. It sucked for spectators. It’s the hardcore micro that made it fun to play for me. But you don’t notice as a spectator.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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