Priest XYZ sat down with several players from Grif Reapers to talk about Playoffs. Grif Reapers is one of a handful of undefeated amateur league teams and is captained by D Apollo S. This is the Reaper’s second season and their second run for the playoffs. Last season they lost in the first round to the future amateur league champions Yup Guppies.

You were a favorite just about the entire season. Going in with a 2 or 3 seed, is there any pressure to make it to at least the final four?

Apollo: Yeah I think there is. A lot of people think that we won’t make it far, they think we’re overrated, and they think we ride Sp0ny’s host, but we haven’t. We’ve had great tanks and there is some pressure to get that far, but it won’t affect our gameplay in any way. I think we’ll do pretty well.

Greenthumb: I’m gonna say no, that’s all I got.

Sp0ny: I think that we won’t be overconfident, we’re gonna take every step as we go. We get the first round bye, and that takes a little practice away from us, but in the end the best teams will play the best teams. Hopefully we’ll have a good run throughout the playoffs

Most people think you guys had host every game, if this is true, will playoffs be your first neutral host competition, and how will that affect your play?

Apollo: Sometimes Sp0ny hasn’t pulled, we actually have played a couple neutral host games. We’ve played two neutral host games, I believe against LFTO: Delocated and against Lvl 50 Spartan LFG, but we won each. For most players on the team, they haven’t played neutral host. For most of us, this is the first season we’ve done it, but we’ve been able to adapt pretty quickly. People think that neutral host will be big deal, I believe we have a good team, and we don’t need host to win.

Greenthumb: The whole neutral host part of it won’t affect us, because Apollo, myself, and
Sp0ny won’t have trouble with neutral host. It will depend on our starting four. Neutral host won’t be a problem. So.. Yeah

Sp0ny: Only problem I see with neutral host, is not our ability to play on it, but to find a player to neutral host, because the majority of players that pull over me are pretty dirty hosts for the majority of our team. I mean Dr. Greenthumb hasn’t played on a host he doesn’t do well on. However, the other 3 of us on any host that isn’t mine don’t connect well. So it’s more about finding a host that is clean and everybody plays well on, even if the other team does better than us tank-wise.

Which team or teams are you looking forward to playing the most?

Apollo: Um I have to say there’s two teams I really hope to face. There’s Pro Laggers and Apocalypse Ponies. Now I’m not saying we haven’t been challenged because we have, but because I think they’re two of the most competitive teams, and I kind of want to see how well we stand up against them. I think it would be pretty epic.

Greenthumb: First off, the main team I look forward to facing is Behind Enemy Lines, because of how good their tanks are, and you know it’d be a pretty good competition. Next team would probably be Bad Kidz Anonymous, because I want to go up against Mikinater.

Sp0ny: My team of choice is definitely… Well my personal choice is Soviet Machine, not because of their win/loss record or how competitive it might be, but mainly because Time gnome is this ultimate god to the Ammies in terms of scoring average for his games played. It is definitely impressive and I would just love to shut him down. It’s more of a personal endeavor. Then my second I’d have to go with Apocalypse Ponies, because they are the number one seed.

If you guys don’t win the Championship or you get knocked out early, who would you like to see move on deep in the playoffs?

Apollo: Uhh that’s a tough one There’s a few teams I’d be rooting for. You know what I’d probably be rooting for… shoot I don’t know. I’m stuck between three, maybe two teams…wait…Now it’s down to Apocalypse Ponies and Soviet Machine. I’m gonna say Soviet Machine.

Greenthumb: Um, I’d go with Grammaton Clerics dude, because a bunch of my homies are on that team dude. I mean a lot.

Sp0ny: I would have to go for, I mean it’d kinda be hard because I don’t know which team from our division that’s also going to playoffs. If we got destroyed, I would at least like to see Lvl 50 go a long way, because we gave them hell throughout the entire season and they put up a good fight. I mean they would be underestimated and they would likely take out a good amount of the competition.