Rebirth: A letter to the Dallas Fuel.
So I wanted to expand on Dallas Fuel given they’re such a big fan-favorite in the league, but despite this being Medium, I did not have the motivation to write a proper article about it.
I just want to put together a few words, without resorting to a long Twitter thread, or some dumb website like Twitlonger. It’s not the most formal writing I’ve ever done, but it’s my thoughts nonetheless.
So to get straight to it, why do I think Dallas are performing poorly right now? The most straight-forward answer is confidence. There’s been a multitude of factors that have led to this, things behind the scenes that I’m not aware of, or can’t talk about, or rather dumb things indirectly affecting Dallas Fuel as a result of unforeseen consequences prior to the start of the season.
It feels like I constantly retort to my own playing career and my experiences, so someone is going to let out a deep sigh reading this due to the inherent narcissistic nature of it, but watching the Dallas Fuel perform and react recently, has me relating to my later experience in Rogue before we went our separate ways. And so, to give some context.
We went from effectively being the best team in the world in Rogue, to an internal crisis in a matter of days due to the triple tank patch mid-APEX. We had to undergo a complete readjustment in terms of playstyle and thinking, and it was ridiculously hard to adapt to the fact we were bad again, how could we lose? Why? How? It was too much to deal with at once.
I’m pretty sure that if you actually ask any of my former teammates they would state it was mostly due to the fact I could not go from support-diving aggression (i.e. Fragi), to poke-oriented passive (Cocco), in a matter of days, and as such, EnVyUs benefited massively from the patch change, and defeated us narrowly 3–2 in a meta that conceptually was the worst possible for us as a team at the time.
While it feels unfair, it’s also true that I did not have the best understanding of the game at the time, and I was a large part of why Rogue could not live up to expectations after we picked EnVyUs in the quarter-finals ourselves, due to the importance of the main tank role. It’s also why I argue that my best days as a player individually were during Misfits, because despite the failure, it was an eye-opening experience for me. Being lost; extreme lack of confidence; confusion; internal chaos. It’s ultimately what made me announce my departure to the other members of the team in the first place, but what a mistake it was in hindsight, leaving Rogue due to fear of not knowing how to be good again, in fear of being wronged by my team-mates without knowing the solution to my problems (people who have seen the recent LA Valiant insider videos know what I’m talking about).
I hated waking up every day in a hotel room, fearing that it would be just another day of me getting told I’m a garbage Reinhardt, and the problem to our team.
When I see Dallas Fuel play right now, I can see glimpses of just that experience from the outside. The confusion, the fear, and them ultimately being lost as a team. It’s often why I argue on the desk that it’s no one’s fault. Because it isn’t.
“Rascal will not solve the problems by sheer skill, people are asking for Seagull when he’s playing one of the least initiative-taking roles in the game of the off-tank, and it honestly doesn’t matter whether Harryhook or Custa are controlling the speed boost.”
What the Dallas Fuel need more than anything now is a leader. A Fissure to their Gladiators, if you will. But a player change, or a new coach, is not necessarily the solution. Sure, if you acquired a strong, inspiring, personality as a player it would help, but it’s harder than it sounds. Most of all, the players just need to stop questioning themselves and take initiative as such. Stop being scared of doing mistakes, and actually do the mistake in the first place so you can learn from it.
I see the Dallas Fuel play, and I can see the doubts and over-thinking happen in real-time. Taimou questioning whether to go aggressive or peel, Mickie not knowing whether to peel for Taimou or his back-line, and the supports not being confident enough to use their ultimates in fear of them using both simultaneously as a result.
These hesitations are the seed to never evolving as a player, or in this case, as a team, because you can never improve, unless you decesively fuck up in the first place. I was the deepest, dumbest, most simple-minded player when I leapt into the back-line in order to die over and over again for the 2016 Rogue team, but I fucking dedicated myself to it, until I learnt how to balance the act between aggressive and defensive play later on in Misfits. But as it stands, I don’t see the current iteration of the Dallas Fuel ever finding that balance, because they’re scared of doing the mistakes in the first place.
“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.”
When I tried to adapt to the triple tank meta in Rogue I was simply scared of failing, and it was the darkest time of my career as an individual as a result. I would go into PUGs with random Master Reinhardts and be scared to shit of losing the duel, because I was supposed to be one of the best tank players in the world. Hesitation got the best of me, until I realized I was hesitating in my play in the first place. I started playing intuitively again, based on feeling, and when I fucked up, I recognized failure. Try again. Repeat. Success.
When Taimou much later did a stream in 2017, following their loss to KongDoo Panthera in APEX Season 3, the work I put in, and the mindset change had obviously paid dividence. From feeling lost every time I stepped onto King’s Row, to nomineed as one of the best Reinhardts in the game. And while it might not be the most official way to judge my play, I find Taimou’s recognition at the time as some sort of validity to my actual improvement over time, and the hours I put in as a different mindset.
Hell, if you asked the Rogue members they’d say my Reinhardt wasn’t even deserving of a paycheck, because when I did leave Rogue, that’s how bad it was, but I refused to settle at that.
And so my words to you Dallas:
Taimou, take that instinctive leap without thinking twice, and if it’s wrong, reflect on it, and talk to Kyky about it after the scrim. Practice makes perfect.
DPS, I know you’re new to the team, but encourage your team-mates to help you the best way possible for what you want to do, rather than silently relying on whatever unknown thing they do next. You will never perfectly rely on predicting their next move.
Supports, you can’t help everybody at once. Pull the trigger on the ultimate before it’s too late and someone is dead, and help the team-mate you think needs it the most, rather than half-assing heals to everyone all at once, sacrificing your own positioning as a result.
And for Effect, losing is tough, but tilting is not helping (seriously). Try to find solutions for your team-mates to help you play your game the best way possible, don’t quiet down your shot-calling and take less initiative because things are not going the way you want them to. Either encourage Taimou to help you faster to deal with the back-line, or realize yourself that they’re not in a position to help you, and instead help them establish positioning by dealing with the enemy tanks. It’s a team game after all, and the only way you’ll stop losing, is by working together. Be the difference-maker.
And so, I guess my ultimate message for the Dallas Fuel is to continue shot-calling, practicing, and playing confidently without hesitation or fear of decesive failure, because it is truly then you’ll notice what to improve on, as individuals, and as a team.
Stick to a plan, play decesively based on intuition, and work from there to solve the issues at hand. Don’t try to be perfect every fight, because you won’t re-attain perfectness within a scrim block anyway.
