ben1337: "WUMBO was on stanislaw's list for six months"

Dust2.us Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore caught up with Marsborne Assistant Coach Ben "ben1337" Smith during the first day of FRAG 20.

ben1337 spoke on the Marsborne roster's formation, his role in the new team, and the prospects of young players Chance "WUMBO" Boyer and Mark "marekiew" Petrov.

Find the interview in video form below, with the full transcription underneath that. All questions and answers have been slightly edited for length and clarity.

You've played three matches so far, what do you make of your day with this new Marsborne team?

We played two games in the railer area, then we played Fisher on stage. We lost a close game to them; they played well. Things are going well so far.

You mentioned that 13-9 loss to Fisher on stage. Of course, this is a brand new team, first event, first LAN together. How do you feel you did against Fisher, despite the loss?

I feel like we showed signs of life, and then that game was a real test for us. It was our first official as a team, so we needed to see how people play in the match server.

I definitely think things could have gone our way more. We got ecoed, which is unfortunate, but things happen. They played well and capitalized on our mistakes. We know what we need to work on for the next game

Like you said, there's a lot to work on because this is a new roster. What can you tell us about the formation of this Marsborne roster? It sort of takes the best pieces from the ex-SportsBetExpert team, the BOSS team, and Grizz from the old Marsborne.

How did it come together after the old Marsborne team died?

Lucid messaged me and we just had a conversation. I didn't know what to expect, he wanted to have a call. We talked for about two hours about what I've been up to, what he's been up to. Just seeing where our minds are at with things.

He started talking about the project, how it was grassroots players, that's what he wanted to do. After he said the players on the roster and talking to each player, I think everyone is underrated. They have a good mindset for the game and are really willing to learn. After that conversation, I could see the vision. Marsborne, as an org, has been like a family.

You join Marsborne as the assistant coach, hanging up the mouse once again. Overall, it was a pretty rough start to the year for BOSS. We initially saw some promise at fl0m LAN before stanislaw left and a number of roster changes took place. Why do you think that BOSS roster failed?

It's hard to put it on one thing. I think it was just timing of things. The start of the year with the BOSS roster, we did good at fl0m LAN. Everyone knows we should've done better. That's on us as a team. After we made some changes and I came back to play, it was tough for us to play.

After stanislaw got an offer, as well, and we picked up the two new guys, playing wasn't that much fun for me. I love teaching the new guys and seeing their progression. For me, playing, I wasn't having a fun time. I wanted to have a new direction.

Speaking of the new guys, it seems WUMBO is a real diamond in the rough. How did you find him? Is he another OCEAN success story?

stan had a scouting list, we went through a bunch of people in NA. WUMBO was on stanislaw's list for six months, and he saw that [WUMBO] was doing things that people aren't doing in this region. After talking and playing with him, I see how much he wants to win and improve. It's hard to describe him; he's got that finesse to him.

What can you tell us about the other young gun on the squad, marekiew? He is a bit more experienced than WUMBO after coming from regain.

marekiew's more of a quiet guy. He's not on a lot of people's radars. For the role as an anchor and lurk, that is so hard to find nowadays. Everyone wants to be a star player or entry. Having someone that plays in the anchor/lurk spot well and does their job correctly, it helps the team so much more. He's very underrated and lets other people shine. When it's his time to shine, he'll do it.

How do you think freshie is making the transition into being the IGL of this squad? He served as the IGL on SBE on an ad-hoc basis since they didn't find another one after steel, who was only there for a few weeks. This is his first actual IGL gig on a team, what do you see in him as an IGL?

I think he has a really smart mind about the game. The way he talks about the stages of the round, how he wants to play. I didn't know freshie at all, this was the first time I've talked to him. He came off really intelligent about the game and he likes to learn a lot. He mentioned that he's never had a mentor in the game to teach him. The fact that he's done this on his own is pretty impressive.

You are the assistant coach while Lucid is keeping his head coach role from the old Marsborne squad. What's the division of labor like between you and him?

We're in our early stages. We've been a team for less than two weeks. We're letting the guys figure it out and if we see anything out of line we'll help them and give our input.

One thing I'm curious about, Lucid isn't able to travel to a ton of LAN events for personal reasons. Is the goal for you to go with them to LANs?

Is that something they looked for in you? Especially when compared to the old Marsborne roster, they spent a lot of time out in the Brazilian wilderness without anyone to hold things together.

Yeah, I'm planning on traveling with the team for sure. That was one of the main talking points we had. I'm excited to be here and excited to be at future events.

Finally, with this being your first event, one of the big goals is to grind out some matches to get your VRS rank. What are your broader expectations for this event?

We know you'll make the top-16 with some of the teams in your group being lower-level squads. When the rubber hits the road in Stage 2, what is your expectation there?

We're taking it match-by-match. That's my mentality. I know we're all very confident and we want to win.

Marsborne's first match in Stage 2 at FRAG 20 is against Voca.