Daco Interview: “I Already Knew We Were Going to Win” Against NYXL

Dong-hyeong “Daco” Seo had no shortage of eyes on him coming into the Atlanta Reign’s game vs NYXL on Friday. The Reign have struggled in Stage 2, even losing to the winless LA Valiant in a disappointing Map 5 scenario that left fans with two questions – when will the pain stop, and where is Daco?

Fans and analysts alike threw questions and speculations on the off-tank’s whereabouts, citing his decent performance with the Reign over the course of Stage 1 (and his stats, which can only tell us so much, which were fairly similar to FRD’s numbers over the course of Stage 2).

The morning of the match, Overwatch blogger Arran “Halo” Brown released a report alleging that Daco had been benched for the first two weeks of Stage 2, after weeks of disruption and misbehavior. To find some more answers on the matter, we sat down with Daco to talk about the Reign’s upset over NYXL, how the team is holding up after a rough stage and the report itself. His answers were definitely interesting.

Before anything else – how did it feel to get that win against NYXL this week? Did you play with more energy given that so many people assumed you would struggle against them?

Overwatch League 2019 Season2019-04-19 / Photo: Ben Pursell For Blizzard Entertainment

Not particularly, no. I already knew we were going to win, so once it happened… It didn’t really hit me that hard, to be honest. We were confident coming in, so we weren’t surprised when we beat them.

So what changed between the Reign’s first few games of the stage vs. the games this week? What particular aspect of the team’s play let you do so well, when previously you had been struggling?

I got to start.

You and FRD swapped back and forth a lot over the course of the series – is there a strategy to determine who plays where that you can discuss? Or is it more a spur of the moment decision?

FRD and I have pretty different play styles, generally, so it’s a per-map decision based on what we need for that map. In scrims the day before the match, we look at who played well on each map in the match’s pool, and used that to decide who’s playing for each map.

What’s the team’s energy like over the course of a game? You’re generally pretty hyped – is there anything you guys do to keep your energy high?

Overwatch League 2019 Season2019-04-19 / Photo: Ben Pursell For Blizzard Entertainment

It’s all BABYBAY, he’s hilarious! He cracks a lot of jokes and acts the fool – in a good way, of course. He keeps us going over the course of a game.

[Related: A TGH Interview with BABYBAY]

With another game vs NYXL coming up, is there anything you want to look at and fix in your own play from the first game against them? And are you going into your next match against them with the same level of confidence?

I definitely need to work on my concentration. On Rialto vs NYXL, I was losing focus a lot and feeding pretty hard. Keeping focus in moments like that is the next thing I want to work on. And yes, we’re just as confident going up against NYXL again!

I want to talk about the elephant in the room, now – the report recently released by Halo, alleging that you were benched for two weeks for disciplinary reasons at the start of Stage 2. Do you want to clear the air on that in any way, or refute his story with details of your own?

All the accusations in that report are pretty ridiculous, frankly. I think instead of taking the time to respond to it, I’d much rather focus more on myself and my gameplay. That’s what I’m here to do.

Overwatch League 2019 Season2019-04-19 / Photo: Ben Pursell For Blizzard Entertainment

Any closing messages, then, for fans and supporters who are keeping an eye on you?

I don’t have much, but for the fans I will say – have faith. Trust in me, and in us. Keep cheering for us, and we won’t let you down.

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