One.PoinT Week: Interview with Henrique “Horthic” Damião

Every story has a beginning. To make it a good story, though, the beginning has to be one worth hearing about – and for One.PoinT, the team’s early days were definitely memorable ones. We sat down with Henrique “Horthic” Damião to talk about forming the team, and where it’s going next. Enjoy!

Alright, introduce yourself! Who are you, what’s your story?

So my in-game name is Horthic. I’m from Portugal. I’ve been playing Overwatch since the open beta came out. As for my team history, I played in Season 1 of Contenders Trials for Renegades, and then in Seasons 2 and 3 of EU Contenders with One.PoinT.

And you founded One.PoinT, right? I know your Twitter says that you’re the team captain?

I founded the team with Phatt, yeah. I did most of the work on scouting, and the major decisions in the team to get us started.

So you’re the boss around here, basically. 

Yep!

[Horthic (farthest down the row) sets up with former teammates Tiago “mowzassa” Rodrigues and Gonçalo “elremrs” Martins for Lisboa Games Week in November 2016. Photo: @LucKyGii]

Speaking of Phatt, I know you’ve played with him on a number of teams, including Team Portugal. Would you say you guys are pretty close at this point?

I’ve known Phatt for almost 3 years now, I think? I met him when I started playing Overwatch. I mostly played in Portugal at that time. He was always on the enemy team, but I always thought that he was a good player. So, when I had the chance to play with him, I took that chance – and we’ve been pretty close ever since. As for any memories with Phatt… I’d say when we went to Australia for the World Cup? That was really fun.

I’ve heard that playing on stage is one of the coolest things you can do as an Overwatch player. Was that a first-time thing for you, and was it as cool as everyone says it is?

Photo: @kiler4fun

I’ve played on stage in Portugal – never anything international, before that. That was the first time playing in front of a big crowd, with a lot of pressure on me. I think that it was an amazing experience. I wish we had been able to go again to the World Cup this year, but we weren’t really that lucky. We’re a small country, so getting that high average SR… It’s a bit hard for us.

Are you balancing any other work with trying to go pro right now? Do you have a day job?

I used to have a day job – well, night job, actually; I worked in a bar. But since I got into Contenders, I’ve been taking it very seriously. I got my family to help, so now they support me.

So I talked with Curryshot earlier in the week, and he made a comment that he felt that EU is “ahead” in their understanding of the meta right now. Do you agree?

With the current meta, I’d 100% agree with that. In terms of practice, I think we’re better than any other region. In the past, you would go to Korea to learn dive, but now you would have to come to EU to learn GOATS the right way, basically.

And speaking of Curryshot, what’s it been like working with him so far? How does he compare to other coaches you’ve had in the past?

I’ve only had a major coach before – Casores who went to the Overwatch League [to join the Atlanta Reign] – and I think he measures up with him pretty well. He’s a pretty positive guy: he always gives his ideas, he listens to everyone, and will always bounce ideas back and forth with anyone on the team.

Who’s a player that you’ve looked up to in your career?

Photo: Liquidpedia

Specifically for this meta (in the beginning, at least,) I looked up to Leaf. He was Eagle Gaming’s Brigitte, and I had to learn Brigitte at the time, so that’s who I was watching when the meta first got started. In terms of game sense in general, though, it would probably be Haksal. Right now, though, I don’t really look up to anyone else. I think i’m pretty close to everyone else at this point.

Of all the other EU Contenders teams right now, who would you consider to be One.PoinT’s biggest challenger?

I’d say Samsung Morning Stars.

I’ve been hearing that a lot. These guys are just an all-star roster at this point, right?

Exactly, it’s a roster that started from zero, basically, and they’re all very good players at their roles. They’re basically a big super team for EU.

If you could have a LAN show match against a Contenders team from any region, which team would you want to play against?

At this point? Maybe Fusion University.

Even though they got beat by British Hurricane after Season 1? You still think they need more? Like, “You can be two-time champs in NA all you want, you still won’t be able to beat us!”?

I think so, yeah. They need a reminder. Just to reassure them that we’re still better. 

Nice.

So EU is widely considered (especially within the region) to be one of the best scenes for GOATS comp and other tank-focused comps. Despite being really good at it, would you say you’re tired of playing all these 3/3 comps? Or is it still fun to play for you?

I’m still fine with it. At least, I can find the fun in it, because there’s a lot that goes into it. People don’t realize, but there’s a lot of really small things that make, teams better than each other at GOATS. I see people complaining a lot to the tune of “oh, GOATS GOATS GOATS, it’s boring, etc”, but if you really take a step back and, open your eyes, you’ll see that there’s a lot of things that go into a team fight or your team’s positioning, etc. And I think it’s the best team comp there is for team play right now.

That’s a pretty bold statement, but I think I’d agree, honestly. I think other comps have always required a high degree of team work, but it’s never been as vital, as make-or-break, as it is in a GOATS comp. 

Yeah, because every character in a GOATS comp needs the others to be a good team. Look at Genji, for example, during the dive meta. You could just Nano Boost your Genji and he goes off and 1v6s the entire enemy team. You can let him do his own thing, but that’s not a possibility in GOATS comp.

And do you think Ashe will have any impact on the current meta at all?

I don’t think so, no. I really don’t believe so, because Ashe… it’s almost like having a Widowmaker. BOB won’t do much, either. The only thing BOB can do against GOATs would be to knock up the enemy team, but I don’t believe either of them will be able to do much about the meta.

Why do you think Europe as a region was so overlooked this off-season, besides Paris? What kept OWL teams from noticing you guys, or understanding your value?

I believe people don’t really think about what the current meta is, or what it could be, so they always go for the safe bet. Like, “oh, we’re just going to go with Koreans. They can practice it, or whatever.” As for EU specifically being overlooked, I think it’s a normal thing by now, where NA and Korea are the most watched regions. I don’t really know why, because I believe Europe is a very hard-working region, given that we have so little. We have so little that we have to work for something, anything, while NA can slack a bit and still get things we don’t. I don’t really know why we get overlooked every time.

Do you think more exposure would help – via social media, or even articles like this? Or will it take more than that?

I believe getting more academies in EU would help, so people start to really care about [the region]. Right now we only have one, while NA, I think, has eight? I’m not sure.

Correct, there are eight right now.

Right. So basically, I believe that scouts just look at the academy teams, maybe taking a peek at non-org teams… they don’t really bother with EU because, I guess we just play tanks, really. *laughs* I don’t know.

So what message would you send to these OWL scouts that are maybe on the fence about considering EU’s talent, or that have been ignoring the region altogether? How would you try to tell them, “Hey, we’re worth it! Pay attention to us!”

I believe right now is a good chance to bet on EU players, mostly the ones that are at the top or were at the top last season, because of the current meta and what they can bring to the team – the knowledge they’ve gained from EU that they can bring with them. Europe [as a region] is really hard-working. We don’t slack, because we know we have to work hard to get salaries and things like that. I believe we’re close to the Korean mindset right now.

Okay! That’s a strong statement in and of itself, saying you’re in the same work-mode as Korean players right now. I like it.

Last question, here: What message would you send to fans that have been watching you play all this time?

I’m very thankful that people watch my memes on twitter – and that they watch our games and support us when it’s time to vote on the game’s winner – just voting on the Contenders match; when they vote for us, I’m very thankful for that. And I believe we can make it really far this season, and that we will make everyone proud of us and our work.

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Featured Image Courtesy of Liquidpedia

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