The first ever Gfinity Australia Elite Series concluded over the weekend with all three titles: CSGO, Street Fighter V and Rocket League snapped up by Melbourne’s ORDER. In the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive grand final, the full powerhouse roster from ORDER came to play against Sydney’s very own Chiefs who had three players from their main line-up (ap0c, dizzy & Flickz) and two draftees (Doom and Iyen).
While the Sydney Chiefs worked hard in each map, it wasn’t enough to break down the highly experienced roster the Melbourne ORDER had losing the grand final 3-0. Despite the loss, Sydney Chiefs draftee, Dominic ‘Doom’ Wilson discussed with us his experience with the first ever Gfinity Australia Elite Series season.
“The first Gfinity season was a truly great experience, I was really happy with how I played for the most part and loved the experience. I learned a massive deal from the games and made a few new friends.”
“My personal highlight was my dad and little sister being in the crowd cheering me on every week.”
Heading into their match against the Melbourne ORDER, Doom talked about the preparations the team had against a solid main roster. Doom also talked about his physical preparations about getting lots of rest to prep for the big day.
“My own personal preparations going into the final were more adjustments than anything else. I learned from my mistakes in previous matches and adjusted accordingly, including finding more efficient ways to be defensive or aggressive. I also made sure to adjust my sleeping pattern and be well rested going into the finals. I tried to adjust teamplay as well and be more vocal in requesting assistance.”
“I wish I could say that there were any preparations as a team, but sadly there weren’t, which I do see was extremely significant in the result.”
“I wish I could say that there were any preparations as a team, but sadly there weren’t, which I do see was extremely significant in the result.”
The difficulty with being a mix roster with draftees was the time to prep, commitments here and there and the lack of training which affects the team’s performance on game day. Teams who used a non-draft team took advantage of the competition skill level.
Being the first season of this series, we’re expected to see some teething issues and potential areas to improve. Doom touched on this discussing more incentives for utilizing draftees and pushing for more competition as the games were only best-of-ones and felt like it was limiting the potential of players turning it up.
“I’d like to see more games, more teams, best of threes (or at the very least best of twos in the group stages), more integration with draftees (more incentives for teams to use them, more time for draftees to bond and prac with the team), and finally a bigger prize pool.”
“Naturally, most of these won’t be able to be implemented next season, but I’d like to see most of these under heavy consideration in future seasons.”
Feedback is always critical to improving and Doom talked about how much respect he has for Gfinity Australia and CEO Dom Redmond about listening.
“I have to pay respects to Gfinity for running so smoothly, they’ve done A LOT right and certainly have outperformed my personal expectations for the first season for a league with an enormously high potential.“
“I have to pay respects to Gfinity for running so smoothly, they’ve done A LOT right and certainly have outperformed my personal expectations for the first season for a league with an enormously high potential.“
“Also with how Dom Redmond (CEO of Gfinity Australia) showed me complete consideration and respect when I sat down with him personally and gave him my feedback for Gfinity. I was extremely impressed to say the least.”
Before the season began, we did a quick interview with Doom about his personal goals for Gfinity Australia. Looking back, we asked him about what he achieved and the areas he wants to work on.
“In this series I’ve been thrust into very foreign and uncomfortable positions, and thus my years of previous experience counted for very little, so in terms of overall number performances they were predictably relatively low compared to myself normally, which was disappointing for me.“
“Despite this, I learned a metric tonne from the whole thing, especially from the players I came up against throughout the series, which have helped me make slight adjustments which have had, and will have, an enormous impact on my skill. I learned a bunch about myself and how to structure myself external to the server. In the server however, in particular I’m looking to improve my counter strafing and prefires, as well as general crosshair placement while moving or holding angles.“
“This Gfinity season also reaffirmed to me just how important team chemistry is going into a competition, something I’m extremely proud of my own team for – MC Esports (Mannah Connections Esports), who I play with outside of Gfinity.”
Outside of the game, Doom has been quite the poster boy for Gfinity Australia featuring in many different media outlets. I asked him about the publicity and what he thinks of the media representation of himself.
“Honestly, I merely expected general publicity alongside many other players. I think I outperformed expectations in regards to media and procured much of the publicity by my own volition and proven competence when under pressure.”
“I wholeheartedly believe media coverage fits my personality like a jigsaw piece: I have no problems thinking on my feet, talking to new people, I stay true to myself – in that I say only what I truly think or feel, and of course I’m quick to laugh. Also the interviewers being so respectful, being so damn nice and giving me so much room to work with laid the groundwork, and I’d like to express my deepest thanks to all of them.”
The Gfinity Australia Elite Series is looking to return around November this year. Photos used are provided by Gfinity Australia.
You can follow the Sydney Chiefs on Twitter here and Dominic ‘Doom’ Wilson here.