Team Pandamonium has entered Season 3 of the SMITE Oceanic Pro League as the team to beat. They’ve dominated the competition during the first split and it’s not surprising since the roster became Oceanic champions back in 2015 as AVANT.
With the Split One OPL final looming closer, Daniel Rowe – Jungler and Team Captain for Team Pandamonium – said the team is ‘as confident as ever for the LAN this coming weekend’ against Tainted Minds.
“We’re doing all of the preparations we have in the past, while adding some extras we learnt in Atlanta during the Smite World Championship. In the end though; we believe this first split finals should be the easiest LAN of the season.”
However, he commented saying “we’d be silly to underestimate the Tainted Minds boys and look forward to giving it our best.” Tainted Minds has only dropped one game and that’s against Team Pandamonium so it’s shaping up to be an exciting match up this weekend.
SMITE OPL Ladder – Source: CyberGamer
After competing in Atlanta in the World Championships, Daniel talked about the season so far and what improvements the team needs.
“Our biggest strength since coming home from Atlanta and rebuilding our team has been the general attitude and productive team environment, as we’re able to use this in combination with our dedication to practice therefore resulting in constant improvements”
“It’s easy for anyone inside of the team to look back on our recent performance and see where we need to improve, but those improvements should come in time with good team structure. I won’t say exactly where I believe our weaknesses lay as I’m sure they could be exploited by another high level team.”
As mentioned above, Team Pandamonium roster was made up of ex-Avant players which was created with collaboration with famous live-streamer ChinglishTV. I asked him about life under a new name.
“Under this new banner we’ve felt a sense of pride, because we’re all building something together – rather than what feels like working for a profit.”
“As of right now there are no contracts involved, which means no sponsor obligations and the like, so we’re able to focus on what we (the players) believe is most important at the time, resulting in a stress free mindset for all of us.”
With Hi-Rez Studios injecting into the Oceanic scene with Season 3, Daniel talked about what has changed in the scene and whether the game is growing.
“The growth of Smite in general is constant, but sometimes hard to see on such a big scale – the small Oceanic region’s growth has been a lot more noticeable however.”
“Any of us could play some casual games of Smite on the Oceanic servers back in late 2014 and only see familiar names. Nowadays you’re seeing mostly new names every game.”
General player numbers are growing Daniel mentions and it’s through the popularity of the game is where the esport scene will grow.
“We’re seeing a much larger competitive player and viewer base. It’s exciting to see and, since I can only speak for myself here, is very motivating when it comes to continuing to build up our region in all aspects.”
Team Pandamonium and Tainted Minds are scheduled to take each other on for the prize pool of $6,000 this Sunday at the CyberGamer Pro League (CGPL).
You can check out more information of the event here.