FPS COD4 Winter League 2022 - Interview: DOZE (Ducks Fall Down)

1. Hello DOZE, you are around for a long time but for people that don't know you, could you introduce yourself?

Hi, my name is DOZE aka LeTdOwN (Ironically because I never let my teammates down😉). I’ve been playing cod4 since the release. However, I didn’t participate in any competitive ladders until 2010. Whereas I’ve pretty much gone through all guns and classes whereas I’m now playing the spec ops class. Before the game completely died back in the days the last team I played in was The Rugrats. The Rugrats started out as a fun team where we all used fake nicknames (hence LeTdOwn), but eventually turned into a competitive team, that lineup consisted of Luni, Vanner, Lookzor, Tommy and me. When I went more inactive and took a backup position, Skier took my spot

2. After a long time people can see you playing in a team with decent lineup which seems to be stable instead of playing mixes. Why the change? What made you to take a part in Winter League?

I’ve mostly mixed around, this was mainly because of activity reasons and with the play dates of the previous leagues. Usually at every holiday I will travel home to my parents whereas I don’t bring my computer making me unavailable to play cod. This together with loads of university work I simply didn’t have the time to participate in the leagues even thought I wanted to.

3. What do you think of your teammates? Would you like to highlight someone from your team for great performances so far?

I’am very happy with my teammates, both ingame and out of game. I’ve previously played in a backup position for #ThrowbackThursday (#tbt) which both Kex and Alpha played in, so I’ve already had experience playing with them competitively. Tidde came around to play with #tbt at the previous league I think, together with previously having played in Infused together. When he played with #tbt it was a natural gateway into mixing together, whereas I got to know tidde better. Initially going into the Winter League our 5th was rivve but due to several reasons he stepped out last minute. Luckily, we were able bring Lujen in right before the start of the league. Thus our first match against denied was the first time I’ve played with lujen, he did not disappoint and showed a lot of potential. As far as kex, alpha and tidde’s performances goes, they have showed a lot of great plays, and I’m sure we’ll see more great performances from all my teammates in the future.

4. Talking about Winter League, what's your opinion on dividing teams into two tiers? Do you think it becomes more attractive for weaker teams and less attractive for stronger teams as the prize pool is smaller?

I do believe it was a good call to divide the League into two tiers, even thought I initially was against it. I was against at first because I simply didn’t believe enough teams would participate. But the community surprised me, and a lot of teams paid up and made two tiers possible. I honestly believe the tier system makes it more attractive for so called weaker teams to play for a different prize pool and it also makes for a tighter competition in both tiers.

5. What's your expectations? Do you find your team as a favourites or more like a under dogs that can surprise everyone?

Going into the first game my expectations where mixed, our first game was against Denied and I’ve literally came back from holidays 3 hours before the game started. We didn’t get to practice a single game with our new lineup for 3 weeks, and we were playing possibly the best team in cod4 right now. However, the game turned out a lot closer than expected, but unluckily we lost both maps 10-13 and 11-13. But for our first game with no practice, we felt it was a solid result. With 3 maps practice we went into our 2nd game of the league and we won! We beat radar-gaming 2-1 which to myself proved that we could go far in the league. We are by no means any favourites to win the league, but I don’t think we’re massive underdogs either considering previous personal results within the team.

6. Do you have any predictions for TOP3 of each tier?

I do believe that Denied has a huge chance of winning this leagues tier 1, mostly because they’re a really good team individually and because my long loved padawan Sam plays in the team. For the remaining tier 2 teams the top spots could possibly be split between qwertz, apes and unknown. Also with a little bit of luck and practice the Ducks fall down could also possible be a contender for a top spot in tier 1 ;).
For tier 2 I feel like the skill gap is very small and therefore most of the teams can bring home the victory, but personally I would root for s1ck.

7. Do you plan to attend Croatian LAN?

Personally I would love to attend the Croatian LAN, if Ducks fall down will attend is yet unsure.

8. Thank you for taking part in the interview. Is there anything you'd like to say?

I would like to thank the staff of FPSChallenge for keeping up with this community and hosting these Leagues, ladders and keeping the AC and website up to date! Without you we wouldn’t be able to play and enjoy the game we all like in a controlled environment. I would also say good luck to everyone participating in the winter league.