The interview was supposed to be finished and go out at the beginning of March. Now that it is finally completed, you will get to know a lot about Rezwan and his approach to eSports, video games, and nicknames. Enjoy!
Please introduce yourself.
Hello, I'm Rez 'Jehuty' Mostofa and I am the team director and StarCraft II manager for Team Revolution. I spend nearly 99% of my time towards E-Sports, however, you've probably never heard of me.
You're a director of Team Revolution. That's quite the achievement! How did you come up with the idea of starting an eSports organization?
Yeah, we're quite proud of what we've achieved in the past 3 years. I think we as a team have always been passionate about E-Sports even before its inception. However, the real driving force that got us into creating a team was our success on the release of Metal Gear Online 3, where we got over 5 ESL first places. We felt like we really wanted to turn our victories into something much more. We started off in Super Smash Bros. Melee, followed by SC2 due to my knowledge of the scene. That was pretty much how we began.
Do you mind telling us more about how Team Revolution started? I'm sure it's very interesting to know how to start your own eSports organization.
Yeah, at first we came into quite unknowingly on how to start, whom to approach and in general, it was a difficult task to get our foot into scenes that are already so well-established. We began by asking players who were currently teamless but had a huge history and following. Our first two major players would be Fuzzyness in Super Smash Bros. Melee and SortOf in Starcraft II. Neither player disappointed, as Fuzzyness got multiple 1st/2nd places in European tournaments, and SortOf got a Top 4 at DreamHack Valencia which was very exciting for us.
In general, there's so much to talk about when it comes to starting your own organisation, but the first few steps would to ensure you have a solid team around you. Usually, friends who are passionate about E-Sports and want to achieve the same as you. From there, it's about finding out whom to contact and building a relationship with the players in the different scenes. Sponsorship is definitely the most difficult to figure out at the start. You ask yourself "do I start with the biggest companies? Smaller companies? Snacks? Drinks?" Honestly, before you do any of that, you have to ensure you have a solid sponsorship deck that will really illustrate to other companies that you're the brand that they want to be associated with. I could go on forever, but from these steps, you pretty much build from the bottom up. No success comes instantly.
Your nickname is Jehuty. Mind sharing a story behind it?
Yeah, it's one people are very curious about. I was a huge fan of Hideo Kojima games. When I purchased Metal Gear Solid 2 on the PS2, it came with a demo of a game for Zone of the Enders. I decided to play, and it turned out to be one of the best single-player games that I have ever played. My brother would go on to take the antagonist name 'Anubis'. I digress, the main 'character' is a robot(orbital frame) called Jehuty. It's actually named after an Egyptian god.
You say you spend nearly 99% of your time on E-Sports. Could you please elaborate on that?
Yeah, my daily routine involves, but not limited to, communicating with players, staying in touch partners, current staff, handling applications, contacting sponsors, among other things. This tends to take up most of the day. The remainder 1% is usually playing StarCraft II, Overwatch, PUBG or CSGO.
What do you think about the future of eSports?
I believe E-Sports is currently headed in the wrong direction in certain aspects. For example, the new Overwatch League really doesn't leave room for grassroots and brand new teams to enter the scene while it gives a great good infrastructure and is overall great for the game. For teams like us, it can be far too expensive to ever invest in a scene regardless if we like it. I think that's where E-Sports started and should stick to its foundations instead of trying to adapt to outdated sports.
However, I love how much attention E-sports is getting, being televised in multiple countries, most recently acknowledged by the Olympics commission for IEM Pyeongchang for StarCraft II, all great stuff. I think the future of E-Sports definitely entails it being recognized on a much bigger scale. I don't say this being clairvoyant, highly intellectual or wise. It's the conclusion anyone would come to, for someone who's inside the scene and aware of the possibilities.
What would be the most optimistic course of actions for eSports?
I think the most optimistic course of action with regards to E-Sports is to grow. I know that's a very simple answer with multiple variables attached to it, however, that's what's needed to make E-Sports as relevant, or more relevant, compared to any current major sport, the people. The people following the game is truly the only thing that will make E-Sports better. The communities should increase in size and become more than just a 'lucky' career. Instead, being a professional player should become a prominent job title.
What would be the most pessimistic course of actions for eSports?
I think we need to avoid as much as possible trying to become like other sports such as Football, Basketball etc. The positives about doing so are having huge stadiums, dedicated formats, well-maintained leagues and ladders, whereas the negatives involves E-Sports losing what makes it peculiar to watch, the teams, the players, the casters, the tournament organisers and of course, the fans…. I think overall, it would end up being too controlled and imitated opposed to the funny/quirky banter that you can get from content in gaming today.
How do you see 2018 for Team Revolution?
I have really high expectations for 2018. We're already off to a quick start, completely rebuilding our StarCraft 2 roster, which is our flagship game. We are in the process of acquiring a new PUBG team and speaking to CS:GO/Dota 2 teams. Overall, everything is very exciting. We are stepping up our game this year and amplifying the amount of work we do around Team Revolution. We want to make our first 2 years seem trivial in comparison.
Let's wrap up the interview. I think I'm asking too many questions! Thank you for your time and making this interview possible! The final word is yours!
Yeah, thank you again KeenGamer for sponsoring us, as well as nVidia, Purple Mustard and WASD Keyboards. If you like to show support, please take a look at our website over at http://revolution.gg/shop where you can buy merchandise from us. You can also follow us @TeamRevoGG on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter.