Earlier this spring, not even DPS/Zarya player Andrej "BabyBay" Francisty could believe that his team, the Atlanta Reign, had taken down the previously undefeated New York Excelsior. Determined to prove it a fluke, New York looked forward to playing Atlanta again. However, once the dust settled after their second battle, the underdogs from Atlanta were once again victorious.
After the (second) thrilling upset we sat down with the main tank for the Atlanta Reign, Hyun-jun "Pokpo" Park, to talk about what it's like to have New York’s number, being the underdogs, and (literally) leading the charge as Reinhardt.
“Last time, because we were still kind of in the playoff race I was a little more nervous,” Pokpo was translated as saying during our interview. “But today I didn’t really feel the nerves.” Currently standing at 11th (out of 20) in the Stage Two rankings, putting them out of playoff contention win or lose. This seems to have given the Reign a devil-may-care attitude in regards to facing New York a second time. Lose to one of the top-ranked teams in the League, no one is really surprised. Come out the victor, and have bragging rights as giant slayers.
Having won against all odds, many may wonder what Atlanta’s secret is. While Pokpo considered his answer, Dong-hyeong "DACO" Seo (Atlanta’s beastly off-tank player) jokingly chimed in with his surely soon-to-be-trademarked chest-thump, signaling that his return to the roster is what put Atlanta over the top.
“When we’re playing New York, things just click in my head,” said Pokpo, laughing at DACO’s gesture. “The plays that I need to make just come into my head, and I can focus very well. I think that’s the case for my other teammates as well. They really showed up on both of the matches.”
While Tank players are surely getting their time in the sun, Pokpo was incredibly proud of the Reign and his teammates and gave credit of the win to them.
“DACO, he occasionally gets good bombs, he occasionally eats gravs, too,” said Pokpo, glancing at his teammate. “Masaa (Petja "Masaa" Kantanen), he’s really good at riding walls and booping them. We even have a word for it, ‘Sky boop.’ Going back to our last game against NYXL Dogman (Dusttin "Dogman" Bowerman) was popping off. He’s hard carry. He single-handedly he carried Busan by himself. I feel like a lot of our teammates have those moments where they just pop off.”
Humble about his own play, it wasn’t until pressed that Park spoke about his own impressive feats in the match.
“I sometimes get insane [Earth]Shatters,” he admitted. “I farmed Primal [Rage] really, really fast and was able to make plays off of that.”
Having taken down New York twice, other teams in the League may be changing the way that they look at the Atlanta Reign. Despite only winning half of their games, this momentum may be just what the Reign need to march through the next two stages of the season.
“During practice, we have started crushing,” Pokpo concluded. “So some teams I think will be afraid of us.”
Atlanta is ready for a little R&R with their next game coming June 6th against the dominant San Francisco Shock. Will they continue to slay giants, or will they find themselves shook? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
