Portugal's Finest Hypnotizes The Competition

20 year old Gaspar Machado, known by his Online peers as "Hypno", recently won the Play.com Unreal Tournament 3 1v1 competition and earned himself 20,000 Euros ~ $30,000. More than that, he obtained his first ever LAN title after years of solid top 8 finishes at multiple ESWC and WCG's. And to top both those accomplishments, he brought home a major championship to his home country of Portugal, one which has never seen a major title since the inception of competitive gaming.

Gameriot: How does it feel to be champion of the first major UT3 LAN tournament?

Gaspar "Hypno" Machado: It feels awesome. After playing UT competitively since 2004, and kinda not enjoying UT2004 1on1, it really feels good to be the 1st in a game that you really enjoy and you feel comfy with .

Gameriot: How was your demeanor after you lost the upper bracket vs Martin "kiLLu" Reimann in two overtime games?

Hypno: I was really, really sad, because honestly, I was controlling the whole map and he just got lucky. Everyone saw this, but it was good because I found out the way he played, and I had a different gameplan in the grand final.

Gameriot: How do you feel kiLLu got lucky?

Hypno: He was just running around with really low health. I had full control, and he got a full straight shock combo in my face on both maps. Basically I died the same way in both, it was huge dejavu for me and I got really, really annoyed at it.

Gameriot: Do you think maybe you got complacent in the situation and left yourself open to the shock combos?

Hypno: Maybe he just wanted me to make me think he was really low so I fell into his combos, but I think he got lucky because it was one hit one shot, otherwise I would have just pulled out the minigun to finish him off. Still, he is really good with prediction combos, and thats a fact.

Gameriot: How did your strategy differ going into the grand finals against kiLLu?

Hypno: I just knew his gamestyle, he was really defensive and trying to hear me everytime. He knows always, always where you are, so I just tried to be as least predictable as possible and get the lead as soon as I could so he had to rush and lose a few frags after. It was really a mind game.

I gave much more importance to sound. I found I wasn't really caring about it, so I just did the opposite of the prior game, and I played a bit like him as well. In the first match he was always waiting for me to get armors and in the second match I realized it and I knew he was waiting this time, so I was just much more careful.

In the second match I was much more relaxed since we made the agreement that the loser would take home 5k, so it was ok to me even if I lost. I just didn't want to go home with nothing, so I really played my game pretty relaxed and I managed to hit a lot more and play smarter.

Gameriot: You were never able to earn a major championship in any prior UT game or event, how were you able to win the mind game this time around?

Hypno: Well I have some experiences from UT2004 where I played all the major competitions and had some decent results, even though it wasn't my game at all. I went to WCG, ESWC and ECG and placed almost always top8/top5. I felt the game was too much +backing and you couldn't pull off a frag really fast because of the shield gun. In UT3 there isn't a shield gun anymore and the defensive gameplay doesn't work so good. It's a mix between UT1 and UT2004, and I kept playing UT1 while I played UT2004 competitively, so I think I had my 1on1 XP from UT2004 and my skill from UT1 which made me succeed much more in UT3.

Gameriot: Many people have the same feelings (+back) about Quake 3. You think this was mainly due to the shield gun, or other factors?

Hypno: Well if you have seen matches like Lauke-Falcon at ESWC2005 you would know what I was talking about. The shield gun was a really big factor in the defensive UT2K4 gamestyle, even though it's possible to be +backing all the time without such a weapon. It was too much hitscan based so you could actually manage to control your health while you were being hit by the shock rifle primary or the lightning gun, instead of a full flak primary or a rocket in the face in UT3 that you can't really avoid.

Gameriot: You mentioned in your recent interview with ESReality that you were 'too immature' and that UT2K4 didn't quite 'fit' you. What do you mean by these comments?

Hypno: I was too young and didn't know how to handle pressure enough. Now I'm already 20 years old I think that helped me a good bit. UT2K4 didn't fit me because it was +backing all the time as I said before, and all the hitscan weapons were overpowered, and rockets were too weak, and one of my strongest weapons is for sure rockets.

Besides that, since I live in Portugal my gamestyle kind of have to be adapted to be more spammy instead of hitscan wise. In UT3 you can almost win almost with weapons like rockets and flak and shock combos, in UT2K4 that wasn't possible. It was too ping-dependent and too much hitscan as well.

Gameriot: Did kiLLu give you the most trouble out of all the competitors? Who else do you feel was on their game?

Hypno: I think kiLLu was the best player I played in the tournament, his gamestyle was perfect against me, and he was really good predicting my moves. He almost never fell for my prediction shots that I always hit against "other" players.

Gameriot: PREDICTION RAIL BABY! Sorry. So apparently you and kiLLu decided to split the prize money and give $5,000 to whoever placed second? Why did you two decide to do this?

Hypno: Because it would be nonsense to have 20,000 for first place and zero for second. I mean, imagine if the game was really close and was decided by a frag in overtime, the 2nd place finisher would be destroyed forever. I would be at least, so we decided to do this. I came up with this idea and he just agreed, we shook hands, and as soon as I get the money I'll be sending him his part straight away.

Gameriot: Besides a stint by LastNight in the SEC 2008 tournament for FIFA, you're the first Portuguese team or player to win a major eSports championship. How does it feel to bring home a title to your country?

Hypno: It feels awesome to make my country proud of me, even with all problems we have with our economy, I still love to live here and I'm almost sure I'm never going move to any other country. I could even try but, I would come back sooner or later.

The whole gaming community in Portugal really cares about me since I've been competing in Unreal Tournament. I've been achieving some nice results in almost all competitions I took part in, and UT was the only game that Portugal passed the groupstage so it's a reason to be proud of but at the same time a bit sad because of bad results in other games.

Gameriot: What did you think of the Play.com event in general?

Hypno: I thought it would be worse to be honest. The computers were ok but not awesome. I knew before that the monitors were going to be TFT and they were alright, and although I still play with my old 19" CRT, I got used to them pretty easily. The admins weren't really awesome but not really bad. The lack of coverage was horrible at this event and I never managed to understand why QuadV wasn't there. It would have been great, but the tournament in terms of competition was awesome. It was the most skilled UT tournament since 2005, and I think this is one of the biggest prize purses ever in UT history if not the biggest, and I'm glad I came 1st .

Gameriot: How did Wembley feel for an event location?

Hypno: It was really cool, to be honest. I heard the play.com event besides the UT tournament was really cool but I didn't manage to see it at all since we had no time. But I had a look at the Wembley Stadium from the outside and it was really huge.

Gameriot: Will you attend i33?

Hypno: Yes I will, I just got back home and I'm going to the UK again in.. 4 days or so? Feels really weird .

Gameriot: Do you feel the competition will be more or less difficult? Can you make it two straight victories?

Hypno: I think the competition will be easier. Even though all of the Dignitas duelers are going to be there, so it's gonna be really competitive anyway, I don't who else is going. I heard that kiLLu isn't going at least. I wish the i-series would be the same or even more competitive as the Play.com tournament even tho the prize money is much less.

Gameriot: After i33 there doesn't seem to be much on the horizon. WCG was one of the few major tournament organizers who have supported UT in the past and even they passed on the game for this year. Does UT3 have a competitive future?

Hypno: Well, there is still the EuroCup which might be really competitive even though the prizes are quite low. I hoped for some LAN finals but I don't see it happening. There's this Game Star Liga, that I was told that is a league that you get paid even by winning matches and then you can win the overall tournament. This league is invite only and I'm not invited at the moment, which I hope will change. Then theree is still the ESL Major Series and I hope for LAN finals too. What attracted me more was the Digital Games, but unfortunately I don't see them picking UT3 . So, basically, UT3 has a competitive future, but maybe for not such a long time.

Gameriot: Will you continue to compete if the tournaments dwindle?

Hypno: Yeah I think I will as long as there's highskilled competition. I just
really enjoy the game a lot, so I'm going to keep playing it.

Images obtained from Four-Kings.com.