In the moment the EOS Season 5 Finales was announced last week, I knew exactly who I wish to have as next guest: Maidros. He qualified with very convincing result in the 6th tournament, knocking down 3 of the other top 8 players from his path… Coming (almost) out of nowhere. From PSN.
Nickname: Maidros
Twitter: @MaidrosFeanoron (though I don’t use it for anything. It’s just there)
Twitch: MaidrosSC (same as Twitter, but I use it to follow the torunaments)
Youtube: Maidros FĂ«anoron
Instagram: Maidros
Birth Year: 1985
Country: Serbia (which used to be Serbia and Montenegro, which used to be the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which used to be the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia… All of this in my lifetime)
If you had to introduce yourself in three sentences to some SoulCalibur player who didn’t know you, what would you say?
“Hey, nice to meet you. I’m an okay Ivy player, but I also use Astaroth, Hwang, and Xianghua”, and then I would proceed to destroy the poor bugger with any one of them due to what an absolute tryhard I am. Look up the word “tryhard”. It describes me pretty precisely.
What is the origin or meaning of your nickname?
Maidros is the Serbian language transcription of the name “Maedhros”, one of the elven (Ñoldorin) heroes in Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. I identified with him because, most of the time, he was in control of his actions despite the path of ruin he and his brothers chose to take. He was also tall like I am. ^^ Not at all self-serving, right? By the way, some are confused about how to pronounce this nick. I say both ways are okay for me – “MAY-dros” and “Mah-ee-dros”
How did it happened you end up playing fighting games?
The first time I was impressed by fighting games was in the ’90s when I occasionally (rarely, rather) played MK I, II, and III. Around 2000, I played some Tekken 3 as well. I started going to high school in 2000, and my buddy with whom I shared the desk one day introduced me to the first SoulCalibur on Sega Dreamcast. I was absolutely blown away by the movement animations of characters such as Kilik and Xianghua… That mountain of muscles and madness, Astaroth, also drew me into the game.
The satisfaction I got from playing it couldn’t measure with anything I had experienced by that time. We ended up playing once every two weeks in 1-2 hour sessions in a cellar of a guy who rented time on his consoles. That’s where we also played the legendary SoulCalibur II on PlayStation 2.
In 2004, we stopped because my buddy and I didn’t quite maintain our friendship after graduating from high school.
I bought SoulCalibur IV in 2010, while I was an exchange student for a year in Japan, and I’ve been playing the series actively ever since.
Who do you main in SC6 and why?
I only started maining Ivy in scIV because I liked her story and gameplay the most. You can tell, what with my nickname and all, that I have a soft spot for tormented characters. Trust me, the boobs weren’t the reason, because I’m not into girls (gay), but she is fascinating to me for some reason.
She was nigh-omnipotent in scIV, even though I was a newbie who finished discovering all her combos just when SCV came out. I stuck with her throughout SCV’s 6-year sort-of life even though her capabilities were significantly lessened. Naturally, she is with me in VI, too.
Of course Astaroth has always been there, in the background, biding his time.
What is your opinion regarding SC6?
I… am… loving it. I didn’t expect it would get so much love from both Project Soul and the fans. 2+ years in, and it’s still going strong. Some will disagree, but the fact that tons of challenges can be found on both Steam and PS4 (for me, at least) speaks for itself. I am looking forward to what the future may hold for this franchise.
If you could change one single thing about SC6 what would that be?
Azwel would get the same status as Inferno when it comes to online play – there would be no Azwel online. x) The players that main him consistently reveal my incompetence, and that makes me feel insecure. :3
What you consider to be your greatest SC6 achievement and why?
Proving to myself that I am not only a mindless Ivy player (though there is that), but that I can branch off to styles like Hwang and X and Asta that don’t over-rely on zoning. This further strengthened my love of and faith in this franchise because I understand now that every character has a special approach that can be used to maximize his/her potential.
It grieves me whenever I hear someone struggling with their main and complaining about his/her deficiencies. EVERY character has deficiencies! You must identify their strengths and work on making them your asset. It will take time, but it’s possible. You can do it.
Please answer a single question that you were not asked but you would like to answer!
“If you’re a PSN player, Maidros, then why don’t we ever see you on PlayStation tournaments??”
Well, it’s great that you mentioned that, ghostly interviewer. I value tournaments as a place at which I can prove that my “tryhardness” hasn’t been in vain. But, you see, the ESL organises tournaments there, and they have a little list of European countries that CAN take part. Some of those are countries like Turkey and Ukraine, so not a West EU-only club. Serbia, for some reason and to my dismay, is not on that list, so I can only hope that it will change sometime in the future.
PC tournaments aren’t going so smooth for me, either, because I have an entry-level config, but I will try to do something about it over the coming months.
Thanks for the interview!