Tom "apocdud" Henry ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce Cup

Ben Scott
January 9, 2020

With the weekend fast approaching, so too is the NVIDIA GeForce Cup; a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament that local team, “team” (ex-Genuine Gaming), will be competing in over in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this weekend. 

The NVIDIA GeForce Cup is set to play host to ten teams from around the Asia-Pacific region, with a $20,000 USD prize pool up for grabs. Australian representatives, team, qualified for the event through an open bracket qualifier held back in November - they were competing under the Genuine Gaming banner at the time, but have since left the organisation. 


Team (ex-GG) Roster:


I had the chance to sit down with Tom “apocdud” Henry ahead of the teams appearance at the event to gain some insight into how the team has prepared, who they are looking out for and what they plan on getting out of their second international appearance as a team. 

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Tom "apocdud" Henry at ESL AUNZ Champs (ESL)

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Kicking off our chat, I asked apocdud what the preparation has been like for the event. He went on to say “unfortunately due to it being so soon after the new year, we’ve only just been able to start practicing again recently, as players have been on holidays and tied up with family.”

“Basically we’ve spent our short amount of time trying to get comfortable again with our map pool, sorting out any glaring issues and basically just getting back into the swing of things after a month break,” continued apocdud. 

With that being said, I went on to ask what the team’s expectations are coming into the event, with apocdud going on to say “because this is our second international event, and my first, it’s difficult to know what to expect. I do personally think we have a solid chance of winning the event, provided we quickly adapt to the other countries' styles and don’t get thrown off by the different metas.”

“Provided we bring high energy and play our game, I think we have a really good shot,” finished apocdud.

News broke recently of the groups for the event, with BOOM, Darkhorse, Entity Gaming, team and MiTH.Maple making up Group A. With that being said, I asked apocdud how he feels about his group. “Looking at all the results from the other teams, I honestly think we did get the more challenging group. It’s going to be very interesting to see who comes out in the top two, as from a glance at past results everyone seems to be at a similar level,” said apocdud.

Given that he believes that the teams in his group are evenly matched, I had him expand by asking him if there was any teams in particular that they would be looking out for. Apocdud went on to state “I know MiTH.Maple (Thailand) and Entity Gaming (India) are both quite strong teams in their respective regions, so I’m definitely interested to see what it will be like playing against them. I’m not great at keeping up with the other smaller regions, so there could definitely be some other scary rosters.”

Rounding out our chat, I asked what he plans on getting out from this event - other than obviously winning the competition. “For me personally, it’s my first time going overseas anywhere other than NZ, which doesn’t really count, let’s be honest. So I’m hoping to prove that I can perform in a reasonably high-stakes environment while out of my comfort zone,” started apocdud.

“I’m also really curious to see how we stack up against these Asian teams, after having only played against OCE teams. On top of that, I want to prove to myself that I can do this kind of thing.” 

“I missed my last opportunity to go to China with the boys due to my health - which was absolutely devastating - so I’m pushing through this shit to be able to attend and hopefully bring home the trophy,” concluded apocdud.


All of the action at the NVIDIA GeForce Cup is set to kick off on January 12th at 1:00pm (AEDT) and set to end the following day. If you wish to stay connected with the results of the event, be sure to check out the event page here. 

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Credits:

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