The Official SMITE Magazine eSports Edition | Page 42

Interview with
HiRezAPC
he Smite World
Championship is one
of the biggest, if not
the biggest, events
in SMITE history. But a tournament
this size doesn’t organize itself.
And that’s where Adam ‘HiRezAPC’
Mierzejewski steps in! But who is
the man that organizes these major
events for HiRez? We got a chance
to catch up with him, getting to know
the brains and brawn behind the
premiere SMITE tournaments.

T

GameOn: What drew you to eSports
(in general) in the first place?
Adam: Growing up, gaming was
always part of my life. I grew up on
both consoles and a PC to start.
My brother got me into Nintendo
while my father introduced me to
the computer. I used to play DOS
games and Windows games such
as Wolfenstein 3D, Day of the
Tentacle, Commander Keen… all
those classics. But it was Tribes
that really set my mind on gaming.
I started off as a casual since I have
very limited time on the computer.
My parents only gave me a maximum

“

2 where I played in CAL (Cyber
Athletic League) for the first season.
This was my first true competitive
atmosphere as I was in a league
with all the best players in the game.
My team was sponsored and made
it as a top 8 team in the game.
During this time, I was watching
HLTV on the best teams in Counter
Strike which is where I’d watch teams
that we see in SMITE today like SK
Gaming and Fnatic. eSports was not
nearly as established as it is today,
so I didn’t know what I was following
was “eSports”. With the combination
of my competitive background and
my interest in gaming, I was destined
to be part of the eSports scene.
The release of Tribes: Ascend was
when I really got my feet wet in the
scene. I led the best team in the game
and traveled on behalf of HiRez to a
few tournaments to compete in. Our
team won each LAN and took home
the biggest prize pool in Tribes history
at NASL Season 3 - $10,000. This
not only got me more into believing
in eSports, but it also helped me
on landing a job at HiRez Studios.

Growing up, gaming was
always part of my life.

of 2 hours per day. As I got older,
I was able to break out of those
restrictions - I would play Tribes 2
nonstop every single day. With all the
time I put into the game, I ended up
being rather good - which is when
my competitive career began.
I played on small ladders for
Tribes 2 and led one of the best
teams in a Tribes spiritual successor
called “Fallen Empire: Legions”.
From there I got into Team Fortress
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”

How does all of this influence how
you manage seasons and tournaments?
Due to my experience as a
competitive gamer, it helps bring a
lot to the table. Not only do I know
how tournaments and leagues work
from watching sports on TV such as
football, baseball and basketball,
but being a part of a league as a
player really makes you hone in
to the actual rules of the game to
make sure you don’t break them.
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