Team “Metal” interview with Saqib (“Boom”) after the 2009 Call of Duty 4 glorious win!

Date team founded: Around four years back
Team Achievements:

2008 MBL Online TDM Tournament (Attained 1st Position)

2008 World Cyber Games WCG Pakistan (Attained 1st Position)

2008 50 Consecutive Wins (Achievement Unlocked)

2008 Wateen Online Tournament (Attained 1st Position)

2009 DJuice Lan Clan Tournament in Islamabad (Attained 1st Position)

2009 Djuice National Gaming Championship 2009 (Attained 1st Position)


1. Would u like to tell a little about yourself, and a little about your team members?

Greetings to whoever is reading this, my name is Saqib Mansoor and I go by the nick of BOOM. I’m currently am doing a degree in Telecommunications and am well into my last semester. Like me, the rest of my team mates are students too but we all find some time to play and practice. I know relaying stuff about my team members will actually bore you so I’m going to keep this one short.


2. How was the team formed?

The team was formed way back in the days of Call Of Duty 2 and it was formed online. With the start of Call Of Duty 4, the clan started recruiting the cream of the online community and hence we are where we stand.


3. Who are the Metal starters and their role in the team?

Our current team lineup consists of the following:

BASH: Sniper/Recon He is the eyes and ears of our team, making him a vital asset for us. Probably the best scoper in our country for Call Of Duty 4, he has always delivered in game.

BOOM: Assaulter/Strat Caller I'm usually the second one who rushes in. My other role in the team is pretty simple and yet the most difficult. Based on our sniper's recon I have to call out strats for the team.

JINGO: Assaulter He loves playing mind games on the battlefield and opts for a psychological warfare instead of a modern one.

LZ-1: Rusher Probably the best player in our country at this moment. Anyone who has played against him will know how he is a ticking time bomb at the start of each round. Defuse him or get blown away.

PHANTOM-X: Rusher He paves the way to the bombsite, will always be on the front lines in an attempt to break the opponent’s rush.

PLAGUE: Rusher He fails to understand the meaning of fear. He will keep on moving forward, mowing down enemy lines and doing it with a laugh.

RIP: Flanker His smile speaks louder than words. Calm under pressure, you can be certain of one thing. If he is alive then may the other team rest in pieces.

4. What has been your best experience with the team so far? Just being a part of this amazing team can best count for a great experience.


5. We know your team compromises of top tier players, but who do you think is the key player for your team?

Each player of ours is an important part of the team and no one is considered superior in terms of gameplay. However, I would say that our most valuable player would be “Jingo”. We all have the highest of respect for him and with him in the team our morale is further boosted ten folds. I know this that if for some reason Jingo leaves; it will be a disaster for the team.


6. How do u rate your team, not only in terms of individual skills but also the team chemistry and motivation?

There are hundreds of players out there with amazing individual skills. But individual skills don’t win you matches. These are team based games and a good team with excellent coordination can run rings around a team full of superior players but with zero chemistry.

As for speaking for my team I can’t say that our chemistry is excellent. We still do blunders here and there but we learn from them. That’s what’s important; we learn from our mistakes and hence make our team stronger.

7. Do you think cyber games in Pakistan can go at par with international standards, what recommendations do you have for Pakistani gamers and tourney organizers?

It all comes down to practice, about facing challenges, the harder the challenge the more the practice. That’s the way the world grows. We practice daily on a public server with 30 people, which is more like perfecting your aim and reflexes. Whereas it’s a totally different story when it comes to clan wars. We need to promote the game to get more clans and more challengers, that’s the way standards rise.

Currently in Pakistan there are a handful of good teams, this accounts for limited competition. We hence have to turn to foreign online teams. Many of the better teams refuse to play with us because of our high latencies. However, we did manage to play against some of them. We won some and we lost some, but considering that we were playing with a 200-300 ping against 20-30 pingers we lost with a margin of 2-3 rounds. I’m sure if it were on lan or we had the same ping, things might have been different.
Off course it’s even stupid to say that we can match against the top teams of Europe like fnatic and dignitas. But I’m sure that if given a chance we can at least beat some of the teams at the lower rungs of the ladder.
Everything comes down to opportunity. This is also a great way to promote the game. Currently the online crowd for Call Of Duty 4 is becoming huge with each day. If organizers would just give teams an opportunity to go abroad to prove their worth, this just might in turn prove to be a great thing for us gamers.

8. Does Metal team play regularly plays with International Clans and Players online? if so what difference do you see in local and international games?

As I said earlier, it’s near impossible for us to be playing online with international clans. Reason being that Pakistan is situated on the other side of the globe. We get high latencies whereas you get a good ping if you’re either in Europe or America. That’s why their game is so top notch. Hundreds of top class teams sit on MIRC asking other teams for matches. They have huge competition and each day they practice amongst themselves.

There is a huge gap between us local and them international gamers. But it’s not a gap that cannot be closed up. Remember, you only get better if you play against teams better than you, regardless if u win or loose. Since we can’t practice against them online, teams should be regularly sent abroad to face off against the best on LAN. That’s the only way through which we can, at least try, to close the gap between us and them.

9. What do you think of the Djuice national gaming championship? How did you like it and what would you like to recommend?


The Djuice national gaming championship was a great experience. Teams from all over the country were united under one roof. Putting aside the heat of competition, we got to meet other teams and in turn it turned out to be a very healthy gathering. My recommendation to Djuice would be to just learn from this experience and make it better next year. This was a first time for them to be hosting such a big scale event. I’m sure it will turn out even better next year.