Finland making waves at eFIBA qualifiers – talking with Magicalbotti about eSports basketball
For the Finnish version of the article click the link blow – sama artikkeli Suomeksi – klikkaa alla olevaa linkkiä : https://nordichoops.com/2024/11/02/efiba-suomen-maajoukkue-mika-ja-mita-on-e-koris/
The Finnish e-basketball national team is currently playing in the eFIBA Season 3 European qualifiers for a place in the sport’s World Championships. What is e-koris, how is it played, how long has the official Finnish national team been in tournaments… these and many other questions are answered by the team’s coach Topias ‘Magicalbotti’ Mikkonen.
At the beginning, a small summary of the ongoing Europe Regional Qualifiers tournament – I have been following it myself, and although the information is not aleys easy to find on eFIBA’s official X account, for example (except for the match results and some interviews .. with a little research and the help of the Finnish team, I then found the schedules and results of the matches.
Last night (Friday) Finland beat Great Britain 109-95 and cleared their way to the European Top8 team – the qualification is really brutal when only TWO teams from Europe make it to the final tournament – and the qualification has been a very long process – here is the journey of the Finnish eFIBA team so far.
First was the European Pre Qualifiers – where Finland was in a seven-team group with: Portugal, Spain, Germany, Finland, Serbia, Luxembourg and Lithuania played (there were three Pre Qualifier tournaments in Europe). Finland finished fourth in its own group, leaving behind such basketball giants as Serbia and Lithuania!
Finland-Luxembourg 83-102
Portugal-Finland 121-95
Finland-Serbia 120-99
Finland-Germany 111-111
Spain-Finland 144-109
Finland-Lithuania 129-109
Then came the Regional Qualifiers (Magicalbotti explains well how to play at this stage in the interview) – but the Finnish results:
WB1.6 Finland-Croatia 53-59
WB2.5 Israel-Finland 54-64
WB3.4 Hungary-Finland 59-48
WB4.4 Belgium-Finland 104-126
WB5.1 Finland-Great Britain 109-95
The semi-final pairs are: Portugal-Sweden / Italy-Germany and Turkey-Finland / France-Israel
Finland’s eFIBA quarterfinals can be watched live today at 20:00 (link) :
Results service for eFIBA matches: https://play.toornament.com/en_US/tournaments/8191185735105339392/stages/8191610203965186048/
VV : Let’s start with the very basics – for those who don’t know anything about eSports basketball – how would you sum up the game – what is the game time, how many players are on the court at the same time .. that is, how would you explain the sport to a person who has not seen it or heard about it yet??
Magicalbotti : We play five-minute quarters. There are five players from each team on the field, and each individual player is controlled by a different person with their own console. This is an NBA video game, so NBA rules apply on the court.
VV : Finland’s eFIBA team is currently playing in the European qualifiers for the World Cup – tonight you played for the place in the Top 8 and thus continuing to compete for place in the World Cup – if you would like to sum up how the tournament has gone for you up to this point?
Magicalbotti : In the beginning of October, the European qualifiers were played. In them, 22 teams were divided into three groups and the best 16 advanced to this week’s final tournament. The tournament format at this stage is quite complicated, but the easiest way to understand it is this: each team plays until they have either three wins or three losses. That leaves 8 to decide their superiority in the regular playoff schedule. We have had several core players on the sidelines for various reasons, but we still scratched the line-up we expected to win game with. The defeats in Croatia and Hungary, as well as the tight win over Israel , lowered the mood, because we underperformed and knew we could play better. Against Belgium, we rose to our own level again, and that was good enough to knock down the Brits.
VV : How long has Finland had an eSport basketball national team – and how have you fared in previous tournaments?
Magicalbotti : Played for the first time as an official national team in last year’s eFIBA. At that time, we were one win away from the six-team European finals. However, most of the national team plays together at club level, so we know each other well.
VV : The match against the British ended in victory – how do you feel when you are in the company of the European Top8 team?
Magicalbotti : Top 8 was a goal that was achieved quite easily in the end. We played our best game against the British and the level was such that everyone should be afraid of us.
VV : Probably several of us, at least for fun, have played NBA 2K games – and some already earlier ‘Street Basketball’ or ‘Summer Games’ versions on 8-bit Commodore 64 sometime in the 80s. How do you think playing for fun like this and then playing at your level differ from each other?
Magicalbotti : Funny question, because we think we have the most fun when we play like this. But seriously, the differences between playing ‘for real’ and playful play correspond to real basketball: what you do is systematic, and the importance of communication increases at the higher the level. In addition, everyone has to think individually about what can be done better to help the team.
VV : What are the attributes that a good eSports basaketball player needs – how do the best players in these tournaments stand out from the rest??
Magicalbotti : A good e-basketball player understands the laws of real basketball; having your own player background is undeniably an advantage. However, the video game runs with animations that are written into the game’s code. This means that the e-basketball player must know which movements (shooting style, hand change, etc.) are the best in each version of the game. In addition to that, your own avatar must be made to complement the other players in the roster, because only a perfect synergy of the five makes it possible to play well as a team and win games. When you look at the world’s and Europe’s best teams, the one common attribute is a mechanically superior point guard. In addition, everything done is extremely disciplined, and communication is not interrupted at any point during the 20-minute match time. For the most important tournaments and matches we prepare with video conferences, where one’s own weaknesses and the opponent’s playing styles are reviewed and analyzed.
VV : How many ‘national team games’ do you have during the year? And at other times do you play together in any other NBA2K tournaments/matches/series??
Magicalbotti : So far there are no national team games outside of eFIBA. At the beginning of the year, we played an exhibition match against Sweden, when the final event of the Swedish Cup had an e-sports point and their national team wanted to showcase the eSports and basketball to the public. Club team tournaments run practically throughout the year, so that there are two to three of them running all the time.
VV : Your team – how many players do you have in the team and give us some really quick ‘info’ about the players.
Magicalbotti : Aatu “pabax” Eskola, 26, played for many years at the absolute top of Europe. Missed the professional scene this year, but came to help the national team.
Miro “xMIROCLEZ” Nieminen, 27, almost 25 years of experience in 2K games. Over the past couple of years, has risen to the top of of European game with out team.
Akseli “Huopa-” Huovinen, 26, the point guard of our club team, but a different playing position in the National Team. Moved from fun games to the pro level when we founded the club a couple of years ago.
Atte “ATTEBOY98” Halonen, 26, a casual player who had to face the hardest part of his career due to absences in our usual roster. He doesn’t usually play professional matches, but as Aksel’s friend he was ready to put himself on the line when we needed a player.
Kim “markku-Boss” Sainiola, 28, played competitive games for several years. Has developed this year as a center to the elite of his playing position.
VV : For example, are there any players in the eFIBA World Cup qualifiers that new followers of the sport should follow?
Magicalbotti : Of course you should follow us. The players of successful teams, and especially the defenders, are full professionals who train for double-digit hours every day. Below are a few names of the most followed players:
France:
BreakerTheBeast, Warknocks (only European in NBA2K league)
Portugal:
PTCreative, Henri_Jones
British:
Jiinxyx, GoonerEU (both ex-pros in the 2K league)
Spain:
avemario32
Turkey:
E9RENI, TR-Tansu28
Skene runs on X and twitch, where you can follow their and our excerpts.
VV : If (when) based on this article too, some people will surely become interested and excited to play eSports basket – then what kind of tips would you give to beginning Finnish players… how should this hobby/competition be started, etc.?
Magicalbotti : We have a Discord channel for Finnish players (https://discord.gg/6GvJYCzS). The only natural way to start a playing career is joining there, because all the Finnish players who are worth considering know each other. There is always people to play with there, even some Korisliiga and national team players. We “pros” do not hide in any way,and if someone asks, we always answer everything. The age range is 20–50 years. Both us old players and new players quickly notice where there is room for improvement and whether they have the ability to advance to competitive games. The hope is to get more Finnish competitive players. Thus, it would be possible to start an eKorisliiga and increase the competition around the first team. At the moment, there are exactly enough players for one organization.
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