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Despite making their top-flight debut this season, Team Bliss is one of the most prestigious teams in Oceania. After picking up Team Ferox in Feb. 2021, the pink brand was a regular in the Oceanic Nationals and arguably the best tier-two team in the region.
Now, Team Bliss aren't in Oceania's shadows anymore. Following the exits of Knights and Chiefs, the roster ascended to the region's top flight, moving from competing for national glory to qualifying for an international event in a matter of months.
"Our main goal at Copenhagen is to gain as much experience as we can but we also want to put on an underdog story and show we are not just another OCE roster," Anastasios “Odah” Hatzis explained in an interview with SiegeGG.
Although the team is now the strongest in Oceania, the lineup suffered changes since moving to the region's top-flight as Team Bliss parted ways with Mahdi “Repix” Khoshnam and Beau “Shade” Hobill-Hill, leaving Odah as the only former Team Ferox member left on the roster.
“Decisions to drop players have always been a hard one for this roster but we know when things have got to change for the better,” he said.
According to Odah, the team decided to drop Shade as Team Bliss needed someone “with more firepower than experience.” Meanwhile, the roster had to part ways with Repix as the player was going to “a family holiday that lined up with the first stage.”
“To prepare we had to find someone that could match Repix's gun skill and team play and mix their playstyle with ours,” Odah admitted.
To elevate Bliss's playstyle, the team signed the former APAC South players Jack “Jigsaw” Gilles and Mitchell “Sageon” Sage, who last competed for Tyde and Knights, respectively.
“Signing Jigsaw and Sageon was probably the best signings we have ever made,” Odah admitted.
Despite both coming from APAC South, Jigsaw's previous experience with Team Bliss in 2021 made it "definitely easy." According to Odah, there were "some changes Jigsaw had to overcome like a playstyle change from his previous roster."
Odah also talked about the former Knights player, who he thinks has “stood out” for his “initiative and the vocal difference he had from other players.”
With Team Bliss’ signings and the departures of Knights and Chiefs from the region, the pink organization and Wildcard Gaming had the two most solid projects in Oceania. As such, the fans expected a thrilling fight for the region’s spot to compete in Denmark.
However, the race ended before it even began. Wildcard’s poor results during the second and third weeks of action gave Bliss wings, as their consistency couldn’t be matched. Before both teams met in the league, the pink roster had already clinched the first spot.
Statistically, four of Team Bliss’ players ended up among the best six of the stage. Odah’s SiegeGG rating of 1.50 was the highest in the competition, followed by Jigsaw’s 1.34. With a round difference of +30 and seven regulation victories, Team Bliss topped the standings eight points above the second-placed Wildcard Gaming.
"The team feels amazing being undefeated and winning confidently, I think the key to our success is the way we practice and the confidence we have in each other," explained Odah.
The BLAST Major Copenhagen will be the first Siege Major with an Australian league since the Six Charlotte Major. Back then, Chiefs finished at the bottom of the standings with six regulation losses and a round difference of -16.
When asked about the current Siege level in Oceania, Odah is clear.
"I think the Oceanic League has a clear Top 4 and a clear bottom 4 but I think the break between stages will bring the league closer and much more contested," he concluded.
Heading to the first Major of the year, the question is: will Team Bliss keep up with the pace and leave a good impression in Copenhagen, Denmark?