Velocity eSports' journey in Esports Arena's Rewind II has finally come to a close, with a 2-0 loss to Ascent in the Lower Round of 6. The American team, currently third in the ESEA Invite Regular Season Standings, went out in 5-6th place at Santa Ana.

During their run in Santa Ana, Velocity eSports breezed through the Rewind II Open Qualifier with no losses, making their way into the Main Event in Group A. In the Group Stage, Velocity would fall to froyotech and SVIFT NA in their group, gaining only two wins from King’s Crew. In the Playoffs, Velocity were relegated to the Lower Round of 8. While Velocity were able to defeat Big Chips, they were subsequently knocked out of the tournament by Ascent 2-0.

Jarrett and co. eye another playoffs appearance in ESEA Invite (picture by Ness "uberchain" Delacroix and Jasmine "Jasbutts" Ho)

We caught up with the team’s Demoman, Jarrett, to give his thoughts on Velocity eSports’ run in Rewind II, the team’s performance, the other teams at Rewind II, and the team’s future in ESEA Invite as the season enters its fifth week.

Rewind II was the first LAN that Velocity eSports has ever attended. How do you think the team did against the more veteran teams that attended?

Besides our SVIFT NA games, the results seemed similar to how online games would go. Fatigue hurt our performance on our Friday seeding games, but otherwise Saturday felt pretty normal.

During the beginning of the ESEA Regular Season, showstopper was originally the roaming soldier, but moved to the role of Pocket Soldier for Rewind II. How do you think the role swap worked out for Velocity?

The swap was just one of those things you do last minute to try to see what works best. We think it's worked out alright and there weren't tons of synergy issues or anything.

Currently Velocity is standing in third place in the ESEA Invite Regular Season; with the team's excellent track record online, did your team manage to reach their expectations at Rewind II?

We actually weren't really sure going into the LAN what was possible since we had never played Se7en, and Ascent had a different roster. We figured we'd at least hit top 6, like we did, though. We're not ecstatic but we're not disappointed.

What do you think your team would need to work on more if you were to attend another International LAN?

Comms. Half of it isn't really in our control, but it's actually so loud in the venue that it can be hard to hear people. We definitely lost rounds both days due to miscommunication. We're not sure the approach we'd take on our end to try to make sure we can communicate efficiently, but it'd definitely be one of the biggest priorities.

With your performance at Rewind II, how do you think your team will do going into the second half of the ESEA Regular Season?

Still trying to solidify our playoff spot. 5-3 is one of the records we expected to have at this point in the season, so we're on the right track. Just gotta keep doing what we're doing and we'll get there I think.

Ascent were unable to field their full roster and had to attend with two stand-ins: bo4r and sighguy. Do you think Ascent having to use of standins affected their performance in any way?

Their LAN playstyle is very similar to their [playstyle] online. I don't think the adjustment hampered them too much, even though having their normal roster would have been optimal.

How do you think Se7en has been stacking up against their American counterparts so far in the tournament?

They've been doing pretty good but coming from a T6 placement that doesn't mean much. I assume they're not happy they lost 2 maps to froyo and 1 to ascent so far. Semi finals are gonna be the series that you can't miss no matter what; might be more hype than the grands.

Do you have any other comments you'd like to give?

Shout out to Kenzie; everyone at the LAN was chill; delays blow.