Interview avec Pala "Mantrousse" Gilroy Sen

During the Paris Games Week 2016, we got to meet Mantrousse, host, reporter and interviewer, who accepted to answer some of our questions.

Hi everyone, I'm here with Pala "Mantrousse" Gilroy Sen. How are you man ?

Pala "Mantrousse" Gilroy Sen : I'm doing very well actually, and happy to be here speaking to you guys, triple A ! I have to say, I've always wondered is it a-A-a or is it like triple A ? I don't know !

It's a-A-a, against All authority.

against All authority, yeah, I'll remember.

[Laugh]

You're known as a reporter, a host and an interviewer in esports, when did you start all this ?

So, my story behind how I got into all this is kind of a long story. I start doing Youtube at the end of 2012 and I've always been in competitive gaming.

And eventually, I start doing some of that sort of stuff on my channel with a few different games. During 2014, CS:GO was something becoming a bigger thing for me, and then eventually Dreamhack saw my videos after I've been to like some Face It events and stuff and they gave me an opportunity to do a hosting job at Dreamhack London and it was last year, Spetember, so just over a year ago.

I did all the events like that, and yeah, keep going and still doing Youtube and loving it. And that's what I am doing now and how I got there.

What a crazy road!

Well there is still more to come you know. I by now means feel like I finished and my path so yeah I just want to keep going and keep rowing and yeah, this industry is awesome as I'm sure you guys know and everyone watching, it's a fantastic place to be and events like this accros the world, so nice to have the opportunity to visit them.

he next question is more general, what is your favorite esport personality ?

Ouh! Favorite esport personality ? I say tough question because obviously, so many of my peers are like so talented and so good at what they do and obviously, someone close to my heart is HenryG, awesome guy and that could probably be the easy anwser out for this just because we're from the same place ; he was a name that I knew when I first start playing CS with Source back to late 2004, for around 2007 is when he was like really prominent and so when we became friends like 5,6,7 years later or whatever, 8 years later, it's kind of a fun turn of events. So I guess I'll go with HenryG, there are so many that are all of the people that I work with and get to me.

I'm very proud to know them and they are all so good at what they do. But I'll say Henry G for the sake of the question, for sure.

HenryG in Thoorin mode

Hope he will see the video !

[Laugh]

You are very close to a lot of players as we saw on Twitter, do you have a funny story to tell about a French player or any player ?

Ok hmmm French players… well something about the french guys is that, there are know as a up and down team, EnVyUs, I'm gonna be talking about specifically.

But out of game, they are probably some of the most stable people you'll meet, they are like really nice. Like for now, I don't have any sort of crazy stories about them, and so yeah, it's just comparing how they are in game to outside of game.

Like if you do follow the CS scene, which I'm sure you did if you watch this video, their performances have been very up and down the last year and a bit and when they are outside of the game they are very like you know, steady normal guys. I think that's the case with most people.

On top of that, maybe a funny story is the video I did with ScreaM in London like a couple of months ago where we went to the gym where he get me into one tap, gym training, which was very fun and so there is a lot of random little stories about everybody but nothing that is kinda like crazy or blow everyone's mind.

Everyone in the industry is pretty normal, all the peers are normal. The stories that guys you have about you and your friends, it's the same with everyone in the industry, everyone has like fun time with their mates and they are always stories and whatever. So we are all just having a good time really.

How was it to drink with shox at Cluj-Napoca ?

That was a fantastic event ; Dreamhack, wonderful company, and they always do really really good content so that pitch before players come out their little vignets and they do their little videos I sometimes present and like for instance at Cluj-Napoca I've got to share wine with shox.

That actually is not a bad story because that we did for the video and it was like direct his idea and he's a great guy David Goover. And we actually kinda gone a bit drunk like genuinely off that video, I was like reaching bad, "I'm actually feeling this wine" and he's like "Do you? Yeah me too". It was good wine by the way and so yeah that was a good time, it was fun to do that video with all of those guys. And shox is an awesome awesome dude too, he's one of those people who is just fantastic in game obviously but also out of game. He is like such a nice guy, really sweet and caring to everyone around. I mean I guess that's why in a way he's so successful in what he does.

The next question concerns the events you've worked for. Which one you enjoyed the most ?

I mean I enjoy all the events I'm doing so. I'm gonna leave the question and explain. Maybe some of you guys watching know this and I'm sure you know this Dokai ; I do a lot of different roles when I go to events, I do stage hosting, desk hosting, sometimes I do interviews like you're doing right now, all the other times I'm presenting content, like for instance here, I'm doing a project with ASUS, ROG Republic Of Games and DreamHack. So that's like presenting to camera.

And so events to me are like very different a lot of the time and I always get to do different things - and that, I really love to be able do to that. I much prefer being able to do a range of content and present stars and being part of the show than just doing one role.

So every event I go to is often very different like for instance I work with ESL now, they're doing this whole Facebook Live side of things, I'm doing that with them and so yeahn there's always new things that I do and going to these events is, like I said, always different for me, so I like a lot of events that I go to, and so something like this Paris Games Week, I have a lot free time because I only need what I am presenting to camera for recorded piece so I get a lot of time to go around have fun and so - all the events are very… - there are a lot of different things that happened at events, I get to enjoy lots of different aspects.

There isn't one event that kinda stands out. I feel like all compagnies throwing these events and hosting stuff is really growing over time and it grows very quickly as well so every event that we all get to go to is good. That is what I would say to that.

Concerning the ESWC, did you follow a little bit the tournament ?

Yeah I have been following this tournament as best as I can. It's actually quite surprising because at the same time there is the ESL Sao Paulo and the Asian minor. And so there was a chance that this tournament wouldn't get too many good teams, but it has. There is at least like 6 or so teams that you can say they are pretty like decent tiers teams, and so yeah it's been as far as I know a good tounament so far, the stage is insane ; the French crowd, also the French people are passionate about esports and so having an event here like this, yeah it's really great, fantastic.

Who do you think is gonna win the ESWC and across the Atlantic in Sao Paulo ?

Regarding the ESWC, I wouldn't know who's going to win it. I'm going to say my top 3 or 4? Top 3 is gonna be some mix of, I think, of like Gambit, Space Soldiers and Heroic could be in there as the 4th and I don't know if any of the French teams are gonna be able to make it to those top spots. Ex6tenZ at the moment his team : LDLC, affrontent Bravado, they might even be over now but they won't looking too hot so I'm not really sure. But that's gonna be my top 4.

And Sao Paulo as well. So of course we know VP ended up not going, Fnatic ended up not going to Sao Paulo either, they are both annoying contenders at all. Vp would be like potentially number one because they weren't far but they are not there. SK after having a rough start, have managed to pick it up, I know that they have some game today who were important. I'd like to see Faze do well, with aizy who i'm very good friend with, he's on that team and I like the guys in general.

We saw that on Snapchat [Laugh]

Yeah [Laugh]. dignitas of course are coming of a great run at EPICENTER and the previous tournament [NB : WESG] before that, they've been doing very well so dignitas could have a good shot. Who else is there… Liquid, I don't think that they have a good shot, - they might even - I don't know where they are on the group at the moment, they do have an other match today against Immortals. Cloud9, if they play well, could do okay. Hmmm who else on top of that could potentialy be in contention? I'm not sure… SK I think, if they turn up, dude, they can't lose in front of their home crowd, surely. I'd like to see them winning in Brazil. I think it would be awesome.

A bit like Virtus Pro in Katowice.

The 5 Poles are together since a long time © Helena Kristiansson

Yeah exactly. When that was? 2015 right ? Or 2014 ? 2014 yeah ! 2 years ago now, it's a long time. What other teams are there that could potentially … I don't think NRG will be able to do much … Hmmm They are the type of team not able to break this consistent level in NA, even though this team now is consist of 3 European players or something like that. So yeah it's pretty tough to call ESL at this point, especially that there is still the group stages. At least I think it's still the group stages at this point. Yeah yeah, few matches today. Maybe even the Stadium today as well. So I guess my picked for that, I'd like to see SK win it. I think it'll be cool. But dignitas could potentially break in, EnVyUs also on a rise, they are looking good at this tournament, they are now playing with SIXER, replacing DEVIL who's coaching Red Instinct. So I don't know,you see, it's gonna be interesting to see what happens with ESL. But my pick and hope would be SK. That would be a pretty dreamfull scenario.

You're showing some love for "irmaos" !

Oh for my brothers! Exact yeah. They are all awsome guys, but aside from like my personal … like relation with them aside, it just would be cool to see a Brazilan team wining like the first huge event in Brazil like that. Cause there have been some event in Brazil in the past, and like long time ago. To my knowledge, correct me if I'm wrong but this is the first of this scale in Brazil so it would be pretty epic if SK won it.

Even with home advantage, SK lost the finals 1-2 against Cloud9 lead by an autimatic on fire © HLTV

Thanks for everything. Do you have anything to say to your fans, family or sponsors if you have a personal sponsor ?

[Laugh] Just a huge shout out to everyone who is supporting me and everything I do on Youtube, at events and you know, it means a lot. If you're watching this, thank you very much for shooting in and taking an interest. More awesome stuff to come in the future so just keep a look. Check me out on Twitter @PalaGilroySen, great way to find me. My Youtube is Mantrousse, you can find out from my Twitter as well.

In which events can we see you next ?

Hmmm so I'll be at PAX Australia next week then I'll be back home for a bit. And then I'll go to Oakland, I'll be doing a Facebook Live stuff. Then potentially DreamHack Winter, not sure, I'd love to be there and then I think that might be it. There are other events but nothing confirmed yet. And for the stars of next year, we'll have to wait and see, hopefully a lot more, it's always a pleasure. Yeah thank you very much Dokai for the interview and aAa. It's great to see you guys. Still these guys are always at events, you'll always see a pack of them turning out content of a high quality so it's nice to speak to them and be involved.

Thanks for everything Pala

Thank you Dorian, take care man!
Even with home advantage, SK lost the finals 1 - 2 against Cloud9 lead by an autimatic on fire