Taxington’s Interview with Online Esports
Keenan “Taxington” Mackey is one of the unexpected attendees at the LAN event. Along with his teammates, Sinetic and Arctic, they have taken the EMEA region by surprise. Their team, ‘Made In Heaven’, not only qualified for LAN but also secured the fourth position in the EMEA Pro League, surpassing well-established teams like o7 and Element 6.
They are now heading to Los Angeles with nothing to lose. Their presence at the Split 1 Playoffs was unexpected, making it a golden opportunity for Taxington and his team.
This LAN event marks the peak of Taxington’s journey. Since transitioning from Console in 2021, he has gradually ascended the Apex competitive ladder. From being eliminated in 60th place in his first Pre Season qualifier to being selected for a Pro League roster, and now qualifying for LAN.
After some impressive scrim results, some are even predicting that Made In Heaven will reach the finals in their first attempt. In a Match Point format, if you make it to the finals, anything can happen…
Online Esports had a conversation with Taxington ahead of his LAN debut.
Destiny was Taxington’s Gateway into Gaming
Like many current Apex controller players, Taxington’s gaming journey began on console. From Call of Duty to Destiny, Taxington enjoyed video games like most teenagers in the UK.
It was Destiny that first introduced Tax to the concept of competitive video games. Destiny PvP helped him realize that he was improving at video games. Some of his friends from his Destiny days are also Apex Legends pros.
As Taxington recalls, it was these “Destiny friends” that introduced him to Apex Legends when Season Three was released. He achieved Apex Predator in his first season, and his addiction and time spent in the game just kept increasing.
The transition from Console to PC occurred in Season 7. Taxington continued to play on Console as well, achieving top 50 on XBOX. This was when he realized and felt ready to fully commit to Apex Legends.
“I met Urban [through some Destiny friends]. We started to play together a lot in Season 9 and 10. I played the first Pro League Qualifier with Urban and a guy called Falcons. We reached the quarterfinals in our first ever tournament. I thought, okay, that’s pretty good.”
Several teams later, as is common in the Challenger Circuit, Taxington joined UTFT. This grassroots organization would later merge with EXO Clan. UTFT came one place short of making the Pro League, before Taxington decided to leave the team.
Realm Contributed to Taxington’s Pro League Opportunity
His Pro League debut came late with Myztro. Tax recalls how the solo queue league Realm helped create that opportunity for him.
“Realm was a huge thing. I was grinding Realm hard. I got top 20 in the preseason of Realm and I was in the finals.”
Tax says after joining Sanya and Wrugb, he found out that it was his Realm performances that got him the opportunity to trial with Myztro. A trial in which he ultimately impressed.
Myztro, with Taxington, finished 17th in Pro League and 10th in the ALGS Last Chance Qualifier. This earned them a Pro League spot, and allowed Tax to build a roster of his choosing for ALGS Year 4 thanks to Wgrub remaining as a substitute on the team.
Made In Heaven were the dark horses in the EMEA Pro League. Their strong zone play style should translate very well to LAN. After a slow start to International Scrims, the team has been performing incredibly well recently.
Made In Heaven Aiming for Finals
As a result of their unexpected qualification, there is no pressure or expectations on Made In Heaven at all. However, Taxington believes that they should be qualifying for Finals given their Pro League performance.
But, what sort of result would be “okay” for Taxington and Made In Heaven to go home at least reasonably well satisfied with their LAN debut.
“I’d say reaching the Losers Round Two would be pretty good, we’d have given a decent showing. But if I’m honest with myself, anything below Finals is a bad showing for a team like us. We got top five in EU, and we are capable of getting to the finals. I know this, and that’s why I’m holding myself to such high standards.”
The fact that Finals does not seem out of the question for this team is remarkable in itself. Arctic had played two matchdays of Pro League before ALGS Year 4, Taxington only a single Split, and Sinetic, their IGL, had never played a single match of Pro League at all.
We’re just three players who no one expected to get here. Almost everyone expects us to get first-rounded. I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people.
“We’re just three players who no one expected to get here. Almost everyone expects us to get first-rounded. I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people. Arctic hates this term, but we’re just three CC players who made LAN.”
Strong Macro is a Key Aspect of Taxington’s and Made In Heaven’s Gameplan
ALGS fans may not know much about Taxington, Made In Heaven, and how they will approach the LAN. What can you expect if you choose to watch this EU underdog team when action begins on May 2?
“We have the best macro in EU. We are the best zone team from EU. That is what carried our whole Pro League. And now our fighting is starting to get a lot better, we’re starting to drop high kill games.
“When we started International Scrims, we were falling over. We were only beating the CC teams in 3v3s and the EU teams that we’d beaten before. NA were rolling us. But now we’ve even wiped the likes of DZ, LG and other top teams in scrims.
“Expect good macro and a team very good at abusing advantages when we have it. We’re very good at pressing the advantage and abusing god spots. When we’re in a God spot,
A true gamer that has been crazy about games and gaming for over 10 years. My main interests are PS5, VR and AR Games as well as general gaming.
