Floppy Interview

Coming from a very execute based team to a team that is much more feel based, how was that transition?

It was definitely a different system vs what I was personally used to. Doesn't mean it was bad or anything, I was able to make more scrimmy plays that would make opponents tilt way easier and it was a lot of fun.

While you did some lurking on old Cloud9, you seemed to push a little bit more on your lurks under Alex (through monster on OP, out B site on Train, etc). Was this just part of the way Alex wanted to play always looking for more information or just a different way you were playing the spots?

Alex emphasized my lurks a lot which helped my part of the game, especially monster on overpass. We had a lot of good reads, specifically one against FURIA where I just walked out monster after VINI would spam. After VINI spammed I would just walk through the smoke dry and flank their CT spawn haha. I'd credit Alex and Elmapuddy for that strat, was nutty.

On CT side, for the most part you got the spots you had in the past with a couple exceptions, was that by design and did that make you more comfortable when starting out?

It was by design with my role on the team. I was more of an anchor on CT sides on every team i've been on and I had the ability to do that on this team too. It was a little uncomfortable at the start on some spots because mezii and I both shared certain spots that we were really good at so we had to switch some stuff up but it was fine.

What led to your transition to ramp on Nuke? Was it just your ability to solo hold areas? Cause you looked like a complete natural there.

Mezii is the King of upper nuke, I can't take that title away from him. I was also good at staying alive in my anchor spots and ramp was easy enough, just drop after taking contact lol.

Your ability to play with patience is one of your biggest strengths in my opinion. Is this something that came with time or did that come naturally?

I think it's something that sort of came natural to me because I always wanted to be somebody that wanted to capitalize on good timings with the radar. An example being walking out door on Nuke when our teammates are taking contact mini so I can post on heaven. Not exactly the flashiest type of playstyle but it was something I thought I excelled at.

The new Cloud9 struggled with executes and the use of utility in those executes. Coming from JT's execute style, was that an area you tried to help out with?

I wouldn't say our executes struggled because the strats were bad or anything, I think it was a lot harder for us to be able to perform each strat because its really easy to get picked off in the mid round and be down 4v5, or not get picked off and just executing 5v5. We played a lot of slower CS and naturally you're not going to be able to stay alive for an execute every round.

Do you think those struggles were more just the way the new team called the game or was it more just a new team trying to still figure out how to play off each other?

I think we were all indivdually good players who understood how to play the game, but we didn't have the mesh like other teams may have had with months-years of experience with each other.

Being in a foreign country alone during lockdown must have been brutal. How did that affect your overall mentality in and out of the server?

Being in Serbia was definitely an experience I've never had being in a foreign country playing CS for long term. I think it was different for me because it was my first time living in an apartment on my own as well, so I learned a lot about myself outside the game too. My mentality was affected a little bit, just being bored outside of practice and not talking to anybody besides Xeppaa later on.

What do you think was the biggest issue that lead to so many close losses?

I remember all of our games being so close, and I think it's inevitable when you play consistent CS. Teams will counter whatever you're doing from watching demos and it's amplified a lot from online CS. I think if we played LAN our team would've thrived a lot better than online.

Do you think with time and stability this roster could have succeeded?

I think anything could've happened with a little more time. But I think regardless we gave it our best effort considering the circumstances and unfortunately just didn't pay off. Unlucky.