{"id":12084,"date":"2022-10-05T21:21:43","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T21:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/news\/cs-2\/aunkere-smooya-is-inadequate-dude"},"modified":"2022-10-05T21:21:43","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T21:21:43","slug":"aunkere-smooya-is-inadequate-dude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/news\/cs-2\/aunkere-smooya-is-inadequate-dude\/","title":{"rendered":"Aunkere: \u00abSmooya is inadequate dude. He didn\u2019t study the [visa] situation, didn\u2019t ask what happened. He just started expressing his thoughts on the stream\u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fedya Khvan of cyber.sports.ru<\/a> had a big talk with Aunkere. The original interview is available in Russian following the link<\/a>, we present the English version of the most interesting parts of the interview.<\/p>\n

Eugene ‘\u009cAunkere’\u009d Karyat is a popular streamer, who has over 370,000 followers. What is more, Aunkere is a prominent esports athlete. He has spent more than one year in NAVI academy and managed to advance to Rio Major RMR as a part of Benched Heroes ‘\u0093 a team that also consists of Owen ‘\u009csmooya’\u009d Butterfield. Unfortunately, the team has failed to get to Malta due to visa problems.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The interview includes the discussion of streams, FPL, pro-players salaries, income from stickers, visa issues in details and more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Streams, esports athletes’ earnings<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Fedya Khvan of cyber.sports.ru: How often do you stream?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Aunkere:<\/strong> I’\u0099m streaming more often now, compared to the first part of September. We’\u0099ve been training a lot for the RMR tournament, which we have to skip due to my and Calyx’\u0099s visa problems.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 As I understood, you mostly stream FPL?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Yes, you’\u0099re right. Sometimes I stream in the afternoon just to chat with my audience and to play Faceit Premium. I also like playing with my friends, and other streamers or just communicating with the chat. You have to stream FPL with a delay because if you don’\u0099t, pro-players might streamsnipe you ‘\u0093 the prize pool is something like $15000, that’\u0099s quite serious.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Even at FPL there’\u0099s a streamsniping?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 I can’\u0099t say for sure. But, listen, there are many gamers who play for money, they don’\u0099t have teams. They play FPL every month, trying to get some cash. And when the month is running out, at the very last days of it… I mean, you can’\u0099t rely on someone’\u0099s conscience completely.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Is it harder playing FPL, while streaming or not?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 No, it’\u0099s not, actually. It was harder for me when I started doing this but now I get used to it.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Is it much more profitable to stream compared to esports?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 It depends on the format you stream in. In the top-40, top-50 team you will have like $1000-2000 USD salary. If you manage to get into a better organization, you’\u0099re moving up the career ladder, your salary can be around $4000-5000 USD s. If we talk about tier-1 CIS and Europe teams, the salary might vary from $15000 to $40000. When it comes to streaming, it depends on amount of viewers, on the content you give to the audience. If you stream casinos and roulettes, you can earn more than a tier-1 player.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 And what about being a CS:GO streamer?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 To be honest, streaming CS is a good earning. You get more than tier-3 players. Compared to tier-2 it’\u0099s 5050. If you play in tier-2 team and making it to the Major ‘\u0093 you are getting stickers. They give you much more income in the long-term perspective. If you don’\u0099t get to the Major, streaming is more profitable.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 You’\u0099ve mentioned sticker income. Is it a one-time payment or a permanent one?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 It’\u0099s a one-time payment. Look, you have a team stickers and individual stickers. You take 100% income from the individual one and some part of your teams’\u0099 stickers, it depends on the organization. We’\u0099ve qualified to the RMR and we’\u0099ve sent our stickers to the game. The team stickers we’\u0099ve divided into five parts, so each of us gets 20%. It means we would have a better income than if we were in an organization.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 In the beginning, you said it was harder for you to stream when you started. Is it difficult to combine both streaming and practicing?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 It depends on your personality. I wasn’\u0099t really tired after practicing. I like playing, so it wasn’t hard for me to stream after that. I had a break after a practice and streamed FPL later. Some players get tired after it and just go watch movies or sleep. Some don’\u0099t play CS apart from team practice. Some do.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 First time you were kicked from FPL quickly. What happened?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 A funny story. I’\u0099ve passed the FPL-C qualification, played a little bit, and was kicked. There was a case with ScreaM: the English-speaking audience thought I disrespected him. But I’\u0099ve just missed the info from him, haven’\u0099t understood his words. I answered him that I was going to play a particular position and he understood it as I was taking his role. The clip has scattered over the internet rapidly and the FPL admins removed me. The next time I got in there weren’\u0099t any situations like that.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Did you qualify via FPL-C a second time? Was it difficult?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Yes, I did, I took first place and got the invitation. You have to play really hard for a month. You wake up and go to bed thinking about CS, 30 days in a row. You can qualify if you give 100% of your energy and dedication.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 How many games a day?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Like 4-5 at FPL and twice as many at FPL-C. FPL-C players are weaker so you have to play more.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 How is it possible to keep the focus throughout the day?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 You play 3-4-5 games, then take a break to play 2-3 games before going to bed. You have the focus because you’\u0099ve just played it several hours ago, you’\u0099ve taken a rest, had lunch and your energy has been recharged. The main point is your motivation. You need the aim to achieve, otherwise, you will fail.<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/strong><\/em>Bad News Eagles found success at the last Major, can they repeat it?<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Have you started streaming before getting to NAVI?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 It was my original idea, to start streaming, just as I saw CS. I’\u0099ve been watching kalashz0r, cheatbanned [streamers]. I didn’\u0099t play CS at that time, was just watching. I liked the way they [streamers] communicated with the crowd. I had an awful PC or didn’\u0099t have it at all, don’\u0099t remember. Certainly, I wanted to stream too. I remember my mom bought me a 60-fps PC. I tried to stream on it but everything was lagging heavily. And just as I got the better PC I managed to stream for like 5-10 viewers. I’\u0099ve been streaming for a small audience for 2-3 years. As my name started appearing more often in esports, my audience has grown to 50, 100, and 200 viewers. Thanks to NAVI, it has grown from 500 to 1000.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 If you had to choose between a streamer and esports athlete career, what would you choose?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 I would’\u0099ve chosen a player career at first. I want to play, to achieve something. To share it with my viewers and fans. And maybe later I switch to streaming because I like it too.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 What else do you like to stream?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 I played various FPS titles. I’\u0099d like to stream PUBG or Warzone with my friends, those games are funny and dynamic. They draw you off from CS, also giving you emotions.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 What do you think of Valorant?<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 It’\u0099s 5050 for me. It’\u0099s easy to shoot there for me, but I like CS more.<\/p>\n

Fast tryouts for NAVI Juniors (Aunkere was accepted after 2 games); failed move to ForZe <\/strong><\/h2>\n

‘\u0093 What was the two-month qualification for NAVI Junior like?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 When I heard of NAVI Junior for the first time I was both surprised and rejoiced. I even thought it was a prank, some joke, a media project ‘\u0093 anything but not the pro-project. But later I changed my mind. NAVI is the biggest and most famous organization in Eastern Europe. I applied for it, but they haven’\u0099t been answering me for a week or even more. I messaged Dima ‘\u009cspirit’\u009d Veko ‘\u0093 a friend of mine and ForZe manager. He knows Amiran ‘\u009caMi’\u009d Rehviashvili<\/a>, the NAVI Junior coach [at that time]. He asked aMi to check my application. In a few days, I got the invitation from Amiran: ‘\u009cHi, we want to try you out for NAVI Junior’\u009d. I played two games on the first day and Amiran said that ‘\u009c95% they take me on board, but I need to play the next day under B1ad3’\u0099s close attention’\u009d. Amiran liked me, but B1ad3 didn’\u0099t know anything about me. After I played on the second day, B1ad3 told me: ‘\u009cYou’\u0099re on our list, we need to discuss your flight to a bootcamp with your mother’\u009d.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 How did your mother react?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 She was surprised at first, nervous of course. After a discussion with B1ad3 and aMi, she calmed down. She read the contract and realized it was all quite serious. It was NAVI, not some shady business. My mother agreed to the terms and I flew to bootcamp in Kyiv.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 What was the first bootcamp like?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 A lot of emotions, a lot of info from the coach, from the psychologist. We were taught how to play properly, how to act, how to behave: everything in detail. I’\u0099ll remember that for a long time, it was really cool and funny. We had a lot of sports: yoga, CrossFit, and 7 am physical jerks.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Is it hard to wake up at 7 am?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Very hard. [laughing]<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 How much did the NAVI academy level you up?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 It was my way to an adult and conscious life. It made me meet a lot of interesting adult people. It influenced me heavily. I was another person 3 months earlier. In NAVI Junior I completely transformed to become an individual.<\/p>\n

\"\" Image credit: Aunkere’s Instagram<\/span><\/div>\n

‘\u0093 ForZe wanted to get you. Why didn’t the transfer succeed?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Organizations didn’t find an agreement. I had the short-term contract and NAVI didn’\u0099t see a sense in selling cheaply a player they’\u0099d invested in. They had to find a compromise, but ForZe didn’\u0099t want to pay a lot because my contract was going to end soon, while NAVI didn’\u0099t want to let me away for a song.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 And what did you want?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 I wanted to be transferred to Forze, it could’\u0099ve been a significant growth for me as a player. Jerry, a friend of mine, plays there. We’re good friends in real life as well and we were interacting easily together inside the game. I was being tested for ForZe and played several official games and tournaments. I wanted to take a risk and move to ForZe, but it didn’t happen.. It was sad for me, but on the other hand, it provided me with media growth in NAVI Junior.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 How much did NAVI upgrade your media?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Due to the NAVI tag you become famous quickly. They’\u0099re CIS well-known company and if you’\u0099re signed by them, people everywhere start talking about you. They start following your socials, your Twitch-channel. If you play official matches, they watch you even more. But the tag itself promotes you a lot.<\/p>\n

Discussing RMR situation, visa problems and the absence of the organization<\/h2>\n

‘\u0093 You didn’\u0099t get to RMR. It seemed strange to me that you wanted to divide the team sticker between players only. Usually, the income is divided between an organization as well. Why didn’\u0099t you do like that?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 We had offers from European organizations. Smooya was communicating with UK sponsors, they were negotiating about the conditions. They issued ‘\u009clevel 1’\u009d and ‘\u009clevel 2’\u009d offers, starting with $10000 USD a person at level 1 and a bit more at level 2. But in that case, we had to change the team tag, share the stickers’ income and put their sponsors on our jerseys. They sent the offer themselves and didn’t respond after that. We had a deadline for uploading stickers and sending payment info until the middle of September, there was a date. As they ignored us later, we decided to play under our tag and without an organization.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 What are levels 1 and level 2?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Level 1 meant jersey, tag change, and sharing of team stickers. Level 2 meant the full social media branding, publications, the major part of stickers income, and some other moments, I don’\u0099t remember details. Certainly, we had to take part in interviews and make videos with advertisements.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Buster [famous Russian streamer] said on the stream that he wanted to sign you up. Why didn’t it happen?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 We’\u0099ve been discussing it with Slava [Buster]. He wanted it a lot, maybe we had to change the tag. But since smooya lives in the UK, where ad prices are much higher, he requested a great sum per person. It was too expensive and we stopped discussing that.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Did anyone in the team try to change smooya’\u0099s mind?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 No, because we had those UK guys, whose responses we’\u0099ve been waiting for.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 What emotions did you have when your team advanced to RMR?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 It was astonishing, everyone was in seventh heaven. We were glad that we managed to gather a team, changed the player the day before qualification, played a couple of praccs, and just outplayed with our enthusiasm other guys who have organization, contracts, and salaries. We had to solve the visa issue only.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 So if we speak about the visa case, could you tell the story once again completely?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 After the open qualification’\u0099s victory, I’\u0099ve just gone to Moscow to apply for the visa at the French embassy. There’\u0099s an agent who helps players to get all the documents, make an application and send it to the visa center. I’\u0099ve contacted her as everybody else and I did exactly what she said. I was the only one who was refused. When I called her to ask why it had happened, she told me: ‘\u009cYou were just unlucky’\u009d. Calyx was also refused a visa in Turkey, but he has his own internal problems there.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Why did smooya say on the stream that you were trying to apply for a long-term visa?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Because smooya is inadequate dude. He didn’\u0099t study the situation, didn’\u0099t ask what happened. He just started expressing his thoughts on the stream. A day later he messaged me, apologized, and asked for details. He was just attracting attention, it was funny and unprofessional. He always had the opportunity to text me directly and ask. Everyone who knows me and watches my streams knows that I was applying for a 10 or 12-day visa, that’\u0099s all. When I heard his words, I just laughed. Actually, I was frustrated that he is an experienced esports athlete and can’\u0099t think with his own head.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 He is considered to be a “toxic” person. Did you notice it during the matches?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 We didn’\u0099t have major disagreements ‘\u0093 sometimes we had moments when he was saying something to me, I was responding, and we were quarreling a little. But generally, we had a positive vibe inside the team and positive emotions. We didn’\u0099t have any problems inside our team.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Whose idea was it to gather such a team and how did you seek players?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Initially, it was me and Rodion [fear] who were sitting and thinking about what kind of line-up we would like. He wanted to play with his guys and I suggested smooya play together: ‘\u009cLet’\u0099s play together: me, you, Rodion. Let’\u0099s just find two more good fellows’\u009d. We started searching for two players according to our roles. We played the first, the second, and the third qualifications. We understood what kind of players we needed. We called Michu and Calyx ‘\u0093 they were fitting our line-up perfectly. It appeared that we performed really well.<\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Are you going to look for a new team?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘\u0093 Yes, I am. I had a South Africa offer some time ago but it was a top-40 team that’\u0099s why I refused. If I have another offer I’\u0099d like to try. It’\u0099s a new experience and I don’\u0099t need to relocate forever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fedya Khvan of cyber.sports.ru had a big talk with Aunkere. The original interview is available in Russian following the link, we present the English version of the most interesting parts of the interview. Eugene ‘\u009cAunkere’\u009d Karyat is a popular streamer, who has over 370,000 followers. What is more, Aunkere is a prominent esports athlete. He<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":12085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cs-2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}