Aaron ‘\u009cAZR’\u009d Ward: <\/strong>It’\u0099s been a while since I’\u0099ve played some CS, other than when I played for a little bit for an Australian team when I went back there, but while not playing I guess I was focusing on myself quite a bit mentally. <\/p>\n I went through a lot of things, also not being able to play CS at the start of the year, which kind of sucked but also, I lost my dad last year to cancer, so that was pretty rough. Other than that? That’s pretty much it.<\/p>\n BLIX: You’\u0099ve been with international lineups now for a really long time, with Renegades and such, then a short stint standing in for an Australian team. At this point in time, do you prefer playing with an international lineup over an Australian lineup?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR:<\/strong> I think the main thing for me is that I know that if you want to do something with your career, you have to play in Europe, right? So, I think that being in Europe in general and playing with an international team is always going to come first, but there’\u0099s also been like’\u00a6 <\/p>\n I guess in an international team, communication isn’\u0099t as sharp as it can be, obviously English is other people’\u0099s second language and stuff like that, so communication can’\u0099t be as clear as if I was playing with an Aussie team. That’\u0099s something that I definitely have to get used to with this team and I’\u0099ve only been playing with this team for like a month now, so there’\u0099s gonna be more hurdles for sure.<\/p>\n BLIX: Since you’\u0099ve only been with the team for about a month, do you feel like there’\u0099s some sort of pressure because Sprout did really well last Major, and you’\u0099re coming in like a month before it? How have the talks been within the team?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR: <\/strong>It’\u0099s been up and down, you know? At first, coming in, I was pretty confident, but at the same time I haven’\u0099t played in a while, so there’\u0099s a lot of learning for me. The game’\u0099s changed a lot, you can’\u0099t say it’\u0099s just one thing, there are so many things like rotations, strats, timings, everything changes. There’\u0099s a lot for me to learn and still a lot for me to learn right now, so the main thing is time, right? One month just hasn’\u0099t been enough. <\/p>\n Obviously, there’\u0099s a lot of pressure on me to perform, because I came into this team as a leader, and last Major they did pretty well, but then they hit a bit of a rough patch. We want to try and fix that for sure.<\/p>\n BLIX: You talked a little bit before about international teams versus Australian teams. What would you say are the main differences between those two?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR: <\/strong>Communication is definitely number one, that’\u0099s an easy one! I find myself sometimes like’\u00a6 if someone says something really, really quick, like Victor (Staehr, ed.) in this very heavy Danish accent, sometimes I struggle to hear what he says, so communication in an international team is probably the hardest thing for me right now.<\/p>\n Read More: rigoN: “We have structure, but we still do our plays, because our plays brought us to this point” <\/a><\/p>\n BLIX: Can you talk to me a little bit about the roles in the team and about how things are right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR: <\/strong>We got XELLOW, who is the AWPer, I just want him to go nuts with the AWP, that’\u0099s pretty much it. We got Victor (Staehr, ed.), who to me is the star player of the team, he’\u0099s also like the second caller of the team and when he’\u0099s feeling it and knows timing stuff he makes my life so much easier. I think Victor’\u0099s got a bright, bright future ahead of him, he’\u0099s a natural beast of a player. <\/p>\n Then we have Zyphon, who’\u0099s like one of our anchor players, he’\u0099s very, very sharp. Especially when he’\u0099s feeling good, feeling happy, when people run at him he’\u0099s just going to headshot them, he’\u0099s so good. And then we got lauNX who’\u0099s like the X factor of the team, I can just send him anywhere and he’\u0099s going to get kills, he’\u0099s just crazy. And for me, I just need to support them in the best way I know right now.<\/p>\n BLIX: What are you currently doing with the team now, day-to-day? It hasn’\u0099t been a long time, and you’\u0099ve just been thrust into the Major, how do you guys deal with all the practice? Did you come to the Major with no expectations?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR: <\/strong>Expectations are definitely qualifying, like [‘\u00a6] I can’\u0099t say anything else, we want to qualify for the Major and the guys have been there in the past, that’\u0099s the goal. You just want to be at the Major because it’\u0099s the most prestigious event of the year, and we just want to be there.<\/p>\n Credit: BLAST\/Michal Konkol<\/p>\n BLIX: Have you guys been able to talk about any goals, maybe past the Major?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR: <\/strong>I don’\u0099t think we’\u0099ve really spoken about it, to be honest. Like, since I joined the team, the workload has been pretty full-on. We’\u0099ve had a lot of online officials, and also have just been practicing. <\/p>\n Since I joined the team, we’\u0099ve had like one day off or something like that, so it’\u0099s just been a lot of practice and that’\u0099s pretty much it. We haven’\u0099t thought about anything past the Major at all.<\/p>\n BLIX: Do you feel pressure to replicate what Sprout did last Major, knocking out NIP for example? Or do you want to overcome what they did last year?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR: <\/strong>Not in that sense, to be honest, I don’\u0099t really think about that. For me, my personal pressure is I just think about being the best that I can be after a month of being back in Counter-Strike. <\/p>\n As I said before, there’s still a lot for me to learn, so I have just got to keep grinding with the guys. So not much for previous results, more so for myself and my expectations.<\/p>\n BLIX: What is the situation for you now coming into the team a month ago, have you talked about the living situation?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR: <\/strong>No, I actually live in Denmark! I live here with my partner, I’\u0099ve been living in Denmark for about two and a half years, I think. Ever since I left 100Thieves to come to Europe I’\u0099ve been living in Denmark. <\/p>\n I’\u0099ve been here for a while, and I usually just go back and forth to Australia to see family. It’\u0099s a long journey but I’\u0099ve got my partner here, so my life is here!<\/p>\n BLIX: And you FaceTime with the family and everything?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR: <\/strong>Exactly! And whenever I get that chance to go back then I love to see my family, so yeah.<\/p>\n BLIX: Moving to CS2, it came out pretty recently in Beta. Have you been able to play it a little bit?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR:<\/strong> I have not played at all! Actually, I’\u0099ve opened the game and had a look at smokes and nades and that’\u0099s it, I’\u0099ve just been focusing on CS:GO. My expectations for Counter-Strike 2 are that it’\u0099s obviously not in the best spot right now and there’\u0099s been a lot of criticism for sure, but it’\u0099s still beta, and it’\u0099s the reason why it’\u0099s like this. I’\u0099m assuming that when it gets to summer it will be playable. <\/p>\n For example, it was the same way with CS:GO, when CS:GO first came out it was so atrocious, it was a terrible game, and everyone thought it was shit. So we have just got to let Valve do their thing, give them time and I’\u0099m sure it’\u0099s going to be a great game and I assume it’\u0099s going to be a lot bigger than CS:GO.<\/p>\n BLIX: Were you a part of the old ‘\u009cswitch’\u009d from 1.6 to CS:GO, or did you come in later?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR: <\/strong>I played 1.6 but at the time CS:GO came out I was playing Source, so I made that swap. Because 1.6 was dying in Australia, so if I wanted to play some Counter-Strike it was mostly in CS:Source. I switched from there.<\/p>\n BLIX: Do you think things will be different this time around compared to back then?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR: <\/strong>I think so for sure, I mean back then it was combining the two games, like two communities together, so it’\u0099s a little bit different from then. I think it will just bring in a lot of new people, having the new Counter-Strike. There’\u0099s been so much speculation and so much talking about Counter-Strike 2 for years now, we’\u0099ve been talking about Source 2 Engine, you know that’\u0099s been around for a while now. I’\u0099m just hoping it’\u0099s gonna be great.<\/p>\n BLIX: You haven’\u0099t played it but as there have been tons of videos, have you noticed anything that you would have liked to see changed, maybe from CS:GO into CS2?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR: <\/strong>I don’\u0099t know right now, to be honest, I think I would like a different map pool for sure. I’\u0099m not the biggest fan of the map pool right now, I can’\u0099t give specific maps but I’\u0099m just not impressed with it right now. <\/p>\n I wish’\u00a6 I guess they could take it out of Valorant’\u0099s page, updating the game constantly, I wish Valve would have done the same. Like look upon Counter-Strike and do the same thing, right? That’\u0099s all I can say, I just hope Valve could put as much into the game as people love it.<\/p>\n BLIX: You mentioned the map pool, how have you been able to go through it with the team this month?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR:<\/strong> It’\u0099s been a bit crazy because for me, with the team right now, I’\u0099ve had to learn three maps pretty much to be coming into this team. Anubis is a new map that I had to learn. I had to learn Overpass because previously I hated Overpass, I never liked the map whatsoever. I still fucking hate the map and I wish it wasn’\u0099t in the map pool! <\/p>\n And Ancient, because when I actually took a break Ancient just came into the map pool, so it was really new to me. Right now, I’\u0099m going over it also, and it’\u0099s going pretty well.<\/p>\n BLIX: And have the guys helped you out a lot?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR: <\/strong>Yeah, definitely, BERRY (coach Danny ‘\u009cBERRY’\u009d Kruger, ed.) is always helping me out and trying to keep me up in the meta, especially on Overpass, because I don’\u0099t know the map at all! For me it’\u0099s just like, I just have to go and watch demos, and see how people play, see the spots. It’\u0099s just a grind, and that’\u0099s all it is.<\/p>\n BLIX: Obviously this is the last CS:GO Major and we have some tournaments coming up in CS:GO before CS2 is officially released. Do you feel like Valve did the right thing by releasing it as a Beta now, or should have they waited a little bit longer?<\/strong><\/p>\n AZR:<\/strong> It would have been nice if we had two Majors this year for CS:GO like it was planned. But the release of CS2 in the summer meant the Major that was supposed to be later in the year got shafted. Now it’\u0099s just one for the year, so for that reason I wish they delayed it a little bit, but other than that I don’\u0099t really care to be honest! <\/p>\n I just hope CS2 is an awesome game, and we all love it, and it brings a big community along.<\/p>\n Feature Images: BLAST<\/a>\/Michal Konkol<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before their elimination, we caught up with Aaron “AZR” Ward at the BLAST Paris Major 2023: European RMR A to talk everything CS:GO, including joining Sprout, his thoughts on CS 2 and more. Hugo “TheSwedishJoker” Nilsson Meier, BLIX.GG: It’\u0099s been a while since we’\u0099ve seen you in the tier-one scene, how’\u0099s it been since the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":9417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9416","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\/9416","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\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Behind the scenes of Sprout<\/h2>\n
![\"AZR](\"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0db81b91e3a67e96.jpeg\")
<\/span><\/div>\nThoughts on CS 2<\/h2>\n
![\"AZR](\"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/10f387d85da5817d.jpeg\")
<\/span><\/div>\n