Hugo ‘TheSwedishJoker’ Nilsson Meier, BLIX.GG: What do you think is needed for us to see more top-tier teams that are fully North American within the scene?
Ricky ‘floppy’ Kemery: I just think if the North American scene wants to grow, we just need way more people to be playing the game. Because I think there are not nearly as many people, even in FACEIT, in North America, it’s like a million compared to Europe is like 9 million or something. Some statistic I’ve seen like that, but I think we just need more people to play the game.
And obviously, it’s just not as popular compared to Europe, where in North America more people play console games like Call of Duty, Halo and stuff like that. So, I think we just need more people to play the game.
BLIX: We sometimes see things like players oversleeping for qualifiers, which we might not see in Europe. Do you think that it’s partially just an issue with the players competing and that they are not taking it too seriously, just giving up too easily?
floppy: I think it’s just tied in part with not having enough players to play because if you did that in Europe, you wouldn’t even be heard of. Nobody would know that you’re even sleeping in during a match because you wouldn’t be at that level. So, I think it’s just not enough people playing the game.
BLIX: Do you think that there should be esports programs like we have here in the Nordics? We have it in high school and middle school.
floppy: Yeah, I think it wouldn’t hurt. I mean, for me, I would just play after school, but I think introducing more people to each game, I don’t think it would hurt. I think it would definitely help. But yeah, I mean, I don’t see a problem with it.
BLIX: What are your initial thoughts on the M4 update so far?
floppy: I think that the M4A1-S nerf was so necessary. The A1-S was just so dumb. I think it was a laser beam across the map, like on monster on Overpass to T-spawn. It’s just like a double dink. You don’t even have to control the spray, you just hold mouse1.
So, I think that was just super annoying to deal with getting spammed through smokes as well. I love the M4A4, the fire rate is perfect. Yeah, it was definitely necessary.
BLIX: So you wouldn’t have done any other changes with the gun than what Valve did?
floppy: No, I think they did a good job. I think the only thing you could really do is change the price at this point. I think to make it so you can buy both M4s in the game versus just doing this stupid inventory thing, switching it in between. But yeah, I think those two things are the only things you could really change.
BLIX: Speaking of that, do you do that yourself? Do you change what you can use on the CT side depending on the map, situation and position nowadays?
floppy: No, it’s not something I really considered because I just think that the A4 is stronger and for my spots, I’d like to try and get as many kills as I can. But obviously, there’s the other argument where if you’re an anchor, you can send a smoke and spam people through that type of thing.
But I just like having the extra ammo and more bullets and the higher fire rate just so I can actually secure a kill and get one before I run.
BLIX: They also added Anubis. Do you think that it is a good map for riflers like yourself?
floppy: Yeah, I think it’s actually a pretty decent map after playing it for a little bit. We scrimmed in North America for like a couple of days but I wasn’t enjoying it at the time. But now I think it’s a little bit better just from scrimming better teams on it.
BLIX: More quality practice makes new maps and new updates more fun?
floppy: Yeah, it makes the map make more sense. Like they’re doing this because of x for example, things like that.
BLIX: Do you have a favorite team to scrim against when you’re here in Europe?
floppy: Well, I don’t know if it counts, probably Liquid just because of oSee but either Liquid or any of the top five teams because we get super good practice against them. Like FaZe, G2 or Na’Vi. So, probably just any of the top teams just because they’re actually good at the game and they’re not trolling in practice.
BLIX: Are you more confident after scrims if you’ve won vs, for example, against Liquid?
floppy: Scrims and matches are definitely two separate things. I don’t really think about scrim results, it’s mainly just to try new stuff and if it doesn’t work, then we learn that it doesn’t work and how we can make it better.
BLIX: Has the update on the M4 had any effect on your playstyle?
floppy: No, I think I just run around a bit less because I think A1-S can kind of get away with doing stupid things. But with the A4, I think you kind of have to play a little bit more disciplined, more normal.
So, I think it fits me because I think I’d like to play as normal as possible. After all, I want to get the most out of my practice.
BLIX: Have you noticed anything that you think should be changed with Anubis after scrimming?
floppy: The first thing that pops up in my head is just the FPS. It’s kind of bad, especially in water or boat, whatever you want to call it. It’s like it dips down to like 200 FPS sometimes on a machine that’s like $4,000 that shouldn’t be happening.
So, I think if they optimize the map a little bit, if they can, it would definitely help. But I think the map just needs to be played a bit more to really know what needs to be changed. Because right now I’m not entirely too sure.
BLIX: Have you guys tried using FPS tricks, like I’ve seen some pros do, and that just didn’t work?
floppy: There’s only so much you can do. A lot of its kind of gimmicky. The main thing you can do is just overclock the CPU and the RAM and that’s the number one thing you’re going to do if you want to make the performance best on the PC and do other stuff like closing other programs and stuff like that. There are definitely some things you can do but I don’t really think it has that noticeable of an effect.
BLIX: So that’s something that’s up to the map developers to do then.
floppy: They can release Source 2, which will never happen. [laughs]
BLIX: Would you rather have seen them bring in some reworked maps, like Tuscan and Cache for example, or do you think that it’s actually good to get a fresh map in?
floppy: I was kind of rooting for Tuscan, but playing it in deathmatch, it feels like it’s way too big of a map. I feel like long A, or whatever the call is, from top right mid. I feel like if you’re trying to tap that angle, it’s just random. So, I feel like the map can be shrunk a little bit.
It seems too big to me, but I think Anubis was definitely a pretty good map in my opinion. I think as time goes on, we’ll know the little things. Like even Mirage, you’re still finding new stuff. So, I think Anubis could definitely be good.
BLIX: Which map would you say is number two after Tuscan?
floppy: Well, Cache was bad. Cobble back then wasn’t good to me either. I like Train. I love playing the inner bombsite, it was so much fun back then. So, I would play Train again. I think Train is really good. I’d rather play it than something like Vertigo. I think Vertigo should be out of the map pool because that map is actually terrible.
BLIX: Valve recently came out with a new ranking for the future RMRs. Keeping in mind everything that happened with the seeding at the last Major – do you think that it was the right change?
floppy: Yeah, I guess it kind of makes sense for CS:GO and the fact that there are so many events to play in. But for something like DOTA where it’s just basically The International, I feel like the team that won the last International should be up there [in the top].
But for CS:GO, it’s kind of like there are so many tournaments all the time and some teams might be performing better than others on a given day. So, I think it’s probably pretty good.
BLIX: What can we expect from the new Complexity and from you this year?
floppy: You can expect us to try our very best to try and win every tournament we’re competing in. That’s all I’ll say.
Feature Image: Copyright BLAST | [@jakhoward]
