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Iconic Calls Casting Controversy - Thorin vs. Reddit 28 - CS2
updated
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Thomas "Thinkcard" Slotkin, former Jungler of CLG and current coach of NRG, is the star of the 400th Episode of 'Reflections'. This is episode two of two about Thinkcard's career.
Thinkcard was a jungle prospect back in 2014 but after a brief spell on CLG and then working with Cloud9 Challenger he made the pivot to coaching staff and his first big position was with FlyQuest when they entered the LCS. With a mix of former champions from C9 and some newer talent they shocked the world and managed to placew fourth in the opening split.
The next year Thinkcard was working with Echo Fox but another strong Spring split was followed by a less impressive summer run and failure to win the LCS regional qualifier for Worlds. That would all change in 2019 as Clutch Gaming became his new home as a coach.
Working with Huni again he would made another top four LCS run and this time successfully navigate the regional, beating TSM no less, to make his first Worlds. The group at that tournament proved impossibly tough and Clutch were memed on for going 0-6.
Thinkcard worked with Froggen and aphromoo's Dig line-up in 2020 before having to go down to the Academy level with Golden Guardians the following year. It wouldn't be until 2022 that he got another crack at the LCS and it was with CLG, who were no longer a contender org.
Grinding back up with the core of players, the big moment came in the summer of last year when, as the newly acquired NRG, the team won the LCS championship and qualified for Worlds. At said Worlds they would defeat LEC number 1 seed G2 and be the lone Western team to reach the play-off stage. They lost there to WBG, who ended up being finalists at the event.
In part two, Thinkcard discusses the positional coaching approach of CLG/NRG, working with players who had been in Academy, perceptions of the team prior to winning, beating a C9 super-team to take the LCS title, playing Weibo at Worlds, beating G2 at Worlds and how he has learned from his journey through esports.
This interview was recorded on the 26th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 In back to the LCS?
01:53 Positional coaching
03:38 Top side
06:12 Palafox
07:18 sOAZ as positional Top lane coach
08:28 Luger and Poome
09:46 First year with CLG
10:50 Croissant
12:36 Recruiting staff
14:01 2023 Perception pre-championship
16:20 FBI and Ignar
18:38 Championship run
21:06 Beating C9 super-team
23:05 Top lane vs. TL
24:22 Weibo draw at Worlds
25:26 TL
26:02 MAD Lions
27:17 G2
30:19 Scrimming other side of bracket
31:42 WBG Ro8
32:43 Feeling of being on stage of Worlds play-offs
34:04 Caitlyn-Heimderdinger
34:40 Validation
36:01 WBG making the final
36:27 Downsize for this year?
38:36 Mind Body Esports
39:55 huhi
41:40 100T play-offs series
42:31 NRG org
44:00 Does he get the feel of wanting to play again?
45:09 Learning from failure
47:07 Most impressive coach
49:05 Most skilled player
49:57 Smartest player
50:38 Most clutch player
51:27 Best team-mate
52:18 Funniest player
52:56 Most under-rated player
53:35 Final words
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Thomas "Thinkcard" Slotkin, former Jungler of CLG and current coach of NRG, is the star of the 399th Episode of 'Reflections'. This is episode one of two about Thinkcard's career.
Thinkcard was a jungle prospect back in 2014 but after a brief spell on CLG and then working with Cloud9 Challenger he made the pivot to coaching staff and his first big position was with FlyQuest when they entered the LCS. With a mix of former champions from C9 and some newer talent they shocked the world and managed to placew fourth in the opening split.
The next year Thinkcard was working with Echo Fox but another strong Spring split was followed by a less impressive summer run and failure to win the LCS regional qualifier for Worlds. That would all change in 2019 as Clutch Gaming became his new home as a coach.
Working with Huni again he would made another top four LCS run and this time successfully navigate the regional, beating TSM no less, to make his first Worlds. The group at that tournament proved impossibly tough and Clutch were memed on for going 0-6.
Thinkcard worked with Froggen and aphromoo's Dig line-up in 2020 before having to go down to the Academy level with Golden Guardians the following year. It wouldn't be until 2022 that he got another crack at the LCS and it was with CLG, who were no longer a contender org.
Grinding back up with the core of players, the big moment came in the summer of last year when, as the newly acquired NRG, the team won the LCS championship and qualified for Worlds. At said Worlds they would defeat LEC number 1 seed G2 and be the lone Western team to reach the play-off stage. They lost there to WBG, who ended up being finalists at the event.
In part one, Thinkcard talks about his playing days, how coaching his early teams levelled up his skillset, Echo Fox's missed chance to win LCS, why Huni was "perfect" in his eyes, beating TSM with Clutch and the experience of going to Worlds the first time.
This interview was recorded on the 26th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Alias
00:42 Esports dream
01:35 How good was he early on?
02:29 Standing in for CLG in S4 Summer
04:23 Challenger prospects he played with (Apollo, Yasui etc.)
06:18 IEM Cologne with CLG
08:05 Stixxay, Lourlo etc. on CLG B team
10:10 FlyQuest
12:02 Contractz
14:08 S7 Spring
15:32 Hai
17:22 Altec leaving
18:15 Echo Fox
20:03 Could that team have won LCS?
21:02 Leadership skills
22:32 Dardoch
24:17 Smoothie
25:48 Failing regionals
28:10 Networking skills
29:13 Clutch Gaming S9 summer semi vs. TL
30:45 Unique style of play
31:48 Damonte
33:31 Cody Sun and Vulcan botlane
35:05 Beating TSM to make Worlds
36:06 How good was he as a coach in Clutch?
36:47 S9 Worlds group
38:21 Experience of going to Worlds
39:59 Org being owned by Houston Rockets
40:33 Dignitas
44:26 Did going to Academy make him worry he was done?
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#Thinkcard #Huni #Thorin
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Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth, former Support player of TSM and Astralis and currently an assistant coach for MOUZ, is the star of the 398th Episode of 'Reflections'. This is episode three of three about Xyp9x's career.
Xyp9x was a rising talent at the end of CS 1.6 and managed to get into an early FNATIC line-up in CS:GO, where the team could manage top four placings from time to time. It was a move to Copenhagen Wolves and eventual pivot to being a supportive element that cause Xyp9x's career to take off, though.
Already playing alongside names like device and dupreeh, Xyp9x was contending with the best teams in the game in 2013 and in 2014 the core took it to another level and could routinely challenge at the majors, though they became notorious for falling apart in big semi-finals and not reaching a big LAN final yet.
2015 saw karrigan join and Xyp9x cemented his status as the world's best Support player as he overcame a slump of form late in the year to prevent him being kicked and enter a new category of performance. That year his TSM side would win five notable LANs, famously holding a strong winning record over FNATIC during the Swede's era. Alas, the majors would again elude them.
In 2016 the team became Astralis and would face the toughest years of their time at the top, finally bombing out of some group stages and seeing moves like cajunb swapped out for Kjaerbye delivering questionable results. Late in 2016 the team gambled on bringing IGL talent gla1ve back from the wilderness and the rest is very much history.
Astralis won the first major of 2017 and become the world's best team, challenging for their own era. They didn't manage to win the second major, Krakow, but went as far as a close semi-final loss to eventual champions Gambit. It would be the following year, with Magisk joining to replace an outgoing Kjaerbye, where Astralis soared like no other team in history.
As Team Liquid fans will very well remember, Astralis were seemingly unbeatable both for TL, the consensus second best team in the world, and in finals, where they seemed to outplay everyone they faced with rare exceptions. The Astralis era is fondly remembered as the most dominant in history. The team would win three majors back-to-back-to-back from 2018-2019 and without ever going to a deciding map in those play-offs!
After the online era, Xyp9x and Astralis never returned with the same force or potency and Xyp9x became notorious for his long and hefty contract. He was even eventually playing down in the Academy team at the end. After retiring he has become a coach for MOUZ and already helped the team win ESL ProLeague S19.
In part three, Xyp9x talks about winning the Katowice major, losing the nuke map win streak to ENCE, Team Liquid's rise, how Astralis won Starladder Berlin, burn out, the post-online period, playing for the Academy team and now pivoting to coaching MOUZ.
This interview was recorded on the 29th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 dupreeh, his tragedy and IEM Katowice
02:08 Beating ENCE to win Katowice
04:17 Losing to ENCE at BLAST
04:55 BLASTralis era
07:49 Starladder Berlin major
10:08 Were TL better than Astralis?
10:49 Astralis post-major
12:30 EG rivalry
14:31 Facing karrigan teams
15:49 karrigan post-Astralis
19:19 Friction in Astralis
20:39 Burn out period
23:16 CSPPA
25:21 What did he do while he was out of CS?
27:02 Astralis downfall
29:37 Big contract and stats going down
32:40 Having coaches other than zonic
33:58 Academy period
36:11 Could he have gone to other teams?
38:28 Coaching MOUZ
40:24 How his career ended
42:17 Going from chokers to most decorated
44:41 Favourite clutches
46:40 Final words
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Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth, former Support player of TSM and Astralis and currently an assistant coach for MOUZ, is the star of the 397th Episode of 'Reflections'. This is episode two of three about Xyp9x's career.
Xyp9x was a rising talent at the end of CS 1.6 and managed to get into an early FNATIC line-up in CS:GO, where the team could manage top four placings from time to time. It was a move to Copenhagen Wolves and eventual pivot to being a supportive element that cause Xyp9x's career to take off, though.
Already playing alongside names like device and dupreeh, Xyp9x was contending with the best teams in the game in 2013 and in 2014 the core took it to another level and could routinely challenge at the majors, though they became notorious for falling apart in big semi-finals and not reaching a big LAN final yet.
2015 saw karrigan join and Xyp9x cemented his status as the world's best Support player as he overcame a slump of form late in the year to prevent him being kicked and enter a new category of performance. That year his TSM side would win five notable LANs, famously holding a strong winning record over FNATIC during the Swede's era. Alas, the majors would again elude them.
In 2016 the team became Astralis and would face the toughest years of their time at the top, finally bombing out of some group stages and seeing moves like cajunb swapped out for Kjaerbye delivering questionable results. Late in 2016 the team gambled on bringing IGL talent gla1ve back from the wilderness and the rest is very much history.
Astralis won the first major of 2017 and become the world's best team, challenging for their own era. They didn't manage to win the second major, Krakow, but went as far as a close semi-final loss to eventual champions Gambit. It would be the following year, with Magisk joining to replace an outgoing Kjaerbye, where Astralis soared like no other team in history.
As Team Liquid fans will very well remember, Astralis were seemingly unbeatable both for TL, the consensus second best team in the world, and in finals, where they seemed to outplay everyone they faced with rare exceptions. The Astralis era is fondly remembered as the most dominant in history. The team would win three majors back-to-back-to-back from 2018-2019 and without ever going to a deciding map in those play-offs!
After the online era, Xyp9x and Astralis never returned with the same force or potency and Xyp9x became notorious for his long and hefty contract. He was even eventually playing down in the Academy team at the end. After retiring he has become a coach for MOUZ and already helped the team win ESL ProLeague S19.
In part two, Xyp9x talks about gla1ve's impact on Astralis, the role zonic played, winning majors at last, owning Team Liquid so many times and Astralis' best maps.
This interview was recorded on the 29th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 gla1ve joining
01:54 gla1ve as an IGL
04:36 ELEAGUE S2
06:28 ELEAGUE Atlanta major
08:38 overpass clutch vs. VP
10:40 Did winning the major remove the choking stigma?
12:00 Clutching
14:38 overpass A site
16:13 PGL Krakow
18:00 Mentality change
20:52 Kjaerbye-Magisk swap
23:52 Magisk
25:43 Dreamhack Masters Marseille
27:59 Is s1mple the G.O.A.T?
29:34 device
31:24 dupreeh, device and Xyp9x playing together for so long
34:18 FACEIT London major
36:35 Using pressure against TL
38:20 Should TL have won some of the 2018 events?
40:34 zonic
46:56 nuke rework
48:36 utility
50:00 inferno Astralis' best map?
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Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth, former Support player of TSM and Astralis and currently an assistant coach for MOUZ, is the star of the 396th Episode of 'Reflections'. This is episode one of three about Xyp9x's career.
Xyp9x was a rising talent at the end of CS 1.6 and managed to get into an early FNATIC line-up in CS:GO, where the team could manage top four placings from time to time. It was a move to Copenhagen Wolves and eventual pivot to being a supportive element that cause Xyp9x's career to take off, though.
Already playing alongside names like device and dupreeh, Xyp9x was contending with the best teams in the game in 2013 and in 2014 the core took it to another level and could routinely challenge at the majors, though they became notorious for falling apart in big semi-finals and not reaching a big LAN final yet.
2015 saw karrigan join and Xyp9x cemented his status as the world's best Support player as he overcame a slump of form late in the year to prevent him being kicked and enter a new category of performance. That year his TSM side would win five notable LANs, famously holding a strong winning record over FNATIC during the Swede's era. Alas, the majors would again elude them.
In 2016 the team became Astralis and would face the toughest years of their time at the top, finally bombing out of some group stages and seeing moves like cajunb swapped out for Kjaerbye delivering questionable results. Late in 2016 the team gambled on bringing IGL talent gla1ve back from the wilderness and the rest is very much history.
Astralis won the first major of 2017 and become the world's best team, challenging for their own era. They didn't manage to win the second major, Krakow, but went as far as a close semi-final loss to eventual champions Gambit. It would be the following year, with Magisk joining to replace an outgoing Kjaerbye, where Astralis soared like no other team in history.
As Team Liquid fans will very well remember, Astralis were seemingly unbeatable both for TL, the consensus second best team in the world, and in finals, where they seemed to outplay everyone they faced with rare exceptions. The Astralis era is fondly remembered as the most dominant in history. The team would win three majors back-to-back-to-back from 2018-2019 and without ever going to a deciding map in those play-offs!
After the online era, Xyp9x and Astralis never returned with the same force or potency and Xyp9x became notorious for his long and hefty contract. He was even eventually playing down in the Academy team at the end. After retiring he has become a coach for MOUZ and already helped the team win ESL ProLeague S19.
In part one, Xyp9x talks about his origins as a player, who TSM was put together piece by piece, whether they choked back in the day, how he almost got kicked and what he did to handle painful loses.
This interview was recorded on the 29th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Alias
02:26 Playing in late 1.6
04:16 How good was he?
07:41 FNATIC CS:GO
09:41 NiP and VeryGames
11:14 FeTiSh
13:07 Young dupreeh and device
15:07 Becoming a supportive element
16:55 Mindset
22:39 Choking
25:45 Facing top Swedish teams pre-2015
28:02 How good were they in scrims?
29:55 Handling losses
32:07 karrigan becoming IGL
35:46 Levelling up in 2015
37:44 Beating FNATIC
40:09 flusha
41:45 cajunb
44:04 Losing to EnVyUs
45:15 Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca
47:55 In denial of choking?
50:46 Almost getting kicked
55:07 Skills
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Matyáš "Carzzy" Orság, former ADC of MAD Lions and currently of Team Vitality, is the star of the 395th Episode of 'Reflections'.
carzzy was already playing at the ERL level as a teenager and managed to make the semi-finals of the LVP in 2018. The following year his BIG Clan was one of Europe's best ERL teams and won EU Masters Summer. carzzy would be entering the LEC the following year.
2020 saw carzzy and the new MAD Lions line-up, with only fellow Czech player Humanoid remaining from the rebranded Splyce, take the LEC by storm and challenge G2 for the title right out of the gate. Eventually forced to settle for third in spring and fourth in summer, MAD Lions had arrived as a new flavour of competition for the G2s and FNATICs, though their Worlds run left them a laughing stock with a play-in elimination.
2021 saw MAD Lions make good on the previous year's promise and win both LEC splits. At MSI and Worlds it was only series losses to DAMWON, a top two team in the world, that prevented the team from a deeper finish.
For S12 carzzy went over to a Vitality super-team but the project failed to make any meaningful impact on the LEC or qualify for an international tournament. As such it was back to MAD Lions for what few could yet know was to be arguably the best year of carzzy's career individually. MAD managed to make the final of the Winter split and then win the spring split outright, bringing carzzy's trophy haul in LEC to three.
MAD flagged late in the year and their international runs were again the source of much derision, but carzzy found himself moving to Vitality again for this year. Playing with former MAD Lions bot-lane team-mate Hylissang and coaching staff Mac and Pad, carzzy's side have been a dark horse but unable to as yet make a finals run.
This interview was recorded on the 8th of May, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Early days
02:09 Czekolad
03:02 Orome
04:05 Vision of ADC
05:08 Playing in many different ERLs
06:37 EU Masters
07:13 BIG Clan
08:32 His role in a team
09:01 How good was he?
09:53 Aggressive
10:57 labrov
12:30 MAD Lions offer
14:34 Peter Dun
16:18 shot-calling
18:10 Could MAD Lions have won LEC in 2020?
20:08 Humanoid
21:43 Kaiser
22:57 Mid game style of 2021 MAD Lions
24:22 Elyoya
24:53 MSI 2021
25:51 S11 Worlds
26:54 Winning LEC
27:41 Winning in the studio vs. arena
28:45 How good was carzzy in S11?
29:46 Over focus on lane for ADCs?
31:11 Dying on mid wave
31:44 His style fitting ADC meta now
33:49 Criticism
35:02 Vitality 2022 roster
38:33 Summer run
40:41 Alphari
41:59 Selfmade
44:48 Perkz
47:46 carzzy rep after 2022
49:10 Joining MAD Lions for 2023
50:36 Hylissang
53:06 nisqy
54:25 JackeyLove
56:57 Thoughts on his own level
57:54 Mac
59:15 MAD Lions internationally in 2023
1:00:18 Vitality in spring
1:01:20 Photon
1:02:09 Vetheo
1:03:11 Ambition?
1:04:42 Is he an LEC legend?
1:06:03 Not complaining about role
1:07:20 Final words
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Liyu "Cody" "Cody Sun" Sun, former ADC of IMT and 100T and currently teamless, is the star of the 394th Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part two of two about Cody's career.
Cody Sun broke out into the LCS in 2017 on IMT and by the second split of his rookie season he was playing in the finals against the TSM dynasty of Bjergsen and Doublelift. IMT went to Worlds but failed to progress from their group. 2018 saw franchising arrive and Cody Sun ended up on 100 Thieves, where he paired with eventual split MVP aphromoo and went to and lost a second straight final, this time losing to Doublelift's Team Liquid.
Bizarrely, Cody would find himself being benched and subbed out in summer, despite being an all-pro level player in spring, and would not even get to attend Worlds with the team. This move was a mystery to many at the time and also saw star Jungler Meteos being rotated out of the active line-up.
In 2019, Cody was on Clutch Gaming and the team made a strong run towards the summer and despite not being able to make the LCS final was able to take the final Worlds slot. At that Worlds they would draw a group of death and fail to win a game.
Cody's last run in the LCS was back on 100T for 2020, but the team was irrelevant outside of the first split. He would then play on TSM Academy for a year. In 2022, Cody dared to venture to Europe and play in the LFL for Mirage Elyandra. He hopes to return to top level LoL play.
In part two, Cody talks about his move to Clutch Gaming and making Worlds with wins over TSM, partnering with Vulcan in the botlane, his second spell on 100 Thieves, how he dealt with criticism, his time in France playing in the LFL and his hopes of playing in the LCS again.
This interview was recorded on the 23rd of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Clutch Gaming Academy
04:44 Clutch vs. TL LCS semi
12:23 Beating TSM in two Bo5s
17:09 Vulcan
19:10 Clutch going 0-6 at Worlds
24:25 100T
27:51 Criticism
36:28 TSM Academy
43:26 LFL
48:44 Memento
50:47 Future plans/hopes
54:49 Final words
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Liyu "Cody" "Cody Sun" Sun, former ADC of IMT and 100T and currently teamless, is the star of the 393rd Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part one of two about Cody's career.
Cody Sun broke out into the LCS in 2017 on IMT and by the second split of his rookie season he was playing in the finals against the TSM dynasty of Bjergsen and Doublelift. IMT went to Worlds but failed to progress from their group. 2018 saw franchising arrive and Cody Sun ended up on 100 Thieves, where he paired with eventual split MVP aphromoo and went to and lost a second straight final, this time losing to Doublelift's Team Liquid.
Bizarrely, Cody would find himself being benched and subbed out in summer, despite being an all-pro level player in spring, and would not even get to attend Worlds with the team. This move was a mystery to many at the time and also saw star Jungler Meteos being rotated out of the active line-up.
In 2019, Cody was on Clutch Gaming and the team made a strong run towards the summer and despite not being able to make the LCS final was able to take the final Worlds slot. At that Worlds they would draw a group of death and fail to win a game.
Cody's last run in the LCS was back on 100T for 2020, but the team was irrelevant outside of the first split. He would then play on TSM Academy for a year. In 2022, Cody dared to venture to Europe and play in the LFL for Mirage Elyandra. He hopes to return to top level LoL play.
In part one, Cody talks about his rookie season with IMT, the epic nature of Xmithie, playing alongside aphromoo, making two finals vs. Doublelift and what happened in the summer of 2018.
This interview was recorded on the 23rd of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Dardoch
01:35 Cody's level early on
04:32 Norskeren
05:46 Akaadian
06:43 Immortals
09:09 Olleh
11:54 Joining LCS
13:11 Dardoch replaced by Xmithie
19:48 Xmithie not needing to practice?
22:28 LCS final vs. TSM
27:04 Flame
30:38 S7 Worlds
35:39 SSONG
39:11 100 Thieves
41:43 aphromoo
44:25 LCS final vs. TL
52:48 Meteos
54:53 What happened in summer?
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Chet "Chet" Singh, former coach of CLG and NRG/EG in CS:GO and now of NRG in VALORANT, is the star of the 392nd Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part two of two about Chet's career.
Initially known as ImAPet, Chet broke out as a coach working with Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) in late 2016 into 2017. A notable result was the team, where he first partnered with players like FNS and Ethan, managed to shock eventual major champions Gambit on their home map of cbblestone and reach the play-offs of StarSeries S3.
After CLG, Chet joined up with OpTic for their international roster (featuring names like allu, friberg and Magisk) and the team was close to making a deep run at tier one LANs or qualifying to a major. From there he would go to NRG and the team would quickly find success. They beat rivals TL and went to the final of StarSeries S5, losing to s1mple's Na'Vi.
The following year, with the introduction of tarik, NRG become a consistent top four finishers but could not break through and win a trophy. They were even beating Astralis, but the most significant match against the Danes came in the semi-final of the Starladder Berlin major and it was zonic and company who took the win en route to the major itself.
Rebranded as Evil Geniuses, Chet's line-up got their revenge twice at ESL One New York shortly afterwards, including winning a Bo5 series in the final to win a North American tier one LAN over the best line-up in history! EG won StarSeries S8 to establish themselves as a legitimately top two team in the world.
The rest of the line-ups time was more up and down and then the entire world went into online play only in 2020 and Chet eventually moved on to work with 100 Thieves until the team's CS division was finished.
Moving over into VALORANT, Chet has found a lot of success. His OpTic, a team where he reunited with FNS, was arguably the team of 2022. They won VCT Reykjavík, finished third at VCT Copenhagen and were runners-up at VALORANT Champions to close out the year. The organisation did not get a VCT partnership spot and he and some of the other players went to NRG.
NRG had a tougher go of it in 2023, with a top eight at the Lock-In; a nice fourth place at VCT Toyko, which could have been more; and a disappointing 9th-12th finish at Champions.
In part two, Chet discusses his transition to VALORANT, coaching early NRG and TSM, how he worked in OpTic, the 2022 run, replacing yay with ardiis, what went wrong at VCT Tokyo, who Ethan is now and if he will one day return to CS.
This interview was recorded on the 15th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Picking up VALORANT
01:39 NRG the second time
02:39 s0m
04:11 TSM
05:10 Joining EnVyUs/OpTic
11:10 Coaching in VAL
14:32 Victor
17:42 LOUD
20:02 Marved
22:30 VCT Copenhagen
24:48 ardiis
25:40 Champions 2022
27:09 yay
32:21 OpTic breaking up
34:28 ardiis in NRG
36:20 Lock-In
38:10 FNATIC at VCT Tokyo
39:58 Paper Rex
41:23 FNS
42:47 BLG
45:10 FNS not playing any more
46:52 crashies
48:43 Ethan and Demon1
53:07 OpTic players in NRG
54:56 The G.O.A.T of VALORANT
57:14 What if s1mple played VALORANT?
59:11 Does he have a future in CS?
1:03:10 Final words
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Chet "Chet" Singh, former coach of CLG and NRG/EG in CS:GO and now of NRG in VALORANT, is the star of the 391st Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part one of two about Chet's career.
Initially known as ImAPet, Chet broke out as a coach working with Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) in late 2016 into 2017. A notable result was the team, where he first partnered with players like FNS and Ethan, managed to shock eventual major champions Gambit on their home map of cbblestone and reach the play-offs of StarSeries S3.
After CLG, Chet joined up with OpTic for their international roster (featuring names like allu, friberg and Magisk) and the team was close to making a deep run at tier one LANs or qualifying to a major. From there he would go to NRG and the team would quickly find success. They beat rivals TL and went to the final of StarSeries S5, losing to s1mple's Na'Vi.
The following year, with the introduction of tarik, NRG become a consistent top four finishers but could not break through and win a trophy. They were even beating Astralis, but the most significant match against the Danes came in the semi-final of the Starladder Berlin major and it was zonic and company who took the win en route to the major itself.
Rebranded as Evil Geniuses, Chet's line-up got their revenge twice at ESL One New York shortly afterwards, including winning a Bo5 series in the final to win a North American tier one LAN over the best line-up in history! EG won StarSeries S8 to establish themselves as a legitimately top two team in the world.
The rest of the line-ups time was more up and down and then the entire world went into online play only in 2020 and Chet eventually moved on to work with 100 Thieves until the team's CS division was finished.
Moving over into VALORANT, Chet has found a lot of success. His OpTic, a team where he reunited with FNS, was arguably the team of 2022. They won VCT Reykjavík, finished third at VCT Copenhagen and were runners-up at VALORANT Champions to close out the year. The organisation did not get a VCT partnership spot and he and some of the other players went to NRG.
NRG had a tougher go of it in 2023, with a top eight at the Lock-In; a nice fourth place at VCT Toyko, which could have been more; and a disappointing 9th-12th finish at Champions.
In part one, Chet discusses his early days coaching CLG and OpTic, working with IGLs like FNS and daps, overcoming Astralis in 2019, what made Team Liquid so hard to beat, trying to recruit ZywOo and what he misses about CS now he is in VALORANT.
This interview was recorded on the 15th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Chet a.k.a ImaPet
00:56 tarik
02:57 anti-stratting Gambit on cbblestone
06:38 FNS
09:24 OpTic in 2018
15:23 NRG
17:52 Ethan
20:03 tarik in NRG
22:11 Top fours without trophies
23:19 Team Liquid rivalry
25:41 Why couldn't Liquid beat Astralis?
28:22 stanislaw replacing daps
31:03 ZywOo
32:49 Facing super-stars
34:48 Facing Astralis
36:58 device
38:44 ESL One New York win
42:29 Unfinished business in CS?
44:23 100 Thieves
Talk to Thorin: ImAPet on Coaching CLG
youtube.com/watch?v=yS9oybCufvU
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#Chet #ZywOo #Thorin
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mantuu, former AWPer for OG Esports and BIG Clan, talks to Thorin about his pivoting to becoming a primary AWPer, working under Aleksib in OG, whether he should have been HLTV Top 20 for 2020, hiding a serious injury from everyone, his time in BIG Clan and his hopes for the future.
This interview was recorded on the 3rd of May, 2024.
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Pita, former CS 1.6 player for FNATIC and CS:GO coach of NiP and Copenhagen Flames, talks to Thorin about his thoughts on NiP management, coaching Copenhagen Flames, his exploit ban, working with HooXi, coaching Dignitas, if f0rest could still play in tier one, his time in 00Nation and his wish to coach at the top level again.
This interview was recorded on the 24th of April, 2024.
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Daniel "fRoD" Montaner, former super-star sniper of compLexity in CS 1.6 and VALORANT coach of LOUD and now of MIBR, is the star of the 390th Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part two of two about fRoD's career.
fRoD is one of Counter-Strike 1.6's most iconic AWPers and super-star players and considered by some to be the best sniper in history. He was grinding in the early days despite often being dismissed or ridiculed until he broke out in united5 as not just a talent but a LAN monster, famously helping them defeat Team3D and finish seventh at CPL Winter 2003, one of the game's majors.
Again cast aside during roster shuffles, he joined up with other talented misfits in coL and took the world by storm. Starting with a fifth place finish at CPL Winter 2004, coL would go on to become one of the best if not the best team in the world. A runners-up finish at CPL Barcelona in 2005 was followed up by a major win at ESWC 2005.
In 2006, coL managed to finish runners-up at WEG Masters and bounced back from a rocky few events to win the WSVG ISC Summer event. When CGS came around, with big money on offer and seemingly the new focus of North American esports, fRoD and coL signed up and their CS:Source side was the best in the world but the franchise points system of the league meant they were gatekept from the big money by poor GMing and underperformance from players in other games.
After CGS, fRoD was one of the few legendary NA pros to make a full return effort to 1.6 and in EG, playing alongside star talent n0thing and Finnish IGL veteran lurppis he would add some more placings to the resume. They finished third at Arbalet Europe 2009, fourth at the IEM IV Global Finals, third at Arbalet Dallas 2010 and won MSI Beat It 2010. The latter saw them beat one of the best ever FNATIC line-ups in a full Bo3 LAN final!
fRoD only dipped into CS:GO, with an ill-fated comeback to coL which didn't last long. After that he coached NA sides for a few years until VALORANT came along. In VALORANT he rose again to become a world class competitor from the coaching side, helping LOUD win Champions and then go on their epic 2023 run of second at Lock-In and third at Champions. He has since become a coach at MIBR.
In part two, fRoD discusses his pivot to VALORANT, coaching DaZeD and Skadoodle in T1, his time in Pioneers, how he came to work with LOUD, how skilled aspas is, the VCT tournaments of 2023 and why he is with MIBR now.
This interview was recorded on the 9th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Coaching DaZeD
05:55 Pioneers
08:52 jcstani
10:54 Working with LOUD when they won Champions 2022
16:04 LOUD rebuild for 2023
18:33 aspas
20:39 Lock-In
24:13 Saadhak
28:10 VCT Americas dominance
30:34 VCT Tokyo Masters
34:49 Champions group of death
37:40 Beating FNATIC twice
39:41 Paper Rex
43:00 EG match
47:43 Potter
49:34 Why is he no longer in LOUD?
52:13 bzkA
52:34 Kick-Off
58:07 Goals
1:00:15 Redemption arc?
1:04:02 Final words
The first Reflections with fRoD
youtube.com/watch?v=gh2rLkHCplM reflections
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Daniel "fRoD" Montaner, former super-star sniper of compLexity in CS 1.6 and VALORANT coach of LOUD and now of MIBR, is the star of the 389th Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part one of two about fRoD's career.
fRoD is one of Counter-Strike 1.6's most iconic AWPers and super-star players and considered by some to be the best sniper in history. He was grinding in the early days despite often being dismissed or ridiculed until he broke out in united5 as not just a talent but a LAN monster, famously helping them defeat Team3D and finish seventh at CPL Winter 2003, one of the game's majors.
Again cast aside during roster shuffles, he joined up with other talented misfits in coL and took the world by storm. Starting with a fifth place finish at CPL Winter 2004, coL would go on to become one of the best if not the best team in the world. A runners-up finish at CPL Barcelona in 2005 was followed up by a major win at ESWC 2005.
In 2006, coL managed to finish runners-up at WEG Masters and bounced back from a rocky few events to win the WSVG ISC Summer event. When CGS came around, with big money on offer and seemingly the new focus of North American esports, fRoD and coL signed up and their CS:Source side was the best in the world but the franchise points system of the league meant they were gatekept from the big money by poor GMing and underperformance from players in other games.
After CGS, fRoD was one of the few legendary NA pros to make a full return effort to 1.6 and in EG, playing alongside star talent n0thing and Finnish IGL veteran lurppis he would add some more placings to the resume. They finished third at Arbalet Europe 2009, fourth at the IEM IV Global Finals, third at Arbalet Dallas 2010 and won MSI Beat It 2010. The latter saw them beat one of the best ever FNATIC line-ups in a full Bo3 LAN final!
fRoD only dipped into CS:GO, with an ill-fated comeback to coL which didn't last long. After that he coached NA sides for a few years until VALORANT came along. In VALORANT he rose again to become a world class competitor from the coaching side, helping LOUD win Champions and then go on their epic 2023 run of second at Lock-In and third at Champions. He has since become a coach at MIBR.
In part one, fRoD talks about his thoughts on rivals Team3D, his versatile skillset, some key team-mates of old, roster moves that did and didn't happen, his guide to CS and what he thinks of VALORANT super-star yay, who he coached in CS:GO.
This interview was recorded on the 9th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Gatekept out by top NA players?
02:48 Team3D
05:41 coL's practice and tactics
08:23 Storm
11:59 fRoD's rifles
13:54 AWPing philosophy
16:21 warden
18:25 moses
20:56 He was the best AWPer?
22:14 Brazilians referencing cogu
22:49 Joining Team3D?
24:50 CGS roster shuffle
28:52 zet
32:12 TAO-fRoD
36:34 Relationship with coL org
43:14 Coaching yay in CS:GO
The first Reflections with fRoD
youtube.com/watch?v=gh2rLkHCplM reflections
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Some thoughts on the launch of my new substack:
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Free pieces so far:
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Paid subscriber pieces so far:
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Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, former in-game leader of ENCE and OG Esports and currently of Natus Vincere, is the star of the 388th Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part three of three about Aleksib's career.
Aleksib's career began in his native Finnish scene and he was a member of an early ENCE roster as a relative nobody in 2016. With that line-up being broken apart he dominated Finnish CS for the following year with HAVU before a new look ENCE line-up, featuring names he had scouted, was assembled.
An early breakout event was ESL One Cologne 2018, where ENCE defeated the likes of NiP and MOUZ and played eventual winners Na'Vi close. After grinding up the placings of the medium sized and tier 1.5 events, ENCE then qualified for IEM Katowice and mounted one of the great underdog runs all the way to the final, where the mighty Astralis downed them.
In the rest of 2019, ENCE would prove themselves a top three to four team in the world. They won BLAST Miami, ending Astralis' almost-record-breaking nuke win-streak. They would rack up many more top placings like top four at cs_summit 4, 2nd at Dreamhack Masters Dallas and 2nd at IEM Chicago.
The Starladder Berlin major arrived with unusual circumstances as Aleksib knew, privately, he would be benched but was allowed to play with the team. They would make the play-offs, with him famously fragging out in the swiss phase, only to be defeated by Renegades in the quarter-finals. He was kicked from the team after the event.
Forming a new squad with NBK in OG Esports, there would be barely any LAN events before the team was forced to compete online like the rest of the world. Despite an underpowered roster, Aleksib was able to get OG a good ranking and some deep online finishes to establish himself as more than just an IGL of Finnish teams.
After the online era, Aleksi would receive an invitation to join G2 Esports, one of the world's biggest organisations. Despite early success, making the IEM Katowice 2022 final and almost winning it out of the gate, G2's results were too up and down. Failure to make the play-offs of the PGL Antwerp major, no deep finish at IEM Dallas and an underwhelming IEM Cologne run saw him kicked. A semi-final at a BLAST mixed in there hadn't been enough to keep his job.
Aleksib was soon picked by up NiP and would help them qualify for the IEM Rio 2022 major, though they couldn't make a deep run there. NiP was notorious for roster moves seemingly constantly, but a top four finish at BLAST Fall 2022 stood out as a positive note in an otherwise troubled period. The end in NiP came suddenly, as a top eight at IEM Rio 2023 and a near miss at making the BLAST Paris Major play-offs saw his time in the Swedish org come to an end.
Aleksi was recruited to a new international Na'Vi roster that he helped get second at ESL ProLeague S18, the last CS:GO LAN. s1mple then departed the line-up and was replaced by w0nderful. Despite some good match results and solid placings, few expected much in terms of trophies. Na'Vi shocked the world by winning PGL Copenhagen 2024, the first CS major.
In part three, Aleksib talks about his time in NiP, getting invited to Na'Vi, perceptions he micromanages too much, how B1ad3 operates as a coach, the epic run at the major and how his players took over the final.
This interview was recorded on the 18th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 NiP roster
07:18 BLAST Paris major vs. Apeks
09:35 Getting the Na'Vi call up
12:52 Micromanaging narrative
19:23 B1ad3
25:21 When s1mple left
27:07 w0nderful
30:42 ancient game vs. G2 at major
33:34 karrigan ancient punish pick vs. Na'Vi
37:01 Reaction to losing their own map pick big
40:13 b1t inferno performance in the last map
43:10 jL
47:39 Winning the major
51:00 Learning from failure
55:17 His credit for winning
57:07 Not trash talking haters
59:15 Final words
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Special thanks go out to JerCkysMiNi0n.
#Aleksib #b1t #Thorin
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Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, former in-game leader of ENCE and OG Esports and currently of Natus Vincere, is the star of the 387th Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part two of three about Aleksib's career.
Aleksib's career began in his native Finnish scene and he was a member of an early ENCE roster as a relative nobody in 2016. With that line-up being broken apart he dominated Finnish CS for the following year with HAVU before a new look ENCE line-up, featuring names he had scouted, was assembled.
An early breakout event was ESL One Cologne 2018, where ENCE defeated the likes of NiP and MOUZ and played eventual winners Na'Vi close. After grinding up the placings of the medium sized and tier 1.5 events, ENCE then qualified for IEM Katowice and mounted one of the great underdog runs all the way to the final, where the mighty Astralis downed them.
In the rest of 2019, ENCE would prove themselves a top three to four team in the world. They won BLAST Miami, ending Astralis' almost-record-breaking nuke win-streak. They would rack up many more top placings like top four at cs_summit 4, 2nd at Dreamhack Masters Dallas and 2nd at IEM Chicago.
The Starladder Berlin major arrived with unusual circumstances as Aleksib knew, privately, he would be benched but was allowed to play with the team. They would make the play-offs, with him famously fragging out in the swiss phase, only to be defeated by Renegades in the quarter-finals. He was kicked from the team after the event.
Forming a new squad with NBK in OG Esports, there would be barely any LAN events before the team was forced to compete online like the rest of the world. Despite an underpowered roster, Aleksib was able to get OG a good ranking and some deep online finishes to establish himself as more than just an IGL of Finnish teams.
After the online era, Aleksi would receive an invitation to join G2 Esports, one of the world's biggest organisations. Despite early success, making the IEM Katowice 2022 final and almost winning it out of the gate, G2's results were too up and down. Failure to make the play-offs of the PGL Antwerp major, no deep finish at IEM Dallas and an underwhelming IEM Cologne run saw him kicked. A semi-final at a BLAST mixed in there hadn't been enough to keep his job.
Aleksib was soon picked by up NiP and would help them qualify for the IEM Rio 2022 major, though they couldn't make a deep run there. NiP was notorious for roster moves seemingly constantly, but a top four finish at BLAST Fall 2022 stood out as a positive note in an otherwise troubled period. The end in NiP came suddenly, as a top eight at IEM Rio 2023 and a near miss at making the BLAST Paris Major play-offs saw his time in the Swedish org come to an end.
Aleksi was recruited to a new international Na'Vi roster that he helped get second at ESL ProLeague S18, the last CS:GO LAN. s1mple then departed the line-up and was replaced by w0nderful. Despite some good match results and solid placings, few expected much in terms of trophies. Na'Vi shocked the world by winning PGL Copenhagen 2024, the first CS major.
In part two, Aleksib discusses ENCE's frustrations at not winning more trophies, how his time there came to an end, the forming of OG Esports, the star names of OG, joining G2, what NiKo is capable of, playing with baby m0NESY and the end of his time in G2.
This interview was recorded on the 18th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Close to winning LANs over the rest of the year
04:45 Claims behind why Aleksib got benched
09:01 Starladder Berlin major
12:54 ENCE messing up removing him?
19:39 Forming OG Esports
22:29 What if Jamppi could have played?
24:45 mantuu
30:00 How OG operated
36:49 NBK
43:02 valde
45:49 flameZ
48:51 Joining G2
58:22 IEM Katowice 2022
1:00:45 NiKo expectations
1:05:40 What is NiKo like in scrims?
1:07:13 Baby m0NESY
1:09:44 End of run in G2
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Special thanks go out to JerCkysMiNi0n.
#Aleksib #JACKZ #Thorin
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Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, former in-game leader of ENCE and OG Esports and currently of Natus Vincere, is the star of the 386th Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part one of three about Aleksib's career.
Aleksib's career began in his native Finnish scene and he was a member of an early ENCE roster as a relative nobody in 2016. With that line-up being broken apart he dominated Finnish CS for the following year with HAVU before a new look ENCE line-up, featuring names he had scouted, was assembled.
An early breakout event was ESL One Cologne 2018, where ENCE defeated the likes of NiP and MOUZ and played eventual winners Na'Vi close. After grinding up the placings of the medium sized and tier 1.5 events, ENCE then qualified for IEM Katowice and mounted one of the great underdog runs all the way to the final, where the mighty Astralis downed them.
In the rest of 2019, ENCE would prove themselves a top three to four team in the world. They won BLAST Madrd, ending Astralis' almost-record-breaking nuke win-streak. They would rack up many more top placings like top four at cs_summit 4, 2nd at Dreamhack Masters Dallas and 2nd at IEM Chicago.
The Starladder Berlin major arrived with unusual circumstances as Aleksib knew, privately, he would be benched but was allowed to play with the team. They would make the play-offs, with him famously fragging out in the swiss phase, only to be defeated by Renegades in the quarter-finals. He was kicked from the team after the event.
Forming a new squad with NBK in OG Esports, there would be barely any LAN events before the team was forced to compete online like the rest of the world. Despite an underpowered roster, Aleksib was able to get OG a good ranking and some deep online finishes to establish himself as more than just an IGL of Finnish teams.
After the online era, Aleksi would receive an invitation to join G2 Esports, one of the world's biggest organisations. Despite early success, making the IEM Katowice 2022 final and almost winning it out of the gate, G2's results were too up and down. Failure to make the play-offs of the PGL Antwerp major, no deep finish at IEM Dallas and an underwhelming IEM Cologne run saw him kicked. A semi-final at a BLAST mixed in there hadn't been enough to keep his job.
Aleksib was soon picked by up NiP and would help them qualify for the IEM Rio 2022 major, though they couldn't make a deep run there. NiP was notorious for roster moves seemingly constantly, but a top four finish at BLAST Fall 2022 stood out as a positive note in an otherwise troubled period. The end in NiP came suddenly, as a top eight at IEM Rio 2023 and a near miss at making the BLAST Paris Major play-offs saw his time in the Swedish org come to an end.
Aleksi was recruited to a new international Na'Vi roster that he helped get second at ESL ProLeague S18, the last CS:GO LAN. s1mple then departed the line-up and was replaced by w0nderful. Despite some good match results and solid placings, few expected much in terms of trophies. Na'Vi shocked the world by winning PGL Copenhagen 2024, the first CS major.
In part one, Aleksib talks about his entry into the competitive scene, joining ENCE twice, early tier one runs, making the Katowice major final and later beating Astralis at BLAST.
This interview was recorded on the 18th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Starting out as a League of Legends player
05:45 Old CS pals reconnecting?
07:20 Early ENCE
10:38 suNny
13:30 Dominating Finnish CS with HAVU
17:27 Aleksib getting the future ENCE players
21:54 ESL One Cologne 2018
27:42 allu
32:24 FACEIT London EU RMR
34:31 Levelling up at medium sized LANs and qualifying for the major
41:45 Did top teams scrim ENCE pre-Katowice?
43:44 Twista as coach
45:14 Swiss and allu leaving for his child's birth
50:19 Team Liquid quarter at IEM Katowice
55:30 Na'Vi semi
59:54 Astralis final
1:02:56 BLAST Sao Paulo
1:04:49 StarSeries S7
1:06:17 BLAST Madrid vs. Astralis
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#Aleksib #ENCE #Thorin
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Some thoughts on the rise of Jojopyun and why he represents a potential future great in the LCS who is a domestic player.
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#Jojopyun #Cloud9 #Thorin
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Jesse "JerAx" Vainikka, legendary Support player for teams such as Team Liquid and OG and currently retired from active play, is the star of the 385th Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part three of three about JerAx's career.
JerAx's career began humbly enough, with his time in squads like QPAD Red Pandas and Team Tinker not yielding big results, though he got to played with more established names. Gambling on an ambitious MVP HOT6ix project he moved to Korea to play in the team which would attempt to communicate in English. Simply qualifying for TI5 proved noteworthy at this time.
After that JerAx would find his way to Team Liquid and quickly he was racking up top tournament placings and by spring of 2016 TL was one of the best teams in Dota. Back-to-back runners-up finishes at the majors and a win at EPICENTER had Liquid arriving at TI6 as a favourite. Alas they were bounced out in 7th-8th place and JerAx chose to move on and play with OG instead.
In OG results got even better, as the team won two majors and made a final at DAC. Sadly, it was another TI letdown on the cards for JerAx. Some could have wondered if he was cursed at that particular tournament but history about to disagree.
After some bizarre roster ups and downs which eventually led to key member Fly choosing to exit for Evil Geniuses with s4 and OG looked dead in the water. Ceb had to return to active play full-time, ana came back from haitus and the squad gambled on signing Topson, a player with little professional experience. Qualifying to the surprise of many, what followed is one of the greatest tournament runs in esports history.
OG won TI8 without dropping a series upon reaching bracket play, famously defeating titans PSG.LGD in some impossibly close series and taking the title. Even more strange was OG's ability to repeat their feat, with ana taking time off and the circuit not being particularly successful for most of the next year only for the team to reassemble heading into TI9 and repeat their feat by going back-to-back at TI!
After that JerAx chose initially to retire but would have a brief comeback in 2022 as both a player and eventually a coach. He now coaches individuals from a performance standpoint.
In part three, JerAx talks about the season leading up to TI9, winning TI9 to prove TI8 was no fluke, battling EG and PSG again, their unusual drafting vs. TL in the TI final, why he retired, coaching Team Liquid and his performance coaching now.
This interview was recorded on the 17th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 ana's second haitus
02:14 Lack of success post-TI win
05:46 TI8 being a fluke
07:36 Rematch with EG at TI9
08:54 PSG.LGD rematch
10:37 Maybe/Somnus
12:32 Team Liquid drafts in final
22:48 Intimidated by TL?
24:27 TI9 proved TI8 wasn't a fluke?
25:24 Retiring
28:18 True Sight
30:49 Mini comeback with EG
33:24 RTZ
34:54 Reddit response to his retirement
35:46 Is he the best four position player ever?
37:59 Earth Spirit
41:15 Coaching Team Liquid
44:16 zai
47:03 Performance coaching
54:49 Final words
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Special thanks go out to JerCkysMiNi0n.
#JerAx #TI9 #Thorin
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Jesse "JerAx" Vainikka, legendary Support player for teams such as Team Liquid and OG and currently retired from active play, is the star of the 384th Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part two of three about JerAx's career.
JerAx's career began humbly enough, with his time in squads like QPAD Red Pandas and Team Tinker not yielding big results, though he got to played with more established names. Gambling on an ambitious MVP HOT6ix project he moved to Korea to play in the team which would attempt to communicate in English. Simply qualifying for TI5 proved noteworthy at this time.
After that JerAx would find his way to Team Liquid and quickly he was racking up top tournament placings and by spring of 2016 TL was one of the best teams in Dota. Back-to-back runners-up finishes at the majors and a win at EPICENTER had Liquid arriving at TI6 as a favourite. Alas they were bounced out in 7th-8th place and JerAx chose to move on and play with OG instead.
In OG results got even better, as the team won two majors and made a final at DAC. Sadly, it was another TI letdown on the cards for JerAx. Some could have wondered if he was cursed at that particular tournament but history about to disagree.
After some bizarre roster ups and downs which eventually led to key member Fly choosing to exit for Evil Geniuses with s4 and OG looked dead in the water. Ceb had to return to active play full-time, ana came back from haitus and the squad gambled on signing Topson, a player with little professional experience. Qualifying to the surprise of many, what followed is one of the greatest tournament runs in esports history.
OG won TI8 without dropping a series upon reaching bracket play, famously defeating titans PSG.LGD in some impossibly close series and taking the title. Even more strange was OG's ability to repeat their feat, with ana taking time off and the circuit not being particularly successful for most of the next year only for the team to reassemble heading into TI9 and repeat their feat by going back-to-back at TI!
After that JerAx chose initially to retire but would have a brief comeback in 2022 as both a player and eventually a coach. He now coaches individuals from a performance standpoint.
In part two, JerAx talks about the out-of-the-blue departure of s4 and Fly for EG, miraculously making it to TI8, beating the mighty PSG.LGD, OG's drafting and meta read for that TI and what it meant to win TI.
This interview was recorded on the 17th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Resolut1on pick-up and ana going on haitus
02:14 Dropping in results
03:57 s4 and Fly leaving for EG
08:50 Gambling on the new line-up
12:29 Playing counter to the meta thinking of TI8
15:44 Evil Geniuses revenge match
18:11 Beating PSG.LGD
21:52 Fy
25:14 Big moments
27:08 Ceb Axe game
29:54 Scaling vs. lane dynamic
32:26 What does ana need?
35:45 Winning TI8
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#JerAx #LGD #Thorin
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Jesse "JerAx" Vainikka, legendary Support player for teams such as Team Liquid and OG and currently retired from active play, is the star of the 383rd Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part one of three about JerAx's career.
JerAx's career began humbly enough, with his time in squads like QPAD Red Pandas and Team Tinker not yielding big results, though he got to played with more established names. Gambling on an ambitious MVP HOT6ix project he moved to Korea to play in the team which would attempt to communicate in English. Simply qualifying for TI5 proved noteworthy at this time.
After that JerAx would find his way to Team Liquid and quickly he was racking up top tournament placings and by spring of 2016 TL was one of the best teams in Dota. Back-to-back runners-up finishes at the majors and a win at EPICENTER had Liquid arriving at TI6 as a favourite. Alas they were bounced out in 7th-8th place and JerAx chose to move on and play with OG instead.
In OG results got even better, as the team won two majors and made a final at DAC. Sadly, it was another TI letdown on the cards for JerAx. Some could have wondered if he was cursed at that particular tournament but history about to disagree.
After some bizarre roster ups and downs which eventually led to key member Fly choosing to exit for Evil Geniuses with s4 and OG looked dead in the water. Ceb had to return to active play full-time, ana came back from haitus and the squad gambled on signing Topson, a player with little professional experience. Qualifying to the surprise of many, what followed is one of the greatest tournament runs in esports history.
OG won TI8 without dropping a series upon reaching bracket play, famously defeating titans PSG.LGD in some impossibly close series and taking the title. Even more strange was OG's ability to repeat their feat, with ana taking time off and the circuit not being particularly successful for most of the next year only for the team to reassemble heading into TI9 and repeat their feat by going back-to-back at TI!
After that JerAx chose initially to retire but would have a brief comeback in 2022 as both a player and eventually a coach. He now coaches individuals from a performance standpoint.
In part one, JerAx discusses his climb from obscurity as a former HoN player to playing with the likes of Kuroky in Team Liquid, his unusual time in Korea with MVP HOT6ix, why his self-esteem was so low for many of these early years, achieving success at the majors and OG's open system approach to the meta.
This interview was recorded on the 17th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Red Pandas team
03:15 Heroes of Newerth
06:20 Military service
07:55 How good was he in the early days?
09:56 Earth Spirit in early days?
10:22 IeSF
11:45 MATUMBAMAN
13:26 Team Tinker
15:34 MVP HOT6ix
22:05 TI5
26:56 Dota in Korea
29:33 Getting into what became Team Liquid
31:54 Kuroky
34:13 Playing Wings
36:12 The Shanghai Major
38:33 Thinking he'd be kicked?!
40:47 EPICENTER win
41:29 TI6 fail after strong season
43:48 What is it like competing at TI?
47:47 FATA-
50:15 MinD_ContRoL
52:08 Did JerAx choose to leave TL?
53:19 Why was his self-esteem low?
55:25 Validation from being asked to join big teams?
57:01 Joining OG
1:01:32 Losing to iG at DAC
1:05:40 Support style changing over years
1:10:10 Kiev Major
1:11:06 OG openness to creative meta choices
1:15:37 Ceb
1:18:19 Virtus.pro
1:20:44 TI7 fail
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#JerAx #Kuroky #Thorin
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"Freya" Spiers, world class Counter-Strike desk host, is the star of the 382nd Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part two of two about Freya's career.
Freya is proof the cream really does rise to the top. Starting out as a fan making content with her boyfriend for their side Topmid.gg early access to events allowed her to show her skills as an interviewer.
Her moment to break into the broadcast side came upon entering a community competition run by FACEIT. While she didn't win it they decided to use her for some events and soon enough that had parlayed into incredibly getting to be an interviewer on stage at the FACEIT London Majoer in 2018!
Freya would work with Dreamhack Open and eventually FLASHPOINT but it was during the online years her next evolution would occur. While other events were entirely online and remote Freya travelled to Copenhagen to participate in BLAST's in-studio broadcast with Maniac and Pimp, two of her most well known colleagues now. That helped establish her as truly tier one at her role and she has rarely looked back since.
The biggest events in Counter-Strike either feature Freya or draw conspicuous attention for not doing so.
In part two, Freya discusses working the two PGL majors she was invited to, getting to realise her Katowice dream, how she chooses her looks on the desk, what the deal is with her long running instagram gag and who would play her most famous desk analysts in a film.
This interview was recorded on the 8th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 PGL Stockholm
11:19 IEM Katowice 2023
15:37 PGL Antwerp desk host
17:52 Not getting hired to a major
22:06 Is she the best?
29:57 Fashion choices
32:37 Swearing
35:26 Instagram running joke
38:02 Who would play Pimp and Maniac in a movie?
40:36 Is she Counter-Strike?
44:46 Final words
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#IEM #Freya #Thorin
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"Freya" Spiers, world class Counter-Strike desk host, is the star of the 382nd Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part one of two about Freya's career.
Freya is proof the cream really does rise to the top. Starting out as a fan making content with her boyfriend for their side Topmid.gg early access to events allowed her to show her skills as an interviewer.
Her moment to break into the broadcast side came upon entering a community competition run by FACEIT. While she didn't win it they decided to use her for some events and soon enough that had parlayed into incredibly getting to be an interviewer on stage at the FACEIT London Majoer in 2018!
Freya would work with Dreamhack Open and eventually FLASHPOINT but it was during the online years her next evolution would occur. While other events were entirely online and remote Freya travelled to Copenhagen to participate in BLAST's in-studio broadcast with Maniac and Pimp, two of her most well known colleagues now. That helped establish her as truly tier one at her role and she has rarely looked back since.
The biggest events in Counter-Strike either feature Freya or draw conspicuous attention for not doing so.
In part one, Freya talks about the family background that led her into gaming, being a fan of EnVyUs early on, why she didn't win the FACEIT community competition, working with Maniac and Pimp and what FLASHPOINT was like for her.
This interview was recorded on the 8th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Family sports background
05:23 Poise under pressure at first major
09:37 EnVyUs fan
15:37 Authentic fan background
17:43 Getting to interview apEX and seeing his career since
20:08 Encouragement
23:57 Why didn't her FACEIT application win?
25:55 Didn't know she was getting hired to the major
30:33 ZywOo moment
35:39 Desk hosting
42:38 Could have worked EPICENTER
45:31 Working with Maniac and Pimp
50:41 Reuniting for the online period with BLAST
55:41 FLASHPOINT
59:59 News reporter skit
1:03:55 Mini documentaries
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#ZywOo #Freya #Thorin
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I take on the mass of potentially unstable people who complain about being blocked on twitter. This time it is members of the esports and gaming industry who get my attention and this is the third episode in that sub-series.
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#NaoriMizuki #nathanias #Thorin
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Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez, OpTic Gaming owner, is the star of the 381st Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part two of two about H3CZ's career.
H3CZ is an esports icon for the dynasties and brands he helped create and nuture within the OpTic Gaming Call of Duty team. Names like Nadeshot, Scump, Crimsix, FormaL and Karma will ring out forever in the history of the franchise and his team was a famous home for them all.
Throughout the many different versions of the game there were many different times OpTic were at the time, with names like Scump and Crimsix considered potentially the best player ever, but it was also the cultural impact the organisation had which remains memorable. Their fanbase, dubbed "The Green Wall", has shown a rabid loyalty and willingness to transition between games which is still incredible to consider in today's media-driven age.
There were moves made into games like Counter-Strike and League of Legends, but while the former showed some success and the latter not much it was a surprising move into VALORANT which established another dynasty. OpTic were arguably the best team of 2022 but an unsuccessful VCT partnership application saw them forced to break apart.
In part two, H3CZ discusses the ups and downs of the CS team, how he came to leave OpTic and hear them booed at an event, time in NRG, merging with Envu and why FaZe were his rivals and not Envy.
This interview was recorded on the 12th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Building the OpTic CS team
03:03 Winning ELEAGUE
04:11 Breakdown of OpTic CS
07:46 How did he come to leave OpTic
11:33 Necessity of agency with the brand
13:55 Drama and trash talking
15:54 NRG
16:53 Not being OpTic H3CZ
17:59 Significant being OpTic Chicago?
20:15 Merging with Envy
24:12 Does he look at CS2 or LoL?
26:11 VALORANT dynasty
30:48 Hopes for more agency in the esports landscape
35:26 Why was CoD so hostile to me?
41:28 Current player who could become the G.O.A.T of CoD?
43:49 Final word
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#H3CZ #opticgaming #Thorin
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Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez, OpTic Gaming owner, is the star of the 380th Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part one of two about H3CZ's career.
H3CZ is an esports icon for the dynasties and brands he helped create and nuture within the OpTic Gaming Call of Duty team. Names like Nadeshot, Scump, Crimsix, FormaL and Karma will ring out forever in the history of the franchise and his team was a famous home for them all.
Throughout the many different versions of the game there were many different times OpTic were at the time, with names like Scump and Crimsix considered potentially the best player ever, but it was also the cultural impact the organisation had which remains memorable. Their fanbase, dubbed "The Green Wall", has shown a rabid loyalty and willingness to transition between games which is still incredible to consider in today's media-driven age.
There were moves made into games like Counter-Strike and League of Legends, but while the former showed some success and the latter not much it was a surprising move into VALORANT which established another dynasty. OpTic were arguably the best team of 2022 but an unsuccessful VCT partnership application saw them forced to break apart.
In part one, H3CZ talks about the significance of branding, why entertainment matters more than results right now, who the great names were to him and how he has cultivated OpTic's fanbase.
This interview was recorded on the 12th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Reselling and rebuying OpTic
01:10 How good was he at Call of Duty?
02:06 Older versions of CoD
03:27 Transitioning from playing
05:29 Branding
07:07 Jkap and Rambo
09:35 Scump
13:46 Entertainment over results
16:00 Nadeshot
19:37 Book deal
21:24 The Green Wall
26:32 Down period for OpTic
28:50 Clayster
29:48 Advanced Warfare 3 dynasty
31:34 Crimsix
33:12 FormaL
34:43 Super-team
36:15 Longevity of stars
37:57 Karma
39:16 Original dynasty is retired
40:34 Personal brand after retirement
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#H3CZ #FormaL #Thorin
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Oskar Mateusz "Vander" Bogdan, former Support player for ROCCAT and H2k Gaming and currently coach of FUT Esports, is the star of the 379th Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part two of two about Vander's career.
Vander broke out with the KMT line-up which shockingly eliminated the NiP super-team to qualify for S4 EU LCS where they would play under ROCCAT. Their opening split was a surprise too, as they made good in their promise and finished third, beating the likes of Gambit and Alliance. Summer split saw a fourth place, but that meant missing out on Worlds.
S5 was a write-off as a potential ROCCAT super-team with nukeduck never got off the ground and was irrelevant in the chase for the title or Worlds spots. S6 saw Vander's career peak, as a H2k super-team featuring Odoamne, Jankos, Ryu and FORG1VEN looked capable of winning EU LCS only to fall to OG and FNC in the play-offs. FORG1VEN left or was kicked and somehow returned in the midst of the Summer split to help carry the team into a top four finish again.
At S6 Worlds the team overcame a group featuring EDG to top it. A lucky draw of wildcard team ANX granted them a path to the semi-finals but there they face Samsung Galaxy and were swept, despite some pushback in the first games.
S7 was a tough time for Vander and a lone summer split campaign with Vitality did not yield much. The following year he was a part of the Schalke 04 team that peaked for Summer play-offs and made a run all the way to the finals, where they fell to the mighty Caps FNATIC. The team would miss Worlds.
S9 saw Vander over in Rogue playing in their Academy team in the new LEC but the main team's struggles saw him and others promoted. In Summer the Academy team was the main team and would impressively finish fourth. S10 saw the level rise further as a middling Spring split was followed by a Summer split finishing in first place in the regular split and third overall, qualifying to Worlds.
That Worlds run was somewhat cursed and the team proved unable to do anything against the Asian giants in the group. Vander played his last LEC season in S11 with Misfits and baby Vetheo but could not challenge for the title. He has since gone on to coach.
In part two, Vander talks about making a finals run with Schalke, missing Larssen's package fail, working with Hans Sama, the baby Misfits, coaching in TCL and how he ended up having an accidental Valentine's Day dinner with Jankos.
This interview was recorded on the 5th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Split in Vitality
01:37 Schalke 04 2018
03:51 Facing FNATIC with Caps and Rekkles
04:39 Not qualifying for Worlds
07:06 Ended up in the Ultraliga
09:40 Larssen
11:09 S9 LEC Summer run
13:51 Was he a shot-caller?
14:45 Hans Sama
17:03 Contrasting himself with Hylissang and Mikyx
20:29 Summer split success
22:26 fredy122
24:09 S10 Worlds group
25:49 Inspired
28:04 Getting removed
29:35 Other offers
30:45 Misfits
34:41 Irrelevant in LFL
35:33 Why did his playing career end?
37:24 Did he seriously consider LCS?
39:39 Jankos's career
41:33 Coaching
42:33 TCL
44:30 Most skilled team-mate
45:27 Smartest team-mate
46:04 Best team-mate
46:17 Most clutch team-mate
46:58 Funniest team-mate
47:19 Final words
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#Inspired #Vander #Thorin
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Oskar Mateusz "Vander" Bogdan, former Support player for ROCCAT and H2k Gaming and currently coach of FUT Esports, is the star of the 378th Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part one of two about Vander's career.
Vander broke out with the KMT line-up which shockingly eliminated the NiP super-team to qualify for S4 EU LCS where they would play under ROCCAT. Their opening split was a surprise too, as they made good in their promise and finished third, beating the likes of Gambit and Alliance. Summer split saw a fourth place, but that meant missing out on Worlds.
S5 was a write-off as a potential ROCCAT super-team with nukeduck never got off the ground and was irrelevant in the chase for the title or Worlds spots. S6 saw Vander's career peak, as a H2k super-team featuring Odoamne, Jankos, Ryu and FORG1VEN looked capable of winning EU LCS only to fall to OG and FNC in the play-offs. FORG1VEN left or was kicked and somehow returned in the midst of the Summer split to help carry the team into a top four finish again.
At S6 Worlds the team overcame a group featuring EDG to top it. A lucky draw of wildcard team ANX granted them a path to the semi-finals but there they face Samsung Galaxy and were swept, despite some pushback in the first games.
S7 was a tough time for Vander and a lone summer split campaign with Vitality did not yield much. The following year he was a part of the Schalke 04 team that peaked for Summer play-offs and made a run all the way to the finals, where they fell to the mighty Caps FNATIC. The team would miss Worlds.
S9 saw Vander over in Rogue playing in their Academy team in the new LEC but the main team's struggles saw him and others promoted. In Summer the Academy team was the main team and would impressively finish fourth. S10 saw the level rise further as a middling Spring split was followed by a Summer split finishing in first place in the regular split and third overall, qualifying to Worlds.
That Worlds run was somewhat cursed and the team proved unable to do anything against the Asian giants in the group. Vander played his last LEC season in S11 with Misfits and baby Vetheo but could not challenge for the title. He has since gone on to coach.
In part one, Vander discusses role-swapping, young Jankos, FORG1VEN stories, ROCCAT's copycatting of SSW and baby Upset.
This interview was recorded on the 5th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Starting out as ADC
03:10 Challenger scene
04:41 KMT beating NiP
06:17 Overpow
08:07 Celaver
09:38 VandeR in S4
10:44 Beating Gambit
12:07 Jankos
15:32 Missing Worlds by one series
16:43 Veggie and theory
18:59 Nukeduck
21:53 Cultural clash
24:20 YamatoCannon
25:48 H2k expectations
26:18 FORG1VEN
30:08 Failing to win LEC
32:27 Ryu
34:14 What if Freeze hadn't been injured?
35:26 Return of FORG1VEN
38:05 Beating FNATIC
39:11 Splyce semi
40:52 pr0lly
42:57 S6 Worlds
44:39 Samsung semi
47:02 How did he end up out of LEC?
48:59 Baby Upset
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#Jankos #VandeR #Thorin
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Some thoughts on the career of lilsusie, veteran multi-talented personality who has worked on multiple contents and in many varied roles..
Reflections with lilsusie:
youtube.com/watch?v=WMiaxxhDl7k
The Esports Mom: the journey of Susie 'lilsusie' Kim
espn.com/esports/story/_/id/17504024/the-esports-mom-journey-susie-lilsusie-kim
Summoning Insight Episode 40
youtube.com/watch?v=IlG2-W4ye-4
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#MonteCristo #lilsusie #Thorin
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I've launched youtube memberships and now my fans can support me by clicking the 'Join' button and choosing the appropriate tier to unlock the perks of their choice.
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#members #youtubemembership #Thorin
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Jacob "Pimp" Winneche, former star Western Wolves and player for Team Liquid and current broadcast analyst, is the star of the 377th Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part two of two about pimp's career.
Pimp's playing career was tumultuous and ultimately underwhelming, as he was so close to top finishes and being a part of classic line-ups but seemed to zig when he should have zagged or simply suffered outrageous bad luck.
As a rising talent in Danish CS, Pimp entered CS:GO with the skills to be a top player but a bad reputation. It didn't help that similar issues plagued Western Wolves, his best ever team, and so it was in spite of those internal blow-ups that the team made two finals in the NiP 87-0 era and later smashed NiP 16-2 on nuke, the Swede's home map.
In spite of this the line-up could not hold together and Pimp and the other would spend years in the wilderness or constantly try to rebuild the same core. Along the way Pimp got his chance to potentially succeed at Dreamhack Winter 2013, the first major, as part of Copenhagen Wolves only to be replaced by device after qualifying the team to the LAN.
Years of group stage eliminations at the majors, often playing alongside future Danish greats and in close fashion, spoiled his world championship aspirations. Perhaps Pimp's best run of form came in 2015 as his Dignitas team, alongside long-time team-mate MSL, came close to some finals and contested the elite sides.
Time in SK Gaming was largely unfruitful, though he did make the final of CEVO-P S9 Finals. After that he went across the Atlantic to play in Team Liquid, but a top four run at ESL One New York 2017 was the only top tier result. After returning to Europe Pimp's playing career wound down and he pivoted to becoming a broadcast analyst.
The last few years have Pimp blast through the ranks and he now works the biggest events in the world and on the main broadcast, not just his former side gig of working with Denmark's TV2.
In part two, Pimp talks about his problems with Team Liquid and EliGE, how his friendship with MSL was destroyed in Team Dignitas, transitioning to analysis work and why he isn't friends with pros.
This interview was recorded on the 6th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Team Liquid problems
07:03 EliGE
09:59 ELEAGUE Atlanta Major
11:50 No major play-offs
14:52 AWPing and terrible end to Dignitas run
21:27 Removing bias from analysis
26:29 Transition period from playing
29:48 Hot takes
37:26 Doing the biggest events vs. working with TV2
43:01 Entry kill stats tracking
47:38 Final words
The first Reflections with pimp:
youtube.com/watch?v=iLdFbIPdOP0
Part one:
youtube.com/watch?v=bxKBlcJoxgc
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#pimp #EliGE #Thorin
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My compilation of the BEST References to Aleksib, let me know in the comments your favourite momets.
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#thorin #counterstrike #cs2
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Jacob "Pimp" Winneche, former star Western Wolves and player for Team Liquid and current broadcast analyst, is the star of the 376th Episode of 'Reflections'. This episode is part one of two about pimp's career.
Pimp's playing career was tumultuous and ultimately underwhelming, as he was so close to top finishes and being a part of classic line-ups but seemed to zig when he should have zagged or simply suffered outrageous bad luck.
As a rising talent in Danish CS, Pimp entered CS:GO with the skills to be a top player but a bad reputation. It didn't help that similar issues plagued Western Wolves, his best ever team, and so it was in spite of those internal blow-ups that the team made two finals in the NiP 87-0 era and later smashed NiP 16-2 on nuke, the Swede's home map.
In spite of this the line-up could not hold together and Pimp and the other would spend years in the wilderness or constantly try to rebuild the same core. Along the way Pimp got his chance to potentially succeed at Dreamhack Winter 2013, the first major, as part of Copenhagen Wolves only to be replaced by device after qualifying the team to the LAN.
Years of group stage eliminations at the majors, often playing alongside future Danish greats and in close fashion, spoiled his world championship aspirations. Perhaps Pimp's best run of form came in 2015 as his Dignitas team, alongside long-time team-mate MSL, came close to some finals and contested the elite sides.
Time in SK Gaming was largely unfruitful, though he did make the final of CEVO-P S9 Finals. After that he went across the Atlantic to play in Team Liquid, but a top four run at ESL One New York 2017 was the only top tier result. After returning to Europe Pimp's playing career wound down and he pivoted to becoming a broadcast analyst.
The last few years have Pimp blast through the ranks and he now works the biggest events in the world and on the main broadcast, not just his former side gig of working with Denmark's TV2.
In part one, Pimp talks about who he was as a fat angry kid, what the early Danish scene was like, the troubles of Western Wolves, who gla1ve and aizy were and what happened when he was kicked from Copenhagen Wolves.
This interview was recorded on the 6th of April, 2024.
► Time-line of topics discussed:
00:00 Was he a loser?
01:55 Better when overweight?
05:10 Being pro as part of his identity
07:00 Hard exercise
15:05 Danish scene in the early 2010s
19:08 How bad was he in terms of attitude?
23:37 Streaming flame
28:25 cadiaN in those times
32:39 Perspective on esports in 2013
35:29 Western Wolves' problems
38:34 gla1ve
43:08 Copenhagen Wolves betrayl
47:17 2014 ups and downs
52:13 aizy
55:21 MSL
1:01:39 Gfinity Summer Masters I semi vs. EnVyUs
1:06:15 SK Gaming
1:13:49 Magiskb0y
The first Reflections with pimp:
youtube.com/watch?v=iLdFbIPdOP0
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#pimp #gla1ve #Thorin


