DeKay Pre-Cologne CS:GO Mailbag, Part 3: Cloud9, s1mple, and Renegades

With Counter-Strike. 

This is part 3 of DeKay’s Pre-Cologne CS:GO mailbag – if you missed the first two parts you can catch up here and here.

Are there big changes coming to the Swedish CS:GO scene? 

That purely depends on how Fnatic and NiP perform at Cologne and the Major. I can only see Fnatic replacing one player at most if things don’t pan out. 

The more interesting situation is NiP because we know they’ll be adding Plopski, but Golden is effectively trying out for the team for when GeT_RiGhT hangs his mouse up. If they don’t like his leading style, then I can see them looking elsewhere. So again, it depends. I’ve always thought olofmeister would return to a Swedish team one day, maybe that happens within the next year. Who knows. 

Is there any interest in kaze?

Not that I have heard of. 

Any updates on upcoming roster moves for Cloud9?

The latest rumor I had heard and felt was legitimate was the addition of daps, TenZ, and koosta. I’m not so sure that is a certainty though, just players that were explored at one point in the recent past. 

Beyond that, I can only speculate at this time, but that could change quickly. As always, I’ll report any moves they’ll be making if I find ample confirmation. 

Where is smooya headed? 

Smooya doesn’t really have any offers that I’m aware of, but his buyout hasn’t made things any easier despite it being small. 

As for the second part of the question, I think there is definitely room for another international roster but I’m not sure how competitive they would be. 

FaZe have been looking for a long term in-game leader since before Karrigan even left and they’re still looking to this day. That means a new international team would have even more trouble unless they had a ton of money behind them. 

How is your day? 

It’s going well. I get to write about Counter-Strike and people actually read it, I can’t complain. 

Could s1mple ever leave Na’Vi?

I think Na’Vi is his for as long as he wants it. The crazy part is even though he is the best player in the world, he hasn’t been very demanding during his time with them since joining. It would be easy for someone as skilled as him to be frustrated with some of their performances in the past year or two, but he remains patient. It’s almost understated how much of a professional human being he has become. 

I can see a world in which he never leaves, so long as they want to field a Counter-Strike team. The only way I see him leaving is if a team with a ton of potential and cash to spend reaches out at the exact moment Na’Vi is in a huge slump.

Who was on FaZe Clan’s radar?

At that time, I didn’t really hear of any other names. He was the first name I heard and they announced soon after. 

How is Renegades looking?

I think they can now that Gratisfaction’s visa issues are a thing of the past (I hope). I thought they hadn’t even peaked in Katowice and had more room for improvement. 

Unfortunately, that got disrupted by having to play with a stand-in soon after. Jks is absolutely good enough to make a top 20 list, but making it this year will be tough. For that to happen he will have to show out right away in Cologne. 

What’s the deal with Heroic? 

I don’t have any insight but my guess is that if he AWPed, the resulting roles would put more players in uncomfortable positions than they are now. It could also have been a decision made by Peacemaker, who knows. If they struggle, I’m sure they would give it a chance because you have to try everything before you give up and make a roster move. 

What’s the word on Wardell? 

That comes down to how much organizations want to spend and how willing Ghost is to offload him. There is sufficient motivation on both ends of that due to how good he is, so I think someone picks him up. Cloud9 would be my pick to go get him over anyone else. 

Is there speculation on match fixing? 

Yes, absolutely. In China and Germany more than anywhere else. I wish I had more time to look into matches I suspect were fixed. I’ll be able to more in the near future. 

What’s next for xccurate?

I don’t have enough information to say really. I’m pretty sure TYLOO buyouts are pretty large, from what I remember. He might be stuck for a while if someone doesn’t want him bad enough. 

What happens with MIBR if LUCAS1 doesn’t work out?

I think their next move is replacing fer and/or LUCAS1 if things don’t get better. That is just my guess though. They have to shake things up big time if it doesn’t work after this.

Are there any orgs interested in OpTic CS:GO? 

I haven’t heard any solid names yet, you’ll hear from me if I do.

Will GuardiaN retire soon? 

I’m pretty sure he has mentioned he wants to win a Major still, so I expect him to play another year or two. That’s not very long though in Counter-Strike and it’s not looking good with his current roster so I’m not very hopeful he can make it happen. If there was one player that I would love to see win one though, it would be him.

Is the CS:GO scene in trouble? 

Most buyouts are reasonable compared to current salaries, in my experience. The main issue I see is that many organizations expected to profit on their teams far sooner than has happened or they underestimated how expensive teams are. On top of that, teams are still terribly managed. Far too many people are unaware of roster rules until I let them know about it, for example. If that’s going on, money is likely being wasted on a ton of pointless stuff. This results in orgs coming and going the way they do. 

A real sustainable organization takes time to pan out and anyone thinking esports was going to explode in a few years’ time is just delusional. If the economy takes a hit in the future, we will see ramifications but nothing I would personally worry about. I’ve never been more excited to work in this industry. 

What are the possible jobs in esports besides being a player? 

Management, Writing, Production, Administration are some of the more popular areas. Follow your passion.

Could Astralis be in for a major change soon? 

No, I don’t think so. It would take more of a drop-off to leave them considering a change that early. 

What’s the outlook on Oskar?

With the way things ended on Mousesports with Oskar, I don’t see a larger organization taking a chance on him. He kind of wore out his welcome and word spreads fast in this industry. 

Can inactive players quickly get back into their groove?

That is always a risk when you take time off, but I think sunny is young enough to pick up where he left off. Flusha is the more worrying one but I just can’t imagine a world in which Flusha isn’t a good player. He is too skilled. 

Could smooya come back to BIG?

I think it is very unlikely that happens.

Why are veteran teams starting to underperform?

General complacency and younger talent wanting it more than them. Many tenured players naturally ease up on how serious they take the game when they get a hefty paycheck. Some clearly have fallen out of love with the game and play because it’s the one way for them to make a paycheck and uphold their lifestyle. Not everyone is like s1mple and dreams about playing the game at every single waking moment.