EPIC40 has been the site of many upsets so far, The Book Club have taken down PufflePals and Ross Kemp Bald took down Criag “ONSCREEN” Shannon’s mix. Heading into the LAN, K10 were seen as one of the favourites, the team that is constantly stuck in Main was put in a group with international student team Soul’s Land, a team that many pundits saw as a potential dark-horse for the tournament. Time has yet to tell us if this will stand as another upset, but before the match could begin UKCSGO sat down with one of the K10 players.
Connor “Bigun007” Suddon is the latest rifler addition to K10, replacing Jamie “Tree60” Callan who is standing-in for this LAN. Bigun previously spent time on the Legates roster, but has joined K10 in an attempt to qualify for ESEA Advanced. He spoke to Dafydd Gwynn about how CS performs on LAN, playing alongside the player he replaced, and how this season is do-or-die for making ESEA Advanced.
Just to start off, how are you finding playing CS2 on LAN?
Well I’ve only played two games so I can’t really judge, but the game does feel a little bit better. I’m not really a fan of CS2, obviously everyone knows there is issues and stuff, but it is good [right now]. I enjoy LAN, so hopefully I enjoy the rest of the games against the tougher teams towards the end of the day. We’ll just see how we go.
Would you say it’s performing better as a game on LAN?
Um, a little bit yeah I do think it’s crisper. You can hold angles better I’ve noticed, I feel like I’m more comfortable holding angles because [peeker’s advantage] isn’t as bad on LAN. So in that sense it is better, but we’ve only played two games and one of the games we were just trolling to be honest, we were just running round, so I can’t really judge.
So speaking about K10, you are the latest addition to the team that is currently on LAN because flicky isn’t here. How are you finding the team dynamic so far?
Yeah no it’s good, we all get on. Obviously I came from K6y, Alfie, Rayman, all the boys and we always got on, it’s kind of a similar dynamic because we are friends as well. I think that’s the most important thing. We are all grown up and we can speak to each other and say what the issues are and fix things. We’ve got fett1s who is there for that, he’s a really good coach. The main thing in the team is being open to criticism and not taking it personally, which is a good thing because you just learn and improve.
Have you ever had previous team experiences where that wasn’t the case?
Yeah I’d say so. There is a fine line between flame and criticism, on LAN especially it does get heated and there has been moments where people have lost their head, but that’s to be expected to be fair. But I think most of my teams have been chill and we have got on. So I can’t really say anything too bad about any past team.
At this LAN you are playing with Tree60, what is it like playing with the guy you replaced on the team?
Weird to be fair because we don’t have an AWPer and I’ve taken all his roles, I’ve taken all of his positions, so he’s had to fill Adam’s positions because Adam is on the AWP. So it’s a little bit of a mess. But he’s a nice guy, fucking tall. He’s about 6’6. I was the tallest team member on TLR, now I’m the shortest. I don’t know what’s going on. But yeah he’s a good lad.
He’s obviously unreal, he’s really good, he’s got good fundamentals and he’s got experience now so hopefully he can help us going forward. I know Ex-Coalesce have a couple maps that they have been scrimming hard and a couple of those maps we haven’t really touched on, so hopefully when it comes to playing those maps his experience can come through.
You mentioned how good he is and how you’ve taken all his roles, how would you say you compare as riflers and your playstyle?
I’m really bad at judging how I play, but my teammates said that mechanically I’m just as good if not better, but it’s just a case of that decision making on those lurk roles where Tree was really good and that’s the standards I am set. I think fundamentally and mechanically my teammates have said I was just as good if not better, but I’m really bad at judging myself or comparing myself to others. But I think that’s the general opinion of my teammates.
You have no AWPer this event, how has that effected all the roles in the team?
Like I said we are just winging it to be honest. I think T-side will be mostly rifles, we’ll do five rifles and just scrim it a little bit, just pug it. On CT, I think on Overpass we will bring out the AWP, on those stronger maps will bring it out and we’ll see how it goes. I think predominantly we are going to be five rifles and just see how it goes, LAN’s not too strat heavy anyways so it’s going to be more pug based. We’ve done a few pugs with Tree just to warm up and practise in the week, but other than that we’ve got a couple pistols strats but nothing serious.
Would you say the AWP is less important in CS2 than it was in CS:GO?
Yeah obviously the AWP is no where near as good as it was, but I feel it still does have impact. Like I said on LAN it’s easier to hold angles I feel like, and a lot of the teams, when the pressure gets to them, just swing, they just take fights. So the AWP can come in clutch there, but we’ll have to see because we don’t have an AWP, flicky is not here. Until we get farmed by an AWP I’ll let you know.
What were your expectations coming into this LAN?
I think coming into the LAN I think if it was on CS:GO then fancy ourselves on the stage 100%. But the fact its CS2 we know that there is upset potential, obviously we saw Soul’s Land beat Raptors in the week. So they’re in our group, don’t get me started on the seeding, so they’re really good, but we obviously want to be on the stage. That is the aim and the expectation. If it’s not top three, we would consider it a failure if we are not in that Lower Bracket Final. But yeah, I think the Final is where we should be, I personally think, with the teams and the mixes here.
You mentioned Soul’s Land there, what are you thinking about the matchup against them, do you have any thoughts on that match?
We played them in the UKIC league this week, we beat them fairly convincingly. And that was on Anubis and that’s kind of the only map that we share so it’s probably going to be Anubis again. Um, we kind of played our own game and we kind of prepped a little bit for it, and they were kind of easy to read. So we are comfortable going into that game, but we’ve seen that they beat Raptors so we are thinking “bloody hell they are actually quite good.” But I do think we’re confident obviously. It’s going to be pug versus pug and I feel like we really fancy ourselves. And we obviously we have a lot more experience on LAN, we have people who have been to LAN for the third, fourth time. So yeah we fancy ourselves.
So moving away from this LAN, you failed to make advanced through playoffs, how did that affect the team’s mentality?
That’s a tough one. I think with CS2 coming, the motivation wasn’t as high as it should have been. We didn’t do as much pracc or as much prep work or server work and demo watching as I think the boys have done in the previous seasons without me. And then I come in and there was a couple weeks without Pracc and I went on holiday towards the end of the season and that kind of ruined our seeding. We ended up playing against Edward and Bondik first game. My bad I guess.
I think if we don’t make ESEA Advanced this season we’ll be gutted to be fair.
But I think from the mental perspective, we knew it was a bit of a write off season because of the FACEIT servers, FACEIT ESEA was a bit shit weren’t it? So we weren’t too upset, but I think if we don’t make it this season, we’ll be gutted to be fair.
Since your addition to K10, it seems like you’ve had real explosion of form, right? Like compared to when you were in Legates or even choppers-
I disagree. I disagree. With the boys in TLR and that I was performing similar and I had 1.3 ratings, I’m not here to blow my own horn, but I’ve had back to back 1.3 ratings at EPIC. I’ve performed well in the playoffs against good teams, in Main I’ve always been consistent. But now I’m just doing it in a more experienced and structured team.
I think I’m thriving to be fair, the roles that I’m playing in K10 are fairly similar to ones I had in TLR under K6y. I feel like I’m at a similar level to be honest, but I feel like under K10 there is more of a spotlight. Yeah, I feel like when I was playing with the boys we were outcasts, not really in the scene as much. But yeah I’d have to disagree on that I don’t think I’ve necessarily improved that much compared to previous seasons.
My final question, you mentioned your previous team, what is the biggest difference between playing on this current system, Adam’s calling, versus the kind of systems you’ve played in previously?
To be honest the only system I ever played in was K6y’s. Before that it was just mixing, I IGLed a little bit to get into Main when I was playing with Seiren, Xey and all that, but then I was playing under K6y for four or five seasons. K6y was set-piece heavy, to an extent. It was fairly structured in the sense that the roles were always there, and you have to kind of stick to them.
But I feel like it is fairly more loose on K10. Obviously, I’ve got like my role positions. but I’ve got freedom to do what I want. There’s still that fundamental “this person does this then you activate.” That’s the fundamentals, “you fight, then you fight, then you fight all across the map”. And that’s kind how we like to play, just taking fights.
So the freedom is there but it’s like restricted freedom. So it does give you the environment to be free, which does suit me to an extent I think. But like I said I’ve not played on many systems, so I can’t compare that much.
Well, is there anything else you want to talk about?
Yeah, AdamJC is a fraud.
