Things are changing in the professional Counter-Strike scene, with the recent ‘Rostermania’ season ending in a smorgasbord of roster changes – some expected, and some a touch more shocking. Perhaps the most exciting of these moves was EliGE leaving Complexity for FaZe Clan, a decision which seems destined to net the NA superstar some fresh achievements. On behalf of Refrag, Kyman was lucky enough to sit down with EliGE and ask him a few of the burning questions surrounding this move and his career.
Hi EliGE! As we all know, there have been some major changes happening with your career. You’ve made the jump over to EU CS and joined FaZe. The first question, and arguably the most important one, is: how are you feeling?
Overall, I’m feeling really excited! I think that we have a lot of potential in the roster. I’ve always wanted to play with Karrigan. I think that he’s a really great leader and, after joining, everything just confirms that. Everything so far has been really great, and I have a lot of things to look forward to.
Awesome! So, the transition went smoothly? Was it a big shift for you?
Well, I haven’t actually fully moved at this moment, I’m kind of just here practising. To me, everything is pretty normal, because on Complexity and Liquid I was very used to starting my seasons bootcamping in Europe. To me, everything is pretty much how it would be any other season.
That makes sense. So, this is obviously a big career move, and a huge decision to make. What spurred you on to make this decision?
I think it’s just a really good time for it. I’m at the point in my career where I want to do everything I can to win. Also, from my personal life perspective, it’s a lot easier for me to move to Europe. Between me and my girlfriend, we’ve discussed it and we know what we want to do, so that worry isn’t there like it has been in the past when I wasn’t sure how to make it happen. That weight has been lifted off my shoulders, so now I can go to whichever team I think is going to help me succeed – that’s how I got to FaZe. Now I’m here, the potential to do everything I want to is in the palm of my hand.
I can imagine it’s still quite a big jump, though. From the US where you’re used to everything, to Europe. Are you planning on moving to Europe long-term?
Yeah, we’re just figuring out the Visa stuff. I’ve already chosen where I want to be; now it’s just waiting for paperwork, picking out an apartment, and stuff like that. We’ve pretty much figured out how we want it to go. Now it’s just about waiting for it to happen.
Okay, great! A few months ago, you made a video on your YouTube channel analysing one of Karrigan’s uncut voice-comms videos. Did this experience influence the way you felt about potentially joining FaZe, as you seemed to have a lot of positive responses to FaZe’s communications, and Karrigan’s leadership style?
Honestly, no. It didn’t really affect anything. I’ve always thought that they’re an amazing team – I don’t really need to see it [on a video] because all I need to see is how they’re playing in the game; you know, how they’re playing off each other, the comms, when things are being mid-rounded. I guess the only thing I really took away from the comms video was listening to how well Karrigan micros. But I already knew that just from playing against him for many years. It was stuff that I already knew. I think it’s just a funny coincidence that I happen to have that video out there.
How weird is it, then, to have gone from competing against Karrigan to trying to integrate yourself into his team? Is that a hard switch for you?
I don’t think it’s that hard. A lot of the strats, I already know what they are. Now it’s just about getting the lingo of what they call it and the names of everything. Karrigan does a really good job of calling and making sure everyone knows what they should be doing. He really takes the time to make sure things are going to go right. Even if the call is on the fly – like, we default and do something on the fly – he very easily fits all the pieces together in the way that he forms the plans.
I would always say that’s the mark of a really good IGL. Let’s say you’re in freeze-time, for example, and you have an idea of what the tactic should be and it’s not something you’ve gone over beforehand. Really good IGLs should be able to explain the macro of what’s happening and have everyone understand their roles within seconds. That stuff is very hard to do, especially consistently, and Karrigan can do that super well in freeze-time and the mid-rounds.
In the FaZe announcement video, one of the key requirements of the job advert was ‘thrives in chaos’. What makes FaZe’s brand of chaos attractive to you as a player?
I think the main thing is that all the players are really, really strong. So when you’re having things that are going down, and there’s chaotic situations happening, there’s a lot of chemistry between the players. They’ve played together for a long time, and also they’re just experienced in these situations and understand what’s required and how to navigate through the chaos. Where other teams might have to say some specific things to try to navigate through it, or they just break down, on FaZe you can just feel it during the rounds. When things happen, the players have really good chemistry and know how each other wants to play in those situations.
Awesome! Karrigan mentioned in a post on X that, whilst getting to know you lately, he has gained new perspectives on the game. How are you feeling about adapting to and, in turn, influencing the system in your new team?
With me joining FaZe, there’s obviously going to be a dynamic shift because they’re having me play the roles that I’m comfortable with for most of the maps. When you’re replacing a player that was more passive – a lurker and anchor – and having Rain pick up a lot of those duties on some of the maps and shifting me into some of his spots, I’m more of a vocal player that’s going to be saying a lot of stuff.
We have a shift in the team dynamic where we have more people who are aggressive and want to get into fights and are more vocal in general, so it’s going to have an effect on the team. For me so far, it’s about trying to adapt to what they already had, whilst also adding things that I like, seeing where I can improve things, and any input that I can have. So yeah, it’s pretty much just trying to find a balance of the roles and also how we want to play different situations.
Okay, that’s fair. Having left Complexity, can you identify a key lesson you’ve learned as an individual from your time on their roster?
I would say the best takeaway I had from Complexity was, when I first joined, I learned that it’s most important for you to learn what works best for you. If that means that you work best with four or five scrims per day as opposed to six or seven, or you need more individual time, or more time to look at demos – whatever works best for you, that’s what you need to understand.
I think that if you have a good team, you’re going to be telling them that and they’re going to help put you in situations where you’re at your best. Again, I think that’s also a mark of a good leader. To make sure all their players can play to the best of their abilities. Obviously, there are situations where sometimes what’s best for you isn’t what’s best for the team, so you have to find compromises, but the goal should always be to try to get everyone as comfortable as possible.
That makes perfect sense! Would you say there’s a big difference between the amount of scrims or certain activities you did, in your experience with Liquid, Complexity, and now currently with FaZe?
No, not really. Some people think that if you’re a lower-ranked team, as opposed to a top-five team, you’re doing something completely different. It’s not usually like that. It’s usually like a stacking of small things, or the experience level, or maybe just a difference of individuals that’s making a big difference.
But no, the practice schedule I’m playing on now is pretty much the same that I had in Complexity, or the same I had in Liquid before. A lot of the top teams have very similar practice schedules; they just increase or decrease the number of scrims based on the needs of the team. Like, if you guys feel like you need five or six scrims and need to get more reps in, then you’ll have days where it’s five or six. If you need more theory, you’ll change the day and start having more theory on those days. I think it’s just about being flexible with your needs. The default amount of hours and amount of scrims is, in general, the same.
Even the best in their field need to strive for improvement every day – what is something you’re working on actively at the moment, whether in CS or life, that you’re trying to improve?
I would say that the constant CS grind is something to keep improving at. Every day you should be learning something and, for me, it’s just making sure that I’m keeping up with what I know is best for me and just enjoying the process of that. Making sure that I’m staying on top of the meta and the strats, and having a good mentality towards it. That’s pretty much the thing that I focus on every day; keeping up that attitude and that drive. That’s a constant grind that you’re having every day. Making sure that I stay on top of that is what I’m improving at, every day. That can be anything – dealing with certain situations better or improving on a particular map. There are so many things to be on top of and improving to stay at the top.
Of course, every player will have bad days. How do you deal with that?
I’d say that when you’re having bad days, you can deal with it in a couple of different ways. You can take some time for yourself. If it’s a bad individual day, I’d take some time to see what I’m specifically struggling at and either look that up, theory-craft it, or talk with my teammates about it and see what we can improve on to make me more comfortable in that situation. If it’s just a bad day in general, I’d say taking something positive from it. Like “I know that I need to work on this now”, or “These things that we tried were actually pretty good”. Just seeing the positive side of things instead of being like “Today was bad”. There’s always something you got out of it, whether it’s: “These things worked” or “These things didn’t work and now we know to focus on why they didn’t work”.
Right! You can always learn from things that didn’t work, or from mistakes.
Exactly! You know “Now we know that doesn’t work”, or “Now we know we have to adjust this”, or “Now I know I’m not comfortable in this situation”. So just taking some lessons from the bad days and understanding that it is just a bad day.
A slightly broader question for you: How do you view your career leading up to today? Are you happy with where you’re at?
I’d say it’s an okay career so far. I feel like I haven’t accomplished a lot of things that I’ve wanted to before. I mean, I’ve had tournament wins and our “Mini Era” in 2019, but to me, I haven’t accomplished a lot of the things that I’ve wanted to. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the Top 10 of HLTV, I haven’t won a big tournament in a long time, I haven’t won a Major, I haven’t got a Major MVP, I haven’t got a second Grand Slam. I feel like there are so many goals that I could just list off the top of my head. There are so many more things that are on the list for me to do, and I haven’t done them yet. I still have a lot of drive left in me for things that I want to get done and I’m really motivated to have them be finished.
So, even with your achievements that you have got, the drive is still there?
They’re old achievements. They’re in the past. I have a lot more things that I want to get done.
A very technical question now. [Kyman laughs] I didn’t write this question, our writers did, so…
Okay, I’m ready.
Is the bald buff real? And, if so, will you be expecting your new teammates to be shaving their heads as part of the new system?
[Laughs] I mean, it could be real! It depends, right? If it makes you more confident. I think that for anyone, if you’re feeling bad about how you look, or if it’s affecting you in any way, then one hundred per cent! If you’re balding and you’re feeling bad about it, and it’s affecting your confidence or your self-worth and you shave it off and feel better about yourself, then that can actually buff your entire life! It can buff your confidence in-game because everything just feels better afterwards. So, it definitely can be real!
Well, now people know! As a final question: Of course, we couldn’t miss the chance to ask you this – if you had to pitch Refrag to someone who’d never heard of it before, what would you say?
I would say Refrag is the ultimate training tool. The one-stop shop for everything that you need. We have the 2D Demo Viewer for you to watch your games back, we have all the training modes for you to improve your individual skills. I think that it’s just the perfect all-in-one training platform.
Any particular training tool that we have, that you find yourself using a lot?
The two that I use the most are definitely Angle Trainer and Spray. I’d say Blitz is the third, but they’re definitely my favorite. They instil good habits and work on things that you’re constantly going to be doing in the games themselves. Especially Angle Trainer. I definitely like that one the most. Even though it’s so basic, simplicity is good sometimes and it keeps me focused.
Thank you so much for spending some time doing this interview with us! As always, we wish you the best for the upcoming matches and tournaments, and we can’t wait to see you win the final of whatever tournament comes up!
Hell yeah! Thank you so much. Hopefully, this season is going to be really good for us; there’s a lot of really good things to look forward to. I’m excited for it.
Check out the full interview on YouTube:
