1_HAND_WONDER: “It’s not as hard as it looks.”

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At EPIC.LAN 42 a lot of the attention will have been on Verdant, The Last Resort and some of the other top teams, but we want to turn your attention to a unique story. Adam “1_HAND_WONDER” Reilly is what his name suggests, a literal one-hand wonder. Not letting the fact he has one hand set him back, he has not only attended LANs in Ireland, but is level 10 on FACEIT and plays the guitar to a high standard.

Now at his first EPIC.LAN, 1_HAND_WONDER sits down with UKCSGO to talk about the event, how he got into Counter-Strike, and what it is like to have one hand.

It is your first EPIC.LAN, did you enjoy the event?

It was a lot more fun than I expected it to be, we did get grouped which was not good. But for a first EPIC.LAN it was fun. Met some people and made some friends. The four guys I came with are loads of fun to be around, so couldn’t be happier.

You are called 1_hand_wonder because you are most literally a one-handed wonder, what is it like playing Counter-Strike with one hand?

It is very normal to me because I was born without a hand, so I never thought anything about it. It is only till you go to LANs and meet people and they are like “Oh wait, you actually have one hand”, and everyone makes a big deal out of it. To me, it isn’t, I don’t think much of it honestly. I suppose when you step back and look back at it from a wider perspective I am doing alright.

How do you play with one hand?

So I have my left hand on the mouse, a normal standard mouse and then I have this small compact low profile keyboard similar to what a laptop keyboard would be like. I started playing on a laptop when I was 14 with friends and figured out key-bindings that worked for me, by chance that laptop keyboard I had, everything worked. It was only when I switched to PC that I had a bit of difficulty figuring out what works, a lot of trial and error. Scrolling through 150 pages on Amazon searching keyboards that vaguely resemble what you are looking for.

At the moment, I have two of these small keyboards pushed together and I make it work.

When you say trial and error, how did you figure out how to make it work?

I would borrow some friend’s keyboards and try them, the issue was none of them worked. The best thing that worked was just buying different keyboards, trying them for a month or two, and deciding if they were the one or not. Sometimes the layout would be right, but something else would be off. I suppose I was really picky about it too because at that point I wanted to get better at CS and couldn’t just settle with it not being perfect.

Lots of buying different keyboards, I have spent a lot of money [laughs].

You said you want to be perfect, is it sometimes difficult when you want to be perfect when you have these setbacks?

I think most of the setbacks are mostly mental. If I don’t play for a long time my movement might be a bit off. If people don’t know, I do have an arm, but just no hand on the right. But there is a lot of movement involved in that arm, and if I am not playing for a long time I lose a lot of feeling for the game. Simple stuff like counter strafing can be a bit off and it takes me a few days to get back in my rhythm.

How did you originally get into Counter-Strike and did you think you could ever get to the level you are at now?

It just happened naturally. I started playing with friends when I was 14, playing on the old Vertigo against bots. I would have watched a few pro-CS games and that got me into it. I thought it would be a bit of fun and I just kept on getting better. I also made a lot of friends through the game and that kept me in it.

I didn’t think about playing CS at a high level, mostly because at the time I didn’t know what high level was. I would go from Silver 2 to Gold Nova 1 and I thought I was good. That ceiling just kept on being raised every time. It happened very naturally and didn’t put my thought into it.

You spoke about your trial and error of testing things out. Have you ever spoken to or met anyone else in the CS community who has one hand as well?

Not in person. I have met a few people online that was maybe missing a hand. I met a Portuguese guy who had no arms whatsoever which was cool. I met a few people who are missing a hand online, but I always look at them and think ‘oh I am better than them’, and I was. I didn’t pay any attention to it I suppose.

You have one hand but it doesn’t seem to affect your confidence or set you back at all.

I think if I was born with two hands and lost a hand at one stage it would have been different. But I don’t know what it is like to have another hand, to me I don’t know what I am missing out on. I suppose ignorance is bliss.

I really don’t think about it much and as cliché as it sounds, it has never stopped me from doing anything. I play guitar better than most people too, and have been playing for years.

Wait, you play the guitar?

Yeah really well [laughs]. I have been playing for a while to be fair.

I have been always big into sports, piano, trumpet, guitar, everything. Having one hand has always been a second thought, haven’t thought much about it. I think playing games as well, since I am not meeting people and it is all online, there is no one to see in person and you are not self-conscious about the way you look. You are just playing the game, to them you are just a name on the screen, and visa-versa.

What is it like coming to LAN and meeting people?

It is fun, you get a lot of looks [laughs]. That is the same everywhere though. Everyone is a bit self-conscious of themselves, it is roasting here so I am going around in a T-shirt, don’t really have a choice.

Is that something you normally wouldn’t do?

It is something I would do if the weather is good, but it is normally easier to not hide it, but not show it off. It is hard to explain.

I just remind myself, that everyone is self-conscious about something and I try not to think about it.

Does it give you an extra grain of satisfaction when you’re playing well on LAN and you play well?

It is definitely nice. The guys I came to LAN with I didn’t mention to them that I had one hand. Usually, people ask because it is in the name, but normally don’t take it seriously.

It hadn’t even come through my mind to tell them, I told one of them the day before LAN. For the rest of them, I got into the car with one of them and he just said “Can we address the elephant in the room, you actually have one hand?” I was like, “Yeah I do, sorry forgot to tell you.”

It is nice when I think about it. I had the highest rating in our team as well which was good.

That must have felt pretty good.

Yeah, it is pretty nice, but we did lose all our games so didn’t make a big difference [laughs]

Do you have anything else you want to share?

It’s not as hard as it looks.