CYPHER: “I will be walking and I see people staring at me.”

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Cai “CYPHER” Watson returns to the KCC for the first time after the Blast.TV Paris Major miracle run with mix team Rum Bumpers. Since he made the top-eight run in Paris with ITB he played in an unsuccessful TeamSoloMid roster and joined BLEED at the start of the year. Expectations were high for Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunović’s new team, but in their first outing, BLEED failed to make the closed qualifier for the PGL CS2 RMRs. They only made day two of the open qualifiers once.

In Kettering however, his team were seeded 3rd and finished 4th. CYPHER headlined the scoreboard for Rum Bumpers as he was the eighth highest-rated player at the tournament, much higher than all of his teammates.

After Rum Bumpers were knocked out UKCSGO sat down with CYPHER to talk about their LAN, the quality of UKCS, do people treat him differently after Paris, what went wrong with TSM and how it is going with BLEED.

You guys made top four with your mix ‘Rum Bumpers’. How was the weekend for you?

It was just fun, that is what EPIC.LAN is for, you come to have fun and get however far you get. Friday was long but a fun day. Saturday is just Saturday innit, you just drink and play. That is EPIC.LAN.

Were you impressed by the quality of CS at this event?

I don’t think the quality was very high. Team-wise, the UK scene is the same as it has always been. I think it is really bad that one player can come in and change the game. Smooya or I, we come in and we will beat teams that practice, Coalesce, K10, TLR. It shouldn’t really happen, we are friends just mixing.

I don’t think the quality was very high. Team-wise, the UK scene is the same as it has always been. I think it is really bad that one player can come in and change the game.

There are some individuals that I am impressed by their decision-making, Tree60 for example. Team-wise no, individual, a little bit.

Do you think UKCS is still in a position where you have to go international?

I would say so. You can’t make a competitive UK team. You potentially could with maybe three players, but it is insanely difficult. The way to go is by playing EU CS. Grind FPLC and FPL, get EU offers and grind EU.

It has been under a year since Paris. You are back at EPIC.LAN for the first time since. Do you think people treat you differently since the Major?

People just look at me, I will be walking and I see people staring at me. Some people come up to me like “CAI” and want to meet me [laughs]. Don’t get me wrong it is nice and thank you everyone for supporting me, but it is a bit different.

Does it make you feel a bit weird that people are almost scared to speak to you?

It is mega weird for me. I never would have expected it.

Moving outside of UKCS. You went to TSM after ITB. That didn’t go too well. What went wrong there?

Role clashes held us back a lot. I think the team didn’t mesh and individual mistakes a lot of the time messed up our important games. I think that is what happened in TSM, a mix of those things.

Something that Thomas preaches a lot is cultural identity. Is this something you agree with when you go to international teams, sometimes the individuals struggle to mesh due to cultures?

Yes, that goes without saying. Building EU teams are always going to be hard with different backgrounds, different cultures and different humour. I don’t think it is an insanely big thing if people are professional and can have fun. You look at FaZe, EU. Vitality, EU. The best teams in the world are EU. It does play a small part but not a massive part. I think of course it will help, but it is not a deal breaker at all.

Towards the end of TSM. What was the process of you leaving them and joining BLEED?

I think one day I just got a message from kassad, or TSM’s general manager. I got the offer and he said that he wants me. This was when he was first building it, took a few weeks for the contracts, esports is esports right.

When you got the offer, did you know the team?

I only knew hampus and Cerq.

What made you confident enough to play under Hampus?

As long as I had hampus I was happy.

In those other two players did you have any decision in picking them?

The negotiations took so long that I was the last one in the team. kassad wanted me first but I was the last person officially in the team.

 When you got the offer why did you want to take it?

I thought I fit into the team quite well. If we fix loads of mistakes we will be fine. Three of us play the same aggressive playstyle. Me, lauNX and hampus. hampus is a very aggressive caller, obviously, I am an aggressive rifler and lauNX is an aggressive rifler. The roles clash heavily, but we can make it work.

What are your expectations with BLEED and how do you think you can get past those role clashes?

That is a very good question. We will have to be better at changing our style and being more explosive, flash peeks and overall aggression. Changing our style with how we are supporting each other. Putting me first, lauNX second trading me.

We will have to be better at changing our style and being more explosive, flash peeks and overall aggression. Changing our style with how we are supporting each other.

My expectations are next Major, that is 100%. Honestly, it was to win tier two and three tournaments so we could qualify for the closed and not have to go through the fu*king hell of open qualifiers.

What is the main reason you had open qualifiers so much?

Everyone can shoot back, CS2 made that so. They are very mix-y and puggy, so if you or your team is not having a good day aim-wise, then you have to be insanely good as a team. When you start out as a new team it is extremely rough. Open qualifiers are brutal, they are a slugfest.

MR13 is hell. If you lose the pistol and first gun round that is five rounds gone. It is extremely rough.

Open qualifiers are brutal, they are a slugfest.