Whether or not a player is part of UK CS is broad and undefined. Some people would have you believe that it only extends to players of UK nationality or players on UK teams, but there are those individuals who, even though they aren’t in the scene anymore, they carry a piece of UK CS with them. Shahar “flameZ” Shushan is the perfect example of this as although he plays for an international roster, OG, his time on Endpoint shaped and moulded him into the player he is today.
Over the course of the BLAST.tv Paris RMR flameZ has been rooting for his friends and former teammates on Into the Breach, and after celebrating the Brit’s victory over Virtus.Pro he sat down for an interview UKCSGO’s Dafydd Gwynn. The Israeli rifler spoke about OG’s slow start at the event, how his time at Endpoint helped him grow as a player, and his perception of the UK scene.
So as OG have had a bit of a slow start to the tournament, are you feeling a bit more confident now after that win?
It felt a little sloppy when the scoreboard, I don’t think it shows it so much, so I think we need to go in with confidence in the second match. Pretty much the upcoming match will be something that we really need to play well, and if we play well then I think it can give us the power to qualify. Right now I think it feels a little bit sloppy and you can see the pressure gets to us in this tournament right now. Even with a rough start, now it’s best-of-threes, if someone beats us or we beat them, the better team deserves to qualify.
Has your expectations of yourselves changed since you first got here compared to now?
Well, we played FaZe in the first match and I don’t think we played bad, we shook them a little bit. In the GamerLegion match we need to consider it’s a best-of-one and if you don’t win those two pistol rounds it’s very hard to get back into the game so I don’t think we suddenly have different expectations, obviously we really want to qualify and we’ve been working out individually, playing CS everyday, bootcamp and everything, I think it would be disappointing if we don’t qualify. Expectations are to qualify and we are in a good position still.
I think it would be disappointing if we don’t qualify. Expectations are to qualify and we are in a good position still.
Are you saying you’re ready for the fight in two best-of-threes coming up?
Yeah I think that’s the opportunity that’s amazing, we can still qualify now that it’s not best of ones, if someone beats us they are better than us and they deserve it and if we beat them, like – we are ready to go to war.
Are there any teams that you want to face?
I think it would be nice to face CRUC1AL and Thomas from my old team. I really like CRUC1AL and I think it would be a pleasure playing against him, but on the other hand I think at this point the only team I don’t want to face is MOUZ, because I want me and xertioN have a chance to qualify and not disqualify each other. At this point I wish MOUZ well and ask to not play each other so we can both go forward.
I don’t want to face is MOUZ, because I want me and xertioN have a chance to qualify and not disqualify each other.
You used to play with UK players, in a UK org, how does it feel to see two of them here at the RMR?
Well with Into The Breach they’re all good friends with me, CYPHER I knew him a long time ago from TeamSpeak, CRUCIAL, Thomas, volt and rallen I know from FPL a long time, they’re really good friends, I really like them, but I wouldn’t call them a British team, Thomas doesn’t feel English to me. With Viperio, I think they’re from Ireland right?
Two of them, yeah.
I remember playing against them a lot on FACEIT, and them getting here is insane for the squad. I think English CS was always rough because their representation was smooya who is a full-crazy guy. I think right now it’s a shame not to see Endpoint here, but I think yesterday when we saw Viperio and Into The Breach almost beating FNATIC and NaVi, everyone was outside celebrating, it was amazing to watch.
Is there a part of you that is rooting for the UK players because of your relationship with the UK?
Not specifically, I’m rooting for Into The Breach because they’re my friends. I don’t think specifically with Viperio I’m cheering for them, you always want the underdog to qualify but on the other hand it’s the last CS:GO major and you want all the best teams to qualify so the major will be very competitive. I think if it was Endpoint I would really want them to qualify, and with mezii I want them to, mezii has always been a solid friend, fnatic, nicoodoz, and everybody. I don’t think it’s English people I have a special spot for, but it would be nice nice to see CRUC1AL, rallen, and Thomas qualifying to the major.
You mentioned Endpoint, I just wanted to get your take on everything happening with them not making the RMR and them as a team.
I think they’ve been in an unlucky position with NertZ going to ENCE right before the qualifier, or whether he was sick, whatever they posted. They played with Fessor and it’s very hard losing a guy with like 1.27 impact rating on HLTV. I know NertZ and HeavyGod’s relationship is so close, and NertZ is very good at playing the game and helping his teammates, and so is HeavyGod. I think that when you put a player like Fessor in in a new team and the team – well Endpoint are very easy to get along with like Max [MiGHTYMAX] and Kia Man [Surreal], everybody is very solid – its very hard to come in as the star rifler for Fessor and try to push through. Them not qualifying for the RMR, I wouldn’t say it’s shame on them, the open qualifiers contain 1000 teams and you play against teams who play FACEIT all day long and the skill is so rough, if you don’t have a good game you go out.
You spent a lot of time on Endpoint, how did your time with them change you as a player and impact your career?
With Endpoint I think it was one of the best orgs and teams I could have started my career with. When I trialled with them I remember Ross [RossR], our coach, we had the first pracc and I had some issues with my PC, I played on my brother’s PC, and I’m like “fuck man, the only opportunity and I’m going to play on some other setup” and then I just played very good and instantly I remember Pete gets me into TeamSpeak and says, look you get the same salary as the players, same contract, I didn’t need to negotiate anything. Since then it really felt like home, I’m really grateful and they were always great to me even though I was really childish and unprofessional on Endpoint.
I’m really grateful and they were always great to me even though I was really childish and unprofessional on Endpoint.
They always welcomed me, they talked to me and respected me a lot and I think it built me a lot as a player because it grew my confidence and on the sidelines we played a lot of CS, a lot of officials, and I think Max was very dedicated to the game, he watched lots of demos, he would say “look, you have this play, you can do this thing now”, he always went first to give me the good stats basically and those things are under-appreciated. But I think everyone was great, robiin was a great teammate, Surreal and Joey [CRUC1AL] were really good and Max was just a great IGL, and the coach was just great at getting us together.
Are you saying you wouldn’t be where you are today without Endpoint?
No, I think I would be somewhere in tier one or the top of tier two, but I think that I wouldn’t be the same because I always thought international teams wouldn’t have been easy to get along on and be on the same page, be friends with everybody, and everybody can like each other and communicate well. I think with Endpoint that’s what I got and I think it made me believe that international teams could have something above just business and being colleagues, and with Endpoint it changed my perception.
I think [Endpoint] made me believe that international teams could have something above just business and being colleagues
Do you have any final comments?
I’m cheering for Into The Breach, but Viperio I don’t really care so much. They also deserve a shot since they got here and that’s it. Good luck to them and if they qualify hopefully we’ll see some English fans in the stadium.
