Underlooked and underappreciated, Ben “ghil” Nicholson came into EPIC.LAN 41 with mix squad Anita Max Wynn headlined by Viperio player Marco “MMS” Salomone. As a mix, there never be set expectations as they are coming into a stacked EPIC.LAN with no practice and just playing on vibes… However, they sure did turn some heads.
Alongside fellow mix flowstate, they proved to be a real thorn in the side of the major teams. Taking K10 to overtime, beating Raptors EC, Coalesce and Team Invictum, eventually knocking Shaman Esports out of the Lower Bracket. Their run was stopped by Royals 2-1, landing them top eight.
After their successful run, UKCSGO sits down with ghil (colloquially known as ‘TheGhilBox’) to talk about their slow start, how influential MMS was as an IGL and why people overlook him in the scene.
Firstly, how was this LAN? Your voice is very hoarse so I am guessing it was good?
I am really happy, it is my second-highest placement. We were aiming for top eight or top six, in that region. We thought that would be achievable since we have seen the teams that have signed up, so we moved our expectations to top 12. The CS we were playing was just so good. That was what we are proud of, nothing to do with the placement. We are just pretty happy, apart from the game versus kica we were knackered just flaming each other, apart from that, we were playing good CS.
Sometimes Marco [MMS] had to get on us for not listening, but for the most part on the first day when we beat Raptors and Coalesce, the comms were good, and we learnt the utility that Marco told us to learn. During our second game, Marco snapped and started to IGL and tell us what to do. From there on out it was smooth and went so well, everyone had nice rounds as well.
You mentioned that in the second game, you almost went 0-2 at the start of groups. You got battered by Soul’s Land and almost lost to Antenna Man, who you should not be losing to. You went from that to top eight, what prompted you to kick into action?
We lost the first game but were not too annoyed. It was Mirage and the way they were playing it was really good. They were just outsmarting us. They would execute A, we would rotate A, and then they have two walk under and boost into window and flank us. They were simply just outplaying us.
In the game versus Frostysnowman, we were just getting entried in mid. I feel like people see these names, and think they are barely level 10, swing, go to take aim fights but it is CS2, it is so equal now. We were just getting picked off in middle.
The power went during this game for the first time. We went outside for a chat and refresh, and we came back and started losing EVEN more rounds. The power went down again three rounds later, I then went outside with Marco and we spoke about how middle was the problem, just throwing away entries every round. So to solve this, that was the time when Marco started calling. We went back to speak to Zack [Seiren] and Tristian [Stop_It] who were our mid-players at the time, we told them, just smoke it, play smart and fall back.
The power went during this game for the first time. We went outside for a chat and refresh, and we came back and started losing EVEN more rounds. The power went down again three rounds later, I then went outside with Marco and we spoke about how middle was the problem, just throwing away entries every round. So to solve this, that was the time when Marco started calling
From then on we have really shown on the T side. From that game to playing K10 we played maybe our best Counter-Strike. Versus K10, our T side was just so good.
The power cut saved us honestly. After we came back from the first one we were not too bothered, but after the second one and we were on the verge of losing the half it made things a bit more real for us. It wasn’t a big discussion, but we had to talk about playing more passive in middle.
What would you describe MMS’ calling as, and what is it like for you to play under?
I don’t want to glaze him, but it is so nice to just have someone who understands everything. It is an issue we had in genetexe [ghil’s previous mix], always too many cooks in the kitchen. Everything had their own idea of how to win the round and how to play the game. But Marco has had this experience and no one has any issues with just sitting there and listening to him. It is just a clear voice and it is someone who knows the game, knows how people play, what people are going to react with, and what util is going to make people do. And with that, he just tells us, “do that, do that, do that.” We do it, and it works out every time. It was effortless sometimes.
He asked us to learn a list of util before LAN, which I tried my best, that was why I entried most rounds. He told us to learn util, and he just called us certain util, and who to entry and what pathing they should use. From what he was calling it felt like he knew how certain util would make people react. It was just so good, a clear voice, not confusing, and he also just knows the game better than any of us. 90% of the time Marco would make good calls.
When some of the games got quite close, it seemed people got flustered. When you played against the real teams, did cracks start to show?
People would get flustered with themselves. It would be common for Tristan or Zack in an early pick versus Coalesce on Overpass they would get annoyed at themselves. For me, when going into the game versus Raptors we maybe had some pressure because we thought we could beat them. Against Coalesce, if we lost no one cares. There was no pressure and exactly the same as the K10 game. But when it gets really close the pressure starts to build. You get the mentality of “I don’t want to throw what we got”. As much as the K10 game sucked to have lost because I could have been the one to win it for us, it did work out in the end for playoffs as we got an easier run.
In terms of getting flustered. People were getting frustrated with themselves. People will jump on Zack and say he is toxic and all that crap. But he was the first to say whenever he made a mistake in any round.
In the close games versus the good teams, the only reason why we got flustered was because we didn’t want to throw away what we already had.
MMS is not an IGL, do you think he should become one?
I don’t know actually, I do think he can. It is hard to say because he is playing at a different skill level, one that I will not even claim to understand. He just knew even against K10, he knew how they would play and react. He didn’t go away and do anti-start, we did not practice for this whatsoever. We just had an intuition about the game.
If he wanted to IGL, he probably could get away with it. I feel like anyone that knows the game that much can IGL. At that skill level, people know what people will do and react. He just had some many protocols that he just fell onto us, that he probably learnt from his team. That just made things easier for us.
Probably much easier to IGL us than a proper team also.
You and flowstate have come in and have done a lot of damage, and if you have lost, you have made the games close. Why do you think this LAN which was super stacked, you guys did so well?
flowstate, if you walked past them, have documents. I am pretty sure they deffo spent more time on how they wanted to play. Even if they didn’t practice, they had a large discussion on how they wanted to play. I remember talking to kica after the game and I was like “Benjymin just sat in spawn until the bomb was planted holding the flanks.” And that was because he was told to do that, they had protocols in place. Even if they didn’t practice, they definitely spoke a lot about it more than we did.
In terms of us, I think our mix was overlooked. Zack is really crisp, if he wasn’t working full time he could still be playing in high Main teams. Everyone knows Tristan is so crisp, but as soon as you point out he has done something wrong it goes bad. He tries to fill in the space a lot. Without a shadow of a doubt, he is the crispiest player I have ever played with. His aim is just so good.
Tom [trouto], bro. When I said I hadn’t put much effort into the utility, neither did Zack or Tristan. Tom went and learnt all of it. He was Marco’s favourite teammate this LAN because he just had everything on lock. He was such a good teammate. That is why I loved playing with him in genetexe. We are mates, but everyone was so good in their individual aspects.
I think our mix was overlooked. Zack is really crisp, if he wasn’t working full time he could still be playing in high main teams. Everyone knows Tristan is sooo crisp, but as soon as you point out he has done something wrong it goes bad. He tries to fill in the space a lot. Without a shadow of a doubt, he is the crispiest player I have ever played with. His aim is just so good.
Tom could just do everything, always there to support the team. Tristan’s aim is so good and he can just win you a round just off stupid fights. Zack is just so overlooked because of how people perceive him as a person. Tie that together with me who is just running about doing what I am told, and then Marco who is telling me what to do, it just worked out for us.
We had no practice, we didn’t sit in servers. Marco sent us a list of util and that was it, we didn’t do any prep. I just think players like trouto and that, even if they are in UKIC Division 1, they are overlooked and deserve more credit than what they get, especially Tristan.
Speaking about overlooking. People overlook you a lot and don’t perceive you as a good player. Why do you think there is this stigma?
Here is the thing, I used to be sh*t. But when I got the chance to prove myself in Ruby League and I was getting to play with good players, people started to realise I wasn’t sh*t. I got to back myself, I am not sh*t anymore, I back it. I think I am not the best player in my team, but I am not that bad I do not deserve that spot anymore. Everyone has a role, and I fit my role. If my role is one tapping and tilting the rest of the team, then I f*cking take it mate, that is how we won versus Coalesce.
I used to be sh*t. But when I got the chance to prove myself in Ruby League and I was getting to play with good players, people started to realise I wasn’t sh*t. I got to back myself, I am not sh*t anymore, I back it. I think I am not the best player in my team, but I am not that bad I do not deserve that spot anymore.
What do you have to do to make people respect you more?
There is nothing, I could win a LAN and people would say “Damn UKCS is over, ghil just won a LAN.” I don’t care. If that is how it goes, I like that, I like having that aura about me that I will tilt people. If I tilt people because I kill them, that is an extra advantage for my team and I will take it any day of the week.
Finally, I haven’t seen you in a team for a while. Would you want to play in team Counter-Strike again?
Definitely. I have never teamed a LAN. I was meant to team a LAN once but we had to get stand-ins and it turned into a mix. I would like to team a LAN, I finish uni really soon and I will have loads of free time to do it. But looking at the scene and looking at teams, there isn’t anywhere to slot me in. If I was to put a LFT post, I don’t think I would be able to go to a UK team. Realistically, I would only look to play in a UK team. LAN drives me to play CS, it is the only reason I still play, if there was no LAN, I would have quit ages ago.
If someone messaged me tomorrow and was a decent team, I would say yes to a trial. I have trailled for teams recently, but there are not a lot of opportunities in the scene right now. All the good teams are getting a lot better, but are very closed and are not looking to make roster changes. Then there are just teamless people who are not sure if they want to build a team. There are not as many opportunities now as when I started.
There are not as many opportunities now as when I started.
