Karma Xp3: "We all had the desire to play CS again"

David "Xp3" Garrido recently returned to Counter-Strike after three years in VALORANT alongside his wife and teammate Emmalee "EMUHLEET" Garrido. Coincidentally, his return came right as CS2 released, meaning the 33-year-old French player has now competed on LAN in three different versions of the game, having stood-in for Amanda "rain" Smith at Fragadelphia CS/DO this weekend.

While Karma's run was ultimately cut short, going out 0-2 in groups, Xp3 still viewed the experience positively, something he recounted to Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore in an interview. The duo also discussed Xp3's return from VALORANT, the state of CS2, and being on the same team as your wife, among other topics.

Please note that the full interview can be found below on YouTube, while the transcript has some key snippets from their conversation.

You were here standing-in for rain, as she couldn't make it. How do you feel like you did in your first LAN since 2018?

I didn't even know it was 2018, actually. I think I did alright, I felt like it was no different than it used to be, honestly. It was just a bit different because we have been playing VALORANT in the past, it's more getting back into the Counter-Strike groove. Other than that, it's fun and I enjoy playing.

What are your thoughts on CS2 as a game as someone who has played in 1.6, Source and GO?

It's going in the right direction, at least. As far as it goes, definitely, there's a need for work on it, there are a lot of things that are not really functioning right now and we have to deal with it, and the pro players have to deal with it also. Given more time, eventually, it will get there. So far, it's been much smoother transitioning to CS2 than it has ever been compared to any other versions before. I think every player that has transitioned before would say so.

You returned to CS right before CS2 came out. What motivated the ex-Dignitas core to come back to CS at this time?

It's a tough question. I think we all kind of missed Counter-Strike, that's where we all started, so that was mainly the thing. I felt we went around VALORANT and we were kind of already getting over it, I would say and we all had the desire to play CS again. We didn't expect Counter-Strike 2 to come out as shortly as right after we came back, but it was kind of good for us because that leveled everybody back to the playing field, so that helped us cut on the gaps a little bit faster, but we still have a lot of stuff to catch on.