reck: "it's hard not to want to play with [Swisher]"

It's not often that you find a 20-year-old star player to be the supporting pillar of a team like M80. Ethan "reck" Serrano is much more than you're average player. The soft spoken Californian has been playing at the top level for years now, but M80 is his first true opportunity at the top level where he's been able to show the world that he is just as good as everyone else.

reck spoke with Dust2.us while at ESL Challenger Atlanta about his journey from being so young, to what it's like being the "silent workhorse" of M80, sticking close by Michael "Swisher" Schmid, and learning from the foreign influence in the squad. You can catch the full interview below while snippets from the conversation are here in the article.

How do you feel about your development as a pro, you know, since starting at the age of 14 or 15 years old

I'd say my pro career really started with M80. I'd say right before this was ATK, and then before that, it was just kind of like pug mix teams. A lot of development happened within M80. ATK helped a little bit just for my professionalism, just learning macro plays of the game, but on M80, I've learned pretty much all my pro career that I'd counted as through M80. So through the coaches who the players we've been through with WolfY and maNkz and. I've learned everything through M80 and am proud of where I am today. I think I still have a lot to learn and a lot to prove.

You coach, dephh, has called you a "silent workhorse" of the team. What do you think about that assessment?

I say mainly it came from just playing the game so much, PUGs, just not letting anything get in my head, whether it be just dumb players I'm playing with or just things of that nature. So I developed that into my game and just realized it helps me perform, so like regardless of the noise of the stage I'm playing on or the weight of the match, I try just always to keep calm. I don't even think about anything other than the round I'm playing, the game I'm playing, or the opponents I'm playing. And that's just been my nature. I haven't been one to be loud in general anyway, even as a kid, so it's just kind of my nature, and I developed that into my game, and I think it helps me, for sure.

You've played with Swisher quite a few times in your career. Can you talk about that relationship and how you keep sticking together?

I think everyone knows he's just a good worker and he's a good teammate. He's a good friend. Everything. So obviously, it was a pleasure to come play with him. I think I started playing with him at a LAN in California... it was an Oakland LAN, I believe, or maybe not. It was one of the lands in California, and yeah, ever since then, just like I said, he's just a good teammate, worker, good friend, so it's hard not to want to play with him.

M80 is scheduled to face off against Wildcard later on today in the first round of matches.