SUPER EVIL GANG flow on ECL: "The level of preparation is increased tenfold from Advanced"

SUPER EVIL GANG was knocked out of Fragadelphia x Block 2025 in the Round of 16 after a 2-0 loss to Marsborne, but they thrived in The Big L, Frag's side tournament, and took $2,000 home by defeating Supernova Comets.

Dust2.us' Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore interviewed Connor "flow" M., who is SEG's rookie, and discussed their campaign in The Big L, how he became a professional player, and his thoughts in his first ESL Challenger League season.

The full interview can be found below on YouTube, with key snippets underneath.

So, winning The Big L, your first significant LAN win outside of some Rowans. How are you feeling about winning here on the big stage?

It was pretty fun, it's just fun getting a whole day of Counter-Strike in, waking up at 9AM and playing till the end of the day, tiring. But I'm glad we got it done and glad that it's over, kind of.

In terms of the level of competition, do you think everyone was serious because of the amount of money on the line or was it a bit scrimmy, a bit kind of unserious at times? What's the mood of The Big L tournament?

To start in the groups, it was relatively easy going, you had a few teams that were pulling out everything they could to get wins. But, when it got to the playoffs, you could see the teams really wanted to win whether it was a proven [ESEA] Advanced team or a team that just got promoted to Advanced, they were really giving it their all.

But, in order for us to stay through it, we were really light-hearted, joking a lot around, and just having fun as much as we could.

Despite being in ECL this season, you're a relatively unknown quantity in the league, only boasting 30 matches on HLTV and only really dating back to late 2023 or early 2024. What can you tell me about your origins as a competitive player?

I grew up playing with a lot of really good players when I started pugging, when I was like 14 or 15 years old. I just played the game for fun.

Grim, for example, [was one of these players] and [all the] learning [I got from those guys helped me] get a really good understanding of the game. Moving forward, I eventually had time open up and could pursue the game and get into competition pretty quickly.

I got lucky that I got an opportunity to play with these guys on Alter Iron and we made ECL in my first season of Advanced. And, it's kind of just gone on from there and I've just taken on the responsibilities and the increased time.

What are your impressions so far of the Challenger League? The team has had some struggles for a variety of reasons, but more generally, what's it like to be on ECL so quickly?

It's definitely like a big step. You see the level of preparation is increased tenfold from what Advanced is, even Advanced playoffs, and you get used to getting beat down pretty hard.

It's really what you can take from the losses and trying to build on everything, and you kind of learn how to prep more efficiently and improve because it's going to be rough, especially me coming in as a rookie. You just got to do your best to get better.