DAVEY: “We have to keep pushing Valve”

The peak of 2016 for you was probably MLG Columbus, walk me through that.

We went to the Minor and almost got knocked out by an IM team, we were really slow starters. We ended up making it through the groups to play OpTic in a BO3, and got really lucky with the map draws.  Then we played Selfless in the finals and koosta just shit all over us, it was the best LAN performance I’ve ever had against me.  So we didn’t even qualify for the Major Qualifier, and then three days before it we get an email from Valve because The MongolZ had visa issues.  They had to ask Chinese teams and Australian teams first, but they were also unable to go.  At the Qualifier itself we beat CLG on Cache, and Vexed on Mirage - the score was 16-7 but a bunch of rounds came down to 2v2s.  We got lucky a whole bunch of times in a row, basically.

Following the Major was when Splyce experimented with the international roster, what were some of the issues you ran into i.e. communication?

There definitely were some problems, maybe because everyone was from different places, cultural differences were some players didn’t get along.  Personality conflicts were actually the biggest problem with that team. There were communications problems too, but every team has communication problems, I swear it is just the English language’s fault. Other languages are so much more concise, English is so complicated.

After parting ways with Splyce you joined up with the eUnited Premier squad, was that a difficult transition coming from Pro?

No, because I had Pro offers at the time, and honestly after talking to the owner and manager of eUnited I liked their business plan and the team, and I also thought we would be good enough to make Pro League. I didn’t want to play for a lower tier professional team with an organization that I didn’t really believe in.

Back to the present, you’re here with a mix featuring swag, what are your expectations for the event?

I think we should win it, we have the team with the most firepower.  Obviously there are teams here that are way more practiced, so we have to get a little lucky with the map veto.  The gameplan is to win with our skill more than anything.

What are your thoughts ESL unbanning ex-iBUYPOWER and the other players?

I think its a good move by ESL, its about time.  But I think it is kind of irrelevant from a competitive point of view.  Its good that swag can play in Pro League, but he can never be a world champion, right now.  So I until Valve unban them, and other events like ELEAGUE unban them, even though this is a good start, we still have to keep pushing Valve to repeal these bans.

What are your thoughts on Valve as a publisher?

I think they keep a good balance between helping the game and being hands-off, they leave a lot up to tournament organizers.  Every now and then they do something like the round time change.  I do wish that Counter-Strike got the attention that Dota gets, it always seems that Counter-Strike is like the stepchild.

Another controversial change was the coaching change, which has just resurfaced after the Major.

I think when they made the change it made sense, they believe the role of in-game leader should be filled by a player.  But it would be good now for them to allow coaches to talk during freezetime, which is something I thought even when the original change was made.

Currently a free agent, DAVEY will be looking to impress on LAN over the rest of the weekend. Ownage will resume play in the bracket stage of the tournament.