CompLexity’s Hiko Interviewed: “To compare European players versus North-American players seems a bit off”

Hey Spencer, hope you're having a nice day, how have you been lately?

I’ve been doing quite well. The weather has finally made the transition to summer and when I get the chance I like to shoot a few golf balls on the driving range with my Pops.

We most recently saw you at SoCAL revival LAN, tell us about the atmosphere going to that LAN. Did you have to adapt to it after CS:GO has very much professionalized a lot of the tournaments in the world?

We went into the tournament with our game faces very much on, regardless of the size of the venue itself or the lack of name branded competition. The tournament organizers and administration of GamersNET are very professional and I believe in due time their efforts and events will be the cornerstone of the “revival” of North American CS:GO. Shoutout to Jimmy Whisenhunt for his serious dedication!

What sets your team apart from the others in North America that allows you to pose such an international threat while others seem to lag behind? What factors contribute in your practice regime or play style to this skill difference between coL and the rest?

Our team is set apart by one very simple concept, experience. Everyone on our line-up has played this game on LAN enough times now both domestically and internationally that we pose a serious threat to the teams that we compete against. Even individually we posses the talents to make big plays when they present themselves which subsequently is what makes our play style unique.

We could get into the dynamics of linear and non-linear play styles in Counter-Strike but I believe you get the point... our practice regime; on the other hand, I can simply classify it as our biggest challenge. There have been nights where there are literally no scrimmages on the client available. When we do practice we find ourselves finding lower tier teams and/or pugs who want to just run little to no strategy against us which does what? Allow us to practice our aim? Regardless the bootcamp process usually allows us to clean up our act prior to a LAN performance.

This season's ESEA turn-out from Europe might turn out to be a bit disappointing with teams pulling out due to replacements and so forth. What are your thoughts on the fact that practically the only consistent tournament that regularly brings Europeans over to the US is upholding these rules, and how do you feel it will impact the tournament?

Good for ESEA. Willing to uphold their rules is something I can applaud the league on due to the fact that over the history of e-Sports there have been plenty of leagues that have bent their rules for top names to attend. In contrast, however, it does somewhat hurt the scene and the community by not allowing these teams to compete. Maybe in the future if there were some sort of rule allowing only one roster change going into the LAN or some sort seeding penalty for a roster change. I’ll leave that to the “experts” to figure out.

In a recent interview Lurppis said that North American in-gamers are still lacking behind their European counterparts. How do you feel about that after easily placing among the best in Europe several times over?

The truth is that to compare European players versus North-American players seems a bit off. If you take into consideration the differences in society and technology (ie. pings, events, proximity) it’s obvious that Europeans SHOULD be well ahead of North American players, in theory of course. We would like to think that our individual experience and dedication are the true representation of our skill as North American players.

To put European events in perspective for you, for a European team to attend a European tournament is about $2000-3000. For us to attend it’s at MINIMUM $15,000. It wouldn’t be bad if there were enough tournaments both domestically and internationally for us, but unfortunately most tournaments deemed “worthy” enough to go to are 90% European. It’s not impossible to catch up but damn those Swedes know what they’re doing or so it seems… : )

There seems to always have been a massive skill gap between the numbers 1 and 2 (coL, IBP) in the US and the rest, while Europe has been incredibly close for the last year or so. How do you see the NA scene progress given the fact that there is such a massive difference in skill from top to bottom in the pro scene?

Obviously the roster shake ups between iBP and coL have done nothing but add fuel to that fire. The massive skill gap generally comes from a teams inability to nail down their inconsistencies or flaws in a timely manner. A roster change isn’t always good but it isn’t always bad.

For iBP, I feel it was about time for their roster change. North American CS has always had a bad reputation for teams having “fire sales” in an attempt to achieve success after event failures. The one bit of progress I feel NA CS:GO is making is roster stability, however I hope I haven’t spoken too soon seeing how the online seasons have ended or are ending very shortly.

ESL Came to NA recently, announcing they'll be doing regular CS:GO stuff too, albeit online. What is your hope that ESL will do to promote CS:GO and bring more tournaments to the North American scene?

Hopefully the ESL brand will continue to uphold their strong traditions and deep e-Sports roots here in North America. Obviously what America needs are large open tournaments. ESEA is structured to play out on LAN the way it is but what America has been lacking for sometime since the death of CPL is an open event that teams from the all over can travel and compete in. Obviously the logistics of this are the most limiting factor as trying to find a group or company big enough to get behind it would, in my mind, be the biggest challenge.

Give a little prognosis for the next event you'll be attending?

Going into ESEA LAN you can expect to see us give it our all, just as we have with every competition we have ever played in. There have been a lot of rumours circling around the community about us “throwing for skins” or my favorite that “it’s online and coL only cares about LAN.” These things are taken with a grain of salt by us but for our fans and followers to believe that is very, very foolish. We hate to have had the dismal season in ESEA and are not by anymore okay with our third place finishing in CEVO.

The final words are all yours!

I’d like to take this time to say thanks to those who have followed us through the thick and thin and stuck by us. Here’s one huge shout out to Tres “stunna” Saranthus for his continued dedication and hustle. I’d also like thank our sponsors for their overwhelming support: SoundBlaster, CyberPowerPC, Newegg.com, DxRacer, L337 Gaming, Twitch.tv, and Pwnit Wear. Oh and as always thanks to my Mom and the HikoHomies!

Hiko has a number of official channels through which you can follow him: @coL_Hiko, fb.com/OfficialHiko, Twitch.tv/HikoTV and YouTube.com/user/OfficialHiko.

Pictures property of: ESL, Complexity Gaming, Spencer Martin