Slingshot Readers,

We NEED your support. More specifically, the author of this article needs your support. If you've been enjoying our content, you know that a lot of work goes into our stories and although it may be a work of passion, writers gotta eat. If just half our readers gave 1 DOLLAR a month, one measly dollar, we could fund all the work from StuChiu, DeKay, Emily, Andrew (and even Vince). If you contribute 5 DOLLARS a month, we invite you to join our Discord and hang with the team. We wouldn't bother you like this if we didn't need your help and you can feel good knowing that 100% of your donation goes to the writers. We'd really appreciate your support. After all, you're what makes all this happen. Learn more

DeKay mailbag: Post-Major shuffle predictions, nicest behind-the-scenes people, Mayweather/McGregor

By Jarek "DeKay" Lewis
DeKay answers reader questions about the post-Major shuffle and nicest people behind the scenes.
The latest edition of DeKay's Mailbag touches on post-Major shuffle predictions and the best CS:GO people behind the scenes.

ESL One Cologne just finished, the PGL Krakow Major is right around the corner (as is the post-Major shuffle), and it’s the perfect time to answer more of your questions. So with that, here’s the second DeKay Mailbag (and you can read the first one here). (Have a question for a future mailbag? Send them to me on Twitter or via email at dekaycs@gmail.com.)

Q: What do you know about the upcoming CIS shuffle, or how do you think the teams will look once it’s settled?

I’ve only heard rumors and nothing remotely final. As we go through these roster move questions in the mailbag, keep in mind that we have a significant amount of time following the Major for teams to make changes. If I had to guess, Na’Vi will attempt to recruit some sort of in-game leader. Ange1 and blade are two I would consider.

Q: Mayweather or McGregor?

I love watching Mystic Mac fight, but I have to go with common sense here. Floyd will play it safe and make it look competitive in the early rounds before making Conor look like a fool. I think it goes the distance and ends up being an extremely boring 12 rounds.

Q: What group stage and/or seeding system is best in terms of finding the best team at any given event?

There isn’t one superior system in place at the moment. I would like to see mid-tournament seeding added to Swiss and see how that plays out. I personally prefer GSL or any other system that has best-of-three deciders. Hopefully we can reach a nice balance of formats so things stay volatile.

Q: What would be your ideal fix for Optic?

Tarik in-game leading won’t last long, and their time is limited with a talent like Mixwell. The best option for them would be adding a true leader. In a perfect world they grab a player like Hunden or Snappi, but a more realistic approach would be FNS or Daps. I expect them to make a roster move sooner rather than later, but there aren’t really many options unless they break out the checkbook.

Q: Do you ever face a dilemma when you have a story at hand that has been acquired by unlawful means? For (example), hacked chats, etc that are sent to you?

https://twitter.com/jo3daking/status/884489613477367808

I’ve never been approached with information that was obtained due to a hack, as far as I’m aware, to be clear. If the time comes, I’m lucky there’s a pretty detailed resource available that would help me make that decision, and I think I would have to make an objective decision based on the subject matter.

Q: Chances of some kind of NA shuffle after the major or Cologne?

https://twitter.com/Defishensee/status/882730142832918528

This is only a guess, but I only expect a roster move with CLG and OpTic. I would be surprised if Cloud9 or Team Liquid made a move. There will obviously be a few changes farther down the pipeline, per usual.

Q: If Renegades breaks up today, what teams would you like to see each player to go to?

There are only two players I’d like to see move to a North American team: Nifty and jks. Nifty is a young, underrated in-game leader teams like OpTic could definitely use. He is extremely intelligent and has a great opportunity to impress if he keeps up the hard work. Jks would be a perfect replacement for Shroud.

Q: What do FaZe need to do to beat SK in a Bo3/Bo5? Karrigan has never beat SK in a Bo3. FaZe was close at ECS though (2 match points.)

FaZe needs to keep making semifinals and finals. Eventually they’ll sneak one by. No team is immortal. They have such tremendous firepower with Rain in good form and they aren’t making any critical mistake. I think it’s more or less SK playing out of their minds at the moment. If FaZe stays hungry, it will happen.

Q: Do you think PGL should drop giving “drops” to viewers to combat people just tuning in for the drops and not actually watching the games?

I don’t think it’s up to PGL. I’m almost certain that is Valve’s decision.

Q: What would have happened when Fnatic stayed together after ELEAGUE Season 1?

More mediocre play and terrible player attitudes. Forcing them to remain together could have killed relationships. They’d also still be wondering right now if the grass is greener on the other side. I don’t necessarily think that things would be better at this point if they hadn’t given the shuffle a try.

Q: Thoughts on Polish scene if VP don’t get out of their slump? Pasha said it didn’t look good for them. Shuffle incoming, maybe?

https://twitter.com/Sohnsyy/status/882995124938182660

Trying to predict what Virtus.pro will do is borderline impossible, so I won’t even try. They really need to make the playoffs in Krakow, though.

Q: You have probably already answered this. But how much did the AWP nerf affect CS:GO’s meta. And do you think AWPers are coming back?

The AWP nerf affected CS:GO tremendously. I don’t agree with how significant movement speed was reduced, even though I felt some sort of nerf was justified. I think the most dominant players are reaching the ceiling of how impactful an AWPer can truly be. KennyS is as good as he’s ever been post-nerf, but we will never see that same dominance again. The nerf is just too limiting.

Q: Who are the nicest people behind the scenes?

I can only comment based on the people I have met personally. “Nice” is pretty subjective, but I’ll give you a small list of the people I have enjoyed interacting with.

Players: n0thing, apEX and Hiko

Talent: Pretty much all of them, but if I had to name one it would be Anders.

Non-player or Talent: Sam “Didn’t ‘appen” Davies and SirScoots

Q: Who are your sources?

https://twitter.com/FuseReflex/status/882727707192303616

HLTV, Twitter and Reddit.

Q: What do you think is better in today’s T-side systems: a setup system with changing every time, or having a set default that part 1

This is a team dependent question. If it’s FaZe, I love the Karrigan default. If it’s Astralis, I love the gla1ve execute.

Q: Is there any solid proof you heard of that Tier 1 players have been/are cheating?

I’ve been passed along a ton of different information thus far in my time with Counter-Strike, but players cheating isn’t one of them. No one has ever approached me and I’m sure it will remain that way. That doesn’t mean it isn’t happening, but I personally don’t think anyone cheats at the highest level of Counter-Strike right now.

Q: How likely is Fnatic to stick together if they have another poor performance at the major?

I’d say unlikely. Just because this team got back together six months ago doesn’t mean they won’t make a change. If they do, I think it’s a small change. I expect them to make the playoffs, though.

Q: Pineapple on pizza, yes or no?

FUCK no.

Q: After TL disappointed at the major, what flaws do you see in them as a team? If it’s just player performance at fault, is there a change needed?

https://twitter.com/Jacob___Crum/status/884511233365422081

They have firepower, consistent fraggers and proven in-game leader. I think they lack AWP dominance and a map pool. JDM can make it work here and there, but he can’t seem to explode during an entire best-of three match. I don’t know if that’s fixable, though. Their map pool has improved, but they need to lock down another map to start getting lethal. Unfortunately, they will miss the Major so we’ll have to wait a while to see it. If the passion and desire to improve remains, they could get really deadly later in the year. I don’t think they need a roster move right now.

Q: Do you think C9 can make it of groups? Or will they go back to being inconsistent?

We have no reason to believe they will all the sudden be consistent with this lineup. Skadoodle looks great, but you just can’t count on Shroud indefinitely. If history is an example, they will struggle to make it out of groups.

More

0 COMMENTS

Leave a Reply