STYKO: "[My new role] feels like I'm going to school every day, trying to understand a new subject"

We had a chat with Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk after Cloud9 barely survived elimination in round three of the New Legends stage, where Winstrike nearly came back from a 3-13 deficit on Inferno.

Cloud9's match in the 0-2 pool ended up going to overtime despite the North American side having a 13-3 lead at one point on the Terrorist side of Inferno, so we asked STYKO about their problems on the offense and how they managed to close it out after all.

We also went back to ask about the Slovakian's performance against HellRaisers, as well as his new play-making role in Cloud9 and how he is getting used to it:

As long as it's fresh in your mind, let's get into your match against Winstrike. You obviously should have closed that earlier, so what went wrong on the Terrorist side?

I obviously have to watch in replay and everything, but it feels like we were struggling with taking banana control as T side, whereas in practice we didn't really have that problem. We didn't know how to play exactly, but then when it came to the point where we were 14-14, we actually decided to take mid first instead of banana, and that was a clutch call because off of that we could split B or split A.

The first attempt at a B split didn't go well because I think they stacked B one round, where we just didn't expect them to be three B without putting any pressure. That was a pretty emo round, but in hindsight, it helped us because then they were really afraid of B splits and we took A pretty much easily, we wrapped the site really well. It just came to the point where we didn't really know what to do without banana control, but we figured it out before overtime started, luckily.

There was a lot of frustration during the last rounds and you guys did not look happy after the match whatsoever, what was the end of the match like in terms of morale, communication...?

Whenever you're winning 12-3 and the game ends up being in overtime, you're not really happy when you win because it's supposed to be much cleaner. Especially on T side we won the pistol round, as well, so we then just lost the eco...

That was the reason we were not really happy, and, obviously, we are here to make a stage appearance, but we're struggling in a 0-2 match, so this is not how we expected the tournament to go for us, that's why we maybe aren't looking that confident. But, in fact, we're still fighting and we don't give up.

Touching back on yesterday's match against HellRaisers and particularly your amazing performance there, was there any special feel to it? What made you go off like that?

HellRaisers made the mistake that they started on T side, they obviously didn't know we were prepared for them, we had a good game plan and we knew their tendencies on the map, what they like to do. Our coach and Golden did a really good job, giving information about what they like to do. On the CT side, we knew what counters them and I used Skadoodle on A to my advantage in basically every situation, I told him to hold certain spots where I was trying to make a play, and that's what Cloud9 wants me to do.

They give me space to make a play, so that's why I felt really confident on the CT side, and on the T side, I felt really on point that game. I was getting frags I probably shouldn't be getting, but that's Counter-Strike. Then it came to the point where I couldn't hit a shot and bondik had an insane 4K where I should have killed him in hindsight. It's Counter-Strike, every round is different, and I just felt on point yesterday.

That sounds like a very different role compared to how you played in mousesports, how would you compare the two?

On certain, on certain spots, they give me so much space that I feel like a playmaker. And since I turned pro in CS, I have never been able to be in that role, so it's quite a learning process for me. I'm trying my best to copy playstyles of other players that are in the same spots as me.

It's really new, I sometimes don't communicate to my teammates what I want from them, that's why it feels like I'm doing some YOLO plays or whatever, but, in fact, I'm still learning. It's really hard for me to say if the role fits me better than the supportive role that I was doing in mousesports, but I'm just working hard on this new kind of playstyle.

Also, we are playing more Swedish Counter-Strike, which I have trouble getting into. I'm having one-on-one coaching sessions with Golden, with valens, they try to teach me stuff that is obvious to them but not for me. I'm on a completely different page when it comes to Counter-Strike right now. It's like every day I wake up and it feels like I'm going to school and I'm trying to understand a new subject, it's completely different.

What about the American players, how are they getting used to Golden and his playstyle?

It's mostly about playmakers getting used to this playstyle, which is me and autimatic. But autimatic really understand the game well, they feel the game the same way with Golden, autimatic is on the right path, learning this, but I'm not. I wasn't used to playing like this in my previous teams and I've been stuck on those teams for two years, or three years... That's why. It feels like I know nothing about Counter-Strike right now.

What do you think you will talk about later today and in preparation for tomorrow, what will be the focus?

The good thing is that we already figured out why our T side sucked, that we should switch the tempo between banana takes and mid takes. Other than that, we had some frustration going on with the communication.

We got unlucky - I feel like it was unlucky, but maybe when I watch the demo with the guys, it's going to be obvious why we lost the round, but I feel like we got caught in a couple of bad timings and there's not really much you can do. Sometimes it happens, but, obviously, we didn't play well. I would just say it's mostly communication that we should fix, and getting on the same page in clutch situations.

More interviews from the New Legends stage:

Day 2
YNk: "This game was just so hard because mousesports saved so much"
Edward: "If you feel calm during the whole game, the comeback is real, always"
nitr0: "I'm hoping we get Astralis, we can definitely put up a good show and a good fight"
Xizt: "Every loss is going to take a toll on your confidence, we had to slowly build it up again"
LEGIJA: "Before the Major, we said 'We will not practice to make Legends, we're here to f****** win'"

Day 1
Xyp9x: "Against Na`Vi and especially on Inferno, it's all mind games"
REZ: "Not playing the Minor means a lot to me, I have played so many"

Media Day
JW: "We considered twist after the early StarLadder exit; he wasn’t really interested"
jmqa: "After the last Major, our practice wasn't great, we didn't have good conditions"
flamie: "We still want to play Dust2 because no one is playing it well"
SmithZz: "We aren't completely ready at the moment, but we are getting there"
RUSH: "Hopefully, after the Major, our ranking will reflect how we actually are as a team"