malta: "Gratisfaction had heaps of impact, but we've managed to keep kicking with sterling"

We caught up with Liam "⁠malta⁠" Schembri following Grayhound's semi-final run at the ESEA MDL Season 29 Global Challenge.

The Australian team attended the event in Dallas, Texas, after their successful qualification for the Asia Minor. malta & company defeated Swole Patrol and Singularity in the group stage at the Global Challenge before losing to Kinguin in the semi-finals for a top-four finish.

Dust2.us's Collin "CarbonDogma" Davis chatted with malta to look back at Sean "⁠Gratisfaction⁠" Kaiwai's departure from Grayhound, how their new player Euan "⁠sterling⁠" Moore is settling in, what it meant to beat Renegades to qualify for the Asia Minor, and how their Global Challenge campaign went.

Let's start off by talking about your roster and losing Gratisfaction to Renegades. Can you talk us through that process?

At the time he was still AWPing and in-game leading. He is an amazing player—one of those who "has it". He has that knack for Counter-Strike. You can see it now that he is in NA FPL and he is destroying everyone. It was a huge loss for us. At the time, we were obviously quite sad that he was leaving because he is a good dude. Also, we were in a bit of a panic since we weren't sure who we were going to get.

In the end, we managed to get sterling, who has been filling in Gratisfaction's shoes really well. Sean had heaps of impact on our team, but sterling is having the same amount so it was a big loss but, in the end, we managed to keep kicking.

When you signed sterling, one of your players said that he was the best AWPer in the Oceanian scene. What are your thoughts on sterling's performance so far?

He was playing really well during his time with Legacy. He is a dedicated player, knows a lot about the game, and is a really nice guy. He fits in with us socially, which is important for us, because we live together in a house and he's one of the boys. He plays really smart CS, which is what Gratisfaction did. We didn't want a super aggressive AWPer, and sterling has the same play style as Gratisfaction, so he is a really good replacement.

Is dexter the in-game-leader now?

Yes. Dexter had that role [before], but it stressed him a lot because he was trying to finish his last semester in university. erkaSt took over for a few months while Dexter was focusing on his education. Recently, before all of our big qualifiers, Dexter finished school and started leading once again.

You beat Renegades in the upper bracket final of the Asia Minor qualifier. Was it expected? How did you feel about the victory, especially since Gratisfaction was on the other team?

Going into the game, we knew could beat them, but I don't think it was expected. We knew we were a good team and we were confident going into the match. Renegades make a lot of mistakes you can exploit. They play the kind of CS that we kind of match up really well against.

We still talk to Gratisfaction all the time and we have a group chat where we talk sh*t to each other. It was good fun beating him. He didn't take it very hard. He had a laugh and they qualified later in the competition anyway. So it didn't affect them much, but I guess it was a great motivational boost for us.

Here at the ESEA MDL S29 Global Challenge, you beat Swole Patrol and Singularity relatively closely. What are your thoughts on those matches?

Swole Patrol didn't have their full lineup so on their CT-side they were being super aggressive. They were pushing all over the map. We could have punished them harder but we didn't get much sleep the night before and I had jet-lag. I don't want to make any excuses but it is what it is. They were playing with a loose style because they didn't have their fifth. They used very basic executes and contacts on the T-side. Singularity were similar in that they were just trying to shoot heads. Against a structured team like ours, it's not a style that can win you games but they kept it close.

You lost 2-1 in your semi-final against Kinguin. Can you talk us through that game?

They had an 11-4 start on Nuke and then we let some rounds slip. We lost the pistol and the first gun rounds. We made some mistakes and lost some 5vs3s and 5vs2s. In the end, that cost us the map. It was just noob mistakes from everyone. We had a good lead on Overpass but it went to overtime. It was a bit stressful as we made some mistakes again in those last rounds. It was good to get it over the line because we definitely deserved to win that map. There were close rounds on all maps and it was a good series. It was just a bit disappointing that our mistakes were costing us the really important rounds but it is what it is.