AZR: "Australia has talented riflers that don't get experience overseas, TALON can give them that"

The Australian captain is looking forward to developing Oceanic Counter-Strike once again.

Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward is a player synonymous with Australian Counter-Strike, having represented his country at eight Majors under Vox Eminor and Renegades.

Since 2019, however, he hasn't appeared at a tier-one event, and the 31-year-old admits that he began wondering if he wants to continue playing CS after a short-lived period in Sprout at the start of 2023.

He wasn't done with the game yet, however, as Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage's benching meant the duo was back on the FACEIT grind, which AZR mentioned as a big help in regaining motivation. TALON then presented him a chance to build a new Oceanic roster with a bit of European flair, and the Australian IGL has taken on the task of preparing the team for the Shanghai Major qualification cycle.

Before TALON take part in the Australian open qualifiers, AZR spoke to HLTV to discuss his ill-fated Sprout stint, his time away from the game, and how the TALON roster came to be.

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You are a part of the new TALON roster as the IGL. How does it feel to be back on the grind?

It feels pretty good. I have been away from the game quite a lot during these last couple of years. I had a brief stint with Sprout, which didn't last too long, and then after that, I was wondering if I still wanted to play CS. Then jks got benched at the start of the year, so I just started playing more Counter-Strike with him. So yeah, I started playing a lot more Counter-Strike, wanted to get back into it, and here we are.

You lasted 45 days on your last team, Sprout. What went wrong there, and did that stint impact your chances of returning to the server?

It definitely impacted my self-confidence. Also, I'm assuming orgs put my name further down the list or something like that after it (laughs). But Sprout had quite a lot of internal issues at the time, I would say. There were a lot of issues with the players, roles, and stuff like that.

But I think for myself, the main thing was that I just wasn't ready to play yet. As I said before, in between the last team and Sprout, I wasn't playing much CS at all, to be honest. Coming into the team and having to learn different maps and strats, it was a lot to take in a month before an RMR. At the end of the day, I just wasn't ready at that time.

Your last match was over a year ago in CS:GO. How does it feel to return to a new game after more than a year?

I'm feeling pretty good. Obviously, CSGO and CS2 are similar games, but it definitely brings a breath of fresh air after playing the same game for ten years. Being able to play a lot and now playing with the team feels really good. Only positive thoughts on everything so far.

How much input did you have in putting this TALON roster together?

I had a lot of input on picking the roster. Originally, we weren't sure if we wanted to go with an Oceanic core or if we wanted to be in Europe. But it just turned into the fact that we should stick to Australian roots, go with the Oceanic core, and try to build up the scene.

Australia has some talented riflers, but they don't get the chance to go overseas and get more experience. So now we and TALON can give that to these younger players. Being able to practice in Europe is also a big thing.

One of these talented riflers is nettik, who has been putting up crazy numbers in the regional scene. What is he like?

I've enjoyed my time with Corey so far. He definitely has a lot of skill, and he has a bright future ahead of him. Obviously, there are things that he can fix, just like anyone else in the game, and he has a lot of potential for sure. If he improves on small things about his game, I think the sky's the limit for him.

mhL will be taking the AWP role. Is his addition down to Oceania not having a standout sniper?

From the get-go, I always wanted us to have a European AWPer. In Australia, and I'm not trying to talk down any AWPers in the region, but I feel like we just haven't had some crazy, consistent AWPers coming out of Australia. We've always had pretty good riflers, but I think we lack AWPers in Australia. So that was why I wanted to get a European player in the team. He was benched, and Daniel [djL] had a conversation with him, and then it just went from there.

Another EU component is djL. He comes in with a huge amount of experience, so how has it been working with him and meshing your philosophies?

The main thing for me when looking for the coach was making sure that we see things the same way and want to create a good culture for the team, and we see eye-to-eye with that. We had good conversations before actually signing. I enjoy having Daniel as the coach right now, and everything's been going pretty smoothly so far. I'm looking forward to building a good relationship with him.

What are the expectations for the team? The Major was already mentioned as a huge milestone, so is that the be-all and end-all?

Our short-term goal would definitely be making the Major. Every team wants to be at the Major, and it's no different for us. Right now, we're bootcamping in Europe to make sure we can go into the Oceanic qualifier in the best form we can.

It's not much time, to be honest. We started practice maybe two and a half weeks ago, so it's a bit strenuous, but from the results we had in the first couple of days of practice to now, I think we're going up at a steady rate, and it's looking good.

You said you are currently in Europe. Is the plan to stay here for most of the year?

I think so. For us to get better as a team, we want to have as much time as possible in Europe. And I'm thankful to TALON, as they're accepting of that. They have a facility here, so the guys can come here and play in Europe. Australian practice isn't the greatest, so this is the biggest thing that can make us better.

Having the European practice, whether we're versing tier-1, tier-2, or tier-3 teams, it's always good practice. You're always going to learn something, and these teams are going to punish you. So we're just learning a lot together as a team.

You mentioned practice in Australia not being the best. How do you feel about the scene in general?

The scene probably dipped a lot after COVID in general, with orgs backing out after losing money in Oceanic CS. So now, with FlyQuest and TALON investing in Australian and Oceanic Counter-Strike, it's just amazing.

It's similar to back in the day, maybe like 2018, 2019, when we had us, Renegades, 100 Thieves, or whatever you want to call us, and then we also had another salaried team competing. On top of that, we had all these other little orgs that could still pay salaries to teams. Hopefully, we're going back to the way it was, and eventually, that will improve the scene even more. I'm thankful to TALON for investing in the Australian scene, for sure.

Asian CS has been on the rise lately. The region got an extra Major spot as a result, but how would you describe your chances of making it to Shanghai?

I'd say the teams are getting better in Asia and Oceania. Especially now, with The MongolZ really showing that they can be a force to be reckoned with, you can't underestimate them at any tournament now. They even won a tournament not long ago, so that's great for Asian CS in general.

In terms of qualifying for the Major, we have to be realistic. We've only been a team now for three weeks or so, but the goal is to try and qualify. First off, we have to start with the RMR qualifier in Australia. If we qualify for the RMR, then we'll have another two months or so to actually prepare, have more practice, and be able to build on what we're building now. So the goal is to be there, for sure.

Talking about open qualifiers. Asia is the only region to keep them for his Major cycle. Do you have any thoughts on that?

It sucks for the Europeans, right? There were a lot of organizations that have backed out because they don't have the chance to have that open qualifier, which sucks. It's good for Oceania and Asia that we still have these qualifiers, but over there, I can't say it's too great.

I would have preferred if Valve just kept the open qualifiers because I think it was awesome. Last Major, you had ECSTATIC, who started in the open qualifiers and made it all the way to the Major. That's a sick story. You can just get five random people, get in there, and maybe some magic happens.