NBK- on drive to keep playing: "It's as simple as this: I love this game way too much"

NBK- has put his nose back to the Counter-Strike grindstone guiding young talents on GenOne.

GenOne came together mere weeks ago ahead of their trip to DraculaN Season 2, yet the mix of experience and young talent was enough for the French side to enjoy an impressive 5-6th finish in Romania, and take down FlyQuest in the process.

Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt told HLTV that considering their lack of practice, the result was one they were pleased with. "There are just maps that we barely practiced," he admitted, saying they only practiced "for ten days."

"Before the tournament if you told us we would come here and win three BO3s, play tight against top 30 teams with the players that we have, the experience we have together, and our practice time, we would take it any day of the week."

In GenOne, NBK- is putting his considerable experience to use in guiding some of the young talents on their roster, hoping to help them become better players. "We try to make them autonomous, we want them to think about the game. Not necessarily giving them the solutions straight up, but have them think in a way of Counter-Strike that is more advanced than what they had before."

Fresh from GenOne's campaign in Bucharest, NBK- spoke to HLTV to discuss his team's efforts, how they came together, and what drives him to continue playing CS after over 15 years.

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You just lost in a pretty tight fashion to Passion UA and unfortunately got eliminated from DraculaN. It was a really close game and it felt like you guys had a lot of opportunities, so try and tell me a bit about what's going through your mind right now?

Frustration mainly, because especially on Ancient, we just know that we win the game straight up when you start and go 9-3 on T-side, and you're in full control. Then you go into CT and you start being very chaotic in freezetime, and there's a lot of inexperience from the team.

We just practiced for ten days, two weeks together, playing six different maps and trying to win BO3s, not being super focused. A lot of these things in these moments come down to individual responsibilities, calmness, and experience; we just lacked a little bit of that in the end. That Ancient was won, especially the 3v1 in overtime obviously, but even in regulation we should have closed it.

There are just maps that we barely practiced, like for example, Inferno, we played once on it, so we just completely YOLO'd it and it worked out. We just need to find that balance a bit more. Before the tournament if you told us we would come here and win three BO3s, play tight against top 30 teams with the players that we have, the experience we have together, and our practice time, we would take it any day of the week. So we're just gonna chill a bit and be satisfied with it.

Can you tell me a little bit more about this project and how it came together?

To be fair, it's mostly wasiNk, our coach. He was the coach of 3DMAX, and he kind of put the project together. I was not necessarily trying to make something work, I was just playing deathmatch and FACEIT, but he just wrote me and we started pulling things together, talking about players, what we want to do, and how we can approach the game. We started clicking pretty well; from that point on we just talked about the players, we asked everybody, and everybody was down for it.

Then we also had the opportunity with GenOne and KRL behind to have a small contract in order to go to LANs such as this one. On the second day of practice we got told, 'Hey by the way, you're going to LAN in ten days.' It was a surprise, but it was very cool, because that's the kind of thing that we want to do, especially to get the VRS ranking and stuff.

Everybody got contacted through our coach and got together. Things have been clicking pretty well. A lot of work, everybody wants to work, which is primordial, and then it's just about translating that more and more and creating those habits. We are playing against teams that have been together for months and months, and some years, so we just have to get that sharpness a bit more. We're gonna build up on that, we're working a lot, and I have no doubt that we're gonna go much further.

Can you throw a little bit more light on some of the younger guys in the team? You have Brooxsy, you have Chucky, who are not that well known to the broader scene. Playing with those youngsters, does it help your motivation to some extent?

To a degree yeah, especially in the fact that they are very interested in careers in Counter-Strike. When we started I tried to put in a gameplan that are more slowly paced, controlling the game and honing gambles, having movement on CT side, where everybody needs to be proactive, talking a lot, using utility and doing plays. It was something they were not necessarily used to in past teams.

You have Brooxsy that we put in more star player roles, who is very interested in the game and very emotional as well, he's very good when you manage to put him in good conditions, he's going to be a monster at the end of the day. That's what we want from him, and Djoko and me kinda surrounding that. Same with Chucky.

They are players that we are trying to guide, and especially we try to make them autonomous, we want them to think about the game. Not necessarily giving them the solutions straight up, but have them think in a way of Counter-Strike that is more advanced than what they had before, and to have that together in the same direction.

They are extremely talented, if you look at their ratings over the past six months I think they are at 1.15 or 1.20, which is very big. It's motivating to teach and talk about stuff, and everybody is really willing to go in the same direction, they are very big actors for that. We love Counter-Strike at the end of the day, that's a big part, and they do too, so they are very hungry. It's a pleasure to be able to share that with them and work together to go forward.

What is the thing that keeps you going so much? Because I could see some of the emotion out of you during some of the games, it doesn't feel like you care about the scale of the LAN or circumstances. You are enjoying yourself and every time you are coming back with new projects and looking for more ways to stay involved.

It's the love for the game I think. First of all I have been doing it for 15 years, half of my life I have been playing this game and being competitive, so that's habit. It's just being passionate about the game whether it's good or bad. On Ancient for example I got very frustrated and emotional, I might have broken my wrist a little bit because it's pretty painful (laughs). It doesn't matter what LAN it is, what matters is winning no matter what and having that drive, which can be a double-edged sword at some point.

For me it's as simple as this: I love this game way too much, and it's all about doing it day in and day out, we put so much work into it. New people and new personalities and seeing the potential as well, I am waking up every day thinking how we can be better, and then trying to do that while having fun with it. The human aspect matters a lot more than just playing the game, doing it together and being a group together. It feels lonely without that. So just doing that every day and loving it.