woxic's big interview to esporin

Cloud9 player Ozgur "woxic" Eker in an interview with esporin.com refuted rumours about his toxicity, which allegedly caused the break-up with mousesports. This was previously reported by insider Guillaume "neL" Canelo, but the Turkish sniper claimed that his departure was a mutual desire of both the player and the organization.

1 – Stewie’s tweet “F*CK 10AM matches, that’s all.” became a point of debate. Do you think matches being played at “off” times is an issue or is it an aspect of the profession a pro should endure?

He’s right about that. Because the games are not always played in the morning; sometimes them being played early in the day, then in the afternoon or in the evening affects the player’s consistency. This may cause you to not be able to adapt. You may not be able to warm up or prepare yourself for the game both physically and mentally early in the morning.

2 – “Being a pro” is a thing almost every gamer dreams about. Being someone inside the scene, can you share some of the details that wouldn’t come to an outsider’s mind? About the hardships, the things you have to sacrifice, etc.

You can say it’s a cool job. However, the game you played fondly once becomes a thing of money and ambition. You have people to answer to; you may not want to play the game once you joyfully played with your friends. You might have to give up the time you would spend with your family or for yourself. You have to show up for work like someone who is working regularly. You have to play the game and tweak your life on a schedule; you may be forced to say no to a friend, to your girlfriend or to your family. Working times being one or two hours ahead of Turkey is another issue. For example, you have to practice between 12:00-22:00; after that, you feel like your head is about to explode. In short, you need to accept the fact that your personal life stays in the background during your work days. Then comes the mental side of things; if you lose your motivation or will to play, with your personal problems on top of that, you may face some very difficult times. Everyone around you has to accept this life and tag along. Yes, it is an awesome job if you are OK with all this and you think you can do it. But it is not as easy as it sounds, you have to experience it to understand.

3 –  What do you think about Cloud9’s General Manager HenryG sharing the details of the Cloud9 roster’s contracts? Even though the community response is great, some think that this act might create pressure on the players. As a player, what are your thoughts on the matter? Should other teams follow yours’ steps?

Yes, I think being transparent is better; because, if the details such as the players’ wage, purchase cost etc. are not public, this obscurity creates too much gossip. After a while, this situation bothers you as you can’t talk about it during your streams. Now, everybody knows how much we make, how much I am being paid. Every team should do this for every purchase; this determines the market trends. However, if a player is performing poorly, people would talk about his wage based on the player’s given performance; just like football.

4 – What are the differences between 2017’s woxic of HellRaisers and 2020’s woxic of Cloud9? How did you improve yourself and your gameplay?

Experience. Another language. Meeting all kinds of people and working with them. I was a novice coming into the scene back in 2017; even though I had 4-5 years of experience. Back then, I had only seen the %15 of it, given the circumstances back in Turkey. I learned how the things go, both game-wise and organization’s side, I have worked with professionals and gained experience; this made me make the right calls. If I haven’t played for HellRaisers, I would probably be the “new kid”.

5 – When Cloud9 announced they were rebuilding their roster and they would become a “colossus”, everybody expected they would be signing huge stars. Although you and ALEX fit the description, community response for mezii’s acquisition was partially negative. What are your thoughts on this? Would you say a perfect team has to be made of 5 stars or 5 players who compliment each other? 

A roster of 5 complimenting each other would be my choice; a team could underperform regardless of how many stars were signed in. When I was in HellRaisers, I was just like mezii, less experienced, even. I came a long way in 2 or 3 years and was chosen one of the best players in the world. Similar things were said about me; “I wasn’t good enough” for HellRaisers. Some were even wondering if I was good enough when I was playing for Mousesports. I think I performed past that. I wouldn’t be able to if I didn’t have the chance; why wouldn’t this be applicable for mezii?

6 – Speaking of 5 players, what do you think about the 6+ players trend Astralis started? Are you open for mid-tournament subs?

It is a formidable decision; after all, players are people, too. Just like a team is able to substitute players in basketball and football, it is valid in CS:GO. Act of substitution should be beyond a player’s ego.

7 – You have won ESL Pro League Season 10 and you played finals against FNATIC in Season 11. After your subsequent accomplishments, just as everyone was thinking you were in the top 5, things started to go sideways. What was the cause of this downfall beginning with ESL One: Road to Rio? Was it hard for you guys to concentrate, given the tournaments were being played online?

You might say that tournaments being played online was the cause of the team underperforming; though I wouldn’t say it was the only cause, it was one of them. Failure after failure, it gradually pulled us down.

8 – When you were benched from Mousesports, French reported neLendirekt stated that it was your negativity that caused this. This report was perceived as you were a toxic person by many. Even though players who knew you well argued against it, what are your remarks on the topic?

I should say this for the readers – as I’ve explained before; nobody, including neL, would know anything about any internal issue the team had. Moreover, the reason I was benched or me leaving the team was not my performance. It was both a personal and an executive decision. I had already requested to be benched 2 or 3 times beforehand.

9 – Recently, The Green Crescent’s post “There is no ‘e’ in sports, esports are not sports” raised many eyebrows. Do you consider esports as a sport?

(The Green Crescent, or “Yeşilay” in Turkish, is a charity organization founded in Turkey to inform about and take preventive action against addiction, substance abuse, alcoholism, etc.)

Yes, I do. Most of the ones saying the opposite consider sports solely as physical activities. We can go to the gym after work, we can invest our time in it during our holidays. Some teams even have life coaches; they can provide you with a diet and sleeping schedule.

10 – You played alongside many people during your career, each one of them taught you a thing or two, but who taught you the most? Do you have a name in mind?

I can’t say just one name. From Turkey, I would say marqnue (an ex-CS:GO player). From HellRaisers, ANGE1 and our coach, ami. From Mousesports, karrigan.

11 – You being one of the top 10 AWPers is not something debatable for many CS:GO fans. Where would you put yourself on that list? What would be your top 5?

I would consider myself in the top 5. My list would be: #1 woxic, #2 kennyS, #3 device, #4 kennyS, #5 FalleN.

12 – Too many matches to play and watch, so little time: a topic many players and even fans complain about– what do you think about it? How does it affect you as a player?

As a player, tournaments being this often makes you feel like you are just playing for practice. For the fans, you may not feel like watching CS that day. We should be OK when things are back to normal.

13 – COVID-19 is with us for a while, so it seems; this means more online tournaments. As a player performing well on LAN, how do you think playing online for a while longer would affect you?

Tournaments may be held in studios or in player-exclusive environments in days to come. Even if the “online” issue would be over, we’d still play without our fans.

14 – You being an international player competing in high levels, setbacks on your visa have a serious effect on your career. Do you think playing for a team that is as resourceful and flexible as Cloud9 would strengthen your hand?

I don’t think they’d be able to do much about political situations; otherwise, I know they’re going to do their best.

Origin: www.esporin.com