The last time we spoke with Scrawny, he left us with a line that almost immediately came back to haunt him: it was finally time to believe in Team Liquid again. Barely a week later, Liquid crashed out of the Esports World Cup, turning that optimism, as he puts it now, into a dose of “North American hopium.” Since then, however, Liquid have shown signs of progress, most notably with their undefeated run at the fl0m LAN, while several of Counter-Strike’s biggest teams have moved in very different directions.
We caught up with Scrawny again to revisit some of his previous predictions, discuss what has changed since our last conversation, and get his thoughts on everything from Liquid and Spirit to FaZe, NAVI and Valve’s current direction with Counter-Strike 2.
Last time, you spoke about how time is always Liquid’s enemy, but you also said it was finally time to believe in them again. Are you still buying into this Liquid project after their recent results and their win at the fl0m LAN? What would convince you that this version is actually different from the previous false starts?
I think last time the timing of that quote became very comedic ’cause they bombed out of EWC like a week after. So maybe that was a classic case of North American hopium. But I would say that the fl0m LAN result is at least, you know, I think the building block of a step in the right direction. So will Liquid succeed out of the gate? I think that’s been proven wrong. I think that we got a flash of what EliGE could provide thanks to JT. I’m still excited about that prospect, but this is clearly a team that’s still got stuff to figure out. And winning fl0m LAN is great for regional reasons, you know, not dropping a map in the process, although some of those being close. I really liked the quote that came out of malbsMd for fl0m LAN in that, you know, he kinda just accepts that Jorko still has a lot to learn.
We’re talking about a seventeen-year-old kid here that has a huge role in Liquid in that AWP position that has always seemed to struggle. So when you look down the line in this Liquid, I still think that there’s like this wealth of experience and real high skill ceiling in guys like EliGE and malbsMd, but it will still hinge on Jorko being able to kind of evolve into a more mature AWPer, a more professional player.
And going to events like fl0m LAN, winning events like fl0m LAN, those are the actual building blocks. For me to say it’s time to believe in them again is almost like Liquid branding in a way. But it’s up to them to prove that they can do it step by step, and I think fl0m LAN is actually fundamentally the first step in improving. So I like what I saw from the team there. It felt like a kind of must-win in the sense that they wanna remain at the top of North American Counter-Strike, and I think that’s exactly what they proved.
Spirit are back at number one and donk keeps winning MVPs and breaking records. When you watch him now compared to the player who first exploded onto tier one, do you see any difference, or is he continuing the same onslaught?
Spirit went through that evolution where we started to watch donk kinda get set up a little bit better by his teammates. But I’ve always felt like Spirit’s solution to taking over the world and now even them kinda discussing having an era of their own, et cetera, is gonna hinge on the rest of the team. When I look at donk, I see somebody who is still so mechanically gifted, fundamentally sound, mentally feels like he still considers himself better than everybody in the world, and I think that’s gonna always be a driving force for Spirit’s success and one of the reasons that we see them take number one again.
In terms of consistency and longevity and being able to hold that position, I think that still falls on the supporting cast of Team Spirit. When I watch donk every year now, it just feels like he is more of the same, and you kind of expect that to taper off and, and, and you, you sort of like everybody else, but it hasn’t yet. So no, watching donk every day is still such a treat. I feel like he just, in some ways, it just never ceases to amaze me that he’s remained as good as he has since his explosion onto the scene, and he’s just became this, like, permanent mainstay since that Katowice debut.
Considering Spirit’s recent results and how donk is being set up better than before, would you consider magixx to already be a better IGL than chopper?
Ooh, tough question. No, I wouldn’t consider him to be a better IGL yet, but I would say he has shown genuine improvement in the role. And with that evolution, I think that there’s a chance he surpasses chopper. And on an individual level, magixx also, you know, continues to, I think, push the bar in that element of the in-game leadership. It was always a pain point with chopper, and I think magixx can surpass that too. I think there’s a reason that all of Spirit kind of believe in magixx being propped up as this IGL. So I’ll say no, I still think chopper was a better leader, both in-game and, and yeah. But at the same time, I definitely see the evolution, and that evolution shows real promise.
Last time, you said the rise of Latin America was one of the storylines people weren’t talking about enough. Since then, Legacy have won FISSURE Playground and also had a top-three finish at EWC. Where do they go from here, and what is the next hurdle they need to clear to cement themselves around the top five?
I think Legacy need a trophy at one of the bigger tournament organizers, right? And just a trophy in general would be huge. When I’ve discussed the rise of Latin America, I had hoped it would come from the countries surrounding them, but it is funny that we have now moved to a point where it is, you know, four Brazilian players yet again kinda breaking into top five. They’re right on that brink. They’ve got immediate promise, but they’re using try as this Weapon X, you know. So there’s this really cool fusion Legacy as a team that I think pushes that storyline nicely.
I think again, what they need is a trophy over top of one of the best teams in the world. You know, you look at EWC, you know, they kinda dispatched of a FURIA there. I wanna see Legacy take down a Spirit, a Vitality, a MOUZ, a Falcons. Give me a, give me a win over a top-five team when a trophy’s on the line at one of, you know, what is considered the bigger events. Let’s, let’s do it in a stadium. Like that’s, that’s still what Legacy’s at because it’s a shame right now that arT is out with a sickness. Legacy and FUT are my two favorite teams, I think like many people, to watch this year because those are our contenders.
Those are our potential breakthroughs. And, yeah, I think that that’s what’s left, is to prove that if you’re gonna, if you’re gonna be right there right behind top five, you better be able to take them out when you get those opportunities, and we just quite haven’t, we haven’t gotten that special moment from Legacy just yet. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we get it by the end of the year even. Well, actually, there’s not many events left. Let’s say, you know, in the first season of ’27.
NAVI are still in a similar position to the last time we spoke. They remain outside the top 15, and Aleksib has openly acknowledged how bad the situation is with the Major cutoffs approaching. How much responsibility falls on Aleksib, and how damaging is this period to the Aleksib and B1ad3 leadership combination?
I think ultimately it’s a weird one, I think, to throw onto the responsibility of the in-game leader, and I’ll couple in B1ad3 at the same time. I’ll just say the leadership of NAVI. It’s a hard one to throw there because we’ve always talked about NAVI as not having a star player and kinda being able to build up the collective and make more from smaller pieces, et cetera. And I think fundamentally that’s just an ideology for a team that, you know, you have to be able to bank on that in-game leader-coach combo in elevating those pieces. When you’ve got a guy like sAw working with huNter- on G2, trying to elevate pieces there as well and currently ranked higher and finding more success, I think it does say something negative about Aleksib and B1ad3’s combination.
There have been periods of time with NAVI where they’ve underperformed, but B1ad3 has said like, you know, there’s a timeline in place, that they like to peak at the most important events, et cetera. Well, if there’s any timeline in place nowadays, they’ve not met it, clearly. You know, this is too much underperformance and, as you alluded to, even Aleksi kind of discussing it really makes it feel like the writing’s on the wall that NAVI are gonna start making changes. Like they almost have to make a change now because they have dropped out of the VRS rankings.
They’re on like a scary fringe at the moment. And even if they don’t have a superstar, they’ve still got potential in individuals. I mean, I think we can all still see that. It’s like, you know, sometimes losing ends up being like a sickness and you lose too much, you just don’t come back from it, and it feels like NAVI are now in that boat, and we can all see it. So I think it does unfortunately taint a little bit of Aleksi and B1ad3’s ability to kinda rally the troops and bring them out of this depth, but I also don’t put the full responsibility on them either. It’s just sad to watch, man. That’s kinda my take with NAVI in 2026.
Last time, you said frozen either needed regular top-eight finishes or one of those classic deep FaZe runs to justify keeping the project together. Since then, FaZe finished last at FISSURE Playground after losses to Alliance and magic. How much patience would you still give this version of FaZe?
My last take on FaZe was really under the assumption that frozen was gonna leave. And so I almost kinda like wanted to put it on the gravestone that if they can’t provide him this result, that he should depart. And I think there is still an idea that frozen could depart this roster. But for whatever reason it is, man, I actually, I actually kinda love cheering for this new FaZe. So I’m, I’m willing to keep frozen on this team just because I love the energy that like Neityu and JBOEN have brought. JBOEN’s got a little bit of like FaZe swagger about him, and it’s been pretty impressive to see Twistzz, I think, kinda prop up on an individual level this project and take back the in-game leadership, which was something that I was actually quite, quite critical of when we last spoke.
So I really thought this FaZe was kinda dead in the water. And so by throwing out something grand like a top-eight finish, I thought that’d be a good way to kinda send off frozen and kinda give him a way out. I really hope this FaZe qualifies for the Singapore Major. And I really hope this FaZe shows a little bit of that classic FaZe Clan magic, even without karrigan. I think that’d be really dope for some guys that I think everybody’s kinda cheering for and just what feels like an actual fresh FaZe, you know? It really does feel like this is a different team, a team with young players and young players that, again, maybe might not be able to deliver under the pressure that we would expect a karrigan-led roster to do. Let’s be real.
But for two young guys in Neityu and JBOEN that have been here for less than six months, I would love to just see this team. Again, you gotta qualify to Singapore to begin, but I feel like if they make it to the Major, they’re gonna progress through a couple of stages. I almost, I almost hope that ramp takes effect. And again, maybe there’s a blind belief in this FaZe because they do have some very rough losses, particularly this FISSURE Playground 3 event that was this blowout. But like their Esports World Cup outing, man, that had me paying attention.
You know, the best-of-three victory over Legacy is nothing to scoff at. Pushing Vitality to round twenty-four is nothing to scoff at. But then FISSURE kinda is this just blowout that, yet again, makes you doubt. But I’ve seen FaZe enter Major cycles in worse places and still come out with something. So let’s hope that that’s kind of the version we get going into Singapore.
How much credit should Twistzz get for FaZe’s turnaround? We saw karrigan try almost everything for a year, while Twistzz has managed to put FaZe back on their feet after they had fallen outside the top 20.
I think Twistzz absolutely deserves credit as somebody who’s evolved within the role between his two outings. You know, we’ve seen him IGL before, and I was a critic, and I felt like he kind of affected his own play. But this is a Twistzz that’s currently leading young players. And I think that actually looks better on him, and I feel like he’s doing a better job of, A, holding up his own individual level, but then secondly, offering up a chance for a huge organization to stay in the space. You know, FaZe has shown real commitment to karrigan over the years and keeping him there arguably maybe longer than they should have at times. Or, you know, you could have justified a cut, but this is an organization that I think actually shows loyalty, which I respect in the space. And it’s also an organization that’s kinda hands-off in their approach to managing the team, it feels like if you’re, if you’re kinda close to the team, you know?
And for that reason, I think it’s really Twistzz holding both the reins. And for that reason, I think that Twistzz absolutely deserves credit for keeping an org in the space, for being their new captain, clearly, for being able to convince frozen to stay as long as he has. I think that’s definitely falling on Twistzz and the team’s management. And on top of that, scouting young players who are hopefully going to show us evolution in the right direction. So when I look at FaZe Clan nowadays, I genuinely just see Twistzz as this mainstay. Like, it almost feels like his team, as it should with a prominent in-game leader, right?
If you’re gonna be a leader of man, both inside and outside of the server, like it feels like Twistzz wants to be. You know, he’s nearing thirty years old. He’s in a mature state of his career. He’s got almost a decade of experience behind him. Like, this is a player that I have immense respect for nowadays ’cause it feels like he’s really growing into his own, and especially when you compare this in-game leadership Twistzz versus the last time he was an IGL.
Counter-Strike’s player count has been falling over recent months, while Valve have recently released several updates. Do you think they’re under fire? If you could sit down one-on-one with one of the developers, what would you tell them to improve about the game?
I think every single person who plays Counter-Strike just wants a functioning anti-cheat. We want evidence that this anti-cheat is gonna fix what is a plague of cheaters. That’s, that’s, that’s, if you were to ask anybody, that’s number one on their list. Beyond that, I actually like the direction of the three-man game mode. I think that Rush is something different. It fits a niche of what I think is just an evolution in gaming in general into three-player parties. You look at the, you know, success of Apex Legends, you go out to a lot of these battle royales, you’re usually looking at, like, two to three players, right? It’s only tac FPS that still kinda keeps you in a five-person queue. And I just love the idea that Counter-Strike played in as many different versions of itself is the best Counter-Strike we can have.
As in, if you think about how most people learn CS or the onboarding process of Counter-Strike, not many people just launch the game and go, “Ooh, I’m gonna play the most competitive game mode immediately.” A lot of us come through casual. A lot of us come through community servers. Some people just do movement stuff in KZ and surf, and I think that giving somebody a chance to just play CS when they’ve got their two buddies online, and they’re waiting for their other friends to get home, in a fast, more action-paced way, I’m into that. I was somebody who played a lot of Danger Zone because I’m a battle royale player as well, and so now I could play Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike mechanics, my Counter-Strike skins with my Counter-Strike friends, but I could do it in a different mode, and I love that kind of stuff.
I don’t think it’s gonna, you know, re-peak the player base, but Counter-Strike’s player base is already such a phenomenal anomaly that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. If you look at the player base and player count of the top 10 games on Steam, Counter-Strike is literally at the top of that at all times year-round. You know, I have friends in Montreal that do game development for, say, Rainbow Six. They work at UB. They, you know, they dabble in the space, and they still look at CS and just wish that even at our lowest months their player bases were even anywhere comparable. So Counter-Strike’s not going anywhere.
Even I have taken a break from CS, after having put in my time earlier this year because there’s great other games out there, and I think the gaming space is on such a constant rotation of new releases. We’re so blessed with good video games this year as well, and I think that, like, you know, two big competitors in Battlefield VI, War Dogs, Arc Raiders, et cetera, I’m not surprised that Counter-Strike took its hit.
What I’m happy about is that we got something more than just a map pool change. We got something more than just a gun balance. We got a completely fresh game mode that’s incomparable to anything else CS has ever had in the three-person search queue, right? It’s not just a Wingman repeat. And with that, I now have a new way to play Counter-Strike too. Is it what I want? No. I want a fully functioning anti-cheat, but I’ll take it. You know, it’s got its own maps. It’s its own idea. It’s something fresh. It’s something uniquely Counter-Strike 2. So for that, I’m not upset about it, but it’s obviously not what we all want. Right. But that’s classic.
How many times have we gotten a small update, the reload update, et cetera? People will always claim, “It’s not what we want. It’s not what we asked for.” Fair, but I think that with time, those small updates and small changes have always ended up being appreciated. You know, we’re all screaming one thing, and it just doesn’t seem to be coming. I think that’s understandably frustrated. I get why the player base is upset that they can’t just play high-level Premier without having to face blatant, obvious cheating, the sort of cheating that should just be instantly fixable. You know? R8 wall bang headshots through Ancient spawn. What are we doing here? How is that not instant? But hey, man, at least you can go play 3v3 and hatch a chicken egg. .
