Inside the Sunday School — The Guag Factor

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to catch up with Guag at Dreamhack. Next time, I’ll be getting a press pass for sure so I can bring you guys some insights from the pros. We will find out what sort of Hair Gel that frozen uses to keep his hair up.

Guag has been in a player who has been lifting various Australian teams into deep runs whether it is for ESL ANZ Champs or for ESEA Premier. He has made teams with various players who have made it big in the Australian Scene such as Liki, Mizzy, Rekonz, Damyo and Versa.

Given the various players that he has played with, I thought to ask him a few questions about the scene overall.

Me: How was the tournament overall and what were your main expectations for it?

Guag: The tournament was a lot of fun. It was a good experience to see everyone and all that. ESL took unbelievably good care of us and everything was just so easy. We didn’t have any expectations as myself, Mizzy and Liki don’t play CS2 as much as we used to.

We would have liked to get more rounds especially for the crowd but that is how it goes I guess

Me: What did you learn at this tournament from the other teams?

Guag: I can’t say we learned a whole lot from other teams. People are on point and you have to come prepared if you want a somewhat close game.

Me: Who do you think will win it all and why?

Guag: Apeks — They seem cool.

Me: What sort of philosophy do you approach counter-strike with and is there any playstyle you favour whether it is more regimented or puggy?

Guag: I don’t really have a whole philosophy. I am laid back and believe that anything will work if your players are good enough. I’d say that all the team stuff is overrated and 80% of the game comes down to individual decision-making and form. I feel it is not really what people want to hear but I believe it is true.

Me: Are you looking to join any CS Teams currently or looking to build a new one?

Guag: Nah, I haven’t been into CS2 for awhile.

Me: You have built a few teams that have made it to premier and champs. However, you get removed — what do you feel that biggest thing that holds you back personally? If anything.

Guag: To be honest, I’ve never been removed. I was on a team with Matt for all of 2021 and we went through a lot of players in that team. After Ground Zero died, I haven’t played on a team other than Sunday School which is just 10 people asking who is free for the qualis or if they can make ESL ANZ or whatever tournament it is. I never got cut as my teammates wouldn’t dare!

Me: What do you believe is the most important thing whether in game or out of server that is holding AU CS back?

Guag: There are a lot of things that you could say but the main thing is that there doesn’t seem to be that many young players any more. You never run into any sharp kids anymore like you used to. The youngest player in the top AU teams is like 20–21 but there doesn’t seem to be any cracked 15–16 year olds that you used to find like 5 years ago in PUGs.

Maybe they don’t play CS2 anymore which is really a good thing but the lack of younger players is holding the AU scene back.

Me: What do you believe is AU CS’s greatest strength?

Guag: To be honest, it is hard to think of many. I’d say Australian players aren’t actually toxic — at least the good players. You see some stuff on twitter and pugs but none of that is real.

When you’re actually talking to people, everyone has been good at least to me. Maybe I am lucky with my teammates or I am the toxic one. I’ve never had a rude teammate.

Me: Who is one player or players that a lot of teams have overlooked?

Guag: I’ll say Mizzy here. He works incredibly hard. He has a great understanding of the game and individually, he is pretty nuts. He is also a pretty smart dude which helps a lot when it comes to CS2. Mizzy and I align a lot on our thoughts about the game. We may have disagreements but we both respect each others’s opinion.

Soju was a very good player aswell. I played with him a handful of times in pug teams or whatever. He is incredibly easy to play with and I found that he took a lot of pressure off me. He is pretty overlooked.

Me: What was your most favourite moment in Counter-Strike for yourself?

Guag: (Interviewer Note: Guag actually typed this.) — Probably doing this interview with you right now.

Me: What was the toughest challenge you found in AU CS?

Guag: Matt and I talk this about a lot. It was finding 5 people who were committed to play and improve. I was perhaps not one of those 5 people but it is very hard to put a good team together.

Me: As most players are semi-pro or amateur, what do you do on the side? Also, how is it going? Any big job prospects in the future?

Guag: I study Law and Science at Uni. I’m 21 and looking for love if anyone is reading this (Interviewer Note — I think this means he wants to be on Married At First Sight, Channel 9)

Me: Do you believe that Australia will ever have a full professional team?

Guag: I have no idea. I don’t think Flyquest are that bad as people purport them to be. I believe that they could be it.

I’d like to thank Guag for answering all of my questions because I did literally send him a lexicon of questions to answer. It is actually quite sad to see that Guag, Mizzy and Liki are taking a step back from CS2.

These three have a large amount of experience in the scene and always built high-calibur teams.

One of my favourite casts involved Mizzy when played for Bizarre. He almost completed an impossible 1 v 5 clutch just before half-time. On the last player — he had to reload his Krieg as he only had 8 bullets left. The last player was one shot off as well and he died.

I wish Guag, Mizzy and Liki the very best in their endeavours and hopefully I get to catch up with Mizzy and Liki in the future.