Skadoodle: "I don't mind sacrificing my role to help others succeed"
Just after his team won their first CS:GO Major, Joe "tolkienfanatic" Cardali caught up with Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham to have a brief conversation about how he was feeling just after lifting the trophy.
You just won the Major, you were visibly emotional after doing so, sum up what this means to you.
Well, I've been playing CS:GO for a long time, I've attended a lot of Majors and I've failed a lot of times. I've shared a lot of that with different teammates and people I've known for a long time. It was a bummer every time I didn't make it, but for us to make the playoffs here, it was a huge moment just for my own accomplishment, my own goal. Then to advance to the semis was huge, and the finals, and then to be a champion. It's just like a lot of different things that I think about, and eventually I'll get over all this.
But it's just very special, it's hard to say in words. I practice with these guys everyday obviously, we don't live together but I talk to these guys everyday, especially like Stewie who has been on the team for so long and I've bonded with these guys and they are great people in general. The win, it's just amazing, you know, it's something that will never rub off and I will always remember this, with my friends and with everyone who was involved and it will never come off.
Recently HLTV.org introduced flashbang stats and it came out that you are a God-tier flashbanger, is that kind of validation for you because at times the community has witch-hunted you for various reasons?
I don't follow what people think honestly. If we are winning, whatever we are doing is working. If we are losing, we will fix it and obviously my flashes are good, and if my team needs those kinds of flashes and support, I'll give it to them. There is so much fragging power in this team, I don't mind sacrificing my role to help others succeed and as long as we are winning and as long as we are headed towards the one goal, which is to win. If its working, it's working, I don't really care what people think because they don't know what it's like to play. If it's working, it's working, my flashes are great, I don't really care about stats honestly. As long as we are winning, we're winning, that's about it
What can you say about Tarik "tarik" Celik and his evolution in this In-game-leader role, that really no one expected he'd thrive in?
Obviously, it's pretty common to know that as an IGL it's really hard to be in the game, you've got to think about everyone else and you've got to think about what the other team is thinking, and strats, and you have to call well, you have to do tons of stuff. To be able to perform like tarik did as an IGL, is very impressive and I give all the credit to him for being able to level headed and keeping his composure into the finals. Even though we went to double OT, we made a few mistakes that could have cost us the entire event, but we came back and he really pulled us through the mud and I give a lot of credit to tarik for really stepping up to be the bigger guy and not put his head down when times were tough and things were looking bad. So tarik really helped a lot and contributed a lot, and he is one of the main reasons why we got through this whole tournament and he's been great throughout and his calling has been amazing.
In the same vain, what can you say about Jake "Stewie2K" Yip, who has taken a bit of a reduced goal in this new formation of the lineup?
I have nothing to say bad about any of my teammates, you know, everyone does something for a reason. As I said before, we have tons of fragging power in this team and we are all capable of doing roles that we don't fit into. Even though Stewie sometimes might fall off with frags, he is always impacting the game somehow, he has great reads against the other teams and is always giving tarik good info that we can use to catch the enemy off guard or throw a start at them that they don't think is coming. Everyone contributes a lot, and Stewie especially, he has a great mind, he knows what to expect. He is playing chess out there, and everyone else is playing checkers. He is a great player, he's going to be one of the best, if he isn't already. He is definitely going to be one of those hall of famers that goes down in history. He is super young, he has so many years on him to compete and I am really happy for him and everyone else who gets to experience this.
What can you talk about what Soham "valens" Chowdhury brings to your team and how he impacts your team and helps you guys out?
He brings so much to the team and I gave a lot of credit to a lot of people, but Soham for sure is the top dog, why we succeed. He does so much preparation for us, he works very hard to see every angle that we aren't looking and make sure to capture these moments that we can't see. He is always calling good rounds for us like, "guys look out for this" or "they are probably going to do this". He is always just on top of the game, whenever we have a time out he always gives us great advice, great input. At practice as well, he is always making sure everything is looking good and he is a special coach to have; he is one of a kind. He's smart, he knows a lot about the game. He used to play himself, it's not like he was just really smart and a good coach, he used to play the game himself. Overall, he is such a great person as well, it just makes everything better to be a coach. I would say he is a big reason why we are here at this point.
