Walco: "If I'm not calling I need to show my value elsewhere"

Colby "Walco" Walsh and co. made their debut for SkinRave at Fragville 2025. They were previously playing for BLUEJAYS, and some fans had a hard time figuring out how BLUEJAYS let them go, given that the squad is in a good position to qualify for the StarLadder Budapest Major.

Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore got a hold of a Walco after SkinRave were eliminated by ODDIK in the quarterfinals, and asked Walco why the team joined SkinRave, and what he's thinking of being a secondary caller instead of IGL, among other topics.

The complete interview can be found below on YouTube and fully transcribed below. The questions and answers were slightly edited for clarity and length.

I'm here with Walco following an unfortunate end to their run after a loss to ODDIK. So, not the result you're looking for in your debut to SkinRave, but still, a three-mapper against one of the better teams in Brazil. How are you feeling coming out of that series?

I'm personally feeling OK. I know there are things as a team that we could have definitely done better. Nuke has been pretty good for us for the most part. So, to go out like the way we did was definitely a bad feeling.

But, I think we play better on LAN. I think we are all pretty comfortable on LAN. It was my first one in CS2. Overall, I'm fairly happy with myself. But yeah, still a lot to work on.

Overall, it's been a pretty good run for this squad, previously as BLUEJAYS and now as SkinRave. We just saw you win the Dust2.us Eagle Masters Series #3 this last weekend, with a good series over Getting Info. How are you feeling more broadly about your time since having joined this core, and your overall time with this team?

I feel pretty good as an individual. That was the biggest thing that I needed to focus on coming back. I'm not calling, so if I'm not going to call, I need to show my value elsewhere.

So, individually, I feel pretty good. There are definitely some things I need to work on, like playing some new roles and getting comfortable with some stuff for myself. And then, as a team, I've talked about it before, after we won Dust2, but we need practice. Practice has definitely been an issue with so many tournaments and stuff going on.

So, [we need to try to] get as much practice as we can and sharpen all of the stuff that we have. Looking back at these games, these are really good games to play and review.

You mentioned not being the IGL, which is something that we've been seeing more from you lately. You weren't the IGL in Party Astronauts, your previous team, either. Is that where you want to be in your career right now? Like, being a secondary caller and focusing more on your individual output?

Yeah, definitely. That's always something I've thought about a lot of time in my past teams. Like, when RBG lost gmanchew and pwny all the way back, and we made changes, IGLs, especially when you're barely in Advanced, we made playoffs and stuff, but we didn't play well and didn't have the best showings.

It was always tough to find [an IGL] and I felt that I could be a good IGL. That was really what put me in that direction, and it's kind of always fallen that way in all these teams. I've always known I have strong individuals, and I think I can play really well.

A lot of the time, it's been a necessity, and while I've grown as an IGL and I'm super confident as an IGL, I definitely think that secondary IGL is where I'll be at my best, and with a little bit more time, I'll be up there in NA for sure.

Despite finishing top eight, there are a lot of good things to say about your time. But talking about the change from BLUEJAYS to SkinRave, what made you change orgs?

I can't really speak too much on it. I was never officially part of BLUEJAYS, so that would be a question for my teammates. While BLUEJAYS did help these guys out, there were a few things that maybe we were a little concerned about, or also just a better opportunity with SkinRave. There are a little bit more resources there.

That was definitely the biggest thing that influenced us. We want to get bootcamps, and we want to have a little bit more stuff for ourselves. That helps laxiee especially. That was the biggest thing for sure.

What's your impression of laxiee? Those guys have been playing with him for a couple of months now, but you obviously just came into the team one month ago or so. He's a young guy who's impressed a lot of people. What are your thoughts on him?

He's a really good kid, and I like him as a player too. He's really rough around the edges, for sure. He's super inexperienced, and obviously, he's very young still, so that's definitely the biggest thing to look forward to in the coming months.

We share a lot of spots too, so I'm trying to help him as best as I can. It's going to be a slow process because I need to work on myself as well. But, he's a good kid. I think he's definitely someone who could be very, very good. He just needs a little bit of time and experience under his belt, and he'll be really good.

junior, on the other hand, is a contemporary of yours. How do you think he's grown and has evolved as a player? What's his contribution to this team?

He contributes a lot, obviously, in the fragging department, especially. He's always been a really good shooter. In the past, he's been a high-sens player who was able to do crazy flicks, kill people.

I think through time, just like through reps, and being able to play against a bunch of different teams, and to be in a bunch of different teams, he's definitely well-rounded, I'd say. He's definitely got some things to work on for sure, but his experience shows. He plays very well consistently, and he knows his picks. He has good ideas, and he's a really good player.

What's next for this roster? You told me off-camera that the plan for you is to take a little bit of a break, but what's next for the team?

Just practice, honestly. We just need time to really polish everything that we have. We got to look at our stratbook, we got to look at everything, and keep winning [to] make the Major. That's definitely the No. 1 goal. I think we're top 10 still, even after this loss, but we want to hold that spot and prepare as best we can for the Major.

What are the priorities for the team on a more macro level before you head to Blocktober in a month and a half?

I think macro is definitely individual-self. I think we're at a pretty good starting point. We just need a little bit more time. I think we had a pretty good showing here. Obviously, losing to ODDIK the way we did wasn't the way we wanted to go out, but we didn't necessarily play badly.

In my opinion, they overperformed a little bit on Nuke, and we underperformed a little bit on Ancient, which caused it to go the way it did. But we just need time. Just give us some time, we're still very, very fresh as a team.