Ember: 'Coming back to CS, it felt like coming home'

The Delhi Café Qualifiers, part of the prestigious Skyesports Masters tournament, held at LAN Shack in Preet Vihar, exceeded all expectations. The tournament convened some of the most competitive teams in Delhi, attracting some of the finest talents. A total of 7 teams turned up in an event fostering a coveted LAN environment to claim a share of 1,00,000 INR prize pool. In the end, it was team Reactive, a group of VALORANT players seeking to return to CS:GO. that emerged victorious from the pit of seven teams,

The Reactive roster boasted some esteemed names:

• Garvit "Ember" Nehra

• Abhay "KnightRider" Mulchandani

• Shivam "sh1vy" Ajmani

• Jishnu "JN" Narang

• Pushkar "metaL" Jaiswal

Garvit "Ember" Nehra, who played for Team Reactive sat down with Dust2 India to discuss the exposure he garnered during the Café Qualifiers. In the interview, he highlighted his return to CS:GO, the delightful feeling of returning to CS:GO LAN,

In a region where CS:GO was dying, Ember had to jump ships to pursue a career in VALORANT. However, switching to an entirely new game professionally is never an easy endeavor. In the early days, Ember had to grapple with a lot of challenges. Surmounting all those challenges, Ember had made it to Gods Reign, a prominent organisation in India. Despite his achievements, he felt a perennial disconnect in the new environment.

Personally, the transition from CS to Val was tough for me. I faced a lot of challenges. Adapting to a different game with so much chaos and a complete new way of thinking was difficult. Even though I had good showings, good results, I never felt as confident as I felt in CS.

As he made his return to his roots in CS:GO, he understood he had to grind the game for hours to get back into shape.

Coming back to CS, it felt like coming home, back to where I belong. It took me around a week to get back in the zone. I had to get used to the movement and shooting mechanics. I played a lot of Deathmatch, workshop maps and executes to get back my mechanical skill. 2 new maps have been added to the map pool. To get used to how the maps are to be played, I watched a few matches being played on the new maps.

Playing in the highly competent LAN environment of Counter-Strike made him remember the burning passion he had for the game. The underlying sense of disconnect that he felt in VALORANT had now been replaced by a rekindled sense of belonging.

I loved and enjoyed every moment of the CS LAN experience. I missed this feeling so much. I had a lot of fun. Playing with people who used to be my teammates for the longest time was cherry on the top.

The resounding victory in the Qualifiers for Reactive came after a hard fought battle. Ember delved into the intricacies and challenges that each opponent they faced brought.

Bemisaal forced the veto to Vertigo. We were comfortable on the map and well prepared on it so we were pretty confident. We lose the pistol, we lose the first buy, and suddenly the score-line is 0-5. They were outplaying and outshooting us. But I knew that we are the more experienced squad and it will just take a couple of round wins for us to het back into the map. We ended the half with a score-line of 7-8 and the map 16-12 even after losing the second half pistol round. This was our toughest game of the tournament. Moving forward the games were comparatively easier and after this victory we knew we are going to win this LAN.

Skyesports' intervention has brought a revelation in the CS:GO industry, filling a void that has existed in India for a long time. With the Skyesports roadmap, Indian talents now have a plethora of opportunities to prove themselves and revive a dying scene by propelling it to greater heights.

Thanks to Skyesports for their vision and investment in the CS ecosystem. I am really hopeful and optimistic about the Indian CS scene in the coming future. This is exactly what the scene needed the most.

Following the LAN Shack Qualifier, Team Reactive lost to Destructive 5 in the Café Qualifiers Playoffs