Dinko 'reV3nnnn impressed me the most'

Renowned Counter-Strike caster Dinko made his Indian Counter-Strike debut at the Skyesports Masters LAN Playoffs as he came to India to cast the semi-finals and finals of India's biggest esports events. Following the Grand Finals, Dinko sat down with Dust2 India for a short chat regarding his Indian experience.

First time in India, how was the experience? How was it casting Indian Counter-Strike?

The experience has been incredible so far. Right from the moment I left the airport, I got to experience authentic India from the traffic and how people interact with you, it is very friendly, it's a very fun and open place, I was really excited to come here and experience the culture and celebrate it. The Counter-Strike has been incredible too, it's been fantastic, the level of the event they have put on - the biggest prize pool in the history of Indian CS:GO and first time in this big arena, so I think they can be very happy and super proud of that. Everybody's been really passionate and it was really fun to be a part of that.

Coming to the Counter-Strike on display, we have seen a couple of great players over the last two days on display who can make something of this. I hope we get to see more of these events come and overall very positive experience, enjoying the food, enjoying the people and a great time.

You have casted all over the world, you have seen and observed players from all over the world, compared to Indian Counter-Strike, we don't have that much exposure but what do you think about the quality of Counter-Strike you have seen?

I think it is certainly at the beginning of its development , years and years of European practice has led to the level that they are at right out. The main difference right now is that the European teams make less mistakes and just have a better read of the game at the moment and looking at the Indian teams, they lose control of the economy a little bit too often, they don't really read the economy that well at the moment and that's something that couple of these teams have fallen foul to, playing aggressive against pistols, not understanding the other team's economy has been broken, I just feel sometimes the lack the discipline too and that's something that has plagued Asian Counter-Strike as a whole not just Indian Counter-Strike, throughout the years.

If you look at Chinese CS, it has been a little bit over aggressive and that was the style that saw Tyloo burst onto the stage but now we can see the likes of TheMongolz rise up as the best Asian team which is because they are implementing more of the European style and I feel Indian Counter-Strike - they've got the skill, the firepower, they just need to play the percentages a little more, make less mistakes, be a little more disciplined and think about the game at that level. You have the tournaments now, the prize pool, now you just need the hard work and dedication from the players and play more tactical. I actually think the most tactical team, Gods Reign, won the event. You can see the preparation, the ideas, the better reads of the economy, how to gamble, how to call against the low buys, it was clear that they were the most tactical team out there and once the rest of the teams learn from them and follow suit, they will be there too.

Which team of player impressed you the most across the games you casted on LAN

reV3nnnn impressed me the most. He made very little mistakes as an AWPer, there were certainly moments were he did but he minimised them. His individual skill is very good and he reminds me of a percentage player AWPer, similar to dev1ce. I'm not saying he's like dev1ce but he's playing a similar style where he doesn't take too many risks, when he's making aggressive moves, it's with the teammate and for me he was the most impressive and also Crazy_Gamer, he was pretty good too. Obviously the calls around his system were really impressive.

Any message to Indian Counter-Strike community?

My message would be, thank you putting on such an incredible event and bringing a lot of energy, everybody's been super kind, super passionate. I just hope that you keep promoting the game to friends and family and hopefully grow the Indian community because events like this, people coming in from PUBG mobile, people coming in to see their favourite influencers and I am sure that this event as converted some of those fans to Counter-Strike fans. Keep up the passion and the desire for more tournaments and make your voices heard by the tournament organisers.