Elfishguy on criticism against Skyesports: "People were probably a little over the top"

Renowned Australian Counter-Strike caster and analyst Elfishguy was at the Skyesports Championship 2024 for the Playoffs stage as he took the stage as an analyst for the stage games. Following two days of action, Elfishguy spoke to Dust2 India about the tournament, where the region lies and more.

As someone who is deeply invested in the Asian + OCE region's CS, how hard was it to see the events unfold on day 1?

I do sort of come into most events in Asia with a degree of trepidation. I would say the same thing when I went to Asia RMR, obviously, there were issues. It just happens, especially with these kind of newer TOs, that come into the Counter-Strike space. It's not an expectation necessarily, it's just the nature of the place. It's a reality of the situation that sometimes these events are really hard to run, and especially for new TOs with complex titles. I'm not saying I expected it necessarily but I am not super surprised to see it happen. Also, not that aggrieved, personally. I wasn't involved in Day 1, I wasn't here for the group stages, so it doesn't affect me. But, even had it been something that had affected us here at the LAN stage, it's just something you have to deal with and get by. It's not a big deal, I don't think personally. It's obviously not great, and you know you would be looking for it to not be repeated, but for the first big event they are doing, I am not super concerned.

Do you feel people have been way too critical of Skyesports?

I think Day 1 people were probably a little over the top. There has been some criticism that were totally unrelated anything to do with the tournament. You would know being from India yourself, there has been a lot of criticism about the country, about whatever this and that. That is completely unrelated and not even really relevant to the situation and all that. It's just people being stupid, and taking things too far. There is that, I think some of the criticism was over the top. It may have been warranted if, for example, the event was completely cancelled. But given the fact that Day 2 onwards has been, more or less, clean and consistent from Skyesports, I can't really complain too much. I think people have started to come around as well, and see positively. If not for Day 1, this event would have gotten a lot of positive news, I'd say. There is some criticism warranted. But at the end of the day, you have to take the event as a whole, and say they have turned it around pretty nicely, and that's what we should focus on, and look for in another event or two from Skyesports, in the coming 6-12 months. People have to take it and give them a bit of slack, because this is the same thing that happened to MESA with Asia RMR. They had a pretty shit day 1, they went on to play out the rest of the RMR, and that went okay. Then they came back to run the Nomadic Masters and more recently, as you would have seen, the event went pretty well. So I think it's a learning experience for everyone and so, that's really all you can ask for in the first event.

What's your take on the quality of CS in the event? Which team has impressed you the most/disappointed you the most?

It's been a bit up and down, hasn't it? I think some teams have definitely showed up, some haven't. But that is again in line of your expectations when you are coming to a sort of tier two event like this one. There are going to be the teams like The MongolZ that will be a bit more used to this type of environment. They are used to playing in this region, the time zone is going to suit them a little bit better. Some of the teams are going to be expecting different things and stuff like that. I would say, actually, in general, the level of CS in this event hasn't been as high as what I would have expected it to be out of the teams that are here. You could say maybe partly due to the fact that BetBoom didn't actually end up playing. They would have been one of the teams expected to go a little bit deeper into the tournament. So the field does look a little bit weaker because of that. Some teams didn't live up to the expectations, like Eternal Fire didn't look so great (in the semi-finals). ENCE didn't really look great (in the quarter-finals). The MongolZ were looking a bit up and down in the group stage so they seem to have gotten it together here at the playoffs. It is what it is really.

What did you make of True Rippers? How long will Indian CS take to catch up with the likes of The MongolZ in your opinion?

Of True Rippers... oof... wow. That is a load of a question. I think a lot of that is situational. It kind of depends on whether or not we get to see more events like this for example. Are they going to get the opportunity to kind of play in some other tournaments? There may be a world where they never do, right? The MongoLZ are prodigal teams really. When it comes to Asia, they are the best team in the last decade. To say that any team from any region that isn't The MongolZ right, and to potentially catch up to them is almost like playing with fire. If they were to do it, it would be a very long term thing. It would be multiple years, I am talking three to five years. And the key thing is, it's not just for True Rippers or for Gods Reign, or for any one particular team, it would have to be the scene as a whole, and that would have to come from events like this one and hopefully others. I think the first protocol for those kinds of teams is, I'm getting into things like ESL Challenger League and competing consisting there. And also sort of getting a lot of these Open Qualifiers - like the BLAST Qualifiers or the IEM Qualifiers, and being a competitive team there. And being able to play against the top Chinese teams, the top Mongolian teams on a bit more consistent basis. I do feel that it's great when you are playing in India, but the quality of Counter-Strike you are getting there is not necessarily going to be conducive to pushing you to the next level in the same way The MongolZ have been exposed to when they go and play in Europe. They are a team that have been overseas a lot, even prior to the time they were like really rising up the ranks.