STYKO is an incredibly experienced player known for his solid anchoring and reliable fragging. However, 18 months after making the semi-finals after the BLAST.tv Paris Major, the Slovakian veteran finds himself without a team.
Back at BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024, STYKO worked as an analyst, delivering his expert takes on the world's best teams.
At the event, we spoke to STYKO about his career since Paris, his analyst debut, and the state of the competitive scene in 2024.
You've made your analyst debut at Fall Final, how's it going?
It's going pretty well, I'm taken very well care of and I'm really enjoying it. It's a little bit different to be at an event and not feel the stress and anxiety of worrying about performances, so it's definitely more laid back.
It's something new, and it's taking me out of my comfort zone and in front of the camera where I'm actually talking to people live, so I've got to make sure my thoughts are put into correct and understandable words.
Were you nervous when you were coming up to your first segment?
That was the weirdest part because I didn't at all, it was mostly excitement. I felt like something new was about to happen and I felt prepared.
I've been talking to people who wish to improve and want a more analytical look for a while now, I do it live on Twitch and for my YouTube channel, so it's something I'm familiar with.
With this, it's just putting it into high value production, so it's pretty easy for me.
Let's talk about the last 18 months of your career, going back to the BLAST.tv Paris Major, which was obviously a big high point for you. How has it been since then from your perspective?
It's been up and down, definitely. Since Paris, going from the big high to low lows, making multiple roster changes and being briefly put on the bench, it's not been a good time, but these times show you what kind of player you are and what values you uphold.
It was a good sign that I was able to bounce back both mentally and in terms of my performances. I came back to the Apeks roster and we qualified to the first CS2 Major which was a big deal for us.
The game changed from CS:GO to CS2 and I didn't play that much, so I was really proud of the work I put in when I was called back into the team and the performances I had alongside a lot of players that were grinding CS2 from the get go.
After that, it fell down pretty quickly just like it did after Paris, so there was some resemblance there. I'm not sure what was happening. We had issues within the team and then I was getting offers from another team, who I then moved to and we were slumping there as well.
It wasn't great for me, which was why I decided to take a break. Being here is part of the break from competition, I figured I might try something new and getting some new experience in the analyst role felt like a good idea.
Returning to competition is something you intend to do then and it's just a case of waiting for the right opportunity?
Yeah, of course. The plan is to come back, but it's not about when the opportunity comes and if it comes.
I'm at a point where I don't want to build something from the ground up again. I've done that multiple times in my career, so a functioning roster or a team is something I would prefer.
As well, with the amount of tournament and leagues coming into 2025, I would love to have something more established and not an organisation that doesn't have any experience in CS.
Those are things I would hope for, and I understand that it might not come, but I'm still being hopeful that I can still do damage and improve a lot of international teams.
This will be my main focus, finding something for 2025. But, if I don't, I'm pretty sure there will be something for me that I will find enjoyable.
Would you consider IGLing?
Yeah, I'm thinking about it. I don't think that at my age, there's going to be too big of a need for an anchor role that also has a good fragging output, there's a lot of young talent coming into the scene.
I definitely think that I need to value my experience more, and I can probably translate that the best through IGLing.
I've tried it in the best and I didn't have too much success, so it was a pretty depressing two months, which is why I maybe have a little barrier when it comes to coming back to the IGL role.
I think it might be necessary to become a hotter prospect on the market.
Do you think when you tried it, the Apeks team with shox, was just the wrong team for you to try IGLing in?
Yeah, that's what my main takeaway from that period is. It wasn't my IGLing that was the problem, there were ten different problems within the team that prevented me from being enabled as an IGL.
It's definitely one of the thing I'm considering, but I'm not a born leader. I can be an IGL from a tactical point-of-view, but I'm not a born leader outside of the game and I need to find a really good combo with a coach that is going to take on that more leader role so I can focus on tactics.
As someone who has played with a number of IGLs and coaches, how important is it to have that leadership figure?
In tier two and tier three, it's extremely important to have someone like that. In tier one it's less so. Everyone is much better at keeping each other accountable and a lot of decisions that are made in terms of schedule, tournaments, and practice, are made by higher ups and people within the organisation. It doesn't fall on a leader to make those decisions.
They might not be easy decisions to make, so in tier two and three when the resources aren't so high, it's a different story.
Let's talk about the state of the competitive team right now. How do you view the teams at the top right now? Who are the real contenders and who do you see as being in a tier below them?
First of all, I think the competitive scene is weak right now. Not in a sense that people are playing badly, but it's definitely sloppy with the amount of practice top teams are able to get in. Travelling from tournament to tournament is enticing, but it brings the overall quality of CS down.
That's the unfortunate part, and I don't think it will get better in 2025.
For the tiers, the championship contenders are NAVI and Vitality. Below them, where you should get at least one tournament per year, is Spirit, G2, MOUZ, maybe FaZe. And down again, which is frequent playoffs, is Liquid, VP, and those sorts of teams.
We saw Liquid beat Spirit recently and Vitality also lost to Eternal Fire at Pro League, do you think the lines between those tiers are a little more blurred than they used to be?
100%, the difference between these teams is tiny on some days. Anyone can beat anyone on CS2 within twenty ranks of each other.
It's the state of CS2 in general with MR12s, the economy, saving, and how important pistol rounds are that makes the game really prone to upsets.
That's why I think we've seen these blurred lines, but if I statistically speak between Eternal Fire and Vitality, Eternal Fire will lose most of the time but that game happened on a good day and they were playing good CS. Vitality should beat them eight out of ten times, but one of those other two happened at EPL.
You said the state of CS2 is a big reason for it, but do you think that is the main reason or is it the lack of practice teams can get?
It can be a mixture of both. Eternal Fire have experience with a variety of playstyles coming from tier two, their playbook and adaptability is very good compared to tier one teams who just constantly play each other. That could be a surprise factor.
But at the same time, CS2 is going to favour the teams that are underdogs who can take gambles to begin the game and suddenly they have a 4-0 lead. If you think about it, that's already a third of the rounds that you need, and that's crazy. The opponents haven't had a chance to see how you're adapting, so it's very hard for the IGLs to make an adaptation to grab data from.
BLAST ApS., Hauser Plads 1, 3., 1127 Copenhagen