As mousesports announced the move to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive we decided to talk with team captain Sam "RattlesnK" Gawn about switching to the new CS title.

For those who might have forgotten or be unaware of who the mousesports captain is, his name is Sam "RattlesnK" Gawn and he was best known as a player in British dignitas in CS 1.6 before switching to CS:S.

In 2008 he together with the rest of Birmingham Salvo won the second season of Championship Gaming Series, which granted them $500,000. Gawn was furthermore the franchise player for the team.

A high note was hit this year, when mousesports attended Copenhagen Games. The event was is considered the last big bang for Counter-Strike: Source and mousesports managed to win it.

In this interview Gawn starts out by touching on whether or not the time with CS:S has given them an advantage above 1.6ers in adjusting to CS:GO.

"At first I assumed we would be at an advantage compared to 1.6ers but to be honest the game is very different to both 1.6 and CSS. For a start the weapons are obviously very different in CSGO to both versions of CS, they require their own techniques and as a result you are learning the method of aiming rather than how to aim. If you can aim in 1.6/CSS/COD4 you will have good aim in CSGO as you just need to practice and work out the best techniques to aim.

Furthermore, the maps although physically looking similar to the CSS ones do have quite a lot of changes that make the game play completely different to CSS. For example on d2 you can now play from A site easily because the flashes do not blind you at all as the T’s coming onto the A site, whereas in source the flashes would blind them long enough to get you onto the site. Also the short box has been removed so just like 1.6 the way you used to play short is going to be completely different as there is no cover for the CT’s if they get hit by a pop flash up there. Additionally, on inferno the whole of banana on small site has been revamped meaning the CT side cannot look all the way down with an AWP and instead has to pretty much play on the site a lot of the time because pushing out is pretty difficult. These are just a few features of the maps which actually change the entire way you play the maps as old tactics and ways of playing quite clearly do not work in CSGO anymore.

RattlesnK during Birmingham Salvo shoot - Photo: Personal 

Another point is that the flashes are very much like 1.6, and not source. If they go behind you they are redundant and do practically nothing which means the game is based a lot more on your aim than on using flashes to your advantage. This means on maps like nuke where you used to be able to skylight/window flash from the T roof into top site to gain entry is going to be extremely difficult as the flashes simply do not work as well. You can’t rely on any flashbang in the games current state to blind an opponent as if they see it coming and turn it won’t do a thing. You are going to need to have flashes which blow up instantly when they go around a corner which is much more like 1.6 than CSS.

I could go on about why the whole idea of CSGO being a CSS players game is out dated but I hope people realise I did play 1.6 and CSS to a degree so I understand the differences between the two quite well. I really think this is a new game which is going to require the same skill set as CS 1.6 and CSS and all it takes is for individuals and teams to master the new techniques, maps and way to play the game. It was not intended to be a straight port of 1.6/CSS and as a result I think a lot of people have the wrong mentality towards the game."

Gawn tells us that he did not touch the game prior to the last big update, excudling the Copenhagen Games invite tournament. He explains that he's not bothered with anything when it comes to gameplay as long as it's the same to everyone, but addresses a few of his concerns.

"I hadn't even touched the game prior to the last update (apart from the show match at CPH) as it was constantly changing every week and there was little point in trying to get used to something which would change the next week. However, I do think the game has finally reached a point where the changes that are going to be made are not going to completely altar the game enough to cause too much difficulty at this point.

As for changes to the game I’m never one to be that bothered about how it plays as I can get used to anything as long as it is the same for everyone. I think the main points that need to be addressed by VALVE is the money system, the sound, the smoke grenades (which have gaps in them?), improve the map designs, add new maps (season, tuscan, mirage, contra, etc), and finally to remove clutter from the maps to increase my god damn FPS! I know there is LOTS more that needs to be changed and improved for the game to get a lot better but at the moment these are some key areas that need to be addressed in my opinion. As for the other stuff which I won’t go into now I hope it will slowly get fixed to improve the game for the community."

With team UK at ASUS 2010 finals - Photo: ESL 

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has the possibility to unite two CS communities, but Gawn is of a different understanding.

"I really don’t see how either game needs each other to make CS:GO a success as I think you will find that there are communities outside of CS that are desperate for a successful FPS title to reach the global esport market. If the 1.6/CSS communities unite together we will obviously have a much stronger game, but I think if you add in the COD4/BF2/DayZ players we will hopefully have enough players from all of the respective scenes to make CSGO into the biggest FPS title out there. At the end of the day all of the other FPS titles are slowly ebbing away and as a result the top organisations and players are finding it harder to fund the older titles and continue their great support for them. If everyone gets behind CSGO we will have a huge esports title that can actually surpass 1.6 if we ensure that the community gets behind it.

However, if individuals want to remain in 1.6/CSS etc that is their personal choice and I don’t think anyone has a problem with it, the problem comes when they start bashing a game they don’t like in the deluded belief it will stop the games development. I think the time has come for everyone to get along and embrace the fact that the CS franchise has a successor and something to get behind as it will ensure that CS does not die out competitively in the future. I’m all for people playing a game they enjoy if they are not interested in competitive esports but for those who are CSGO is the future."

With mousesports announcing their move to CS:GO, the team has already made up future plans, as well as decisions on how the team will run their practice.

"We will hopefully be attending DreamHack as long as we secure an invite for the tournament as right now its not exactly clear on which teams will be given these invites or how they will be chosen. I hope that we do as we have shown our ability at the last CPH Games and strongly believe in CSGO we can compete at the highest level as well.

The start of our preparation will begin in the next few days and my role will be to create out strats, make sure we are up to date with how the game works, and find out any new tricks that will keep us ahead of the crowd in CSGO.  I would say our normal regime (which we used for CPH) was 3 days a week from 7 to 11-12pm as a lot of our players are old men who have jobs and commitments outside of playing CS. If I think we need a bit more practice we will ramp this up closer to the start of all the tournaments and make sure that we are up to standard coming into the tournament season."

As mentioned, the team is gunning for the DreamHack Winter tournament, which at the moment is the biggest tournament announced for CS:GO in terms of cash prizes.

Several mousesports members will stream on a regular basis and although Gawn won't be one of them, you will still be able to follow him through his teammates' streams, all available via our stream feed.