Viperio got off to an exhilarating start at the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR, as they came agonisingly close to pulling off an upset win against Fnatic. We caught up with team coach Ciaran "BisCu" King for his take on the match, and the team's chances of making it to the BLAST.tv Paris Major.
Ciaran "BisCu" King shares his view on the Viperio vs Fnatic match
Viperio were facing some steep odds ahead of their April 6 match against Fnatic, as they faced off an experienced team with an impressive record right out of the gate at the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR.
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Despite that, Viperio were able to pull off an incredible performance in yesterday's match, just narrowly being denied victory through a 22-20 defeat. It may not have been enough for them to be able to emerge victorious, but it was a promising start to the RMR, giving the team some hope for their Paris Major ambitions.
After the dust settled following their match against Fnatic, we sat down with team coach for his view on how the team fared.
"Obviously you expect a very tough game against such an opponent as Fnatic," said Biscu. "On paper, they should be dominantly winning against us all the time virtually, good thing for us Counter-Strike isn't played on paper! We made it closer than most probably expected or gave us credit for, so for that, I'm proud of the team and their performance."
The closely-fought match was a nail-biter from start to finish, with some of Biscu's particular favourite moments including "when Girafffe ACE'd to win us our first round or when he knifed Krimz!" More importantly, however, Biscu shared the lessons that Viperio will be taking forward following their Fnatic defeat:
"We learned that we can compete with these teams when we are playing to our limit and potential, we just need to push ourselves over the finish line in the next games if we can keep up that type of performance."
Close or not, a loss is a loss. In our previous interview with Viperio team captain Tom "arTisT" Clarke, he shared that it would be a "dream" to be able to compete in the BLAST.tv Paris Major. Does the team's coach think they have the momentum behind them to make that dream a reality?
"There is still a long hard road ahead of us before we make it to Paris," noted Biscu, "with opponents that are stronger than Fnatic. So we have to take the confidence and the positives into the next matches to stand a chance."
Of course, every team at the RMR is eager to make it through to the Paris Major - as it has the honour of being the final CS:GO Major before Counter-Strike 2 launches later this year.
According to Biscu, the game's launch "couldn't be more timely," with him noting the continual growth of Counter-Strike despite the arrival of competitors such as Valorant, Rainbow 6 Siege and Overwatch. The Viperio coach argues that Valve "needed to give the game a boost to maintain its dominance as the king of FPS esports, which it is and always has been, and long may it continue."
In our chat with arTisT, the captain shared his hopes that the UK and Ireland would see more development on the scene following the launch of Counter-Strike 2. As such, we asked Biscu for his take on the matter - do the UK and Ireland get enough attention on the Counter-Strike scene?
"I think you get attention when it's deserved or warranted," says Biscu. "Hopefully the UK and Ireland can continue to grow and trend in the direction it currently is. I believe we have many many talented players and teams that can trade punches with the biggest teams in the world, hopefully with results and time we can have more support for UK/IRE teams to show themselves on the biggest of stages."
Time will tell if Viperio will be able to do their part to elevate the UK and Ireland's position on the CS:GO scene. You'll be able to follow along with their efforts via our upcoming CS:GO match schedule - and for a really exciting CS:GO experience, why not sign up to claim your free 100% bonus?
