Mousesports have teamed up with Team Razer and Razer used that opportunity to have a sit-down with the Danish pro-player Karrigan.

How do you become better at CS:GO? What skills are necessary to become a pro-player? And how do you start out? All of this and a whole lot more was answered in a recent Team Razer interview with Mousesports Finn ”Karrigan” Andersen.

You can read or watch the interview in its entirety below.

What is your most basic tips for new players who want to get started with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive?

”Play it as a casual first, see if you like the game, see if it interest you, see if you like the competition of becoming better and better. Starting out eight hours every day is not how you want to do it, it’s not how you start your hobby.” Is Karrigans advice to new players that want to get into CS:GO.

The hunger and will to play is important.

”A hobby is something you develop over time and see like, I really want to play, I really want to play. It’s all about that, if you have the hunger to play, you have the right will, that’s how you’re going to start.”

”You start out as a hobby. You don’t go to soccer without touching a ball and say ”I want to be like Ronaldo!” that’s not how it works.”

What do you believe the steps are to become a better player?

”You have to play a lot, you have to watch a lot of games. Watching professional games gives you opportunities to see how teams work.” Karrigan explained.

Make sure you have a competitive mindset.

”I think you have to start out with friends and play a lot of deathmatches and that’s the way you become a player. You see if you have the competitive mindset within the game and are not just playing for casual.”

Are there any particular skills that you would recommend players to train to raise their level of competitiveness?

”I think one of the most important skills as a player is definitely your reaction time, it has to be high. It is a reaction time game where the guy who shoots first often wins.” Karrigan then went on to explain that reaction time is not everything and precision and dedication also play a big role.

”But also precision, you have to have the determination and give up a lot of stuff to become a pro-player and become good.”

Different roles require different skill sets.

While precision and reaction time is a big factor for any CS:GO, player, Karrigan explained that every role requires a different set of skills.

”If you’re an in-game leader you need to have some kind of leadership role or skills in that way, to make sure you can put your players in good spots and make the team better in another way than just killing.”

How important is choosing the right hardware for you?

Karrigan values his gaming hardware very highly. He explains that it is one of the only things you can bring with you to big tournaments that makes you feel at home.

”It’s the only thing you can bring to big tournaments, something like mousepad, mouse, keyboard. It’s the three things you’re always going to use at a tournament. You want to feel at home when you’re at a tournament with ten thousand people watching you play.”

Hardware is like a racquet for a tennis player.

Karrigan compares a pro-players mouse and keyboard to a tennis player’s racquet and explains how he always wants to make sure he has the best on the market.

”When it comes down to hardware it has to be a racquet for a tennis player, it can be replaced if you smash it if you get mad but obviously you want to have the best in the market.”

Karrigan is currently using the brand new Razer Viper Ultimate gaming mouse and the Razer Blackwidow keyboard(Tournament Edition).