While in China, the captain of the Team Dignitas female CS:GO roster, Emmalee 'EMUHLEET' Garrido, spoke to us about the team’s progress and the female CSGO scene. The team recently won the Esports Festival in Macau, China between August 31st and September 3rd.

EMUHLEET has been playing with the same two players, Lynnie 'artStar' Noquez and Amanda 'rain' Smith, since 2014 and the team is currently regarded as the best female CS:GO team in North America.

So you have just been competing in Macau, China at the Esports Festival 2017, winning the entire event. What was your favourite thing about China?

EMUHLEET: I really enjoyed the tour around Macau that the host of the tournament, Grow Up eSports, provided all the players with. We had a guide on our tour, that took us all over Macau, who taught us some history and a little bit about the culture of China. I love learning about other country's cultures!





Obviously you must be happy about your first place finish. What aspect of the team do you think contributed most of all towards your success?

EMUHLEET: So many things helped us with our successful win. Our coach, XP3, gave us a motivational speech before the game, gave us last minute guidance and just overall everything we learned while at the 76ers Training Complex. For example, during the game we would sometimes repeat what some of the doctors and psychologists told us to do, in order to remain cool, calm, and collected.





Looking at individual players, Mounira 'GooseBreeder' Dobie had a very strong individual performance statistically. Do you feel she was your team's best performer, or did someone else contribute greatly behind the scenes?

EMUHLEET: It's a team game, everyone played incredibly well at one point and time during the event. Goosebreeder is a gem and one of a kind. She keeps getting drastically better and better and I am so impressed with her hard work and I admire her patience as a person. I think this event was also a great event for Artstar.





Just a couple months ago you were competing at Fragadelphia 11. What are the key differences between competing at an international LAN such as Esports Festival 2017, compared to a domestic LAN such as Fragadelphia?

EMUHLEET: Every event we go to we keep learning more and more to help us with the next one. At Fragadelphia we were not prepared enough snack wise and rested for the 12 hour day, with less busy days. We burned too much energy early on in the day. So at Macau, we made sure to have plenty of snacks such as breakfast bars, beef jerky, and fruit snacks to keep everyone from starving and from getting tired and we were able to rest in between games. We also saved a lot of our energy during our first few matches, so that we would be able to use all of our energy during the finals.





Before the event, which team did you feel would be your most difficult opponent at GIRLGAMER Esports Festival 2017 and why?

EMUHLEET: We thought our hardest opponent would be Team Expert and I was right! That team is filled with incredibly skilled players and also extremely friendly people! We get along with them so well.





In the final on Mirage, when you won that crucial round and the scores became 15-14 against you, what was the team talking about?



EMUHLEET: Here is where the game got pretty intense. It was all up to this round to save us, literally. Usually teams want to stay passive and just hold the sites, but here I wanted us to just play like we normally would and not completely give up the sites. Unfortunately, this last round just came down to us hitting our shots.





In the second map of the final on Cache, you posted an impressive Terrorist side, despite losing the pistol. From watching the game, you scored far more entry kills on the A site than on to B. Why would you say that was?



EMUHLEET: I think it just depends on whatever team we are playing against. We don't usually go A, or usually go B. It's just wherever we can pick up on the weaker side of the map is at that time versus whoever we're playing. For this particular match, it was just much easier for us to go towards the A site, so there was no point in wasting rounds trying to go B!





After the team's experience in China, what would you say the main lessons you have learned are?



EMUHLEET: I think with all of our traveling lately, we are really starting to learn the best ways to NOT have jet lag and the best ways to stay hydrated/food in our tummies, without it always being fast food like in the past. All of this really does matter.





While in China, which rising female CS:GO talents did you see that you believe deserve a greater spotlight and why?

EMUHLEET: I think the entire Expert team had a player who shined at one point or another when we played against them. I can see them doing really well consistently. I also think E-Home had a lot of great rounds when I was watching them and I could tell they have a totally different playstyle then what I had seen before. I think if they keep practicing and working together, they will do really well next time also!





Despite the recent resolved issues involving Melania 'gina' Mylioti and the WESG qualifier, do you think more female CSGO players should play in mixed teams?

EMUHLEET: I'm not really too sure what happened, I try to just focus on my team and myself. However, more all-female teams should definitely branch out of female only online tournaments and play in mixed tournaments. You just get better practice and experience. I also would like to see more females playing in mixed teams, even though there already are some. I used to play in mixed teams all the time as well. But it is also not a bad thing to play on all female teams. You get this great bond and growth together. For my team, we wanna kick our feet through the door and try to be one of the first all female teams to consistently do well in mixed tournaments, just to prove gender doesn't matter and if you have skill, then you have skill. That's our current goal right now.





How do you think women and girls can be encouraged to part-take in eSports?

EMUHLEET: If a girl is trying to play in eSports, they need to be passionate about it, confident, and work hard. It's not an easy road ahead, but it's definitely worth it once you have reached your goals. It's important to be surrounded by a supportive community, friends, and family who will consistently motivate you every day. I have started seeing more and more female fans at big events such as ESL NY and I think it's great that they truly love watching competitive gaming.... they get pretty into it too!





On a different note, what changes would you like to see Valve bring to de_dust2 and what would you like them to keep the same?

EMUHLEET: I have a little bit of a biased opinion since i am from 1.6. I hate seeing great classic maps changed almost completely, like Mirage and Train. With that being said, I hope they don't change Dust 2 too much! Maybe B site and the end of Long A could get some decent revamping, but other than that, I hope [Valve] do not make too many changes!





As a player who predominantly uses the P250, have you felt the effect of the Five-SeveN and Tec-9 nerf?

EMUHLEET: I definitely always rely on my trusty p250, especially since it's so cheap. I personally will not buy the Tec-9 anymore. As for the Five-Seven, I have been using it a lot more lately then normal and IT'S INSANE. It's such a great pistol to use if you can afford to buy it. I can see a lot more eco rounds being won with this too!





Finally, is there anybody you wish to thank?

EMUHLEET: Thanks to all our amazing sponsors for your continuous support and to everyone who actually read all of my answers in this interview... you are the real MVP.





Thank you to EMUHLEET for the interview. You can follow her here:



Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emuh.leet

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EMUHLEET

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/emuhlee64