MoMan über LDLC in CS:GO und seine Karriere

MoMaN on LDLC in CS:GO and his career

Emmanuel 'MoMaN' Marquez is most known for having been a professional StarCraft II player. The frenchman is coaching LDLCs Counter-Strike roster these days, though. He tells readmore.de how this developed and what he currently thinks about his players.

Most people outside France know you from StarCraft II. What has happened since we’ve seen you at events like the Homestory Cup?

I was a top player in Counter-Strike before I got to StarCraft II, so now I’m coaching LDLC in CS:GO. I’m still playing StarCraft II and Counter Strike: Global Offensive myself, though. It splits about 50:50.

Would you say that you’re still a professional StarCraft II player?

In a way, maybe. Semi-pro I would say since I’m not as good as before. I do a lot of other things now: I cast StarCraft II, I coach a team and not very often I have time to play.

Earlier I had an interview with Dayshi and he wanted me to ask you when you’re going to go full-pro again.

I don’t really know if that is going to happen. Perhaps when I can spend more time, but I’d have to let go of all of my projects. I can’t imagine doing that, there are so many things I want to work on, they are really dear to me.

One of those projects was the video in cooperation with ASUS ROG, „Becoming a Pro“. Lately Intel has done the same. How do you feel about that?

(smiles) So you saw it. How did you like it?

Loved it.

Well, it of course means they copied that, but that is good. It shows that they liked our video and that it had a good reception. I’m not angry, for me that’s a success.

+ Intels version

https://www.youtube.com/embed/v-KT59cYlEk

Also, shox wanted me to ask you something, too: You have coached the LDLC team before this roster, and now them. What are the differences? Do you prefer one?

It’s out of the question who I prefer, but of course I liked being with the team before, too. I believe they are more mature and they listened more to what I said. Some of the players can be hard to focus, most of the time the atmosphere is nice, though.

It seems that Titan and LDLC are having some kind of rivalry right now, do you agree?

It’s a bit like the rivalry in football, like Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

Titan seems to have the upper hand at this tournament. They won the best-of-three on the big stage in the French final. How big was that loss actually, because you both proceeded to the groups?

We were not happy to lose against them but they are one of the best teams in the world. The match was not so important, but for us it was really bad. We won against them at SLTV, so sometimes they win, sometimes we do. Titan and LDLC are at the same level but I hope we will win more from now on.

Recently you’ve changed the ingame leader to Happy. Who’s decision was that and why?

Everybody decided on that. shox took the lead before, because nobody else wanted to do it. We tried it out and shox was the best player in the world, but as soon as he had to lead the team he acted differently. It wasn’t the shox we knew anymore. I told Happy to lead during the middle of the tournament, because he did quite well before, and right now it seems like a good solution. shox is free now – unleashed so to say – and can be at his best again, but we will have to work out whether this lead is the right one.

As a (former) StarCraft II player you’re very familiar with the concept of maps. StarCraft II changes its maps very frequently and players are fine with it. In CS:GO players get upset over changes that happen once a year.

Yes, it’s because Counter Strike is very old. It’s been played for 15 years and there have been the same maps for five to ten years. Some people just aren’t happy with changes, no matter what kind of. They would rebel against Windows 7 first and in the end they simply get along with it. I just think StarCraft II players are more used to the changes and accept new maps easier, but I like Valve’s concept. I like that they sometimes change the maps even though the players complain, because in the end they will like it!

How would you compare the time needed to figure out a map in CS:GO and StarCraft II?

It’s very hard to say. In StarCraft II the average might be like three months, but in CS:GO there are five players at the same time. I guess if you play every day of the week and at least five matches… one or two months. But that would never happen anyway, because the maps change all the time in meta and main game. The strategies also change over time. So you can’t really ever figure a map out completely in CS:GO.

Looking at your players right now, shox is your golden boy obviously, but is there somebody else that should be looked at this tournament, for example because he improved a lot?



SmithZz, definitely. He came from Titan before and it wasn’t his fault that we didn’t like the team, but he got some of it. Right now he’s happy because he belongs with us and is a part of the team.

How far do you think your team will get in this tournament, and how far might Titan get?

I hope we go to the final, they have some chances. For Titan I guess top 4. A final Titan vs. LDLC would also be nice, but not as exciting for everybody else, because it’d be a pure French final. One foreign and one French team would be better.

Is the homecrowd advantage bigger here than in StarCraft II?

It’s much bigger. When you’re home and you manage a kill, everyone goes crazy. Everything you do makes the audience go wild, no matter how small. Virtus.pro set an amazing example for that at ESL One. In StarCraft II people cheer for you when you’re good, and sometimes when they’re from the same country, but you’re just one person. If you are a team of five people, they cheer for everyone and that adds up.