Cloud9 failed to make it past the Group Stage in the last Major, but they head into DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca with their high hopes. The team's leader, Sean "seangares" Gares spoke to theScore eSports about his leadership and goals, the other North American teams in the Major. But more importantly, his hair.

Before I delve into the hard-hitting questions, I was wondering if you could tell me how you style your hair?

Haha! Honestly, I usually let it dry and use a mixture of water and American Crew Fiber. If my hair is really long, I usually have to use some hairspray or something else to make it stay.

You have been called a magician by your teammates in regards to your shot-calling ability. When did you start becoming an in-game leader and why are you so good at it?

At this point, I’ve been an in-game leader for roughly 10 years. I have taken time off a couple of times in the past — like when Semphis took over for a couple months — but I always end up coming back to it. I believe that I benefit from the enjoyment of watching and learning different playstyles within the scene, specifically the Europeans. Many consider studying to be a boring art in CS, but I happen to enjoy it!

There was clip on Reddit from Freak’s stream where another NA player essentially said that you have the talent to be a top level fragger as well. What drives you to focus on the tactical/supportive side of the game rather than play a more frag-oriented position?

I do try and provide fragging power to the team, but my primary focus is to allow my teammates to succeed and make sure they’re confident at all times. I think the psychological aspect of CS:GO is the biggest factor. When one of our star fraggers is tilted, it might cause them to be less confident or play in a different manner. My goal is to never allow that to happen. Also, I play with four tremendously talented players that are capable of making outstanding plays. It’s easy to accept leftover roles when these guys are your teammates!

Your calling was one of the big things that was put in the spotlight when you had the run of amazing results prior to ESL One: Cologne. Was there anything specific that triggered such a huge improvement in your play and results?

I think simply watching demos in person and allowing people to see the things I see, or hear the things I think, helped tremendously. Having an “open classroom,” where one person is clearly in charge but several others can chime in with their thoughts, really helped improve understanding. Our communication and teamwork began to excel around that time.

Your run stopped short as you fell out of the Major in the group stage. What went wrong in Cologne that caused you to be eliminated earlier than most people predicted?

The loss in Cologne against Kinguin was extremely depressing because we put so much work into analyzing their play. It truly felt like we had a perfect read on every single tactic they called, but we lost tons of advantageous scenarios. It’s almost impossible to win a CS:GO match when you lose both pistols, an eco, and 4v2s.

You recently competed in the Crown Invitational in Australia, and were knocked out in the semis by Immunity. How did you feel about your team’s play at that event and were you surprised to lose to an Australian team?

Even though we were surprised that we lost to Immunity, I still have to give them credit for playing great. We had tons of communication issues throughout the first map (Cache) that kept causing us to get picked by their aggressive CT setups. On the other hand, we got utterly dominated on Overpass. They showed us how much work our CT setup needs on that map.

How will you be preparing for this Major and are you doing anything different than what you did for the last one?

We’re re-strategizing up on all of our maps and plan on having a full seven map rotation. Basically, we’ve gone back to doing a lot of server side practice and are learning new styles.

Is there anything in your own play or calling that you want to improve on before the Major?

My first goal is to continue improving our strategic diversity across every map, so it’s impossible to have a good read on what we’re doing. Second, I aim to have 1000 deathmatch kills per day for the whole week leading up to the major.

Do you think the team's poor performance in Cologne and decline in results will hurt your confidence going into this Major?

I think our team plays best when we start even keel and build up confidence throughout the tournament. If you enter a major with fake confidence you’re asking to get wrecked.

This will also be the first time that three North American teams take part in a Major, as Team Liquid and Counter Logic Gaming also made it in. Do you think either of those teams could pull off a Top 8 finish?

Both teams have been playing insanely and definitely have the map pool to make a deep run. Obviously, I have faith that my team will succeed, but I would be utterly shocked if all three teams went out in groups. It seems impossible to me given how we’ve all been playing!

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.

Jacob Juillet writes about Counter-Strike for theScore eSports and now has great hair too. Follow him on Twitter.