Hello Tres, thank you very much for taking the time today to talk to us at SK Gaming. As we all know your time is limited as you are in Montreal and will be attending the ESWC which is taking place over there. For those of our readers who do not know you, would you be so kind to introduce yourself?

"Hey there! Thanks for having me. My name is Tres Saranthus and I am the manager of Cloud9 CS:GO. I’m native to Alabama in the United States and have been involved with Counter-Strike since a very young age. I believe I attended my first major LAN (Winter CPL 2005 in Dallas, TX) with compLexity when I was 16? Time flies, right? I am also a former Infantryman in the US Army with the 10th Mountain Division and got out at the rank of Sergeant. During my enlistment, I endured a year long deployment in the Kandahar Province of Afghanistan conducting foot patrols and going toe-to-toe with the Taliban."

After the past event namely the ESL ESEA Pro League Finals in Cologne you are suddenly considered the rising star of NA, talk us through this development.

"Rising star? Really? I wouldn’t say that at all, infact all credit goes to my players. Thank you, I reckon. I guess I’ve always had a thing for gaming even as a kid in those summers between school sessions where I found myself playing games such as Quake III, Battlefield 1942, DOTA, and the best of them all, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. The reality is that when I first got into the competitive aspect of Counter-Strike, I was really taken by the structure and hierarchy of the community itself as well as the game’s large following. Before a slight break I took to attend college and volunteer for military service, I was in charge of a shoutcasting based talk show (a long time before Twitch,) under the compLexity banner. We ran weekly talk shows and did post-game interviews with players. I also found myself commentating alongside legends such as Jeff “smeagol” Dickinson and Alex “Vansilli” Nguyen under a different group owned by DJ Wheat (Radio iTG.) It really has been a long and interesting road to say the least and as it currently sits, it’s poised to be an even more interesting as CS:GO continues to grow."

How difficult was it for you to play against the top teams in Europe compared to NA?

"For us I believe it’s a bit different. When you pick apart the lineup and break it down by the player history you can see that the players on the Cloud9 squad have had both ups and downs when facing European opponents. Each of these players has faced Europe on LAN and knows what to expect and what it will take to outsmart and outskill them. At the end of the day, European players aren’t “gods,” and you can’t look at them as such. They are beatable just like anyone else, including us."

What was the difference for you guys as a team compared to the Gfinity Summer Masters?

"The truth is, at Gfinity we were really wanting to come out and play our best but we were also gunning to examine our own weaknesses and assess where we needed to adjust to play against these Europeans. There is a difference in playing NA teams online back home and here. What also helps is the guys really buckling down and getting the most out of our demo and strategy sessions. If you want to win, and you put in the effort, it will show."

ESEA / ESL Finals picture by HLTV.org

Mostly mentioned for your success is sgares, was he really the key for the success or was it that the roster changes finally paid off?

"It’s a culmination of the roster changes coming to fruition and the dedication which Sean has to learning and studying each of our opponents. Every player on this team brings a little something different to the table and as it stands, all of those things on the table come together to create the success of Cloud9 CS:GO."

Should POV Streams be running or not? Other teams could easily snipe your tactics and profit from this?

"The approach of POV streams like last weekend is completely unfair and should not be allowed. If an organizer wants to provide that type of coverage and in depth insight into what goes on within the teams during matches then it should definitely happen after the team is knocked out of the tournament at the very least. I personally would like to not see an entire team’s communications offered, but rather snippets and highlights from certain rounds. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s a very cool and insightful tool to those who have never heard the comms at this level and can definitely help players that aspire to play at the professional level."

Coming back to Montreal where you guys are right now, how do you see the chances to repeat the success story from last weekend?

"The eyes of the world are upon my guys to carry over the same performances from last weekend to ESWC. It’s important for us to do the same but we are not putting any stress over it because that would only hinder the team’s play. Every tournament we attend, we are aiming to win; however, we are taking them all one at a time."

Do you think the European teams maybe adapted their playstyle to counter tactic you?

"It’s hard to say what the European teams are up to right now. I mean after last weekend I think quite a few of them went home and went back to the drawing board because they were so taken by the vast improvement of our scene as a whole. It will most definitely be interesting to see what the matchups look like now."

What is your general opinion about the event itself? Did ESWC improve compared to the previous events in France?

"It’s very hard to say what differences will be made as we haven’t actually accessed the tournament area just yet; however, there has been an effort by the organizers to arrange a practice room here at the hotel and that alone says a lot. Only downside that I can think of so far is the lack of admission for spectators that choose to come out and watch. It’s important for the growth of CS:GO and the whole of e-sports to have the ability to cater to large crowds. How can we want more people to follow the games, yet turn them away when they finally get the opportunity to do so at an NA event?"

Where is Cloud 9 heading next? Give us an short overview.

"The next stop for us is Valencia, Spain for the FACEIT LAN Finals which are being held at the same venue as DreamHack Valencia. We are very excited about seeing Spain and I believe for many of the guys this is their first time (including myself.)"

You are known to lead the team in kind of like an army manor, really structured and strict. Do you think this is an essential manager skill?

"Well at the end of the day I have to realize that this isn’t a military unit and these are not soldiers that I am dealing with. These are gamers and all of them come from a different background or upbringing and you have to be sensitive to that. It’s most important that your players trust your judgement and know that they can come to you when they need anything. It’s also a position where you have to be very versatile as you never know what will be thrown at you. For example, right now I have a player in extreme physical pain (which we won’t go into detail,) and I am trying to figure out the best solutions so that things continue to run smoothly and successfully."

Thank you once again for taking the time and good luck for the upcoming tournament! The last words are up to you.

"Once again thanks for having me. I’d like to take this time to give a shoutout to our sponsors G2A.com, LogitechG, HTC, HyperX, Intel, Alienware, Nvidia, and all of the other sponsors we have that make this possible. A huge shoutout to the Etienne & Cloud9 families that continue to make all of this possible. Please allow me to also send a special thank you to RedBull for giving us wings. I also can’t leave without saying how proud I am of my guys for their commitment to bringing Cloud9 and NA CS:GO back from the depths of forum jabs which we all have endured. @C9stunna on Twitter.com & #C9WIN"

Cloud 9 surprised many last weekend at the ESL ESEA Pro League Finals where they reached the final againstFnatic and even took a map off of them. Shortly after they flew to Montreal, Canada where they will now take part in the ESWC tournament. Despite their busy schedule, we managed to get a hold of one of the people behind their success, their managerTres "stunna" Saranthus, and ask him a few questions about both events.Stay tuned to SK Gaming for more CS:GO interviews!