Photo Credit: @MarkyB

myst: Alright first off, you have been the coach of Splyce since May of last year. After your decision to step down from competing, how has that transition been over the last few months?

﻿MarkyB: It's different, I'd love to have still been competing as I was very passionate about it as a lot of people would know but I wasn't willing to continue surrounding myself with players that I didn't consider good enough to have success at events. As egotistical as that sounds, I had a bad year last year and I felt like individually it was my best CoD. I didn't want to continue going through that. I'm not taking a back seat and enjoying moving forward in my career within Esports.

myst: I want to touch back to the WW2 season where we saw a drop off in Splyce’s performance massively from the beginning of the year. As the one behind the players what can you attribute to this fall off towards the end of the season?

MarkyB: I think it was down to a lot of things, no one truly being comfortable within their roles and loads of external issues. We had the talent, it stopped meshing together and there were way too many other issues. Things needed to be broken apart and I'm sure all the guys will have success within their new rosters. I'm still massive fans and friends with the old players, I hope to see them succeed alongside us this season.

myst: ﻿﻿Now with Splyce’s roster being built Jurd, with the acquisitions of Loony, Temp, Accuracy and Aqua, how much input did you personally have in the formation of this lineup and furthermore, why was the approach to shy away from a full EU lineup?

MarkyB: Jurd wanted to move to the USA, so we needed players that were obviously able to do that and in Europe, there simply weren't the players available that were as good as the players we currently have. I had a bit of input towards the squad but at the end of the day the final decision came down to Jurd.

myst: ﻿﻿﻿The COD Community appeared a mixed bag with the reveal of your lineup, with a lot of criticism surrounding Temp a player who has proved to be one of the worlds rising stars but often in the community he is viewed as an “overrated” player. Would you care to share your thoughts on Temp not just as a player but in the team environment?

MarkyB: Temp is an outspoken guy on social media and I honestly thought that he was going to be like that in a team environment but to my pleasant surprise he's a fantastic teammate and an incredibly smart, skilful player.

﻿﻿﻿﻿myst: With CWL Las Vegas just around the corner and with two 2K’s already behind us, how do you feel the competition stacks up right now?

MarkyB: I feel like right now, the competition is very tight with a lot of teams that you wouldn't expect having some success. The likes of Spacely and his squad, they've been putting the most effort in out of anyone and it's showed, I think down the line the stacked rosters will catch up and simply beat these guys with the talent but for Vegas, I'm expecting these guys to have a good finish. Bar that, just your usual powerhouse rosters.

myst: ﻿Treyarch in the past has been esports minded and heavily involved when it comes to patch updates and rule sets, most recently the map pool has been updated which has stirred up controversy among pros. As a coach how do you feel the meta and map pool are at the moment? Are there any immediate changes you would like to see be made?

MarkyB: I feel like the best maps currently are the larger non-throwback maps, I think they went in the right direction with their choices and I know a lot of the pros had an influence. I think they've made the right decisions. I'd just have hoped they had put some of the larger throwback maps in especially when they've talked so much about this game being built for 5v5 and competitive out the box.

﻿The maps they chose to remake like Slums and Summit, for example, are most definitely not 5v5 maps. They were two of the most chaotic maps on the slower-paced games they were originally in aswell as playing 4v4. I hope to see some throwbacks being chucked in some DLC like Raid, I'd be chuffed.

myst: At the end of this interview, I would like to say thank you for taking the time to do this! As well is there anything you would like to say to your fans or anyone reading?

MarkyB: Thanks to all the people that continually support me every day, my friends, my family and my girlfriend. As well as of course, my team, Splyce etc. I want to succeed to make everyone proud, in anything I do within Esports. Hoping to help contribute to some Championships this season. ﻿

﻿﻿How do you think Splyce will fair this season? Comment down below!