valde "Giving your players freedom is important in a Counter-Strike team and I try to exercise that"

Having joined North in August 2017 Valdemar "valde" Bjørn Vangså has remained a core member of the Danish side despite his role shifting significantly since then. Having once been considered the star individual of the North squad frustrations would come to fruition as cadiaN’s departure in May would have valde picking up the mantle of In Game Leader. In attendance of the ECS Season 7 Finals we spoke with valde about his adjustment to the calling role and the prospects for the Danes moving forward.

Allan: Earlier this year ave made way for mithR as coach of North. How do they differ as coaches and what does mithR bring to the team?

valde: With ave I think we had a very tactical coach with a lot of emphasis on preparing tactically: what will the other team do, what are we supposed to do, all that jazz. mithR is a bit more a social kind of coach, of course every coach does some tactical preparation and he helps me with the veto and so on, but I think the biggest difference is that mithR is kind of the father of the team, keeping everyone in a straight line and making sure everything is alright within the team. I think it is really important to have a leader who is well respected among the players and can keep everyone in line. Being the hype man is really important because I would not say we are the most vocal team, if the atmosphere in the team is a bit down and people are feeling a bit exhausted or need that energy boost he is definitely the guy we look towards. I think it is really important to have someone behind you bringing the energy and passion, he is definitely that kind of guy for us who brings it when we have these official games and LAN matches. He always tells us: “you are allowed to have fun and express yourselves when you win rounds”. I think our personalities are a bit more quiet compared to some other teams, for example, the Brazilians are shouting when they are winning, I think it is just a mentality thing and it is really good overall for us to have a guy like this on our team. I think it is really important when you have a coach that they also bring something new and I think our CT sides have been a lot better overall. I think our play on CT has been even better in practice but we are still a new team and we are still working on a new playstyle, so far I think you haven’t seen the best of us yet.

Coming into and during the matches themselves what is the divide between yourself and mithR with making decisions on North’s approaches?

Being the In Game Leader I am always going to have the final say but of course if he sees we are doing something wrong or something to exploit in the other team he can always call a tactical timeout. As a rule of thumb he always has the first 15 seconds [during tactical pauses] to come with his input and then I decide if I want to go with my own gut feeling. I think it is very 50-50 and just about listening to each other and understanding each others philosophy in terms of what you want to do. I think we have a healthy relationship where there is space for both of us and so far I think we have had some really good teamwork.

A few months ago cadiaN departed the team with yourself moving into the IGL role. Talk me through the logic behind this change and how do you think your style of calling differs from cadiaN’s?

I think we all felt a bit lost sometimes including [cadiaN] and that is obviously not optimum when you are playing against some of the best teams in the world. Of course it wasn't all cadiaN’s fault, I think it is on all of us, we are a team of five individuals that have to perform and communicate together. I wouldn’t just point the finger at him, I don’t think there is ever a case where one guy is the sole reason why a team is doing badly and the same goes in the other direction, if a team is good it is not a sole player who is making for all the positives on the team. In the end teams have five players and if you do not work together well, if you’re not hitting your individual level, then you won’t have a good performance and it is as simple as that. In terms of style obviously me and cadiaN are two different players with two different types of personalities so naturally we are not going to have the same playstyle nor the same idea of how to play the game. In specifics how my style is different from his, I am actually not to fond putting that into words myself I think that is more up to the analysts and other people in the business to see how we actually play.

Replacing cadiaN as the AWPer for North was JUGi, what does JUGi bring to the team?

The main thing JUGi brings to the team is a high individual skill ceiling, I think we are a much more dangerous team now in terms of firepower and I think this is something you need to have if you want to compete with the best. You can have all the tactics and all the teamplay you want but if your individual level is not there then you are not going to win tournaments, you are not going to beat the best teams.

From reading other interviews it seems that you are a decisive person and able to show authority, do you agree and are these qualities important when being a leader?

I think if you are not decisive or able to show that authority when needed then you don’t belong as a leader on a team, it is as simple as that. In elite sports you always have different personalities working together where it is important to be decisive and believing overall that what your saying is the right thing to do. I think it is a natural thing where if you want to be a leader on a top team - whether that is in esports or in traditional sports - then it’s important to be someone who is strong enough and is capable of controlling a team with five different personalities.

When other players have moved into the IGL role without loads of experience I think mid round calling is regularly their largest pitfall, with NiKo being a good example. Has calling during the mid round been an issue for yourself?

I don't think it has been an issue so far and actually I’ve been quite pleased with our T-sides, but obviously they can always get better. Mid round calling is probably the most challenging thing when you are playing at the top level because the mid round calling is not set in place, you can't really practice it, every time you are going to end up in a new situation. I think in terms of mid round calling something that is a bit underrated is that it’s not down to the In Game Leader as much as people think. Say I am on the middle of the map on Mirage for example, I need to have some information from my players on the flanks and if they are not telling me the correct information, how am I supposed to make the right calls? I think it is up to the players themselves, all of them need to step and take responsibility if they see something we can exploit because otherwise I am unable to make the right call. Obviously I am the one that has the final say and the most responsibility if it goes wrong but a lot of it is based on what sort of information I am getting and what the other players are telling me.

A similar topic is players being able to take intuitive outside of the calls themselves. As a leader is this something an apsect that you emphasise to the players?

It is something that I want to have emphasis on. All of the players on the team know that if they see something, then they have the freedom to go for the play and with their own gut feeling. I think without that freedom you actually cannot be a top team. When I look at the other top teams that is also what I see, a lot of rounds are not decided by a tactic or the call overall it's more so where a player sees something and goes with his gut feeling. When I look at gameplay in general all of the crazy rounds won are not typically won off a special tactic, it is won off an individual making a play which makes space for the IGL to make the correct mid round call. Giving your players freedom is important in a Counter-strike team and I try to exercise that with all of them.

Within the community I think a common misconception is that teams only play loose or structured when in reality top teams need to be able to play a variety of styles on the Terrorist side. Do you agree and how is North’s balance of styles at the current time?

In previous interviews people always ask "are you loose, are you tactical?" and I am always telling them, it's a bit of both, if you are not able to do both then you are not going to be a top team. I think it is very 50-50 for us, obviously some games you might end up being more tactical because their playstyle makes it more suited to call something tactical and then vice-versa for some other teams it might be more beneficial for us to play loser. I think it is very game to game based for us where we have having a mixed play style of being able to play loose and tactical.

Outside of the server what is the atmosphere like within the team? Is everyone contributing to discussions with making changes and adding new things?

Outside of the game I think we are in a really good place right now, everyone is really motivated and bringing the fire to every single practice session. I also try and encourage my players to go on the server, if they see another team that is doing something nice, maybe think about it themselves. In general I think the extra 5% of people's own drive to sit on a server and dry run something, or come up with a new flash is really important if you want to be ahead of this curve. It is much more satisfying if you can come up with new stuff yourself and are able to define the meta instead of always looking at other teams and copying what they are doing.

With good reason the superstar names of s1mple, ZywOo, NiKo and EliGE often draw the headlines. For myself however it is players and crucially leaders akin valde that contribute the most towards winning teams tournaments. Time will tell whether North will climb the rankings and with such time valde will only grow as a caller, whether it is with this lineup or teams to come I wouldn’t want to stand between valde and future successes.

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Photo credit: Adela Sznajder