19 year-old Felix Murray is no stranger to esports — the Melbourne-born phenom spent his younger days battling his online counterparts in servers of FPS title ‘Team Fortress 2’. Going by the in-game name ‘ckm’, Murray dedicated countless hours to honing his craft as a ‘pocket soldier’. So much so, that it’s given him the experience and respect of his peers in the oceanic community. His most notable accolade dates back to when he placed 3rd in Premier League with his team ‘Home Alone’. Moreover, ckm was nominated for ‘Most Improved Player’ for that season.

ckm nominated for Most Improved Player. Source: OZFortress

At the conclusion of TF2, ckm made an almost seamless transition to Overwatch landing himself in a number of established rosters prior to the infancy of contenders in Australia; namely: ‘Team Skyfire’, ‘JAM’, and ‘Blank Esports’.

While all seemed well, the Australian community were shellshocked to hear the news that Murray had announced his retirement in early May leaving contenders champions the ‘Sydney Drop Bears’ after two seasons of play.

ckm announces his retirement May 9th 2019. Source: Twitter

In his TwitLonger, ckm states that: “As much as it saddens me to do this I just can’t warrant risking the amount of time required to make playing into a career. Hell, maybe I’ll regret this one day, maybe I’ll come back, but from where I see it, there’s realistically a very small chance I actually make OWL, which is the only thing that would warrant the time commitment. If I’m going to pursue something I’m going to give it 100%, I don’t want to be splitting my time and my interests 50/50 and being mediocre at both. Starting University this year has made me realize I love what I’m perusing there just as much as Overwatch and it’s ultimately a safer route. Maybe I’m bitching it lmao but I need to ground my “dreams” in some essence of realism”.

After a short-lived 2 month break, Murray took to Twitter to say that he had returned to the game on the 30th of July; further revealing the roster for the 2019 Australian World Cup team. With his World Cup debut in 2018, it was a no brainer to pick him up again due to his raw mechanical skill and extensive in-game knowledge.

ckm returns to Overwatch. Source: Twitter

I sat down with Felix to discuss his day-to-day routine, pre-match rituals, words on his early retirement, amongst other things leading into the World Cup.

Marzy: “Thanks for taking the time to speak to me today Felix”

ckm: “No worries bro, always a pleasure.”

Marzy: “What does your current day-to-day routine look like?”

ckm: “At the moment it’s pretty chill with us not having started scrims for the World Cup just yet. I’m currently studying as well as doing Overwatch so I typically play the game as much as possible (ranked/aim practice/vods etc) and study in-between games. I’m really keen to get scrimming again in the coming weeks, it’s been a while so I’m kind of craving it right now. When scrims do start I believe we’ll be kicking things off with 4 hours a night (not including ranked time) then bringing things up as we get closer to the event.”

ckm competing at OW World Cup in 2018. Source: Liquipedia

Marzy: “What are you studying at university?

ckm: “Media and Communications, it’s quite broad at the moment but I’m enjoying it.”

Marzy: “Do you see yourself moving into your respective field after study or returning to playing full-time on the cards?”

ckm: “ I have no clue at this point. I’m still in my first year and playing full-time Overwatch is definitely still on the cards, time will tell I guess. If I don’t end up pursuing Overwatch I think I’d like to have some involvement in the film industry or maybe in Esports? I have the connections and know how everything operates from the inside as a player and I feel like that could prove to be quite valuable but I don’t know… I’ll have to see where things take me.”

Marzy: “It’s great to see you managing both your studies and Overwatch. Do you have any tips for younger players that are hopeful to follow the same path?”

ckm: “It’s hard to juggle your education and gaming since there’s typically a strong correlation between grind hours and performance. Main thing I’ve found when it comes to juggling the two is to have an understanding of what you’re going to need to sacrifice in order to do well in both. If you want to juggle school and gaming then your social life will probably take a hit. At the start of this year I tried to juggle all three and I started losing my mind and ended up ‘retiring’. This time around I know my social life is going to go bust for a bit so I’m trying to organise myself around that understanding.”

Marzy: “We saw earlier this year that you announced your retirement, what made you come back?”

ckm: “I missed the competing man. I said in a tweet a little earlier that I’m straight up addicted to the game and competing so I kind of gave myself no choice. I guess travelling really put things into perspective for me, I had a lot of time to think about how much I loved being apart of Esports and decided it’s something I should keep trying to pursue whilst I’m young.”

ckm with a formiddable Doomfist play coming in at Number 4. Source: Snowball Esports

Marzy: “Before a set of scrims or tournaments do you have any rituals you go through to get yourself physically and mentally prepared?”

ckm: “Generally before practice I just make sure I’m warmed up, whether thats through a bit of Kovaac’s/Custom Games or through ranked. Competition matches are different for everyone, I do my usual warmup but also run through the core things coaches have told me to focus on going into the game, trying not to overthink things.”

Marzy: “Other than Overwatch, do you have any hobbies that you like to do outside of the game?”

ckm: “Yes of course, I’m a bit of a movie fanatic, so I tend to spend way too much time and money at the cinema; also getting on the drinks with the boys goes alright haha.”

Marzy: “Finally, do you have anyone in mind that you’d specifically like to play against at the World Cup? and why?”

ckm: “ Nobody specifically, I guess I’d like to beat Denmark this year after our poor performance against them last year. I’m really just looking forward to playing with the squad and having the opportunity to learn from Gunba and Co. again.”

The Overwatch World Cup hosts teams consisting of the best players from respective countries across the globe. The opening ceremony kicks off on Friday 1st of November.

Team Australia at the 2018 Overwatch World Cup. Source: https://twitter.com/AUSOWWC

Be sure to follow ckm and Team Australia on social media to stay up to date on their timeline at the World Cup.

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Marco ‘Marzy’ Tizzone

Photographer/Creative

www.twitter.com/notMarzy