CS:GO: Odds Haven’t Slowed Down ‘The Tank’

Every discipline is full of inspirational stories. Cédric “⁠RpK⁠” Guipouy’s timeline from a Source player to currently playing for Team Vitality has been full of setbacks and comebacks. He was a very lethal player in his Source days. However, he took a break from the game in 2013 as he wasn’t able to earn enough from the CS scene. He was good, probably the best players to have played Source. The game was popular back in his days. Although, you couldn’t make a career out of playing Source. Team Titan was a French team led by manager Jérôme “⁠NiaK⁠” Sudries. The defunct team was disqualified from the fourth CS:GO Major, DreamHack Winter 2014. This is when they turned their attention to RpK who gave CS a cold shoulder as a career in Esports wasn’t viable.

CS:GO: “Let’s go back to playing”

RpK revealed how he started working with his dad as a mechanic to be able to earn enough money. But, he got a call from NiaK which he couldn’t refuse.

“I saw his name pop up on my screen and in my head, I was already saying, ‘no, no way, none of this business,’ but I picked up anyway.  At first, I didn’t believe him at all, I thought it was all lies, but he took the time to explain how the scene had grown, and then I went home to watch the videos, the stadiums full of people, etc. When I saw it all I found it magical, I thought it was a crazy world, and the question then became whether I would be able to make a comeback or not.”

The competition in CS:GO is bloodthirsty and untamed. NiaK and Titan got RpK back because he knew how good he was. He was a very skilled player even in the early days of CS:GO. VeryGames was a very competitive team back in 2012. NiP was a team that had established itself as a dominant force in the early days of CS:GO. GeT_RiGhT, another player who used to play a lot with RpK was a mastermind behind NiP’s success. RpK was on fire at the DreamHack Winter with a rating of 1.38

 CS:GO: A whole New World

CS:GO has a completely different meta and the way you play CS has evolved over the years. RpK has been referred to as ‘The Tank’, someone who is reliable and stays strong in every situation. The transition wasn’t going to be easy, so he needed all his mates to catch him up to speed.

“What’s funny is that after two years I didn’t really feel like I had lost a lot of my skill, it came back really quickly, it was the meta that was a whole new world — I was completely lost. I couldn’t understand anything that was going on around me, and on top of that, I had never been particularly strong with utility, so I was totally out of my element. Killing people, that was fine, but everything else was incredibly hard for me.”

He compares himself to another French player, his teammate at Team Vitality. He goes on to say how he thinks he isn’t someone who worked very hard, at least not like apeX who would spend hours trying to master his game. CS:GO is a different game. He started putting in more effort and more practice because that is what it demands.

The famous G2/Envy shuffle

Titan closed down which led him to sign a deal with G2. However, the pressure was always on. There was this immediate need to get results. He got a fresh start after the G2/Envy shuffle. The team was still struggling with good results. But, RpK finally found his individual form getting 1.24 rating in Envy’s 5-6th place finish at the ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals and a 1.29 rating in their DreamHack Open Atlanta title run.

Finding a perfect balance

RpK understands the role of CS:GO in his life. He makes sure that he gives time to his passion for cars. He is really thankful that he got a chance to pursue a career he always wanted to.

“Every day I fight to remain confident and to give as much as I possibly can to my team, which is why I think that I can still be around now and that’s what makes me believe I still have some good years ahead of me.”

SOURCE- HLTV.org