How far can Asia’s best team go at the FACEIT: Major London 2018?
BnTeT Image © HLTV.org
Asia was never really considered as a powerhouse in the professional scene of Counter Strike: Global Offensive. The competition exists, but the region is no hotbed unlike how it is (or was) to Starcraft II, Dota 2, or League of Legends, three of the most prominent esports titles to date.
The China-based organization named TYLOO has been the sole representative of Asia in the highest levels of CS:GO tournaments for years now. They may not be world’s best team like how Astralis is right now, nor possess a legacy like what Ninjas in Pyjamas hold, but they are not far from these achievements.
In Asia, TYLOO is an undisputed best. But for the first time since the establishment of professional CS:GO, TYLOO’s potential was flaunted to the world when they became the first Asian team to be included in HLTV’s Top 10 list of best CS:GO teams. They appeared in the 10th spot during the first week of August this year, along with household names such as Natus Vincere, Fnatic, and FaZe Clan.
TYLOO achieved this feat while solving an apparent issue in their squad since they added the Indonesian CS:GO stars named Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand and Kevin “xccurate” Susanto—communication barrier. In an interview with HLTV, TYLOO’s in-game leader, BnTeT, admitted the existence of such issues, citing how he sometimes need to speak in multiple languages.
“I need to talk in three languages sometimes and I cannot focus on my game sometimes – just sometimes. Also, the Chinese guys sometimes don’t understand what I say 100%, maybe they understand like 70%. It’s a big issue in our team, we’ve become better, but I’m not saying that it’s already at a 100%,” BnTeT said.
BnTeT is highly regarded in the CS:GO community as the best Indonesian player. He’s not a natural Chinese speaker but there have been significant improvements in his teammates fluency in English and his fluency in Chinese since he moved to China last year to join the best CS:GO team in Asia.
Outside the team however, BnTeT revealed that the Chinese CS:GO community are faced with bigger problems. According to BnTeT, China doesn’t really lack CS:GO players, in fact there are many of them. The problem lies in the presentation of opportunity—most skilled Chinese players are solo players.
BnTeT was also able to share his vision about CS:GO, boldly stating how the game is simply his passion—disregarding the factor if it is or it is not the best esports title. He may not be able to provide a solution for China’s problem, but if the young Chinese hopefuls are able to adapt his vision about CS:GO, Asia will be a powerhouse in no time.
TYLOO will be shooting another shot at making Asia one of CS:GO’s powerhouse regions at the second CS:GO Major tournament of the year, the FACEIT: Major London 2018 for the next weeks. Considering BnTeT’s words, as well as their overall performance this year, TYLOO is not far from reaching yet another milestone.
