“pashaBiceps just lifted the car and walked with it”. Cypher’s first interview as a Virtus.pro player
One of the best Quake players in the world, Alexey “Cypher” Yaroshevsky, has joined Virtus.pro. In Alexey’s first interview as a member of his new team, we’ll find out why he declined offers from America, what jokes our Polish players make about him, and what we’re going to see at QuakeCon.
What were you doing when the offer from Virtus.pro came in?
I was sitting at home; they’d just announced QuakeCon that would have a million-dollar prize pool. Three or four hours later, Virtus.pro’s General manager Roman Dvoryankin got in touch with me, and we started our negotiations. I had other offers besides Virtus.pro. Even before the announcement was made, some American teams had tried to contact me for a long time.
Would you have gone there if not for Virtus.pro’s offer?
There was one team that offered precisely that, moving to the region of North America and playing in their scene. To be honest, it wasn’t an option that suited me very well. I like America, but I wouldn’t want to live there. I wanted to stay in Minsk, and the terms that Virtus.pro offered me were definitely no worse than those of the American teams. I like my city a lot, I like my inner state when I’m here. Of course I could do without my favorite places, my family, my friends and acquaintances, but having them around is better. I don’t know how comfortable I would find living in America permanently.
When football players transfer from one team to another, they like saying they’ve been fans of Spartak or Real ever since they were kids. Have you been a Virtus.pro fan since you were a kid?
I remember Virtus.pro since a long time ago, back when LeX, Zeus and other legends played there. I know the history of the organization, I like the way it’s developing, but I can’t say I’ve been a diehard fan. Perhaps I was a bit of a fan when Fng transferred to Virtus.pro. He’s a countryman of mine and a great Dota player, which made me pay more attention, and root for him personally as well as the team.
Are you friends with anyone from the current Virtus.pro roster?
I’ve known the Polish CS:GO team for a long time. I can’t say we’re keeping closely in touch with each other, but we say hi and have a chat whenever we meet at a tournament somewhere.
Have you told them that with a last name like Yanushevsky, you could pass for a Pole on their team?
As it happens, I don’t seem to have any Polish ancestry. Or else it’s really, really distant. By the way, the Poles themselves have told me about my last name, I think Kuben had a bit of a laugh over that. They’re fun in general, they always have something hilarious going on. I remember them telling how PashaBiceps moved cars with his bare hands. There was a party, someone didn’t want to drive somewhere, and he ended up moving the car himself. He just lifted it a little and walked with it.
In 2015, you took a break from Quake and played CS:GO and Overwatch. Did you think there wouldn’t be any more serious Quake tournaments and it was time to move on to another esports discipline?
I had a great desire to play and compete, but everything stopped completely at some point. For several months, I didn’t play anything at all, and had regular day jobs. Such as checking merchandise for an acquaintance of mine. I am after all a simple dude from Minsk with an ordinary university education in economics; there aren’t many places that will hire me at once. That was when I realized I didn’t want to do anything else at that moment, that I had a wish to compete and be a part of esports. I’m not old, though I am 27.
27 isn’t too old. TaZ is playing at 31 and everything’s fine.
His is the only such case in the world; I don’t aspire to keep playing all my life. I’m planning on playing for three years and ending my gaming career at 30. That’s my final decision, but before I hit 30, I need to do something notable and significant. After that, I could look for a different role for myself in esports. An organizational one, for example.
Let’s talk about Overwatch a bit. Sports players don’t often change disciplines; say, Michael Jordan tried to quit basketball for baseball, but it ended in failure. So in esports, can one leave a discipline and become a great player in another?
I may sound like I’m full of myself here, but that’s a real possibility for me. In Counter-Strike, you can become so awesome you’ll carry games on your own. Obviously there are moments when you can’t win a round without your team, but often, you can do everything yourself. In Overwatch, more things depend on the team, there are all sorts of tricky stuff in it. I actually like team games; I’ve even been in teams where I felt comfortable. But when those moments passed, I dreamt of a Quake revival, so that I could duel again, not dependent on anyone and only responsible for myself. That, and not having to listen to some nonsense addressed to me in chat.
Along the lines of “Go back to Quake, you’re useless here?
Yes, I’ve gotten that often. And then the exact same people who criticized me would praise me when I pulled off cool stuff in Overwatch. With Anox, we became one of the top teams in Europe, defeating serious rivals. Technically, we were demoted to substitutes, but essentially, we got kicked out. Those folks just wanted to play with their friends, and achieved nothing in the end. Their results hit rock bottom, and everything collapsed. And we’d been the CIS’s trailblazers who could’ve become #1. It was awesome, it was a team, it felt incredible.
When you first tested Quake Champions, did you feel it was the same Quake you’d started from?
The game was still wonky and lifeless; we spent two days playing with the Brazilians from SK Gaming and the Na`Vi guys. It was only on the last day, when we were able to play duel, that I felt there was something in that game, I felt the nostalgia rushing in. Now that the game’s being patched, of course, it’s been getting better and more interesting.
Is there a huge plus and a huge minus in Quake Champions that you could point to?
A plus is that it’s making you think. You can’t outplay a top-tier opponent without having to use your brain. A minus, if we can call it that, is that it’s slightly unfamiliar since I’m used to playing a different game altogether. Everything looks the same, and yet in this game, you behave quite differently, your actions are entirely different. The way things are now, a top-tier player can lose to an average one. For instance, I’ve been beating strong players and top-tier ones, but recently, I went up against this unknown player, we were tied 2-2, and I barely scraped a victory in the fifth and final round. Of course it’s impossible for someone completely unknown to win QuakeCon. But either way, you have to always stay in shape and never relax.
But you did win the very first Quake Champions tournament pretty much uncontested.
I took part in it out of respect for the people who held tournaments they funded with their own money even when Quake was dead. For a long time, it was Quake Live, but as soon as Quake Champions was announced, they switched to that. I won’t say it was very easy for me. It just went well, so it seemed easy. I’m actually apprehensive of every opponent.
QuakeCon is coming up. Can we say that you’re one of those poised to win it?
I wouldn’t like to talk about that, because many people are now making comments and voicing opinions on how Cypher will come and easily win QuakeCon. It’s a very important tournament for me; I try not to listen to anyone and just keep practicing.
Has Virtus.pro set you a goal of some kind? Such as qualifying for Dallas.
I don’t think it’s about qualifying for Dallas, it’s about making it to the final. It’s not something I was told, but I feel it was implied.
What lies ahead for Quake Champions? Can you make any predictions?
It’s hard to say; it’s still a developing game. I can see it in both the numbers and the interest of people who watch completely unknown players on Twitch. With Overwatch, top streamers were paid to play the game for three or four months. It was a good PR move; if it’s a top-ranking game, you start watching it and playing it before you know it. That’s not what’s happening in Quake for the moment, but everything’s yet to come. I can see they’re developing in the right direction, and then there’s the million-dollar tournament. We’ll see what happens next. Some 160 people registered for the 125 FPS event, and for the qualifiers, it was already 500 or 550. So there’s a sharp dynamic, and if it stays like that, it will be a bombshell.