"It has been a big upgrade": Lucif3r talks about Skyesports Championship 2024, CS2 teams' performance, and Indian esports scene (Exclusive)

I recently had the opportunity to visit the CS2 LAN event Skyesports Championship 2024. The event was filled with energy as top-tier teams like Eternal Fire, ENCE, The MongolZ, and others were competing for the top spot. That said, the event was far from smooth sailing as internet and electricity outages forced a delay on day one of the Group Stages.

Before the Grand Finals of the Skyesports Championship 2024, I had the pleasure of talking with CS2 Analyst Sanat Kumar, better known to fans as Lucif3r. He shared key insights about the event while also touching upon the performances of the teams.

Note: As Lucif3r's native language isn't English, his responses have been edited for clarity while preserving his intended meaning.

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CS2 Analyst Lucif3r on Skyesports Championship 2024, the performance of multiple rosters, and the Indian esports scene

Q: Skyesports Championship is igniting an interest among the Indian audience for CS2. What had been your overall impression of this event right from group stages to playoffs?

Lucif3r: I think it has been a big upgrade. It started in the initial stages of Qualifiers. We had European and Indian qualifiers where we just had one team qualifying from both. But when we came into the group stages, we upgraded to four more teams joining in, making it a big 12-team tournament.

I think that intensified the competition and attracted a lot of eyeballs to the event itself. This has helped the Indian as well as international audiences to see the scene that is happening here [in India]. Especially for India to have such a big tournament with a $300,000 prize pool is a good one because it has been missing for a long time now.

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Q: Talking about the matches, Vertigo has been the least-picked map in this event. This has been a trend in other CS2 events as well. Is it safe to assume this map can be termed the "most hated map" among the pro players despite all the changes Valve made to it?

Lucif3r: Rather than saying it is hated, I would say it is tough to adapt. Because it has opened up too many spaces for the T side to approach the map. They cannot check an angle and be sure of it. Because the CT can move up from the scaffolding region, they can use the rafters and try to make an entry and even the passways they have created to the back alleys have made it even more interesting and quicker.

I think that is one reason why teams are perma-banning it. However, [that is not the case] all of the time as we have seen some teams in International LANs and CS2 events picking up Vertigo and trying to take it as an advantage over opponents. However, it'll take a while before Vertigo comes back into the norms of a pick.

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Q: 3DMAX has emerged as a dark horse in this event. Maka is among the players who have the highest K/D in this tournament. In your opinion, does this roster have a bright future?

Lucif3r: I think when we started the event 3DMAX was a top eight finisher. I was thinking they might get a high finish but not the Grand Finals. Because Aurora, MongolZ, and ENCE were favorites to get the trophy. But what 3DMAX has done was surprising.

Maka out there taking charge and leading by example—that's what he's been doing. Even when I was talking with the other CS2 analysts, they were like, 'Did you expect Maka to perform like that?' and they're like, 'Nah, he would have performed decent but this is insane!'

[Note: 3DMAX went on to become the winner of Skyesports Championship 2024 with Maka as the MVP]

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Q: Eternal Fire was one of the favorites to win this tournament. What do you think went wrong for them losing the semi 0-2 to MongolZ?

Lucif3r: The Asian powerhouse, the youngsters, 17-year-olds playing CS2 and playing at a level where they're able to best some of the top CS2 rosters—I think that's what happened to Eternal Fire. They're a really good team and when we were talking about favorites, Eternal Fire was also one of them. [They were] the only team to have a flawless run in the group stages.

So they were a likely contender but MongolZ just being the MongolZ, bested them. That's the reason a lot of Asian Counter-Strike esports right now revolves around the MongolZ. Especially after their YaLLa Compass 2024 win, I think they are the likely champions that everybody is looking forward to and also to bring the Asian Counter-Strike esports back again.

[Note: The MongolZ lost to 3DMAX in the Grand Finals and were the runner-ups of Skyesports Championship 2024]

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Q: The Revenant Esports roster had a lot of potential with stars like NBK and Nivera. Do you think the roster should stick together or do they need some changes?

Lucif3r: It's very early stages for the Revenant Esports roster. I mean it's just been some months. We see teams changing a player rather than a whole team. NBK taking up this project and trying to build a squad is going to be tough. If you take ENCE for example; when we did Skyesports Masters last year, ENCE didn't have a great finish.

But when we come into this event ENCE looks better with the newest addition coming through. I think the Revenant Esports roster might have to stick together for some time to figure out whether this roster works or not. Jumping to some conclusion would not be the right one. They have not played enough CS2 together to figure out if this is the right playing five.

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Q: Which teams or players have impressed you the most at Skyesports Championship 2024?

Lucif3r: 3DMAX. I think they have been a team that bamboozled everybody. Against ENCE, and in the semi-finals against Aurora, they were looking bright and good. The control that they had and Maka just went all out. I think he is the player we have to watch out for.

We might have thought with Graviti coming in, he might be the youngster pulling it all off; but this guy with the experience that he has and commanding and also taking the IGL ownership in recent times has delivered well.

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Q: Which is your pick between CS:GO and CS2? Also, how do you think the transition from CS:GO to CS2 has impacted the esports scene?

Lucif3r: CS:GO for the storylines that have been there for decades. But in terms of competition, I would pick CS2 because it has leveled the playing field for every team out there. In this season itself, you cannot count any single player as the best. If you look at international Counter-Strike, everybody was thinking "Oh Monesy is looking good" or "Oh ZywOo is looking good." And then donk comes in [out of seemingly nowhere].

So there is still a fine line to be established over who's going to be the best team and the best player. Because of the level playing field that's there in Counter-Strike esports, CS2 is the best.