At 16 years of age, Liam “M1n1mal” Reynolds is one of the best prospects in the UK CS scene. 2024 has seen the rifler go from strength to strength on an individual level. Starting the year as part of the talented K10 FWRD roster, M1n1mal‘s performances saw him stand out competing at ESEA Intermediate level. His potential was underlined by an EPIC.LAN 42 showing which saw him as statistically one of the top performers of the whole event.
However, the rifler was not content with merely having potential. In order to progress his game, he made the decision to leave K10 FWRD in July and shortly after he was announced as the sole member of the new Viperio Academy project. However, the promising move turned into a potential nightmare as weeks turned to months with Viperio struggling to assemble a roster to join M1n1mal. Finally with a full roster to play with, based around the Bluejays Royal roster, M1n1mal returns to EPIC.LAN hungry to get experience and in-server action.
Speaking to UKCSGO, the rifler outlined his reasoning for leaving K10 FWRD in July, outlining his ambitions for himself and the new Viperio Academy roster of which he is the prospective star.
In July we saw you leave K10 FRWD. Why did you make that decision?
I think it was more because I wanted to get to [ESEA] Main level, and I wanted to play with different IGLs to learn different ways to play the game. I think as well, we were praccing a lot less than we were at the start so it made sense for me personally.
What do you mean by “play with different styles of IGLs?”
I think Earl was good, I think the taught me a lot. I think the macro was good. I learned a lot about that from Earl and other IGLs I’ve played with before that, but I think the micro I haven’t fully learned yet.
Can you describe in-game what kind of advice you want [from your IGL]?
It would be more my personal decision-making. For macro it would be defaults and things, but for my personal decision-making and positions and plays, I think that’s more what I wanted to improve on?
So you feel you get more feedback on micro?
Yeah, with fett1s and Shane it’s been good in that department.
We saw you join Viperio Academy in August. How did that come about?
It was straight after my looking-for-team post. Literally, maybe 2 minutes afterwards, papp messaged me like “We’re going to make an academy team and we want you to be part of it?” and I was like “Yeah.” I had other offers, but most of them were teams at the level I had just left and the season was mid-way through, so I didn’t have as many options as I would have had in September. So that’s how it happened.
The first other announcement we saw in-relation to Viperio Academy was that AdamJC was going to be the IGL. Do you have any insight into why that fell through?
I think he just got a full-time job and is just doing well for himself outside of the game. When he signed, I think he had a lot of time and then he got a job and couldn’t put as much time into the game. So at that stage I think it was just better for him and Viperio if he just left.
Do you know what type of roster Viperio Academy were trying to build at that time?
I think the plan was three UK players, and two young European players. Obviously, it was me, Adam and we had the spreadsheet where people could enter their details, and we had a lot of young Europeans. It would have been a relatively young team.
That plan stalled. What was your thought process when nothing was happening?
It was weird. There were things happening but no team was ever formed. The org were talking to Blick, but obviously he got picked up by MOUZ NXT so it just ended up being me. In the middle of September everyone was looking for teams because the season just finished and we hadn’t got anything and hadn’t pracced so I was doing trials for other teams at that point. So it was the ex-Bluejays core that were going to pick me up, so Viperio talked to them and said “Yeah, you can be the academy team.”
You benefit from Bluejays being runners-up at UKIC Season 3 Division 3, going straight into Division 2. Do you think that’s a good level for your academy team?
Yeah, we want to make Division 1. I think Div 1 is also a big help because you play against a lot of the top UK players that have been around for a long time, so I think that’s always good. But I think Div 2 is a good start.
How do you think playing under fett1s is helping you?
It’s not actually fett1s as the main IGL. It’s a mix of the two. There are times that Shane will call, and there are times fett1s will call. Shane is the IGL but if you were to put a secondary caller there it would be fett1s.
It’s good. I think in-game sometimes we can get a bit messy and I think that’s due to sometimes too many calls going on. I think it’s good for a UK team [to play with fett1s] because he understands the game a lot, he watches a lot of demos. I think Shane’s got great intuition for calls so I think works pretty well overall.
With fett1s’s experience as an IGL and coach, do you think that helps you out of game as well as in-game?
Yeah, I think he brings a lot of maturity to the team. He’s a pretty mature guy, he helps with a lot of the stuff out of the game like player-to-player conversations.
How do you feel the team is meshing in terms of roles and chemistry?
I think it’s going pretty well. Me and Nick [ncx] have had to swap and change a few roles because we had clashes at the start but we’re all getting used to them and it’s all going well now.
Can you give an example?
So Mirage, I used to play short but now I’ll go A and he goes short, but on Ancient he used to be the mid-player that goes to heaven, but I go mid so I get my role on Ancient and he gets his role on Mirage, for example.
What’s your overall ambition with the line-up?
I think this season it’s just to ease into it. Obviously, promotion to Division 1 would be a start but I think this season in particular is about getting used to each other because it is a new team pretty much. I think they only kept Shane and Nick (ncx) from the original core that made it to [ESEA] Main so yeah, it’s pretty much a new team.
You mentioned one of your goals in moving team was to play main, how do you find the step up?
It’s not as big as I thought to be honest. I think the teams have a lot more knowledge of what’s going on but I think they shoot the same. They just have a lot more in-game knowledge.
Having started the year with K10 FWRD, now with Viperio Academy what is possible that wasn’t possible under K10?
It’s not about what was possible, I’m sure the former K10 FWRD team will make main – they’re good players. I had a lot of time on my hands, especially in the Summer-time and now I only have college three days a week. I didn’t really make use of free time in K10 FWRD as much as I am now, because the players have more time so it’s about pracc time. I did like the idea of fett1s and Shane as well because they know a lot about the game, and that will in turn help me.
How do you feel about the org? How do you feel they’ve been?
I think they’ve been good. I think they were disappointed when Adam [AdamJC] had to go, but I think that was for the better. I think they’ve been good, they’ve given us jerseys and everything. I think they’ve been pretty supportive so far.
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