RTCW 2020 Interview Series: #2 - Cypher
Virus047: Welcome Cypher! Appreciate you taking some time to do this interview. Let’s go ahead and get right down to it! Can you give the community a rundown of who the man behind the keyboard is? Oh My Gotch!
Cypher: Thanks Virus, thanks to you and Gut for putting this interview series together! Well, I’m 34, from WI (Not Canada!). I’m a landscape foreman (and designer/sales and fleet manager), and I am married with two children (plus one fucking cute pug). I enjoy movies, comics, rock music, games, sports, camping, and a bunch of other shit.
Virus047: You were gone from RTCW for many years, exactly how long were you "AFK" from RTCW, and what brought you back into it again?
Cypher: Yea, after I got out of competitive RTCW, I pubbed a bit sporadically for years (from like 2006-2017). Honestly, I was a part of the old Facebook group (pre-raiser fb group) when the revival cups were happening but I wasn’t super interested at the time in devoting time/effort back into gaming so I just kind of stayed away. But I got the itch a few years back when I was on Reddit and saw a post on RTCW so I checked out Facebook and saw recent activity got in touch with the active players (Raiser era Facebook).
Virus047: Regret that decision?
Cypher: LOL, hell no! I’m sure my wife does though ;)
Virus047: One of your earliest competitive teams was Team Eclipse. You had a long tenue with this team including eventual leadership of the team. While you were a member of Team Eclipse never won any major accolades but competed in TWL, CAL and STA for multiple seasons. What was holding this team back? What went wrong considering all the talent your teams had season after season.
Cypher: Honestly, I think lack of continuity/gel. Like you said we had some really good talent over the seasons, but we were always a different team it seemed. Guys would move on to better teams to compete in higher tiered leagues so it was tough to really grow as a team. I felt like I was always recruiting. With that being said it seemed like we were always competitive and would always be in the playoffs, but we never reached that next level.
Virus047: Eventually in your RTCW career you ended up with ICF, and you and your teammates went on to win TWL Alpha Season #5 against EOD. Can you give us a run down on how that season went? What was the reason this team clicked and ended up beating an EOD team with some very good players (Opio, StormRider, FlogZero, JohnnyBlaze, etc.)?
Cypher: That season we had a pretty consistent squad showing up and practicing together each week so we developed a good rapport and had really tight coms. Rob (KillaSin) was an organized leader with a lot of experience at high level comp, Johann had really good strats that helped our timing of pushes and coordinating spawn camps. Warzone was a monster on the panz and he really carried/saved us in most matches. Xpire was an amazing shot. The remaining members were myself, Korey, Tekoda, Reactor, Mooshu, Dual, and Diesel I think we’re all on the roster that season.
Virus047: Having played RTCW for as long as you have now, you’ve played with and against some of the best players around. Who was that one person you always loved facing off against on the other team. Who was your nemesis who really got you going when you killed them or in turn they killed you?
Cypher: Well I can kind of pick players from different eras. Early on there was Spetsnaz from XpK that always had my number and was fun to play against. Later, Pissclams and I developed a slight rivalry on TXSW. During my OLTL days on ganja, I remember hating facing off against Warlord, and felt great after winning a heads up against him. During my ECGN days it has to be Caff for sure, the vsays were always flowing. Now, Kittens and Source especially get under my skin. My FNF rivals would probably be Nigel (cause his aim correction is on point) and Reker (agro croucher hard to beat).
Virus047: You're known as a very calm and fun guy to have on coms, has this always been the case? Was there a 2003 evil and younger Cypher that would flip out on people and rage quit?
Cypher: I mean I had (and still have) my moments, but I’ve always tried to keep grounded in the fact that the game is supposed to be fun, and if I’m not having fun than why torture myself. But I do love to compete and I like to win of course. But honestly, I get more enjoyment if my team is having fun with me, vs me doing good or winning or whatever.
Virus047: Which of the teams that you played with in the past was your favorite group to play with and why? What group was your least favorite group to play with and why?
Cypher: Honestly, it’s hard to pick a favorite because I enjoyed most teams I’ve played on. I would say the Birdz Bloodz team was a lot of fun to be on and I am really enjoying playing with the current DHS team. But I have a ton of fond memories of Team Eclipse back in the day. I don’t have a least favorite but I hardly remember much from the shrub team I was on back in the day, Critical Impulse I think it was called.
Virus047: I generally always ask everyone I interview to select their favorite map or pick their favorite class to play, in this interview I would like you to describe to me why Village is your ABSOLUTE LEAST Favorite Map? Is it the snow? Does it give you nightmares or flashbacks to your current job profession?
Cypher: Ahh yes, everyone loves fucking village. Well to start off, it’s a broken map if you have more than 6s. Lowest score spawns way the fuck back for allies if there are 7 or more peeps, which is fucking dumb for the distance of that run. Plus dumb a/s exploits make it frustrating at times. Second, it’s boring as hell for phase1 and 2 for defense and offense (assuming you are playing to win using traditional strats, ie: tav d, cem d, etc.) It’s a grind on offense if you are outmatched OR evenly matched. Lastly, on top of all the ghey bottlenecks and cornercamps that are involved…its set up for retarded unavoidable spawn camps if done correctly. While I will concede that you can make these arguments for most other maps in some way, I would argue that not ALL of these factors are lumped together like this fucking dumb map. Only redeeming aspect is phase 3 because it creates drama and tension with doc returns.
Virus047: Did you venture out and play Enemy Territory or other competitive games when RTCW started to die off? If so what was that like?
Cypher: Not really, Rob really started to push into ET comp while I was on ICF and I just wasn’t down for it. I tried the game and it just felt like a shitty rip-off of rtcw that had more stupid spam. In all fairness I never gave ET a true shot, but I just didn’t have the time at that point in my life.
Virus047: As a follow up, why does Return to Castle Wolfenstein continue to endure when put up against some of the more modern competitive games like CS or OverWatch?
Cypher: RTCW is still the most fun team based fps I’ve ever played. What it boils down to me is the classes aspect of it, the range of skill can vary but still make for a decent team if everyone does their job. Plus the shooting/movement…I’ve never found a game that has the same feel for shooting mixed with movement that feels right. The hit registration makes it have an interesting skill range. In the end there are other decent team games, but RTCW has this special quality that is almost an accident I think. Like, I think they made mistakes when doing the movements and jumping that would be hard to replicate if they remade the game and keep the same “feel”.
Virus047: If you could put on a thinking cap for me for a minute, and rack your Canadian brain for some information, could you please pick out a “dream team” of 7 players you played with from previous teams you were a member of who aren’t currently playing today (6 starters and 1 backup/bench/captain/qb)? Who are they? Why did you pick them? What classes would they play on your team?
Cypher: Me (med/eng/), tE|Public (med/eng), ICF|Warzone (panz), tE|Corkdog (lt), tE|stiegl (med), ICF|Rob (lt/cap/qb/bench), ICF|Korey (med). Picked Rob (KillaSin) to bench/capt/qb because he was always great on coms and very organized, plus he had a lot of experience at the high level comp. Each one of these doods were excellent team players but also very fun to just play the game with. I was pretty lucky as I am looking back to have been a part of two fun teams with very little toxic behavior. Honestly could have interchanged a number of guys and still had a good team!
Virus047: Your calm demeanor in game as mentioned before can be a huge benefit during a stressful match or moment in game. Who from the RTCW community right now is another person you always look to for calming words of encouragement or positive notes when in game when things are going to shit? Why?
Cypher: This one is hard one because I really feel like I get picked up by everyone I play with most of the time. I always feel like Brujah is always encouraging and helps center doods in coms during matches. Playa will always bounce a compliment my way if I’m reaching for it, plus he is super generous.
Virus047: What other games are you currently playing and what games are you looking forward to playing in the near future?
Cypher: I’ve been playing a lot of diff stuff lately. Mainly Apex Legends, I feel like it is a great skill and team based fps that doesn’t rely heavy on camping, which I love. I’ve been playing deceit for years with the guys and it’s terrible and great all at once. I love the table top simulator because board games are great and to be able to play any of them whenever we want is amazing. Couple other games I’ve been into are Skyrim, Age of Empires 2, Killing Floor 2, and of course the greatest game of them all…Zeus Master of Olympus!
Virus047: Any shout outs or messages for the community?
Cypher: I wanna shout out to some of the other members of the crossbirdz group that I haven’t mentioned yet! Spuddy (tE for lyfe!) I hate that you are better than me at board games! Goose you are one salty SOB and I love it! Ramp is my secret lover! Corpse, best in-game troll in wolf! Sonic the traveling wolf, needs more game time! Also, what happened to Knifey and Likeythat?? Welcome back to Atari and Scrilla! Shoutout to the crazy yinzers GG and Charger as well. I am sure I am forgetting many peeps…my apologies. Just wanna also thank you Virus. I appreciate your time and commitment to the game and keeping the dream alive! (giggity) Thanks also to Gut for his work as well. It’s amazing that this community is still alive and we owe a good portion of that to you guys!
Virus047: Thanks for your time! Enjoy!
NEXT INTERVIEW COMING SOON!