>> TLR WELCOMES SMC

Sean ‘Moon1‘ McShane joins us as 1 of 5 Valorant players from Engine on Mute, a Cypher main and former competitive Counter Strike player before he joined TLR. Continue reading to learn about the “old man of the team, but not the silver fox of the team…” as a person and Valorant player!

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◾️ An interesting fact about you nobody would guess, gaming or otherwise?

“I have a house rabbit called ‘Roo’ he’s cost me about £150 in gaming mice and headsets (through chewing the wires). Thankfully we are now in a wireless age!”

◾️ What’s your previous Esports Experience?

“Played since the very early stages of Counter-Strike (1.5). My first major competitive event was the CPL UK 2005 world tour, where I attended with engineonmute (with RobuLuS). Counter-Strike is my only game I have been involved in at a high level, although I’d challenge anyone to a game of FIFA…”

◾️ Why did you join TLR?

“I remember the TLR name from the old CS days and I knew it was a well-respected organisation back then. To see it still being one of the best orgs in the UK it was a no brainer for us when the opportunity to represent them in Valorant came along.”

◾️ How have you been finding it so far?

“No complaints…”

◾️ What do you want to achieve in the org and as an individual player?

“I think like most people I’m still improving each week individually on Valorant. The aim is to keep progressing ahead or on the curve and competing at the highest level. I’m confident in myself and my teammates that if we get it right, we can do that.”

SMC

◾️ What’s your favourite thing about Valorant?

“I think it resembles CS 1.6 in terms of mechanics more so than CSGO ever did. On top of the mechanics I enjoy the amount of different eventualities that are possible due to all the abilities and how they combat each other.”

◾️ Favourite Weapon/Map?

“Phantom, Bind”

◾️ Why have you chosen your main?

“I enjoy Cypher because I regard myself as a player who is always trying to beat the opponent by outsmarting them. Playing this agent allows me to do that with the use of cameras/trip wires. It also adds a great deal of value for the rest of the team in terms of information.”

◾️ Do you agree with the current ranking system in Valorant?

“Not at the moment. I think it favours the duelist agents a lot more (the ones that are likely to get more frags). I know the ability usage is measured somewhat but I feel they can improve this so support classes are rewarded more on their ability usage when it aids the team to win a round / make a frag.”

◾️ What do you hope for the future of the EU Valorant scene?

“More competitions, more prize money and more region/country specific tournaments. I’m sure all of this will come with time.”

◾️ Favourite skin? What do you think about the prices?

“The dragon knife skin. A little bit expensive, for this reason I haven’t bought the dragon knife yet.”

◾️ Do you think peaker’s advantage will affect your team strats drastically?

“I don’t think so, I think it’s only a big issue if you are playing people with 80+ ping.”

◾️ When did you meet your teammates and what made you decide you’d make a great team?

“I’ve known RobuLuS since around 2003/4 when I recruited him to a team (eom) via a forum post at the time… His montage of dust2 awp no scopes caught my eye. danceM & moon from around 2006 also part of the eom lineup. I was introduced to Gregson shortly after and we’ve played together since in CS and now Valorant. I think the team has a nice mix of personalities/skillsets. It’s worked previously and I’m confident once we get to grips fully with Valorant it’ll work again.”

◾️ Do you think current events have influenced your competitive options so far outside of not being able to attend LAN?

“I think it’s not ideal Valorant probably isn’t gaining the traction it deserves due to no LAN events being scheduled yet. At this stage we are looking to compete in as many competitions as we can online and there seems to be plenty going on right now to wet our appetite.”

◾️ Biggest Achievement to date in Valorant?

“Most likely a small cup victory on Challengermode, it was our first time entering a competition on Valorant so always good to get off to a solid start.”

◾️ What online event are you looking forward to the most? What LAN would you like to compete in, in future?

“What LAN would you like to compete in, in future? As I said anything online at present, particularly the official ones supported by Riot. I’m not aware of what LANs will exist just yet but I think Valorant will be a very good game on LAN.”

◾️ What games do you enjoy other than Valorant?

“DEATH. STRANDING.”

◾️ What else do you do for fun?

“FIfa, I haven’t played so much since the Valorant grind began but previously I had some top 100 finishes on FUT Champions in EU.
What else do you do for fun? Spending time with the family, playing football, gym, generally watching most sports.”

Follow SMC on Twitter @TLRsmc and our official Twitter @TheLastResort to keep up with his competing!