JACKZ: FROM YEARS OF STRUGGLE TO TIER-1, I DON’T REGRET ANYTHING

Audric “JaCkz” Jug

#CS:GO #G2 Esports #Former 3DMAX, EnVyUs Academy, Epsilon France, beGenius…

Unlike many pros, I didn’t really have the profile of the gaming-addicted geek when I was a kid. I used to prefer having fun outdoors and playing football with my friends.

I discovered in a punctual way some games like Sonic, Diddy Kong Racing or the Age of Empires series. This universe was transmitted to me in a family way through my father and my older brother. I still remember watching my dad play Pac-Man with my little elephant pyjama.

Then came the discovery of the game that would change my life: Counter-Strike 1.5.

I was only 9 years old when I first entered an Internet coffee, without really hooking up at first, because football was taking up all the space in my life. My brother who was good enough made me come with him quite often and I started to have a good level to beat some much older guys. Maybe it’s seeing these people angry and aroused against the kid I was that made me love the game.

From that moment on, I was completely obsessed and trying to play all the time. My mother wanted to turn off the internet at night so I wouldn’t stay up too late and I cried with disappointment because I wanted to continue. I had put in place some tricks to overcome these rules, I closed the door of her room when she was in bed to go back to the PC and put my headset on one ear to hear her arrive. She’s surprised me so many times.

Every morning started with watching a video like the one from AAA or Only FR 2, it made me excited for the day. I naturally started to have a good level and I wanted to go to my first LAN. It was complicated to convince my mother to go to these tournament at the age of 13, because school was her priority for me. If my brother had brought me in the game, it was thanks to an older friend I met on the servers that I was able to start touching the top level. Guillaume Berrier, aka RoCcA, was 19 years old and in the military. Through discussions over a coffee, he was able to convince my mother to let me participate in these kinds of events.

At that time, I already had my little ambition, being part of the best team in Lorraine by winning the LANs in my area. And quickly, I wanted to prove myself at the national level. For the record, I was part of a team with Maj3r and SIXER… It was his debut and then he exploded on 1.6.

I continued to be super serious in order to progress by following the example of some models like SpawN or Kabal, but I was mainly self-taught. I watched so many VOD on HLTV to train myself.

CS:GO : THE CHANCE OF MY GENERATION TO REALIZE OUR DREAM AND BECOME PRO

Then came Global Offensive in 2012. I had a lot of regrets to see 1.6 die slowly, but I followed the trend naturally. With this new game, my vision was clearly to become a professional. I was already at eXtensive! in the French top 5 and they had big ambitions by merging our team and the one of Source which contained players like NpK or KQLY.

In those chaotic beginnings where the CS:GO scene was being set up, I didn’t always make the right decisions. I refused apEX’s proposal by asking him who he was, because I was not following Source, but also because I wanted to focus on the project I was in. I often told myself that I could do as well with my own resources rather than joining someone else’s team.

I had missed the train of the future LDLC team with Happy, and it really disgusted me. However, I was still naive in wanting to start a new team from scratch and build an empire. Not all the players necessarily had the same desire and enthusiasm as me.

That was the moment when I had to ask myself some questions about my professional future. After post-graduate studies, I was able to be a bookseller alternately in comics and strip cartoon.

My mother started to put a little pressure on me, because she wanted me to focus on my professional life, in order to have security rather than a dream that seemed inaccessible to her. It was 2015 and I promised her that I would spend another year on CS:GO to give me one last chance. I left home so I wouldn’t have to hear these negative comments when I came back from a LAN that I had lost again. It was hard for me not to be supported by my mother when the community believed in me.

So I went to Lyon to MLK during my time at BeGenius and I tried hard as never before. However, I couldn’t find a professional contract after that year. I postponed my promise for another year, swearing to myself that it would be the last time. Change of city and direction Toulouse to my friend HeUkA. I was 200% motivated and confident of my success.

With BeGenius, we managed to make some good results like this final at the DreamHack Valencia and I was a starplayer. With only one month to go before the deadline, when I still hadn’t found a pro contract, SVEN1 and madc, my teammates, decided to stop. I joined Millenium for some tournaments to do the Paris Games Week with Maj3r, davidp, Maniac and Youyou for a result that wasn’t so good. This succession of failures allowed me to be recruited by Epsilon against all odds. I was going pro for the first time in my life at 24 years old.

It was a crazy thing for me, even if it was only for 800 euros a month. I was discovering life in the gaming house. And after only 2 months with them, I was recruited by Envyus Academy after a good Gamers Assembly in front of their coach Malek. Fate will bring us together many times, first at 3DMAX and then today with G2.

Envyus acted as an accelerated training of the pro job with this highly professional organization, the follow-up of the players, a training schedule… It was a great opportunity that I could have left more than once for LDLC, which offered me a better salary, more prestigious competitions like the EPL, but I refused as always to pursue the project in which I was in.

I have never doubted myself and that is something I can be proud of. I thought I didn’t belong here and I was right.

FROM 3DMAX TO G2: FINALLY IN TIER-1

The adventure at Envyus ended with the scheduled end of his academy and I joined 3DMAX which had just qualified for the Minor. It was another logical continuation and especially the first time that I really went forward to reach much higher levels after refusing so many more ambitious projects.

Even if it only lasted 4 months, I had such strong moments. We were more than a team, a family. There was a sacred fire in us thanks to this good chemistry.

It was very hard for me to leave 3DMAX so quickly. I even told Lucky that I would only join G2 if he went there too.

But G2 is the Champion’s League.

A global structure, invited to so many events, that had legendary players like Richard and Kenny and that would allow us to fight against the best teams in the world right away. I was finally going to know if I deserved my place in this Tier-1 or not.

So it was with a heavy heart that we decided to leave 3DMAX, but with a final qualification for the EPL acquired in Dallas by smashing everyone. It was a great going-away present.

I have no regrets and I am so proud to be part of G2. I was so happy to tell my mother about this new adventure. All the moments she told me to stop… I was happy to prove her wrong, no hard feelings, because my dream was fully realized. She was the only person who made me doubt, but it was a strength, so I don’t blame her. I wanted so much to prove it to her, to put this contract under her nose.

I preferred to run away her reality to make my dreams come true.

I have always given a lot of importance to the human being and seeing that we can get along so well as teammates has also been fundamental for me. I didn’t really know the top players, so hugging Richard and Kenny like we’ve known each other forever was crazy.

I am also finally in the same team as my Francis (AMANEK), with whom I have been talking about playing together for so many years. And I don’t forget Alex (bodyy) who is a great person and who has proven that he still has an excellent level in recent months in his new role as an entry fragger. I sincerely hope he will find the right team for him.

Today, we are starting a new story with G2 with three players who can represent a certain renewal. But I try not to think too much about it to avoid putting myself under pressure from the structure’s poor results in 2018.

MY MOST BEAUTIFUL LIFE EXPERIENCE: MY FIRST MAJOR

For some, their life experience is to travel around the world. For me it was to participate in a Major.

That was my ultimate goal.

I was really caught in an emotional wave, but I tried to ignore this overflow of feelings at times. I still remember commonplace moments like 2vs3 actions where Richard kills 2 enemies and I scream as if the round was over, when it wasn’t at all. I was so into it.

I was so excited to play all these big teams like NaVi, Fnatic, MiBR, ENCE… Without being full of myself, I now have proof that I was in my spot, that I would be able to demonstrate my true level.

People don’t realize that the difference between T1, T2 and T3 is not that big. Apart from Astralis, if the teams ranked in the top 20 HLTVs had to face the gulag of qualifying for tournaments, many of them would be eliminated before arriving in closed qualifier. It’s so hard to play so many games, often on BO1.

My positive attitude helps me to manage this new form of pressure that is the highest level in the world. It’s not a question of qualifying for tournaments, but of making a good impression there from now on. But why can’t I do what I do on the Internet on LAN, just be in my bubble during the games and go for it.

THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO HELPED ME

I have nothing to regret about my career. I might could have been able to break through earlier, but would I be at G2 as of today ? I have always had this trust in my teamates and this desire to make my projects succeed. Maybe it was a leak before I felt really ready to break through at the highest level.

I would like to thank some people without whom I would not be here. CUGI, one of my best friends who always believed in me. kalaN who, even though I no longer have any contact, pushed me and motivated me by constantly telling me that he did not understand why I was still wandering in the subtop. RoCcA without whom nothing would have been possible. I don’t forget HeUkA and MLK who welcomed me into their homes for almost two years to focus on the game.

And finally my girlfriend Melodie who became my first fan and still watch all my games wherever she is. She is my strength. It is often said that behind every man’s success stands a woman.

I have worked so hard to devote myself to CS:GO, to doing small food jobs. Working at a fast food chain, distributing newspapers at 7am with my red jacket at the metro stations, event host and driving for DELIVEROO every lunchtime.

So I live in the present moment without projecting myself too much into the future. That I can already confirm that I deserve this position at G2 over the long term. Then we will see to become one of the best players in the world.

JACKZ

translation by Sans Filtre’s team (be kind with us 😉