Brooks 'Cyno' Mattey is a professional jungler for the Splyce SMITE team. Cyno and the rest of Splyce dominated their way through the bracket in the 2019 World Championships and came out on top. Apart from winning, Cyno also claimed the MVP title in two games; against Obey and against RivaL in the finals. With their claim to the title, Splyce looks to do everything in their power to defend it in the coming year.

You began your professional SMITE career back in 2016 – what was the initial appeal of the game to you and what had you mainly been playing previously?

Cyno: The initial appeal of the game came from my interest in Greek Mythology. Before SMITE I mainly played CSGO.

You joined with Splyce back in February with the departure of Yuji – how would you describe your time with the organization so far?

Cyno: Splyce is the best org I have been a part of. They really care for their players and are super accommodating to our needs.

Moswal joined at the end of August, less than two months before the start of Worlds – what did you and the rest of the team do to make sure that you guys clicked as fast as possible with your new Mid?

Cyno: As the jungler, it was my job to tell him how I wanted us to play in mid and made sure we were always on the same page. Outside of just playing in mid we just shared our views on how the game should be played and he agreed.

Splyce came in to the World Championship weekend as the #2 NA seed – which other team(s), if any, would you say you were most worried about playing?

Cyno: We were confident against every team but after seeing how well Obey played in placements we knew they were going to be a tough opponent.

You played Obey in the quarterfinals and pulled off the (to many) surprise win – what do you attribute to the main reason for success against the #1 International team?

Cyno: I think we had a really good understanding of the meta at Worlds and with that understanding we were able to manipulate picks and bans to our advantage in that set.

You guys went full steam ahead in the semifinals against Dignitas – was this the outcome you expected and what was the morale like amongst the team after the win, knowing you were on your way to the finals?

Cyno: We knew that we had some good pocket picks that we didn’t have to use against Obey, so we knew we were going to be successful against Dignitas. After the set we were all riding pretty high, we knew we were playing like the best team at Worlds but we still had to be ready for RivaL.

Game #1 went to RivaL fairly easy with an 26-8 kill win – what do you personally feel went wrong that first match and what was talked about after to ensure that it didn’t happen again?

Cyno: The first game we played into their hands. We were picking and banning to take stuff away from them rather than playing our own game.

After game #5 was forced, Splyce looked as strong as ever, winning in solid form after roughly 29 minutes – what was going through your mind those finals seconds when you knew you were about to take the World Championship?

Cyno: I just kept thinking this can’t be real, it’s been my dream for so long to win Worlds. It’s still unbelievable even today!

You took the MVP against Obey in the quarterfinals AND in the finals against RivaL – what does an honor such as this mean to you?

Cyno: It means so much to me that people thought I played well enough to get those MVP’s, but It really was a team effort. Everyone on the team played so well throughout the tournament that it made my job easy!

With Worlds over, what are you and the rest of the team doing to prepare to make sure you defend that title next year?

Cyno: I know we are all just as hungry as we were last year to win again. If anything, we are all gonna practice more to try and defend our title.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions – is there anyone that you would like to give a shoutout to?

Cyno: I would like to shoutout Splyce and all their sponsors for all the support throughout this last year!

Be sure and follow Cyno below to keep up with him and Splyce!

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