Rory 'Dephh' Jackson from Complexity, has been playing at the top level of NA CS for over two years and is now on his way to his first major in his home country of England. We talk about his thoughts on the UK scene and playing at the first UK based major, his views on the Complexity org and much more. Enjoy!

So Rory, you’ve been playing in Complexity for around two and a half years now, you’re the longest tenured player on the team and you must have seen the org develop alongside esports in general. How has Complexity changed in the sense of resources and support available to players over this period?

Dephh: Since the acquisition by the Dallas Cowboys it’s definitely changing in the way that they’re trying to treat players. The management and the staff have always been good towards the players; we’ve always been well taken care of. But now they’re taking it to the next level. So The Star in Frisco, where the NFL players train, we’re getting an office space put up there later this year where the players can play, watch demos, chill out and have spaces open to the public. We’ve got our own apartments, we’ve got PCs both in our apartments and in the office. Right now it’s probably the best org to play in, in the world never mind NA.

Do you think this is helping the team’s progress and training?

Dephh: I think so. We have a manager and coach now. All the stresses that used to be on players, getting scrims, doing the management at events, etc. is completely out the window now, the players are only focussed on playing and training. I think it’s really important.

The UK scene has garnered a reputation of being slightly toxic at a competitive level and often has some butting of heads which prevents certain roster changes or teams coming together. If you were given complete autonomy and freedom to create your own UK super team, would you do it? And if so who would you recruit?

Dephh: The question of would I do it. Probably not. The infrastructure isn’t there in the UK and not enough orgs are pumping money into UK CS. I don’t blame them to be honest, there are a lot of problems still. I think the fact that the older and more mature players who played 1.6 and CS:S are kind of falling off and doing other things, getting work outside of esports, really threw a spanner in the works. I’ve got to play with a lot of players in the UK, some that I disliked playing with and some that I really enjoyed playing with. But I think the real problem there is that there’s not enough teachers, people showing you that you can’t act like this in a team environment, it’s never going to work. The fact that people can’t get along, the fact that ego has come in front of actually winning, it’s a real struggle. If I had to pick 5 it’d probably be the same names that pop up every time. Smooya’s got to be there, Surreal, maybe Stanley, there’s that Frei guy, ec1s seems pretty decent. I always thought Kryptix was pretty good mechanically, just again he didn’t seem to want it enough. He didn’t play many hours, but I’m sure that if he had really tried and gave it his all he would have made it too.

In September you’ll be going to the Faceit major in London. The first major to be held in Great Britain. What does it mean for you to be playing at such a prestigious event in your home country?

Dephh: I mean its kind of surreal still, to be one of the first guys to play at a major from the UK. And the fact that the Major is going to be in the UK and we’re going to have the home crowd and stuff is pretty special to me, it was one of the things that I aspired to do when I started. To finally make it after a long, and difficult road at times, it means a lot to me.

So, you are a big fan of football and you used to play a lot when you were younger, even getting into an academy team, which for those who don’t know much about English football is a pretty big deal. Were the skills and life lessons you learned playing football transferable to professional esports.

Dephh: I played for Nottingham Forest Academy when I was younger, that’s one of the things I testament my career to. The fact that I trained five times a week plus school, I was keeping on top of my fitness, I was learning from my coaches, I got that support structure from an early age. I think it’s really important and it’s one of those things you don’t really think about. But some of the lessons and life skills I learnt from football in that time really did transition well into CS because people just think CS is mechanics but a lot of it is mentality, how you get on with teammates and how to do well in a system that normally the in game leader sets.

So you were picked up by Complexity officially in January 2016 from CAZ eSports, how did you get scouted?

Dephh: So this is a strange story I often tell people, I was finishing off Uni, studying at Sheffield, I was playing in my spare time. I was playing a crazy amount of CS, like 140 hours in past two weeks kind of crazy. I wasn’t leaving my room, all I wanted to do was play CS. But as soon as I got home I got a message on Twitter from Matt my current manager, and it said “I need to talk to you, can I add you on steam” And within a week it transitioned to me flying out to America. I had to tell my parents “I’m going to America” And they were just thinking “No way, this sounds weird as fuck”. But I showed them the ticket, we had a skype conversation with Jason [Lake] and Matt and I haven’t looked back since.

Was it an easy decision to move over to the US, and did you have other options available to you?

Dephh: In the UK at the time there were no teams, a lot of the teams were separating, there was a lot of beef going off. I just knew straight away that I had to do it. It was one of those situations where it didn’t matter what anyone said to me, I was going anyway. I knew as soon as I got the message that it was what I wanted to do.

I think you can very easily be seen as the clear role model for UK Counter Strike, you’ve made it in a big team and you’ve got a great mentality and approach to the game, what would you say as a tip to those who want to follow in your footsteps?

Dephh: I think one of the biggest things is to never stop learning. As soon as you think you know everything, that’s when you stop growing as a player. I’ve learnt from every single player I’ve played with, especially in game leaders, even if you can take a small fraction of what they’ve shown you and implement it into your game then it’s a learning experience. I think that and just being able to keep level headed and not have an ego, to be humble when you can. I think that’s really important in the current climate of CS.

Complexity has always seemed to have issues in the past. You’ve always seemed to show glimpses of brilliance, but never quite make top 2 in NA alongside the likes of Liquid or Cloud9. Now it looks like you could be on the cusp of reaching that status. How has the team mentality and approach to the game changed with the addition of Shahzam and Stanislaw?

Dephh: I think the fact that our org didn’t really have the funding we have now, and the fact that our pickups can be better players. Because right now, better players cost more money, that’s just the way it is. But for sure the team mentality has completely changed. Stanislaw isn’t strict, but he has a way of playing and he likes his teams to play a certain way. He’s been a pretty loose caller which is good for me, I like playing under in game leaders who are loose and kind of random. I think he definitely suites the players we have like yay, one of the newer guys coming in. He’s a lot better when he plays loose and just gets to frag, it’s the same with Brad [Android]. It’s loosened the team up and made us a lot more confident, I think the results recently have definitely showed it. We are making strides in our gameplay and we will be one of the best NA teams.

Speaking of Shahzam and Stanislaw, what was the mindset when bringing them into the team? It must be a big shift when bringing in a new IGL, was it the obvious choice once they were cut by Optic, or were other players and options considered to fill the gap made by FNS’ departure?

Dephh: Well we found out that FNS was leaving pretty early on so the search for new players was quick. The fact that the Danish and NA thing with Optic collapsed, we realised straight away that there’s two players that would instantly be improvements on our team. They’re both really good solid players, good at events. Both are super consistent in general. I think they were clear choices when FNS left. Right now we are doing a top down approach with players coming in. A lot of it is top heavy, so it’s not really mentioned to the players much, but as soon as Stanislaw and Shahzam were mentioned everyone was on board. We all realised that they were the guys we needed right now.

This is your first major as a player, for your team now, what are the goals for the major?

Dephh: The goal for sure is to make it out of the Challengers Stage and get that legend status, that for us would just be amazing. We are going to be having a two week boot camp in Berlin before the Major so we’re going to be able to play against these EU teams and actually get back to drawing board and create some stuff. We’ve been travelling a lot and when you play qualifiers all day its really hard to knuckle down and actually come up with new stuff. Coming up in the next few weeks we have a lot of time to prepare and make this major a good one for us.

Thanks for your time Rory, is there anything you want to say to all the fans of both yourself and Complexity out there?

Dephh: I’d like to thank Complexity and all the people who follow me. I get a lot of messages and support and I really appreciate that. There are a lot of aspiring players who I try and speak to and show them how to be better players. Shout out to all those guys!

You can find Rory on Twitter at @dephh_csgo