[hkes_show_google_ad] Ke “Mo” Liu is the captain of TyLoo, which is one of the premier CS:GO teams hailing from China. 2016 was their breakout year, but their start to 2017 has been rocky following a controversy regarding its roster. TyLoo fired their coach Qifang “Karsa” Su and suspended three players, though YuanZhang “Attacker” Sheng and Haowen “somebody” Xu have since returned to the lineup for DreamHack Masters Las Vegas. Ahead of his games in Vegas, Mo spoke to theScore esports about his team’s breakout year and moving past the roster controversy. 2016 was a big year for you and TyLoo. Though you guys have largely been the top Chinese team in CS:GO even before 2016, it was in that year that you guys have really started to have a presence internationally. How would you sum up your year? Are you happy with the impact that you guys made outside of China? Yes, 2016 was a special year for me and for the team. We are glad that the global CS:GO scene has the awareness of the Chinese CS:GO scene, but we have also been struggling a lot, which I think we could have prevented. Overall, it was great experience to participate in some international events. It was very recently the Lunar New Year, going into the Year of the Rooster. Did you happen to do anything special to celebrate? Nothing special to be honest, I stayed with my family to celebrate the Chinese New Year and met some friends and old school mates in my hometown. It always feels good to be with family and have my favorite food from my childhood.

TyLoo’s roster unfortunately ran into some controversy, which ended in coach karsa being fired, while fancy1, somebody and AttackeR were suspended. Though somebody and AttackeR have since tentatively returned to the lineup. Can you tell us what your feelings were from your perspective? Was this situation a shock, considering how much the team has progressed? Actually, I was the last one to know this incident. Like I said above we could have prevented struggling, I could feel there was something wrong at the end of last year, but I have never imagined it would turn out to be like that. However, it was not a shock, as it is normal for people making decisions in their career. Regardless of the details of the situation, a big chunk of the roster has parted ways. How does this affect the strength of the roster? How has the rebuilding process been? After WESG, I actually feel that our in-game communication is better than before, as it was our biggest problem in my opinion. So I am quite confident with the new line up. Going into DreamHack Masters Las Vegas, it will feature all eight of the Top 8 teams from the ELEAGUE Major. What are your concerns going into the event? Like we always do, as an underdog, we don’t have any pressure on our shoulders. We just try our best to win games and to try to play what we have been practicing. [hkes_show_google_ad]