Chelleos, Sashi, and the weirdest 72 hours in OCE CS history

The last three weeks has felt like a fever dream for the OCE Counter-Strike community.

Out of absolutely nowhere, Danish org Sashi circumnavigated the globe — and the VRS rulebook — by picking up Tynan "TjP" Purtell and Jordan "Hatz" Bajic and becoming an Asian squad.

Via Anton "Anlelele" Huynh's Vietnamese nationality "swap", Sashi's switch into Asia's VRS rankings was "confirmed" and the team went from missing the Singapore Major to becoming likely qualifiers — at least, for about 24 hours.

Then, Valve stepped in and put the move to bed, but not before permitting fellow EU org BC.Game (and their late Aussie acquisition Tyson "asap" Paterson) as they had fallen into a crack between the regions.

Sashi, seemingly, needed to go all-in if they wanted their strategy to work. And sure enough, after reaching out to nearly two-dozen players across the pond, they found their man: Rooster's Michael "chelleos" Hawkins.

"Well it was pretty short notice, maybe last week at 4am on Wednesday," chelleos said to DFRAG. "They called me up and said 'Would you be keen?' They said they still had to talk to their lawyers, but I said I was keen straightaway."

No contract, then. Nevertheless, chelleos had just seen former teammate TjP and fellow OCE rep Hatz link up with the team, plus it was an opportunity to play in Europe. He had to go for it.

Chelleos wasn't expecting the move to become confirmed within hours, though.

"They said they'd let me know after they spoke [with lawyers], so I went to sleep, then I woke up and had already booked me a ticket — they were really keen," he said.

"They oversold it and tried to make it seem like it was more than it was."
Michael "chelleos" Hawkins, Rooster

"We just don't get a chance often like that in Australia, so I figured I may as well. I thought I had to take a chance. It was like, if I don't say yes, I'd just miss out on it. [Rooster] was having a few problems with the roster... there didn't seem a better time than then to go for a move [to Europe]."

Flight time from Brisbane (chelleos' home city in Australia) to Denmark is over 24 hours when factoring in stopovers, then it was a further hour-plus train to Sashi HQ.

Chelleos had no idea that he'd be back in Brisbane the following Monday night.

"[I was there for] two, three days max," he said. "I gave it a chance, but I kind of was like, this isn't the fit for me, it's not going to work out for me, and I can tell I didn't need to stick around if I didn't like it."

• Read more: Chelleos out of Sashi as season from hell unravels

I pressed for more, particularly based around whether chelleos was worried he wouldn't get the space or respect he'd need in the project.

"It was a bit like that," he said. "It felt kind of, like, they were doing us the favour of getting us over there, and it didn't feel like a proper team that was trying to build something lasting. It was more like 'hey, you do this'.

"I just couldn't see the project working. It was a bit of in- and a bit of out-of-game stuff, a lot of stuff I didn't like. The plan was obviously just rushed. They didn't really appreciate that we had just flown across the world for them, where's the appreciation for that?"

Chelleos stressed the issues weren't so much with the players, but with the team's approach to tactics and their long-term goals — or lack thereof. "That's a big reason why I didn't like [Sashi], I was let down by the lack of strategy," he said. "I wasn't impressed, especially in-game."

"I'd probably maybe have given it a bit more of a chance [if it was for a year], but there was no plan for that for the moment, you know what I mean?"

Two to three days in Denmark, and back on a flight home without a signed contract. The European adventure ended before it began for chelleos.

He didn't seem too bothered by the ill experience, however, but admitted he'd love the chance to try to be that piece of a puzzle for another European org.

"Yeah, you've got to play in Europe to be the best. If it's not a right fit for me over there though, I'd just continue to try in Australia, because there is potential if people put in the work."

Chelleos' return was most fortuitous for his old crew Rooster, who were gearing up to play this week's Logitech G Pro Series and next week's DFRAG Invitational without him — and a Rooster without chelleos is hardly a Rooster at all.

But now, he's back, and he suited up today for the Chooks in their upper-bracket match against NEXVOID, ultimately losing out 2-0 (13-9, 13-4).

Given Rooster is his project, as long as the rest of the squad is fine, he'd drop everything for another shot in EU — as long as it isn't Sashi.

"I've played for so long but I had never gotten any offers. With this, I'd get a chance to play in Europe, to further my career. You've got to take what you can get."
Michael "chelleos" Hawkins, Rooster

"It's an automatic yes if another org came knocking and if everything looked right," he laughed. "If not, back to the old ways, three scrims a night... you know it."

Rooster takes on Mindfreak in the group stage final tonight at Logitech G Pro Series. For more from Logitech G Pro Series or any of the other LANs in Brisbane this month, stay tuned to DFRAG.gg.

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