Trav on working Tier 1 events “It’s second nature to the big talent members… For me, it’s a little bit more exciting”

Travis “Trav” Landaw Mott has been on the online Counter-Strike talent grind for a few years now. Since 2021, he has appeared as a commentator at numerous events, and has finally started to venture into analyst work. His latest gig is on-site at the Thunderpick World Championship 2025, where he was on the analyst desk for the first few days of the event.

Following his appearance, we got to catch up with Trav to talk about his career, his recent step-up to Tier 1 events, and more!

Trav’s CS origin story, working in Tier 1, and more

Sophie McCarthy: First thing I wanted to ask is… Take me right back to the start. How did you first get interested in Counter-Strike as a game?

Travis “Trav” Landaw Mott: So it’s kind of funny. I was too young to play it back then. I was too young to play it back then. Maybe that was a good thing because CS:GO was a bit terrible at the very beginning of its lifespan. But I started playing properly in 2015. Some of my friends from, like, an era when I used to play like Minecraft and Club Penguin, even back in the old days, they said, “Oh, do you want to play CS? Haven’t played it yet.” We got into it.

Sophie: That’s a different vibe. Minecraft, Club Penguin, Counter-Strike.

Trav: We moved on quickly! We grew up quickly! I got into the game first in February 2015, I think, and then in, I think 2016, is when I went to my first in-person event at ECS Season 1. That’s when I really got into the esports side of it.

Sophie: Because you, I guess you’ve been working in CS since about 2021, is that right? So how did you go from like, “I’m a Counter-Strike Esports fan” to “I’m now working in Counter-Strike?”

Trav: Well, the main reason actually was because of friends that I had that I got from just playing CS over those like five years or whatever that just met people, met more and more people through the community. They played in ESEA Advanced, which is like a, you know, one of the lower leagues and they wanted someone to stream their games and I was starting to stream a little bit more and having some fun with it. “Okay, let’s, let’s stream the games.” I’ll maybe commentate them for fun. I’ll try and talk over them for fun. I’ve always appreciated sports commentary because I’m a big sports fan, like Formula 1, tennis, all that sort of thing. So I always appreciated the commentary of sports. Never thought that it would go from doing it for fun at home into doing stuff in person and flying out to different countries for the love of the game.

Sophie: So you’ve mostly been doing, you were doing commentary work for the last few years and then now you’re picking up some analyst stuff. So how has that transition been from job to job?

Trav: It’s actually quite, quite difficult. It’s very, very different because at home I’ve done three, I think three or four in-person events before this. But they were all commentating, they were all for ESL Challenger and none of the players were on site. We’re in a different Stockholm studio away from where the event’s actually taking place, and yeah, just commentating at home in your own setup, in the nice, comfortable surroundings. It’s great to have as a job. I love it. But it’s very, very different to doing stuff in person and especially being on the desk. But I do watch a hell of a lot of esports. A hell of a lot of Counter-Strike. So I kind of know what goes into desk work. But still originally I was, I’m more of like a play-by-play hybrid commentator. I do do a little bit of color, but to go from that to actually analyzing on the desk, it’s a challenge. But I think I did pretty well.

Sophie: So obviously, as I say, we’re here in Malta for the Thunderpick World Championship and I believe your work on the desk is done now, right?

Trav: It is done, yeah, in the first two days.

Sophie: So what’s it been like working at an event of this caliber, a stage this size?

Trav: I think the biggest change for me, as I said, was just having the players and everyone on site. Going from being like a fan in 2016 to now, like being around all the players. It’s nice. Obviously it’s like second nature to the big talent members, right? They’ve been there, done that, they’re here to do a job. For me, it’s a little bit more exciting because it’s a bit more new. But the passion is still there, you know, you can really get it. Yeah, I think in general I’m relishing it because who knows with how volatile the scene can be, what you’re going to get next.

Sophie: So of all the teams that we’ve seen here in Malta, which team has impressed you the most and why?

Trav: Well, before the event, I thought the battle for the trophy would be between FURIA and NAVI. That was my call. I do think Venom deserves a shout out because they were so badly, like poorly ranked and had such a bad run of form beforehand. To get any results and any map wins at all is a massive surprise. And I followed them, of course, doing lots of Tier 2 work for years and years and not knowing all the individuals. To see them actually perform well at an in-person event, which is very few and far between for them, coming from that tier is great, but I do think overall, even though they do need to improve, they want to win the event. I think FURIA have looked the best.

Sophie: I think a lot of people are thinking about FURIA. I’m asking everybody this question because I guess when, when I was talking to Tech Girl, she was saying that these sorts of events are really important for Tier 2 teams and coming up through that. So what would be your take on that? How important is a tournament like the Thunderpick World Championship?

Trav: Every tournament is VRS now for the main invites. So to have a tournament that actually has different EU, South America, North America series and has an official closed qualifier online, even if it is online. So important for these lower-ranked teams to get any sort of chance, because that one win Venom got against Imperial, that probably has made their entire season. That’ll get them invites for the end of the year. Even if they’re only online events, they were, as I said, a poor run of form beforehand. So one win here has boosted them and maybe we’ll get them invites into decent Tier 2 events into next year, right? These sort of events are very, very important, not just for the ecosystem and for lower-ranked teams, but also for Tier 1.5 talent like me.

Sophie: Oh, that’s a really interesting perspective, actually. I hadn’t thought of that. Okay, so I just had one last question for you. Obviously, we’ve talked about the teams that have been the most impressive. So who’s gonna win overall?

Trav: I’ll have to say FURIA. I think that might be a common answer. I’m hopeful for NAVI because they’ve shown definite improvement in the last two tournaments they’ve played, especially at Pro League. Outperform B1ad3’s supposed expectations, right? I wanted FURIA to be successful for so long for KSCERATO and yuurih in particular, because they’d only won two trophies before. It was only Elisa Espoo in like 2023 before they won FISSURE Playground this year. For players of that quality, they deserve more in their cabinet. And I think this is one of the really, really good opportunities to get it here.