Cloud: “I was saying to my parents please buy me PC and I will pay you back… at 14, I paid”– VCT EMEA Stage 2 Interview

After GIANTX’s victory over NAVI today, pushing them into the upper bracket against Team Liquid next, Kirill “Cloud” Nehozhin sat down with Hotspawn for an interview. The Russian duelist-turned-IGL has been a key piece in GIANTX’s growth from 2023 throughout this VCT EMEA Stage 2, helping the roster adapt to changes and find consistency. Cloud shared his esports origins, his leadership philosophy, and what drives him forward as GIANTX looks toward Paris.

Hotspawn: Did you always want to be a professional esports player from when you were a kid?

Cloud: “I thought when I was a young kid I had a laptop, [a] really bad one, and I was saying to my parents, please buy me [a] PC and I will pay you all the money back. And at 14 years old I got my first money and I paid for my PC back.”

What was the first game you played, and how did you make the money for that PC?

Cloud: “I played like a local game that exists in our country, and yeah, I was just grinding a lot to be honest and sometimes skipping school and playing till late night. And that’s it. Just found the team and kept going. Kept going.”

How about Valorant? Did you start playing as soon as the game came out?

Cloud: “Yeah, I started to play as soon as [the] game came out. And I think after a couple of months I decided to go back because I had some situation with my teammates that I didn’t want to kick him from the team, and others wanted. So I said you can deal with it yourself and I will just leave as well. And I went back to [a] local game, won [a] couple of tournaments there and came back in a year to Valorant, and then I joined CrowdCrowd and after this NAVI.”

You joined GIANTX a little while back, and the team went through many transitions last year. Compared to then, what feels different this year, especially in Stage 2?

Cloud: “I think it’s more about, like for last year and this year, the biggest difference is that we actually did a better schedule for ourselves. We found out what’s best for us, what’s good for the players as well which habits we need to stick and also the players that came to us and our team. They’re really quick learners, I would say. They’re learning really quick, every one of them, and they’re just adjusting whatever they need for the team as everyone and they’re [keeping] on the grind, you know, in the game.

“That’s how I would say we keep the energy in the team because everyone is grinding. Everyone wants to be on the same page and be better, you know?”

Your group was pretty tough in Stage 2, but you still made it to playoffs. Now you face Team Liquid, who have only lost once so far. What’s your biggest challenge against them?

Cloud: “Biggest challenge, it’s in our head I think. If we will turn on in the game, [the] game can go both ways. I mean, Liquid is [a] pretty strong team, but I’m confident, confident in my boys, you know, and there is nothing that can stop us when we are in the best shape. But let’s see if we can pull out it tomorrow.”

You’ve been seen as the backbone of this roster. How have you helped newer players adapt?

Cloud: “I mean, I tried to transition my experience to the boys, which I had for a couple of years being in franchise, what’s good, what’s bad, and I tried to give them advice. How can you deal with it better? Sometimes if I see that they struggle, I can always support them, you know, with something that they need or I see their weaknesses and I’m saying straight to their face, even if they don’t like it or stuff like this.

“When something is going wrong, you just need to just say it face-to-face, and so the problem will fix really quick. And I think that’s one of the best points in our team that everyone can just adjust and fix if it’s needed.”

Your first map against NAVI was rough, but you turned it around for map two.

What changed?

Cloud: “I mean I told the boys that I think we were too passive and maybe even afraid of them or scared, like we were not answering them back. We just let them do whatever they want on the map to be honest. And we were playing not our game but their game most likely. And on the second map, I just said, guys, there is no way we will let them play their game again. So let’s just be one step ahead or two step back whenever they do something. And it was really good. I think everyone understood what I meant. And during the game we were doing a lot of active things.”

Do you read a lot of books?

Cloud: “I read [a] couple of books before when I became [an] IGL. I read [a] couple of books, how to be a leader on the team. And that’s it. But I don’t know, I’m not reading a lot of books. I think in my whole life I read like 10 books, max.”

What have you learned about being an IGL? How do you improve in that role?

Cloud: “I mean, there is, to be honest, 10,000 things that I could explain right now and it will take hours. But I think the most important one that, for example, at rough times, you have to always be on the positive note, find out what’s wrong and then fix it. And then always be the guy who is never going down in terms of mentally because you have to show that you are a strong leader, and then you need to lead the team.

“There is no teammates that can believe in you when everything is bad and you’re making it even worse, you know. You have to always have a good mood. Then you need to control things and people, what they’re doing and not just look at the crosshair. I sometimes feel like my left eye is looking map and my right eye is looking [at the] crosshair.

“But yeah, stuff kind of like this, you know. And you need to also work hard as an IGL because you need to motivate people around you that you’re here not to just say to them ‘rush B’ or ‘rush A’ and to always improve yourself as well.”

How many languages do you speak?

Cloud: “I don’t speak a lot of languages. I just speak 2 languages fluently I think. It’s English and Russian. But I also know some phrases in Spanish, Turkish, little bit of French. Preparing for Paris if we qualify, of course, but that’s it.”

Do you want to leave a message for Spanish fans?

Cloud: “Sorry, I don’t know. I know a little bit. I know not that much. I know like ‘como estas’, ‘bien’, ‘gracias’, but how to say thanks for support. I don’t know if you know Spanish?”

‘Poco’, but maybe like ‘gracias para todo’

Cloud: “‘Gracias para todo’, Spanish fans.”

After winning a match, how do you and the team celebrate?

Cloud: “To be honest, I go back home, I rewatch [the] game and try to find out what was weak for us, maybe. The game is about who will make more mistakes, you know? And for sure we play some rounds also bad. So in my opinion, you just rewatch the game, you find weaknesses so you can be better for next game or you change a little quick detail, like little details for the next game. So for the next team it is going to be harder to prepare, you know?

“That’s what I do usually. I eat, I rewatch the game, I go sleep, repeat and stuff like that.”

So no treats for yourself?

Cloud: “Treats or desserts you can get after the tournaments if you did really well.”

Cloud’s discipline and steady leadership shine through his words. From his humble beginnings grinding on at local game events to now leading GIANTX against Europe’s elite squads, his journey as a captain and IGL has been incredible to watch. With Paris on the horizon, Cloud is determined to keep pushing forward, one game at a time, with all the good spirits he can muster for his team.