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Alexey “Cypher” Yanushevski
Name: Alexey “Cypher” Yanushevski
Age: 20
Team: Serious Gaming
His name is a symbol of royal power, the insignia of a sovereign’s dominance. Having won multiple championships and continuing to add prestige to his name, Alexey “Cypher” Yanushevski is the King of Quake and gamers all around the world respect his skill. Cypher is considered to be one of (if not the) best Quake duelers in the realm of video gaming.
It is easy to be blinded with Cypher’s success and most fall short in really knowing the man. Yet outside the loud arenas and free from the pressures of competition, this Belarusian student lives a quiet and simple life. Cypher is first and foremost, Alexey Yanushevski, just your everyday person with an exceptional gaming gift.
We go in-depth with Alexey “Cypher” Yanushevski to know more about the man behind the trail of a thousands of frags. Team Razer goes one-on-one with Cypher as he talks about Quake and his life outside gaming which includes chilly snowboarding and great-tasting steaks.
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Razer: Greetings Cypher! We at Razer and your fans all over the globe thank you for giving us some time off to answer questions about you.
Cypher: Hi Team Razer and to all gamers out there! Please call me Alexey. Away from gaming, I’m just another man walking in the street. Haha.
Cypher’s Frag Movie c/o Serious Gaming
Razer: Alexey, lets talk gaming first. You’ve been a pro-gamer and you’ve said before that there a lot of things that gaming has given you. What do you think are the things that gaming has brought to your life?
Cypher: Pro-gaming has given me lot of things. Winning competitions gave me self-confidence, following game plans and reading enemy strategy taught me to be patient, losing streaks taught me to persevere through the tough times, and most of all, do or die scenarios taught me to have faith in myself. All these plus doing things with a sense of professionalism. Another thing, pro-gaming has given me the leisure to travel and to see the different parts of the world and also their culture. I would say that this really influenced my mentality and how I live.
Razer: Aside from the traits that you’ve acquired, what lessons have you learned or what kind of mentality was formed in you because of pro-gaming?
Cypher: The greatest lesson I’d say I learned is that no one is perfect and because of that, there is always room to grow and improve. No matter what the result are, win or lose, a lesson is always learned to help you improve your game. In a more competitive note, I also learned about the psychological aspect of the game. Knowing your enemy, knowing how they play, and hiding how I play or doing something to disrupt their mentality is part of this psychological aspect of the game.
Inside the arena, Cypher is a fragging machine
Razer: How have you grown as a person in terms of what gaming has brought to you?
Cypher: What pretty much changed in me is my competitive spirit. Because of Quake, I’ve become more competitive in life as well. I do not want someone taking my place so I work hard to keep it.
Razer: Outside gaming, what activities do you engage in to free yourself from the stress of the gaming world?
Cypher: I love gaming and I don’t believe it causes me that much stress. Haha. But outside the arena, I love snowboarding.
Some of Cypher’s games are larger than life
Razer: Amazing, an eSports player and also an extreme sports athlete! What do you get from snowboarding?
Cypher: Haha! I wouldn’t say that I am a extreme sports athlete just yet. I get a lot of adrenaline snowboarding and its very fun. I also get to exercise with it, get a lot of clean air and appreciate the scenic mountain views. Clean air by the way is such a rare thing to find these days. Plus there is that feeling of just freely sliding down.
Razer: Do you have any special snowboarding moves?
Cypher: Well, I unfortunately can’t do any special or tricky snowboarding moves yet. I also fear that my hand will get broken and that will prevent me from gaming. But once in a while I do these small moves which is pretty interesting sometimes. Haha.
Razer: For your fans out there who may want to get a board like yours, would you kindly tell them what you use?
Cypher: I use a Sims Board, 152 cm. Its really nice and I enjoy it.
If Cypher doesn’t eat you at Quake, he eats steak
Razer: Now lets change the topic a bit and talk about something personal. What is Alexey’s favorite food?
Cypher: That is a tough one. I like and eat different kinds of food! But I have to say that I usually crave for a good steak or dry roasted meat. My mom really cooks those things good. But generally I’m not really fuzzy about food and as much as possible I go to different kinds of restaurants to taste their specialties.
Razer: How good is your mom as a cook?
Cypher: She’s really good and most of all, she knows how I like my food and she does it precisely as my tastes buds would want it. I’m hungry now.
Razer: Haha, we apologize for that. But how about you, are you a good cook?
Cypher: I’m not the best of chefs so I cook only on life-threatening situations. Haha. But seriously, I can whip up a good soup or pasta. But on lazy days, I just buy a good piece of meat then fry it.
Good food is factor for most of Cypher’s victories
Razer: Last question, do you believe that your favorite food gives you exceptional Quake powers?
Cypher: Haha not necessarily but it does play an important role. When I go to different places, I try to remember the places where we can eat comfortably so we would visit those places again whenever a tournament on the same place comes up. We also have these routine foods like we have hotdogs when we are in America, this good grill house in Sweden and if we find ourselves in a very desolate place, we try as hard as possible to find a nearby Mcdonald’s. One thing is for sure though, I eat a lot of fruit when travelling.
Razer: Thank you very much Alexey and we hope to see more action from Cypher in the coming years!
Cypher: Thank you Team Razer and to all my fans out there. Expect to see more from me!
For more information about Cypher, visit their Team Razer page.
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