With a 70% map win record, Viperio’s academy CSGO team, Viperio Team Durham, have proven themselves as a contender within the UK University esport leagues.
The team, consisting of 
Luke ‘Lamby‘ Oxenham, Elliot ‘cawood‘ Cawood, Sam ‘ionsto‘ Sutcliffe, Peter ‘Prominate‘ Malby, Jared ‘JJT‘ Taylor & 
Top ‘yoona‘ Lau, are all students of Durham University. They have been competing in the NUEL Winter Championships, and currently have a 7W-3L record, with map wins against the University of Cambridge, University of Warwick & University of Bath to name a few.
One player which has been standing out on stream is Elliot ‘cawood‘ Cawood, a 1st year physics student from Van Mildert College, Durham University. We decided to interview him in regard to his teams performance, and UK university esports in general.
Q. How do you feel Viperio Team Durham compares to other teams in the NUEL. Do you feel there is anything that makes you stand out?
I definitely think we’re one of the better teams in the NUEL. However, games can be extremely tight among the good teams and often could go either way. From the games we’ve played as a team so far I am convinced that we have a huge amount of individual skill on the roster, which helps us stand out a lot and usually wields victories by itself.
Q. There is always room for improvement. What do you think Viperio Team Durham needs to do in order to iron out their weaknesses?
Honestly, there is not a lot that I think we need to do to elevate us to the next level. Possibly having a wider range of set strats that we can run would help us in games when we’re struggling to read the opponent and need a round win.
Q. What do you feel needs to change in order to take UK university esports to the next level?
I’m pretty new to the UK university esports scene, but from playing this first season of NUEL, perhaps more opportunities to play official matches in a LAN environment would provide more incentive for teams raise their level and try to qualify for these. This would improve the overall quality of CS played in matches as well, creating a better viewing experience and more hype around the scene.
Q. Excluding you, which player on Viperio Team Durham do you feel spectators should keep an eye on?
All of the players on the team step up when they’re needed in games, but if I had to pick one, Top (yoona) seems to rack up 30 kills every game almost without fail. Whether he wins a 1v3 or gets that trade kill that secures the bombsite, he’s always doing something productive in the round and would be really interesting to spectate.
Q. You’ve had quite a lot of support from people watching the games live. Do you have anything to say to them?
I would like to thank all the people who watch the games live and support us, it really gets you more invested and makes you want to win the game more. Also, I would like to give a special shout-out to the boys from PhaseOne: Jeff, BOBLONG, Marlex, Hazzbond, Jamshall, ItzCMS and Rongmario.
You can follow Elliot on Twitter: @Cawood18e
