NUSELO Articles are typically more of a recent retrospective over the past season, looking at a player’s performance. However, this is more of a deep dive into one of Uni CS’ special careers. A player with great impact in and out of the game and has finally reached the end of an era, Southampton’s Andy, better known as wndy.
University CS has always been good at getting its name out there, with prospective students often knowing of University CS before they attend. Andy joined in a similar fashion after hearing about University Esports through NSE’s annual post on r/globaloffensive, leading him to join SVGE as it was in the back of his mind when browsing the SU website and attending the SU fair.
When talking to Andy he greatly credits the benefit of being able to meet lots of CS players and talking to them in person, helping get him involved and started. Players really start hitting their stride when they join their first team and Andy’s was Fuzzy Mafia. Like most Uni CS teams this was a ragtag crew of varying ranks and experience. While the team didn't have major success it was an important stepping stone for Andy in playing more consistent cs, culminating in reaching Division 2 in NSE. Building from this success and upward trajectory would lead to Andy’s new project, Team 4.
Team 4 would see the duo of Andy and Hanno, emboldened by two nutty freshers in Ting and Skep, start their challenge for greater success. This season was a huge step forward for Andy and Southampton, placing top 8 in NSE but unfortunately missing out on the new NUEL Varsity system, which was a significant disappointment for the team. Andy describes this disappointment as his biggest low in Uni CS and it “... was awful and I think some of us felt like we let the team down”. While this was disappointing and put them on a significant back foot for Spring it was an important learning process, helping the team get their first proper experience against the top Uni CS teams. Capitalising on what they had learned, Team 4 were able to secure a strong placement in the NSE Championship division and secure a top 10 placement in NUEL. The 20/21 Uni CS season was a huge step forward and a continuous upward trajectory, so going into 21/22 there were high hopes.
Uni CS hinges a lot on luck, and unfortunately, it was not with Andy in NUEL this season. Team 4 narrowly missed out on Varsity and this would be the end of Andy’s chances of making it to this prestigious league. However, while Team 4 lacked success on NUEL Tuesdays, they excelled on NSE Sundays, having an excellent deep run in the tournament and making it all the way to the finals. In the finals Manchester’s Rush BEE would get the better of them over the course of 3 maps, ending their run and chance of a trophy in the winter season. While this was another disappointment, their continuous upward trajectory was extremely promising and success just seemed over the horizon.
Winter would lead to a shuffle, seeing two new pickups and Andy stepping away from the IGL role to his more preferred position as an entry fragging rifler. This new iteration would be Andy’s best team and would be his best chance at success yet. With finally all the right pieces in place, years of building, and a little bit of luck, Team 4 were finally able to realise their potential. Team 4 would go on to make the NSE finals, securing a 2-0 redemption win on LAN over Rush BEE. The NSE Lan finals were also hosted at Insomnia68, enabling the team to additionally play in the BYOC CSGO Open. Here they were able to make playoffs at one of UKCS’ most competitive LAN’s post covid, which is an exceptional achievement for a University CS team. Team 4 would go on to lose the NUEL Prize finals but this wouldn’t matter as after 3 years Andy had finally done it, he had won a championship. This would mark the end of Andy’s top flight performance, excluding a couple of subs, capping off an exceptional journey.
Being one of the few players to win a championship in leagues where thousands compete is an exceptional achievement, but there's a lot more to Uni CS outside of those 4 games in a week. Talking to Andy, a recurring factor in his best memories is the friends he has made along the way where he greatly “enjoyed playing with the Southampton people who were all invested in the same game in the same way”. Andy has played with a legendary cohort of players, such as Skep with his “exceptional aim but also his game sense”, however, Andy’s favourite player he ever played with is Hanno. Hanno and Andy developed an amazing friendship, playing with each other for multiple years and all teams throughout their highs and lows. Andy describes their time playing together as a privilege and “a great reason for why I have enjoyed uni cs so much”, ending in a spectacular stage win.
Andy’s in-game contribution and success is spectacular, however, he also had significant contributions outside of the game. Andy has gone from Southampton’s CSGO Rep to Livestream Officer and then finally to being the society president. I spoke to Andy about why he wanted to become society president:
“I became president because I felt like the society when I first joined helped me to truly gain a sense of being in a community that has allowed me to engage with so many more people who enjoyed the same things as me. I wanted to keep that opportunity alive for more people coming to university and foster an overall gaming community but also allow our individual game scenes to thrive. It was a warming feeling to see the game reps organise events for their scene with good turnouts. It also made me happy to run events that brought people together across different game scenes. “
Andy modestly doesn't want to accredit any of Southampton’s CS success to his own presidency and accredits it to “the work of each game rep in that community has been amazing and has contributed to our recent success”. This is definitely true with immense work from great reps such as Ting, Southampton's ex CS rep and current president. However, Andy has definitely helped contribute to the CS scene at Southampton, leading to incredible growth, interaction, and engagement. This has led to a great CS culture at Southampton, leading to major success, and positioning the university as one of the best for CS currently. Also overseeing Southampton’s prestigious multi-game LAN, southLANder, something he hopes to see more of in the future. Some of these impacts are very hard to gauge the specific level of contribution Andy had, however, his commitment and effort is undeniable and has to be commended.
Andy has had an incredible career, winning a championship, making top 16 at LAN, being president of SVGE, and becoming one of the most legendary names on the South Coast in University CS. He leaves Uni CS with little regrets, with the worst being an awkward moment during the NSE Finals interview. While he’s had a minimal impact this season, he is given the NUSELO Special Recognition award due to his major impact and contribution to University CS and in particular Southampton CS, leaving behind an incredible legacy.
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