Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag, founder of esports organization 100 Thieves and Call of Duty legend, has been grinding VALORANT—but the move from controller to mouse and keyboard has come with struggles. He detailed several frustrations with his consistency in a long Twitter thread on Oct. 1.
“I figured my mouse control would’ve been much better by now,” Nadeshot wrote. Some days, I feel so comfortable and precise. Other days, it feels like I’ve never held a mouse before in my life,” he said, going on to say that he’s wondering if there’s a ceiling on his in-game performance due to his age.
Nadeshot’s post prompted some feedback. Professional players from across all genre and title chimed in, from Apex Legends pro Christopher “sweetdreams” Sexton to Sentinels VALORANT star Zachary “zekken” Patrone, many stepped in to offer advice. The most salient advice came from Complexity Counter-Strike pro Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski.
“Inconsistency as a whole just means that the bottom part of your game is wayy too disproportionate if you think about it as a bell curve…Fundamentally though, tacFPS isn’t all about aim and the most important progress will come down to decision making and giving yourself good fights that you have higher % of winning,” EliGE wrote.
There are many theories about how to erase inconsistency in play, but all of them boil down to two simple concepts: focus your practice, and raise your skill floor. Inconsistency comes from a lack of fundamentals, not from a lack of talent or skill.
Making the move from controller to mouse and keyboard is tough. Losing elements of the aim assist that controller-centric games provide can be difficult, hitting precise shots can feel terrible at the beginning, and making advanced movements without muscle memory on a keyboard can feel awful. However, with focused practice, it’s certainly possible to be great at first-person shooters, even at an older age, regardless of whether you’re the founder of a big esport org.
