Starcraft 2

We had the chance to talk with Stefan 'MorroW' Andersson shortly after his win in the biggest StarCraft 2 tournament to date, Intel Extreme Masters Cologne.

Hello MorroW. Please introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi my name is stefan andersson and im 18 years old living in sweden. I have been playing sc1 for a really long time and when the beta came out i switched and right now I'm fully focused on sc2 and my last year in school. My goal is to become/stay one of the best terrans in the world for a longer period of time.

You attended IEM Cologne as a replacement for Pavel ‘BratOK’ Kuznetsov  who was unable to attend. You left the event with the 1st place in the first major LAN competition for StarCraft II. What were your expectations  before the event and when did you realize you could actually win it?

Before I went my goal was to get through the groupstage to prove myself worthy of the invite. Once beat dimaga I knew that I'd have a really good chance of taking it all down.

You have faced some heavy competition by beating players like mTw’s DIMAGA and TeamLiquid’s TheLittleOne on your way to victory. What was the more challenging match and why?

TLO wasn't that difficult, he got quite lucky sometimes and got ahead but it was for sure to be expected that I would win because I am more solid in TvT. DIMAGA was the hardest opponent in the tournament because he's according to me the best ZvT user I've ever faced in this game.

The StarCraft scene has always been divided in “Foreign” and “Korean”. The Korean scene has been the strongest with major televised leagues and, naturally, the Korean players have been on top of the game by a big margin. With SCII having tournaments around the globe, and even Korean events open for international gamers (GSL, by GomTV) do you think that gap will not happen in StarCraft II? Are the people out of Korea ready to claim StarCraft’s thrown?

Right now I'm not sure how good the koreans are but I'm very sure that they will become the best in the future but if you're a top foreigner player like these ppl on IEM you got a good chanse of staying up there as long as you put in as much effort as they do/will.
I don't believe the foreigners will be very successful in the GomTV tournament for several reasons but speaking of skill people like TLO may very well be one of the best players in korea, i dont know since i havent played or seen them much.

StarCraft II is supposed to unite the StarCraft and WarCraft scenes and we have already seen examples of players crossing over from WC3 like DemusliM and LucifroN among others. Do you feel like the people with the SCBW background have any edge over these new players or that you are all in ground zero in this new game?

The sc1 players are doing alot better and that was expected, sc1 requires more skill, dedication, practice - you name it so obviously they would get the edge over the others in this new game. but being a top player in wc3 is also not gonna be bad by any means, its just that coming from sc background gave us more practice and hard work to do which is rewarding us in sc2. I have alot of respect for DeMusliM and LucifroN as gamers but other than those wc3 players there arent alot of them on the top compared to lets say sc1.

TheLittleOne comes from a small RTS scene and has achieved some good results and praise for his innovative tactics. Is StarCraft II a game that can be played on a high level by players with with a not-so-impressive background with big games like StarCraft or Warcraft or do you think that a case like TheLittleOne’s is a one-off?

In a year or 2 I think the absolute majority of sc2 progamers will come from a sc1 background, right now the game isn't very evolved so these mechanics or macro abilities aren't that apparent but later on sc1 gamers will really get this for free. TLO reached a- on iccup as far as I know which is just as impressive as being one of the best players in the world besides sc1, if u didn't actually play that game on this high level you will find it hard to believe yourself but yes it was very hard to be succesful in sc1 so smaller achievements would be more precious and give u more experience now coming in to new challenges with sc2.

You were not in the top of the StarCraft: Brood War scene and you came on top of the first StarCraft II major event. What has changed? Does SC2 simply suit you more or is it a matter of motivation and practice?

I was for sure one of the best players outside of korea when the beta came, there were just too many invitationals and tournaments I couldn't get in to show it. Only major thing I played was TSL [TeamLiquid Star League] where I did fairly good. I practiced harder in sc1 but i have just as much motivation now. The avarage top player of sc2 is so much worse than the avarage top player in sc1 so to switch game and put in about same effort claimed me to be one of the worlds best terrans just because like I said before, sc1 was very rewarding in giving u skill and experience rather than giving you efame or achievements. Switching game was a very easy task and suddenly all these new mechanics would grant me near "perfect macro" only after 1000 games unlike sc1 where I played 1x1 for 2 years to become top notch outside korea.
Another thing I would like to mention is that back in sc1 I used to sometimes get nervous on lans and get thrown off my a-game because of the lan experience while now on IEM I tackle it as good as its gonna get for a player. to simplyfi, it just takes some lans to get used to it.

We still have not seen a major team league for StarCraft II being announced. How important are team leagues for you? Are mousesports.SC2 looking forward to attend a league in a similar format to the now extinct WC3L by ESL?

Teamleagues are not personally so important for me but I obviously want to do the best I can for my clan with good results. There are not many team leagues out there and we only have 1 (i think) and ive played about 3 clan wars in sc2 thus far and won all of them. myself i look forward more to the big individual tournaments because they give me more as a player but team leagues is a fun thing to have on the side with honor and pride is the reward rather than money and fame.

TeamLiquid are sending most of their players to live and train in Korea. How big of an impact will that have in the players' performances? Would you consider doing something like that yourself and with your team, mousesports?

If they use the opportunity well and practice as hard as the sc1 progamers practice sc1 then they will be best in the world in no-time, they should be at least but realistically there will be other things holding them back for example adjusting to the new culture and life they will have in korea. I have big doubts these foreigners will pass the 7hour practice daily so i still think us other gamers will put up a good fight with them, but theoretically being on a pro team like that makes u improve at least 3 times faster i think. i need to finish school 1 year left and after that i would like to try it out (assuming sc2 becomes a big success) just because im one of those guys who are able to play 10 hours a day without losing any motivation or concentration. i think the progamer life would sound perfect for me while tons and tons of other ppl would just not see what you get out of it.

What players do you see competing for the top spot in the upcoming competitions?

Outside of korea - the players you saw at IEM minus a few here and there. The basic structure is still gonna be top players of sc1 and wc3 though. Some of the older players might quit and we might have a few up and coming stars without playing sc1 or wc3 but its gonna take a long time for anything of that to happen. So yea, the players you see on top of the brackets are gonna stay up there for at least a half year.
I'm not gonna mention any special names in here tho because predicting this is so hard because its all in the hands of the players how much effort they want to put into this game.

I definetely see myself  staying on the position I am today forward for at least a few months, or at least i really hope I can ^^ it will be hard because i have things beside sc2 while many players on the top right now is putting all their time into this game, we'll see.

What advice would you give to a newcomer that wants to attempt to make a living out of playing StarCraft II?

It's all about having a good attitude. Losing is good, winning is bad. constantly find better players to play against and always try to find edges in your play that you can cut. follow the pro scene watch the replays and vods and analyse them. you will need many hours a day and there is no magic trick to get to the top, all the players you see here put tons and tons of hours into practice, so at the end of the day it comes down to wether u can theoretically sit the entire weekend and practice 20 hours for 2 days. players in sc2 are on avarage really terrible compared to sc1 just because its a brand new game so it means if u wanna go to the top go for it now and dont wait 1 year and then go for it, because its gonna be alot harder then.

Don't expect to make a living out of a computer game, everything besides the money and fame should be what drives you forward but if you only wanna become on the top for the money and fame then you will never have a chance to make it

Thanks for the interview. Would you like to leave any shout outs?

shoutout to mousesports and its sponsors Razer, intel, GeiL and Home of Hardware. Thanks for the interview and to everyone who has been supporting me during my sc2 days. i hope to be able to deliver more achivements in the future :)

Counter-Strike

We had the chance to interview Timm 'ArcadioN' Henriksen, the danish counter-strike player from wCrea.

1.    Everyone should already know who ArcadioN is but who is Timm? What are your favorit things, what are your hobbies? Let people know more about the person behind the nickname.

• I'm 24 years old and live in Copenhagen with my girlfriend. I'm studying to become a math teacher, and in my sparetime I play poker and football.
  I love football, and I spent many hours watching and playing football each week, Love spending time with my girlfriend aswell. Movies, dinner, etc.. She's probably the best thing that ever happened to me. Love her.

2.    You have experienced some success in your home country, Denmark but your teams never showed a stellar performance in a major event. What has been missing?

• I'm not sure really. We've been pretty close a few times, but it seems that we always choke in the important matches. A good example could be Extreme Masters season 3, where we eliminated fnatic, just to loose to attax the next day. That was a tough one to swallow. There was also the Global Challenge in Dubai. where we played pretty decent. We were leading Virtus.pro by 14-7 and then lost 9 straight rounds. The same thing happened againt fX, where we had a 14-11 lead and lost - then crashed out of the group stage.
  So I think we've been close, but our teams have just been to unstable. We could have performed better over the years, if we hadnt had so many lineup changes. But we can only blame ourselves for that. You can also say, that mTw can be blamed a little bit. We had a very competitive lineup, when mJe and whimp decided to stop, and then they hijack two of our players. Thats normal in CS of course, but it was definetely a setback for us.

3.    The mTw core, and before them the Titans core, have achieved great things in their time, putting Denmark on the map. Do you think that your team, wCrea, can follow their footsteps?

• I hope we can. We have a talented team, and if we give it time, we can surely achieve some good things. Our goal is the be among the best 10 teams in the world, so hopefully we can also do well in some tournaments. I'll be dissapointed otherwise.

4.    You have played with your brother (wazorN) several times before but you also played without him. Is it different to have a sibling on your team?

• It's very different. I expect more of my brother than anyone else, and therefore it's easier for him to make me mad, because he might dissappoint me, and it works like that the other way around aswell. So we often talk a bit more harsh to each other, which isn't a good thing. But on the other hand, I like playing with him, because we often think a like in given situations. Our way of thinking cs is very similar, and that's important when playing in a team.

5.    Teams are constantly changing players in Denmark which does not happen as often in countries such as Sweden. Do you think that the lack of stability plays a major part in the lackluster results achieved by most Danish teams?

• I dont think that the Danish scene is more unstable than Sweden, Finland, France, etc. They only scene that's more stable in Europe is Germany, and that's simply because of the German EPS League.
  I cant speak on behalf of the other teams, but sometimes it's been because of lackluster results. Other times there's been some personal issues, which have forced people to stop. Rest of the times have just been because people, myself included, have grown impatient. Sometimes it's because people have taken a chance with a new team, that simply doesn't click ingame.

6.    Is there any solution to make Danish teams more stable?

• The scene in Denmark isn't that big, especially sponsorwise, so I think it will be hard. A semi-pro league like the German EPS, is the best possible way.

7.    You were a stand-in for mTw while Sunde was on holidays and achieved good results with them. You ended up not joining them permanently and moved onto other teams. Was there ever a chance of you joining them, or did you know from the start that it was a one-off thing?

• I don't know if there were ever a chance. It was a stand-in deal, and I never expected anything else. So I knew that it was a one-off thing, but we had fun nonetheless :P.

8.    You recently left Cheaptimes to form p00nhandlers – now wCrea – with your brother and other known names such as Friis. Why did the break-up happen? Do you feel this roster will have more chances to fight with mTw for the top spot in Denmark?

• It happened because I decided, that it wasn't in my best interest to continue with that lineup. We had 5 talented players on that team, but we simply didn't perform good enough. After having played together for 3 months, our play hadn't really improved at all. One player didn't have much motivation, and others had aspects in their game, which I didn't think was good enough. I think this team fit nicely together, and the potential is definetely there. People are gonna love to watch suraNga play. He's an aiming machine, and he will turn in to a spectator favourite. :)

9.    What made you pick the French organization wCrea as p00nhandlers’s new home?

• They gave us a very solid offer, and their former team had nothing but good things to say about them, so we decided that they were the right organisation for us. We are really looking forward to this partnership, and hopefully we can achieve whats expected of us.

10.    Where can this team be seen in action next?

• Our first tournament will be the Danish WCG qualifier. We are hoping to get a spot at SEC aswell, and then there's SLAP LIVE in October.

11.    The eXperience is a famous LAN event in Denmark that attracts the best players for Counter Strike: Source and Call of Duty. Shg Open also had respectable international attendants but is no longer being run. Do you think that any major events like these will appear in Denmark in the near future? Would that make any impact in Denmark counter strike scene’s progression?

• I think that SLAP LIVE is turning into a pretty big event. I don't think there will appear any other event in the future, but it would surely help the scene progress in a positive way. A good example Ukraine and Russia, where arbalet have been big factor in their positive evolvement.

12.    If you had a magic wand, what would you change in eSports?

• I would eliminate cheating!

13.    Thanks for the interview Timm. Any last words for our readers?

• I'd just like to thank wCrea, and anyone out there who supports us. Thanks!

Quake Live

DreamHack Summer 2010's taking the place this weekend in Jönköping, Sweden. This LAN event will host the first big international Quakelive tournament of the summer with Kaspersky QUAKE LIVE Championships. Competition will be played through a Group stage of 4 groups and a Direct Elimination Bracket starting with Quarter-finals.

Monday Schedule:

11:00 WEST: 1/2 Final #1: Cypher vs fox
12:00 WEST: 1/2 Final #2: strenx vs av3k

13:30 WEST: 3rd Final.

17:30 WEST: Grand Final.

Playoffs results:

Sunday

1/4 Final #1: Cypher 3-1 spart1e dm13 5:6, ztn 23:5, t7 11:4, t9 13:7, dm6)

1/4 Final #2: fox 3-2 noctis (ztn 0:13, t9 14:9, t7 12:9, dm13 6:12, dm6 7:4)

1/4 Final #3: strenx 3-0 stermy (dm6 9:6, t9 8:3, dm13 4:3, ztn, t7)

1/4 Final #4: Z4muZ 0-3 av3k (t7 0:14, dm13 3:9, ztn 5:12, t9, dm6)

Prize pool & Finals rankings

1st. ??? - 30 000 SEK
2nd. ??? - 15 000 SEK
3rd. ??? - 5 000 SEK
4th. ???
5-8th. spart1e, noctis, stermy, Z4muZ

Kaspersky QUAKE LIVE Championships

Group A
R1: fox 2-0 dem0n (t9 11:2, dm13 12:-3)
R1: spart1e 2-0 GUard (ztn 11:5, dm13 10:7)

R2: GUard 0-2 fox (ztn 4:10, dm13 4:7)
R2: spart1e 2-0 dem0n (t7 6:1, ztn 4:2)

R3: dem0n 0-2 GUard (dm6 1:15, t9 10:18)
R3: fox 2-1 spart1e (dm13 7:16, ztn 8:4, t7 9:4)

Group B
R1: mAdix 0-2 noctis (ztn 3:9, t9 4:8)
R2: noctis 0-2 Z4muZ (t9 8:10, dm6 0:10)
R3: Z4muZ 2-0 mAdix (dm6 14:1, dm13 9:1)

Sunday

Group C
R1: av3k 2-0 Hokky (t7 24:2, dm6 19:2)
R1: strenx 2-0 k1llsen (t7 15:7, t9 6:5)

R2: k1llsen 0-2 av3k (ztn 1:11, t9 14:11)
R2: strenx 2-0 Hokky (t9 52:1, dm13 25:2)

R3: Hokky 0-2 k1llsen (ztn 2:37, dm6 5:36)
R3: av3k 1-2 strenx (dm13 8:4, t9 8:11, dm6 5:13)

Group D
R1: Stylezz 0-2 fazz (ztn -1:22, t9 2:23)
R1: Cypher 2-0 Stermy (t9 12:7, dm13 7:5)

R2: Cypher 2-0 Stylezz (ztn 21:0, dm13 14:0)
R2: stermy 2-1 fazz (t9 3:17, t7 7:6, ztn 7:2)

R3: stermy 2-0 Stylezz (dm6 38:4, t9 35:0)
R3: fazz 1-2 Cypher (t7 7:4, t9 9:12, ztn 3:6)

• Groups rankings

Group A
fox (3 wins)
spart1e (2 wins, 1 loss)
GUard (1 win, 2 losses)
dem0n (3 losses)

Group B
Z4muZ (2 wins)
noctis (1 win, 1 loss)
mAdix (2 losses)

Group C
strenx (3 wins)
av3k (2 wins, 1 loss)
k1llsen (1 win, 2 losses)
Hokky (3 losses)

Group D
Cypher (3 wins)
stermy (2 wins, 1 loss)
fazz (1 win, 2 losses)
Stylezz (3 losses)

Counter-Strike

This interview was posted a few months ago on teamexcello.com, we feel that it is interesting enough to have more people read it in the brand new site, excello.net.

The interviewee is one of HLTV.org's main people, Per 'Nomad' Lambæk.

First of all, could you enlighten our readers about how HLTV.org became a reality?

• Well, to be perfectly honest I do not really know, I joined up a few weeks after Martin, and a few other guys who left long ago, started it. I had actually had the same idea for a while as I owned a server where I could host HLTV, but never got around to doing anything about it myself, but when I found HLTV.org I figured I could help out there.. That is all nearly 8 years ago though, I was just a 16 year old teenager without much of a clue back then. Slowly but surely I worked my way up the ranks and I pretty much ran the entire thing myself for nearly a year, after which I was so fed up with HLTV.org it was days away from being closed down. Luckily Nix0n really stepped up and started helping out, then the traffic started increasing and we could start selling real ads, and then the rest is history I guess.

You have covered a lot of events through the years. Which one has been the most memorable, and which one has brought you the most trouble?

• I do not do much on-site coverage, but I had the honor of attending ESWC in 2007, many of the readers might have seen a video clip from the final, but if they haven't then let me describe it. ESWC literally had a hall filled with 5000 fans watching the NoA vs Pentagram match, everyone was cheering for the underdogs NoA and the atmosphere was just amazing, I have been to a Manchester United champion league match with 40.000 spectators on the stands, but the atmosphere there never came close to what ESWC created, so that and the LONG winter nights covering CPL Winter with the guys from HLTV.org.
  The worst event experience must have been CPL Spain, for some reason the event got a ton of attention without actually being that major, and their Internet connection was a disaster, I think i got 300 private messages on IRC in one day, all of which pretty much described in one way or another how I and HLTV.org created a vacuum.

HLTV.org has developed into one of the best e-sport coverage sites in the world within a timespan of last couple of years. What initially made you want to launch such a website, and what can gamers expect from the future of HLTV.org?

• I do not think there was a big master plan behind launching it, to be honest we were all young and stupid back then, I think most of the guys were trying to mimic the big sites like SoGamed back then, why I joined I don't know to be honest, I guess I just needed something to pass the time really.
  About the future then I honestly have no idea, that is the great thing about HLTV.org if you ask me, we do not have some corporate overlord telling us where to go, and we do not work 8 hour days, we work when we got work to do, and we go about things as they come along, so there is not huge master plan, when someone suggests some cool feature I think it through, and if I think it is feasible I will probably do it.

Streaming has become more and more relevant within the e-sports scene. Do you think that HLTV will always be a strong tool to watch CS, or do you believe it might lose ground as video stream quality increases?

• Well that is for the spectators (and leagues :() to decide really. Of course I see HLTV as the better alternative, I find the interactive nature, and the quality of HLTV superior, but I of course know HLTV has a ton of bugs and annoyances, I am just sad Valve did not want to take it to the next level, with some more work it could go from being good to mind blowing awesome (think being able to review the match a round watching it from all sides, stats being updated real time, a synchronized commentator, live updates from other matches being played at the same time in-game and so on..) - so if HLTV is the media of choice in 2 years I do not know, that is in part why we chose to move HLTV.org a bit away from the whole HLTV thing, we still gladly do HLTV, and we do it better than everyone else, but we also focus on the general event coverage, making sure we are not relying on something that can be swept from beneath us tomorrow.

A while ago you announced wSync, which enables people to stream matches in real-time. That project has been quiet for a long time – what happened to it? Will we see any further updates from it, or did you abandon that project?

• Yea, god, I hate to even think of it.. So basically wSync set out to do one thing, make a static delay (e.g. fixed at 90 seconds) instead of a dynamic delay which is what shoutcast has, shoutcasts dynamic delay means that the delay is individual for each person who connect, making it impossible to sync up. Anyways, I made the application, the server, and got the whole delay thing fixed perfectly. When I then tested it, it turned out that while my delay was perfectly fine, HLTV did NOT have a static delay. HLTV will drift anywhere between 90-95 seconds of delay at its own liking at times, this is due to the nature of modern gameservers. Most play on gameservers that does 500-1000 fps, that means they do 1000 updates per second, meaning their timing is much more precise, than HLTV which only runs at 50-100 updates per second. The more precise timing means that the actual game, and what you see on HLTV slowly drifts apart, and for each second that goes it potentially gets worse. This is also why HLTV sometimes jumps ahead in the game when it syncs up.
  Anyways to make a long story short, it is still on my mind, and it is still the plan to get working, but it has gotten a low priority, and with other HLTV.org stuff and my studies a low priority is pretty dangerous for a project I am doing.

You have met a lot of gamers over the years, having been in most of the world’s most important e-sport events. Two world-famous gamers, SpawN and HeatoN, have recently been linked to ZOWIE – who other have you met that actually came across as someone who could help the scene grow as a whole once they retired from professional gaming?

• Nix0n actually does most of the event stuff, so I haven't met so many of the pro-gamers, but honestly nearly all progamers I have met are fun, easy going, intelligent, just about any one of them could probably help the scene grow if they put in the same determination as they do in their gaming.

The e-sports scene has been poised with tournaments that end up not paying the prize on offer. Do you feel like that will drive away people and sponsors from the e-sports scene or do you think that these tournaments will ultimately be replaced by trustworthy ones?

• Well, it is hard isn't it? The reason why leagues get away with it is because esports is at a stage where I think everyone agrees we cannot do without them, teams cannot just boycott ESL because of missing prize money, because then suddenly they go 6 months without an event, and then no sponsors will pay them. It sadly leaves the scene in a bad situation, because before someone starts boycotting the leagues that do not pay, it is hard as hell for new ones to emerge, to be honest then I am just happy that is not one of my headaches because I really do not have the first idea of how to solve it. But I do think it is very unfortunate, and I hope the leagues that do owe money, and are still operating, will start making it a priority, as it certainly should be.

ESL recently stopped allowing HLTV.org to stream their Pro Series matches in order to encourage spectators to use their ESL-TV stream. How did you take that decision, and do you think that’ll ultimately pay off to them or do you believe they’ll eventually let you back in?

• Of course I do not like it, but again, it is their league and they have the media rights, so they decide. I think we should give the spectators the different choices and let them choose. By banning HLTV I think ESL realizes that HLTV is a better product than streaming, at least for many users, and they know they need to ban it to get more viewers. To me that is just going backwards, we do not ban good things to keep bad solutions alive, that is not how progress is made, progress is that you out-compete the current product with a better one. I doubt they will ever let us back in, I think they'd much rather kick us out all together, but who knows what is going on in the ESL headquarters.

You have started one of the most successful ventures within e-sports. What sort of advice would you give to someone trying to make his own concept triumph in the world of e-sports?

• I love this question, because I have seen so many sites come and go in my time in esports, during the past 7 years I have kept a close eye on every would-be competitor of HLTV.org and seen so many failures. My key to success is so very simple, do not do it to get rich, do not do it to get famous, do it because you think it is fun, and then see where it takes you. In a business as esports where you are competing against dedicated people who are passionate about their work you cannot possibly hope to compete by taking the corporate approach with 9-17 work days and weekends off. So really, do not start a coverage site unless you actually think building and maintaining such a site is fun. My key motivation to keep doing HLTV.org is that I study computer science besides it, meaning all the programming I learn there I can try in practice and have real people try out, I love that. In turn HLTV.org has taught me so much, I might have spend what others would call an insane amount of hours on HLTV.org, all without ever getting a regular paycheck, but I honestly wouldn't trade it for anything, the experiences and the stuff I have learned cannot be taught in school or by watching TV. Anyone who starts up something new should however know that competition is fierce, success is far away, and it will take a ton of time.

In the last years we have seen investors come into the e-sports scene and controlling some strong brands with Meet Your Makers being the biggest example and now ESL also brought in venture capital. Does HLTV get any outside investment, or would it consider that in the future?

• Nope, no investments, never had any actually, we build HLTV.org from the ground without any money at all, we have never had a deficit and all our expenses are covered by our ads. We really just try to live within our means, and surely this means development is not going as fast as one might like, and it means sometimes we have to buy the cheap solution, but we make due, and we do not go bankrupt or cancel out on our deals when the economy goes to hell. Any business man will probably call this approach mad, but I guess that is why I love it.

Thank you for the interview. Would you like to leave any shout outs?

• I'd like to thank you for the interview, always nice when someone wants to hear what I think, no matter how much they may regret it afterwards.. And then thanks to the other guys at HLTV.org, without them there'd be no HLTV.org