Hi winz, please tell us a bit about the gaming background of the guy who most people only know for winning two ESWC titles.

winz: Hey, I've been basically playing online since the very begining of Quake3, played it for a few years and switched to ut2k4 in 2004 to participate at the WCG.fr. I started playing quake4 at its release until early 2008 when I decided to stop attending tournaments after a health problem and because I wanted to get back to studies.



You have played a lot of games and lot of different modes, what's your favorite? Where is your heart at?

winz: That's a though question that requires a very long answer but I'll try to make it short. I enjoyed playing all of the games gameplay wise but what makes one game more enjoyable than the others is the community. The UT2004 community was by far the best, much more welcoming for the newcomers than any other community and it helped me a lot when I switched to UT. About the modes, always loved duel the most in Q3/UT2004/Q4 but in QL I definitely prefer TDM over the other modes. I think timelimit10 ruined it competitively, at least for me it did, it enhances the impact luck has on the outcome of the game and it's a very bad thing when you have one sided maps on which there are spawns that can give one of the player hell of an advantage. So I hate it. Besides, I hate the current duel maps pool and the removal of ztn made it even worse for me. So yeah, enjoying much more TDM lately.


Hi stermy, I dont think it is necessary to really introduce you, but please tell us a bit about your TDM background.

stermy: What`s up guys! I started playing TDM back in 2001/2002 with DOG/Tulls, my first Italian teams, competing mostly online on cups such as Clanbase`s Eurocup and Nationcup. I also attended the few quake3 tdm lans that were left during that time like QLAN in Sweden.
Beside some TDM and CTF in Quake4, I didn`t really get back into Team games until QuakeLive where I pretty much competed with Fnatic in every tournament in the past 2 years x}.

Do you still follow the scene? (watch some matches, read up on esr, ...)

stermy: I still read websites and watch matches when I can, I`ve always been the player attached to the community so I always try to keep myself updated.


Although you were quite successfull with fnatic, the team always seemed to lack motivation/focus and now disbanded. What went wrong?

stermy: Nothing went wrong really, it was all about motivation.
Beside preparing for Quakecon CTF tournament, we didn’t really feel like spending time on practicing or playing together, there wasn`t any nice or interesting tournament to look forward to.
Also, We never have really practiced TDM together either, most of the tournaments we played we just had basic strategies and rocked from there - - but depending on Quakecon`s Tournaments we might ended up playing together again.. we are really good friends so who knows J.

What's your current Hardware Setup?

winz: Currently using a Salmosa, a Corepad Cerro and some logitech keyboard.

stermy: I always play on different machines, so I will keep it simple and mention that I`m playing on a Samsung 2233rz Monitor 120hz, Intellmouse explorer 3.0 Legend Edition, Steelseries Qck+ Heavy, Qpad Headset/ Sennheiser HME 100 and I`m trying out the Steelseries 7g keyboard at the moment, since my Creative Fatal1ty keyboard is about to say goodbye to me. (I had a box full of those keyboards since 2005 and… well I have used the last one for over an year now and I`m scared it might brake during a tournament).


Immediatly after the DH TDM announcements there were romours about ic attending but the lineup was up in the air. It turned out now that you guys will actually play as coman. Could you shed some light on how the team got together?

winz: The original lineup was tox/fox/stermy/link but fox didn't have much time to practice so they asked me to play as a standing one evening when fox wasn't available so they could still practice and we have been playing together ever since. Once they knew fox was unable to attend the DH, they asked me to play as their fourth there.

stermy: We still haven`t picked a name for us, at the moment we are just messing around x}.
Back in February there were a lot of rumors going around about a possible TDM lan and since I thought our Team needed some new and fresh air, when toxic contacted me saying he might come back it was sort of no brainer to try and form a new team from there - - We were actually both waiting for the opportunity to play together since quake4.
Ofcourse linkin was part of the project from start since our frenchie is one of the best TDM/CTFer and gopher was interested in coming back aswell so we played a little bit together back in March/first week of April. Unfortunately during that time I was so busy with my tournament, the Ultimate Gaming Championship, that I barely had time to go sleep some nights so having fun or even play some QL was out of my possibilities.
When I got back and ready to atleast spend a few nights/week for practice, gopher had other things to take care off and we started using some stand-ins, waiting for fox.
Pretty much our plan was to practice together with a standin until the 1st June and then FOX would get on and practice 3 weeks straight with us and the team would have been tox,fox,link and stermz – but as you guys all know, Magnus was about to become a father and changed his mind -- so we picked up the player that we felt it was best for our team, winz!
Ofcourse the IC tag had to go then since the team itself didn`t have anything to do with IC anymore you know… ;)


The team consists of indiviually strong players with a build quake personality and status. Is it any problem for each of you to give that up to work as a team? How do you see your role in the team?

winz: It hasn't been a problem so far and I don't see it becoming a problem anytime soon. I feel we are all playing for the sake of the team, we learnt and are still learning to play together as a team with the positions we were assigned to. Stermy and I are more about keeping the main area safe than running around dealing damages.

stermy: I believe all of us have learnt during the past years how to adapt and play for a team, something completely different than playing 1v1 for yourself. I`m personally the sort of players who completely plays for the team, and I try my best to always adapt on the situation and play the game I`m supposed to play; we all know toxic and linkin are the sort of players who like to do massive damage and play dynamic - - so I usually lay back and adapt, using my skill on our advantage mostly on a more defensive way and always try to have an overall understanding of what`s happening so I can move or help in different areas.


Do you plan to continue playing TDM after DH?

winz: I don't know yet, hard to tell. I guess it will depend on how we perform at the dreamhack.


Lets talk about Dreamhack! Are you excited to play TDM on LAN again?

winz: Absolutely, it has been a loooong time since the last one for me (covlan in 2006) so I'm looking forward to it. :)

stermy: Ofcourse! Been awhile since I played TDM on LAN, it`s going to be a great event for sure!


How is your preparation going?

winz: Fairly good, we haven't lost much but we have yet to play all of the teams.

stermy: Preparation is going ok, we tried to play few nights a week for the past 3 weeks and now we are trying to increase the amount of time spent so that we can be ready for the tournament. We only started playing together for less than a month I would say and we are already getting better and better after every practice/game and I believe we showed it already this past weekend in the JeeSports tournament. Considering also that my preparation is limited to my AWESOME internet, I would say we are doing good so far, still need to prepare a few maps a little better.


The JeesSports DH tournament showed that you can compete with the best, but what do you still need to work on in order be able to actually win the whole thing?

stermy: I know our team was pretty much formed last month and we only had a few weeks of practice on our shoulders, but giving the names and the experience in our squad I believe we were already between the best and this past tournament just proved it. We still need to fix a couple of important things and prepare some maps a little better, but like you saw during the event we got stronger and stronger after every match and pretty much adapted to different tactics and strategies quite fast (even mid-game), something that it`s really hard to do and very important.


How will competing on LAN be different from the online experience?

stermy: LAN is completely different from playing online.
Beside the Ping difference , which will make a huge impact , the atmosphere and the conditions will play a big part of the whole competition.
The players will not feel like playing at home with their usual setup and so many different things will come into play….So definitely the players who have never played on a big tournament or that have a lot of proof because of their online hero status, won`t have an easy time.


stermy, how important will the TDM tournament be for you compared to the Duel tournament?

stermy: I think the TDM tournament will be my main tournament at Dreamhack , since I will not compete in the Duel competition at this event . Time/Personal reasons - but I will try my best to fully be back on 1v1 for Quakecon.


What is your goal for the TDM tournament?

winz: Top1.

stermy: I really would like to win the tournament and I think we have to possibilities to do it, so we are definitely aiming for the top spot.


Who will be your biggest rival for the title?

winz: Reason and moscow will probably be our hardest opponents.

stermy: I think Dreamhack is going to have a huge amout of talent participating and we cannot underestimate any team really. But if I have to answer your questions, I believe Reason Gaming might be our biggest threat.


TDM seems to have gained a bit of momentum, do you think it can gain back importance and be a central part of competitive Quake again?

winz: I'd like to think so but I don't see it happening. I just hope the TDM tournament at the DH isn't gonna be a one time thing.

stermy: If the scene will have important tournaments like Dreamhack or Quakecon more often, I don’t see why it wouldn’t, but unfortunately there should be tourneys like these more often to keep the community interested and also have better prizes to involve and motivate the players.
Having big names back into the scene and such a great lineup attending tournaments like the Dreamhack Qualifier organized by JeeSports, will definitely help to increase the hype and motivation for everybody to keep on playing and have a solid community, so we definitely need more and more tourneys like this.


Thanks for your time and good luck in your next matches!

winz: No problem and thanks!

stermy: Thank you! "Their hands will warp like they had timenudge"
cu on lan! x}