Where on earth did you come from?

I am Maurice "BurningDeath" Engelhardt. I started online gaming with Counter-Strike. I think it was Beta 5.1 or something like that. I get good very fast and after a noob clan, DkH asked me to join.With DkH we was able to get a lot of success in Germany and in Europe too, for example we won Eurocup 4. After a while I joined SK.de. We were a pretty new team and managed to get top 8 at Lanarena now known as ESWC and also getting 3rd at theWCG qualifier. Then I stopped playing CS and started UT2k3. I had always been searching for an alternative for CS because I thought a game, even if it is old, must give every player the chance to develop. In CS you reach the top level of aim in a very short period of time, you don’t need much skills to play CS. And also something really disappointed me - for example just one map pistolrounds + save rounds and of course the bad netcode. So these things made CS a very luck-based game. That’s why I quit it.

And now back to ut2k3 :P I started playing with Serious-Intention. Me and madetodie were the founders of that team. We also had Sleizer now known as mTw|sleizer in our team. I think even if none of us had any TDM or UT knowledge we were able to get right behind the top teams in Germany so I would consider us as top 8 or top6 in Germany. I was able to win the Slaughterhouse9 against mouz|sono in the final also I won the Lanarena against some good players like deadtz (now painkiller player) and sosinow. I was able to get to the winners bracket final of the ESL 1on1 CUP which hasn’t been finished. My last Lan event for UT2k3 was the PGCH in Prague where I beat Varagh and some other players and finished 1st. Then I took a break because I don’t see any future events and started playing again with ut2k4.

Do you think that UT is a more worthwile game than CS?

Mhh I think in UT even if there aren’t that many players and that many events I think UT is good to get used to things like timing aiming 1on1 tactics etc. I always waited for a game like Q3 in the old times which I didn’t play but always repent that I hadn’t started it. Still, I enjoy playing UT even if think that my success would have been bigger if I played CS. I love the competition and my point of view is that in a competition there have to be players which are really much better than others and I mean consistently better. And the key factor for getting better is that there have to be ways to improve your skill. So I think there are 2 parts of gamers out there :ones who want to have fun while playing the game those who want to have fun while playing a game in a competition with all these thrilling aspects. Maybe that’s the reason for the success of CS that there are many players who don’t think about lan events and stuff like that. In shooters like Q3 or UT I think the main community consists of players who really love the competition. All in all, I would say yes UT is a more worthwhile game than CS :P

How would you describe your style of play?

Ok, I would describe my type of playing as very varying. To win a tournament you need luck skill and tactics and of course the mental aspect. So I would translate a German phrase - I don’t know if exists in English - "Offence wins games, defence wins tournaments." I think this is the point, that with aim (offence) you are able to beat your opponent very high or destroy him but aim is a thing which is really not constant. If you are cold you won’t hit, if you aren’t used to the playing position etc. All these things take a big influence on your aim but tactics can give you a win even if you don’t feel that well in your hands. You won’t win 20: 2 but you will win.

So the way to have good tactics in a tournament is to have good tactics you are able to play with and control your mind to use them in the correct situation. So to win a tournament it’s good to do both changing tactics if you aim well and use your tactics if you feel bad. I think that’s the way to play very consistently. So I think at ESWC I was able to control my mental part and using tactics and also I was able to use my aim if I felt good. Maybe that was the key factor of winning the tournament.

So if I said you are all aim would you agree with me? :P[q]I would never describe me that way :P. I think my aiming isn’t that good so I would consider myself as a mainly tactical player but I think the point in UT is that most of time it’s only instant hit. You have the sniper and shock rifle. In Q3 for example you only have the railgun and it’s a risk to take it out every time. In UT you shot sniper-shock-shock and you can do 160 damage in a short period of time. That’s one thing I don’t like in UT – it’s nearly only instant hit weapons, especially on Rankin. Maybe that’s why I don’t like it as a 1on1 map. Also, I think that UT is mainly based on aim, that’s why it’s not possible to really dominate for players because everyone has his really bad day and doesn’t hit. In other games its also possible to win without hitting everything. So finally I would consider myself as a only aim player as I said - play aggressively if you hit well, play tactics if you don’t. But the second part is hard to realize in UT because of the very big part of instant hit weapons. Maybe the maps support that type of playing.