Are there still areas you need to improve in as a player?

Of course there are areas I need to improve but atm I think you only can improve as much as the game allows you to improve. And in UT you can’t improve much more so far (just my opinion). But I would say that I have to control my mind. As Forrest said - aim is in the mind and I would go that far that even your whole gaming tactic aim timing etc. is in the mind. Controlling your mind is the important thing. I managed that well at ESWC. I was wondering about that because I know myself and I thought about every possibility before I played a match that shouldn’t be the wise to do. So I think I just have to feel more relaxed before a match or a tournament.

Before the ESWC, which placing would you be more than happy with?

I thought about coming top 4 if I play the style I am used to but seemed a very unrealistic thing because I know that every time something might go wrong so thought more of coming top 8 taking things like bad luck or bad daily shape into consideration. I considered Forrest and Lauke as my toughest opponents. A surprise for me was that GitzZz played that well at that tournament. We had played some practice before it and I won it more or less easily but at the tournament I think he really showed his experience in tournaments and played very well. After the first group stages I felt like hum maybe I could reach the final or place top 3 if I played this again. I must admit that I mostly feared Lauke and Forrest before the tournament maybe because of their names :P. And I underestimated the American players which haven’t gone that far but played very well in my opinion.

How did you fancy your chances before the final and what was your plan for the game?

Mhh, I thought that I would win it. Maybe that was the reason why I felt so relaxed during the game. Two days before I thought if I had to play on stage I would get a nervous breakdown. On that day on stage, though, I felt nothing of that sort and thought hey I made it that far now I also can win it. I considered my chances as 55:45 in my favour. I would have liked to play best of 5 against GitzZz in the final because I think it was a very nice match.

Before the game I thought I would lose Ironic because I don’t have the best weapon choice on that map. I tried to play my best. On Roughinery I thought that I wouldn’t go into any distance fights where he would have the first shot so I tried to hear where he was and get him from a better position. On Rankin, the decider, I was scared because you can lose this map very high and win it very high but I was able to get the map lock at the start and made some frags with it. He had to go more aggressive to keep up. I was able to get some kills even if I got fraged so that’s why I won it in the end. I think that Rankin is not a good 1on1 map even if I know that I will have many enemies now :P

You still need to make an appearance as a strong TDM player. What do you think of TDM?

I think TDM is good but there aren’t enough tournaments for it, especially on lan. I play TDM with my team serious-intention. We don’t practice much TDM but we are top 6 in Germany I think. That’s a very good position without playing a lot of TDM. Also we have very bad hardware conditions to TDM at the same level as we play 1on1. If there were be a lot of TDM tournaments with a lot of prizes etc. I would prefer TDM over 1on1. I am not sure of it, though, because TDM always depends on the team and if you have just one in your team who is not able or willing to practice like you are you won’t get any success. That’s another point for preferring 1on1 because it all depends on me. With enough practice you can be the best. In TDM you as one player can practice non stop without getting any success for it because of your team so maybe that’s the point for me to play 1on1 or to prefer 1on1 atm.

How many offers from various clans did you get after ESWC?

I got them mainly before the ESWC :P. Before the ESWC when 2k4 was very new I got some offers from top clans, after the ESWC I only got 1 additional offer.

Did you consider any of them seriously?

Yes I did but I don’t see the use of joining a clan which is able to sponsor me if there aren’t any events where they can support me. In Germany UT2k4 is not in WWCL or NGL so there is really no use to go to lan events. ESWC… ok but it wasn’t that far from Germany so I could pay it by myself. The only thing which really would help me out is hardware but I think I would prefer my best friends in serious-intention before it. If it comes to the time with many events a year all around the world I would join a clan which is able to support me but atm my friendship and the fun in my team counts much more than that.

How does the tacticality of UT TDM compare to the tacticality in CS?

I think UT tactics are much more dynamic compared to CS maybe it’s because in CS you play the same maps for about 3 years on average. It’s getting boring I think. CS need some new maps. Finally I think there aren’t many new tactics in CS, it’s nearly the same on every map only some differences between the clans. In UT TDM you have a lot of possibilities and not just one way to play it.

Who do you think are your biggest rivals for the WCG tickets?

I must admit that I am not sure if I will complete the WCG seriously but I would say zrack (amd64), schnigg (ocr), gitzz (sk), killu (rk), fragm (sk). After them players like blame or seim. I think in Germany you have it really really hard to get top 3 :P.

What are your future plans in gaming? [q]I think I will switch to the CPL World Tour 1v1 game fast as possible. I think it will be Doom3 so I will play it from beginning (next week) with 80% time spent in it and 20% in UT :P. Perhaps I am wrong and it will be HL2 or UT? Don’t know but we will see.