I heard you've spent a lot of time watching demos from other IEM Finals participants before your semifinal match. Did you find out anything special?
I started watching demos since my first practice day. I didn't know anything about 1on1 in QL, so I needed to learn up from the lowest level. I even watched some demos two or three times, from both POV. After this, I started to collect puzzles for my tactic in this game.
The special is: Demos are like a book, aim is like a labs - combine them and you will own.

Do you think that you would have performed better today if you'd have put that time into Quake Live?
Yeah, better, but it's not a big difference. I'm playing Quake since ten years now, so I won't learn anything revolutionary. Perhaps I would have a more stable level. Practise only helps you to get more stable, not how far you can get on a high level if you have a good game I think.

With the great final in the qualifiers, beating a player like rapha who seemed unbeatable for a long spell, does that give you a lot of confidence going to the World Finals with such a win under your belt?
Yes, in the sense that I know I can do very well and I have it in me. The biggest factor is my state of mind before the event, which is based on how well my practice is going. If I lose a lot in practice games, that's going to affect my confidence much more. You can't really have bad or mediocre practice before an event and perform at the highest level.

I want to beat people who spend their lives playing, those who takes it seriously. Then if I do that, I will just prove that its bullshit to train a lot. I will just say “that’s bad, you wasted your time for nothing”. When you do perform badly and you know you trained 24h/24h for months, how do you feel?

Sponsorship deals and large multi-gaming teams are still very rare over here in Australia. Would you be able to tell us the player benefits of being with a large pro-gaming sponsor?
First off, it is because of our sponsors that I’m even able to be considered a “pro gamer.” Without our sponsors, I wouldn’t be able to travel or experience gaming on the levels that I am.

EG has lifted a number of burdens off of my shoulders. When you’re a gamer looking to take any game seriously, the first barrier you’ll face is the sheer cost of it all. Hardware, travel, and food are just a number of expenses that will put dents in your wallets, and with EG, I don’t need to worry about any of that!

I know you are a very strong supporter of Quake Live, and you were the one who was pushing for it to be a title in the ESL Extreme Masters. Are you happy with the result, and how the competition has been going so far?
How could I not be happy? Quake Live delivers very dramatic matches and amazing entertainment. We've built a unique relationship with id Software - they've supported us with big things like running LAN tournaments and smaller ones (but not less important) such as congratulating our winners on http://www.quakelive.com banners. With their help we've made sure that everyone that plays Quake Live knows the faces of our champions.

Did your friendly relationship with Cooller change after the European IEM? You must admit, that Cooller's behavior was lacking sportsmanship.
It changed. Cooller complains about everything that's possible. Cypher is lucky, this one is lucky, that one is lucky. I am the best, but you're lucky, lala lala, so for now I enjoy the lack of conversation with him, because I got tired of it. Yes, he's the best, Russia owns, let him live in his dreamworld, but at least behave normally then. I didn't want any rematch. He persuaded me, and then cried that he could have not given the rematch. Then a wave of complaints onto everyone that beat him, those with who he managed to win are the future champions, because they played so genius, that he beat them because he was smarter, and me and Cypher play so stupid, that he is too smart for our style of play and can't predict what we want to do :/

Do you feel you have had enough time to prepare for the finals?

I never stopped playing after Edmonton, so yes, I am prepared. However, I was using 120hz, because I wasn't expecting to go to Germany, so I'll have to use this next week to get used to 75hz on the monitor.

danno wow