This interview was conducted by the up-and-coming Chinese eSports portal NiceZ that kindly allowed us to reprint their original article.
NiceZ.com: Hi, enemy, could you introduce yourself a bit before we start?
enemy: Hello, my name is An, Young-Mo. I am 18 years old and I live in Seoul, South Korea. Besides that, I’m the youngest member of Lunatic-Hai.
NiceZ.com: When and how did you get in contact with CS?
enemy: I think it all began with HLDM. I loved to play this game with my friends after the school. One day, some other guys played Counter-Strike (Version 1.0) in the local Internet-Café and I was very fascinated of that game. Finally, I decided to focus on CS. Well I think it was the right decision.
NiceZ.com: We have not heard any news from Lunatic-Hai for a long time, what have you guys been busy with?
enemy: Well, after the ESWC event, we went to some bigger Asian tournaments in China, where we ranked 3th and 1st, and we mainly prepared ourselves for the CPL event.
NiceZ.com: Recently people can download some of your pub demos from Gotfrag.com. Do you play pubs a lot?
enemy: Sure. I think I can still learn a lot from “unknown” people.
NiceZ.com: What is the training schedule for your team?
enemy: Well, we usually practice 8~9 hours a day, including tactic developments etc. It may sound exaggerated for other people, but it’s necessary for us because we don’t have the possibilities to practice against high-level teams here, like the Europeans. So we are playing against „good“ teams until we beat them 16:00 :p. Even the ping from China to Korea is too high.
NiceZ.com: What’s your career now? Are you a student or a pro-gamer or both?
enemy: Pro-Gamer, actually. Two weeks ago I passed High-School, and after the CPL I will apply for University.
NiceZ.com: As we all have seen, Asian teams dominated the 3rd season of WEG2005. What are your opinions on Asian teams‘ future in Counter-Strike scene?
enemy: A tough question! There is still a big difference between the Western teams and the Asian teams. As I told you before, in Asia we don’t have many chances to practice with high-level teams. This time Asian teams performed really well in WEG3, but I don’t think this will change many things. I mean the Korean market (Companies, etc.) still focus on Star-Craft so much.
NiceZ.com: What do you think of team Project_Kr’s performance during the tournament?
enemy: They did a good job over there. Project_Kr is a good team overall. They are all good players and the Management is also doing a great job. Time will tell, if they are able to hold this level.
NiceZ.com: The CPL winter 2005 is approaching; could you give us your top 3 teams?
enemy: 1st Lunatic-Hai; 2nd coL; 3rd Mousesports
NiceZ.com: There are some quick questions for fans:
(a)Your gaming resolution? 800*600
(b)Your crosshair size? Med/Green/trans 1
(c)AK47 or M4A1? both
NiceZ.com: Thanks for you time! Are there any other words for the readers?
enemy: I want to thank our sponsors, GNA-Soft, Aijoarashop.com, Parcoshop, Revolution PC-Bang and Xin-Design. I also want to thank LaVega-Gaming for practicing with us all the time, and CPL.Korea. Thanks to our lovely fans and support, who always believed in us. Thank You for this Interview and well…See You in Dallas!