readmore.de: Both, n!faculty and you, clarified that you separated in good terms. Don’t you have any anger inside you?
Jacob ‚Pimp‘ Winneche: No, not at all. As I already have stated, they were honest to us, something a lot might forget but is really important for a team. I knew that whenever they promised us something, they hold it, and whenever they had problems, they told us as well. I have only been in n!faculty since november but I’m glad I’ve tried to play under them. I’m of course sad that this leaves my team with no other choice than to leave them, as it’s not the best timing right now. On the other hand it’s fair enough. They could not provide us with the minimum we expected, so it kinda has to be like that.
Ex-Astana Dragons and über G33KZ are still searching and other strong teams like LGB eSports have financial problems too. Do you feel some fear that you probably won’t find an organization because of the big competition?
No, I don’t fear that at all. The teams you mentioned, besides LGB maybe, are not teams in our class yet. We are a totally new team and I’ve been spending enough time in this game to know what you can expect. The market of organizations is hurt as it is right now, Global Offensive is growing and more good teams are coming. But it definitely feels like it’s the other way around for the organizations. They are having a hard time putting up a budget that the CS:GO teams need right now. And when you also have to compete with LoL and especially SC2, where it’s only one player to provide for, it’s hard. I still have faith that our case will be solved and we hopefully attend Katowice.
The average age within your team is merely at 18. Do you see this as a disadvantage in such a hard situation or is it an equal fact?
The age will always be a huge factor. I am only 18 myself, but honestly I don’t feel like a young gun anymore. I’ve been playing this game at the very top more or less since CS:GO was released. The same goes on for gla1ve and MSL, so we kinda already know the game and despite our young age, I definitely have the impression that we are both mentally experienced enough to go through this. As for raalz and aizy: they are also very young. They have never tried this level we are closing into, so it will propably have an effect on them somehow. I can only speak for myself but when I began my journey in this game, I felt good about the pressure. It was not something that damaged my play or anything. I can only hope it’s like that for raalz and aizy too and as it is now. I also have the impression that they like the pressure and can handle it.
One first hint for the potential of your lineup was visible in the qualification for EMS One Katowice. Without losing a map you managed to qualify for the EU online finals. Are you pleased with your performance so far?
We are very pleased about our progress already. To be completely honest we did not really know where we stood compared to the other teams in the EMS qualifier. We were a new and unproven team that yet had to play the first „hard“ match together. Eventually we managed to win 6-0 in the final eight bracket and we never really felt pressured to the limit. Of course playing 16-14 against TBA and 36-31 against H2k, is close, but when you saw the maps afterwards, there was never really any doubt about who the right winner was.
In the semi final and overall final of the regional finals you had massive problems with DDoS. The overall final against H2k-Gaming took about four hours. What went through your mind during the time when the match was paused?
A lot of things went through my head during these matches. It already started in the first match against TBA. The score was 13-13 when suddenly the internet crashed for me and MSL. We sat in his summer house to play the qualifiers together, but it turned out to be a „bad“ decision. It was great fun until the DDoS problems started and after that there was really not much we could do about it. The match got postponed and MSL and me went to bed at like 1 am. The next day we played against PA we got DDoSed too. MSLs and my internet once again went down and we decided both to drive home. Same story happened in the final against H2k. Eventually the DDoS stopped, but only because of the Fnatic and LDLC match going on. It really took all the fun from Counter-Strike. You could do nothing about it, you just had to wait. No fun playing that qualifier at all.
MSL, gla1ve and you played together for Western Wolves back in 2013. What changed because it seems that there is enough trust and motivation between you to give it another shot?Yeah, in Western Wolves six months ago it has been a pain in the arse to play for a long time. There were a lot of problems which never really got sorted out and eventually it was just enough for everyone, I believe. I went to Copenhagen Wolves, gla1ve took a bit of a break, and MSL played with Reason-Gaming. Between us three there were never really any serious problems, so I guess that’s the reason we have found back. We all know what we stand for and we all know what we can expect from each other, both ingame, and outside the game. Besides that we needed a player like MSL when we changed lineup. He is a great „support player“. He has some fine ideas and he is stable. We did not need another player that could go for 30 one game but ten the next. We need one who consistently takes his frags.
So, you already had someone like that?
Yeah, we kinda do have someone like that. When you got young players like aizy and Raalz, they will sometimes fall out of a match and sometimes they will go big and be really good. The reason why we brought in MSL was, because we knew that it would be needed to have a little more stability in our lineup.
In the very beginning of 2014 you took the role as the main awp. How are you feeling now?
I’m feeling great. Since I joined Western Wolves I’ve been playing only with rifle. What most probably didn’t know at that time: I had never played in any team with rifle so it was quite a new thing. It turned out well and I had my moments where I played really good with it. But when this chance appeared, I took it. I have been playing the AWP in both Source and the start of CS:GO, so why not try it again. In the beginning it was really, really hard, but as I’ve played it for a couple of months, now I feel great and comfortable with it.
Compared to other international top awp players like Fifflaren, kennyS, Delpan and jw: is Jacob Winneche a competitor at the same level?
As for comparison between me and the other AWP’ers, it’s not my call to make. I know how good I am right now and how good I can become if I put in the time. Others can judge as they want about me and the others, but I know how good I am and that’s enough for me.
Statistics by hltv.org put in a good word for you, especially the MVP voting for the last three matches of the Nordic Regional Finals. (47,6% vs. TBA, 52,3% vs. partyastronauts, 60,9% vs. H2k-Gaming)
Yeah, well it’s always nice to get credit if you do something good. In those three matches I played well along with my team mates and eventually it paid out in the public recognition. With that being said it feels great because I have been in a period where I have been playing really really bad. It probably started 2-3 weeks after I joined Copenhagen Wolves. What exactly happened is hard to say, I just think there were some tensions in the team that made me less focused etc. Ever since I picked up the AWP I have got a new perspective on the game, I got a lot of motivation and it kinda paid off this weekend. With that being said it’s far from done, this was only 2/3 of the qualifiers and there is a spot for Katowice to claim, so still a lot of hard work to be done.
You mentioned interpersonal problems in CPH Wolves and Western Wolves. This matches a statement of Casper ‚cadiaN‘ Møller in an interview a couple of days ago: „[…] We though have a tendency to get too mad at each other for things which looking into a deep perspective is ridiculous.[…]“ reagarding major problem of the Danish scene. Would you agree on that?
Narh, I would not to be honest. Western Wolves stayed together for seven months I think, with the same lineup. I know this sounds overall not like a lot, but for the Danish scene and also all other teams besides NIP and VG, that is a long time without changing a player. Just take a look at CPH Wolves. I don’t think they have had the same lineup for more than three months yet, since they formed the first one back in January 2013. To be fair I don’t think Cadian knows a lot about why we in WW split up or why other teams do. He has never been on a top team in Denmark so that’s quite hard to know all about it for him at least.
During your career you surely played together with several ingame leaders. What makes the difference when it comes to gla1ve?
So answering that question really simply. He is just more clever, sees the game as it is better and makes the right calls in the right situations. Besides from that I believe he is the best clutcher out there, without being a good aimer. Everything he does, is a move with his brain. A lot of people might have forgotten how to play as a team in this game. Actually, a lot of the top teams also seem to have forgotten how to play clever, but he does. This is an aim based game, but if you think it’s enough to have a good aim, you will always hit the wall sometime.
Aizy was quite unknown before he joined your team. Which characteristics inside and maybe outside the game made you favor of him?
He was a young player, even in source NOBODY knew him at all. He has improved his game a lot and has a sick aim and a decent game understanding already. Besides that he has the right mentality to learn, and that is pretty much what you can expect from a guy like him. He got the aim, but is willing to learn how to play the game clever, and use his aim even better than before. It was quite a risk to take him in, but we felt it was worth trying, and I can easily say that we were right about that.
Another young talent within your lineup is Rasmus ‚raalz‘ Steensborg. Do you still think it was a good decision in november 2013 to get in touch with him, originally to create PRIMETIME with René ‚cajunb‘ Borg?
Yes, I still think that it was a great idea. He is pretty much the same as I just described about Aizy, so that’s great. He was a huge talent in 1.6 as I understand and he has countinued to be one in this game as well.
There are some big differences in the game between 2013 and today. The last major CS:GO update everyone talked about the last two weeks: Did Valve do a good job?
Yeah, overall I think Valve is doing a great job. I don’t know much about the company or their way to work. Eventually their primary goal is to earn money, which many seem to forgot. I would love if they could stop getting their braindead ideas from time to time. First the Deagle which almost could oneshot you in the stomach and after this the stupid, stupid, stupid Aug. Fix the problems and everyone will be happy.
Some gentleman agreements were spoken out during EMS One qualification not to use the Aug and SG533. Are you an advocacy of those agreements?
Well, I would not say I was the creator or anything else, because I was not. I saw the NIP TV stream at the match between ESC and H2K and they talked about a gentleman agreement. I thought that was a good idea to ask all the other teams about it. Because in the end we all knew the AUG would be removed as it was today, so there was no point playing with it. Thankfully no team had what my mind would have called bad moral and all the teams we played agreed to play the game fair without AUG or SG533.
Thank you for the interview and best wishes for your team.
In case anyone could be interested signing us as their new flag ship in CS:GO, you can reach me on mail; [email protected] or on my facebook profile; facebook.com/PimpCS – !
