Fnatic - A profesional gaming team

This is now your 5th major title…this year. Most people don’t even get to experience having 1 major title under their belt in their lifetime. How does it feel being on one of the best, if not THE best team in the world ever?
The simplest word to describe the feeling is satisfaction. We are putting a lot of time into this and being this privileged winning several titles feels just amazing.

It becomes ever more apparent with each passing tournament that you guys really do suffer from some sort of ‘group play curse’ yet still manage to perform very well in the playoffs; do you have any insight as to why this is?
I believe we are in a state where we accept ourselves to end up in the medals, this could be hazardous since there are many teams that could beat you a single map, but not in a best-of-three format which is used in playoffs.

I think with all sweaty group-stages I've been in, with Fnatic, we have only been eliminated this early one time. In WCG 2007 Finals.

Does the curse ever worry you; that you won’t make it out of group stage that is?
It´s stressful to be in this situation for sure but we just need to relax a bit and play it cool. We know when we just play on our best level, few can beat us. It´s an important WCG coming up and the lesson should have been learned by now.

The recent announcement about FnaticMSI.CS not attending IEF was quite a shock for most people; however it was said that you will be training for the upcoming WCG event. Can you tell us what sort of preparations you will make for the event?
We are now enjoying some few days off gaming to recover ourselves in our homes in Sweden. Later this week the IEM online stage will commence for us so we are not really planning a long vacation.
Hopefully we will have the opportunity to play on LAN together in order to work on new tactics and study our upcoming opponents.

WCG is the only title you don’t have under your belt, and in previous interviews you have mentioned that winning it would mean a lot to you as a player, and of course as a team. Does having 5 major titles in one year make the WCG any less significant?
Not at all. Winning the WCG has been a goal ever since I started dreaming of becoming a pro-gamer. And now after a couple of years on the road in Fnatic, with many titles in luggage, what could be better than adding the missing trophy?

You mentioned your retirement in a previous interview; the year is almost up, could you give us any more details as to if/when you will be retiring?
I have stated that it´s likely, but not certain that this will happen. This is something that I don´t really need to be open about to anyone except Fnatic and my teammates. Our only goal now is to win WCG and finish 2009 in a great manner, in respect to our fans and sponsors.


Speaking of retirement, what are your thoughts on mTw’s roster changes recently? Is it odd seeing top tier players who have been around for such a long time now leaving the scene?
It was a bit shocking since they changed their roster just few weeks prior WCG. If their new additions can bring in hunger and energy I guess it´s fine but it must be hard to replace MJE and whimp, in my book their strongest players.

What are your expectations for the WCG event are there any teams you are looking out for specifically?
Initially we will only focusing on winning our group to get a great seed to the playoffs. We won´t make the same mistake acting like we were already in the final, this time we will play out our very, very best from the beginning of the tournament.

Do you think that the current FnaticMSI.CS squad has capped its skill level, or do you feel you guys can still grow and develop to become an even more powerful team?
If we couldn´t think we could do better, what´s then the reason of playing? I think throughout my time in Fnatic we have found ourselves ranked #1 in the world the majority of this time span, but still continuing claiming titles. The day you stop practicing or finding motivation you should rather quit playing and find new obstacles in your life to climb.

Any last words for your fans?
I want to say hi to all our fans and I’m happy we brought Fnatic another title. Big hugs to the hard working people behind Fnatic and also a big thanks to our sponsors MSI, Steelseries and Bigfoot networks for their continuous support and belief in Fnatic.
Finally I would like to thank the ESL for supporting E-sports, you are the best!