Fnatic - A profesional gaming team

Ultimax Gaming is no stranger to professional Counter-Strike, the team is one of Asia’s finest, recently placing second at the Extreme Masters Asian event. Chen ‘evant’ Tsung-Kai is the in-game leader of UMX, and after recently taking WeMade Fox into overtime at the CSO event in Korea, had a chance to do an interview with Cameron ‘fams’ Carson. The two talk about why UMX was unable to attend the Extreme Masters Global Championships, his future after E-Sports, what it takes to be the perfect player and much more!

Thank you for doing this interview, if you could please start by introducing yourself and your team for those who might not know?

"Hi everyone! I am the captain of UMX-Gaming, Evant. It has been four years since UMX became a pro-gaming team and we have won the champion title of the WCG Taiwan region three times in a row. Our best international achievement  was the second place at IEM Asia.
UMX is different from other ordinary teams because we are capable of holding E-sports related events such as when we  assisted HeatoN and SpawN  in coming to Taiwan and arranged the journey for them. Also our manager, Xanver is a famous E-sports commentator on a TV show called, TeSL."

You were set to play in this years’ EM World Championships, however that did not happen, could you tell us why?

"Our sponsor ZOWIE GEAR already promised us that they would pay for our travel expenses but we didnt make it since we had no time to get the visa. It is due to the Chinese Lunar new year, we had 2 weeks off then, after which we couldnt really get the visa after the holiday."

Counter-Strike isn’t the most popular game in Asia, being overshadowed by RTS’s such as SC/SC2 and Wc3, do you think that holds you and your team back when it comes to developing into a professional team like some of the Western teams such as FnaticMSI and mouz, etc?

"There is a possibility of having a SC2 team. Having a team like Fnatic and Mouz has always been our goal and we are still fighting for it.
The most important point of how we are still able to fight for it is that the parent company of UMX-Gaming (CEMPIN COMPANY) really loves Counter Strike."

What are your goals for your team?

"My short-term goal is to make our team rank the best in Asia; we know very clearly that both Tyloo and WeMade Fox are very strong teams and ranked higher. So constant practice is the only option for us to eventually catch up with and surpass them."

What are your goals for your personal E-Sports career?

"I hope I can make the most of my short gaming career path, practice as much as I can and try to enjoy every match. I hope I can be an E-sports  products' developer just like HeatoN and SpawN, it is the best thing I can ever dream about."

 

You recently participated in the CSO Vs. WeMade Fox and other top Asian teams, however most westerners didn’t hear anything about the event.  Could you tell us a little about what happened at the event and how it went for your team?

"CSO(CS Online) has the same engine as CS1.6, the graphics and physics are almost the same. The only difference is the server. Gamers of CS 1.6 can build their own server, whereas gamers of CSO need to connect to the specific servers which each region's operator has provided. More and more people in Taiwan are getting involved in CS because of the promotion of the server providers.
The name of this event is CSO East Asia Competition, which is the production company of CSO, NEXON's first cross-regional event. It was special that the system they adopted for the event was with overtime rules with 5000 bucks as the start money and they held it in the TV station which and broadcast it live in Korea.
We beat WeMade Fox on inferno on day 1 in our group and made it to the next round as the first place team in our group. The second day came the final (BO3), we lost to WeMade Fox on train and we only got one round when playing the first half on nuke as CT. We tried our best to make it 7:7 (CSO ran an MR 7 format) and force overtime in the second half but we still lost the game. Anyway, we improved a lot compared to when we played IEM Asia when we lost with a much worse score.
Something very funny and interesting happened while we were there. It happened before the final on the second day when a Korean translator came to us and told us WeMade Fox's players were blamed by their management for losing to us the day before, so they would definitely beat us later. It was obvious that our performance on the first day made them nervous."

 

What sorts of teams do you practice against, do you ever get to practice with WMF?

"We have not practiced with WeMade Fox so far. Normally we would practice against the Singaporean Team, Titans and ep from Hong Kong."

Some top teams such as Na’Vi and WMF live together in the same house, do you and your teammates live together as well?

"UMX has a training center where three players live together, the other two players will come practice with us on weekends and holidays."

What do you do during your spare time when you aren’t practicing?

"I go to school if I am not practicing, movies and music are also good ways to relax."

When you were younger what did you plan on being when you grew up?

"I want to be a translator so I am studying German now."

Does your family support your E-Sports career?

"They had no clue what E-sports was back then but as soon as they got to know it, they  began to support me. They think being in a team is a very good opportunity for me to train myself to be a team player. They also come to cheer for me when there are some events!"

 

Counter-Strike has been around for quite some time now, in your opinion, how has the game and its strategies developed over the years?

"The way the gun shoot’s and reacts with recoil and balance is the main reason of CS has been around for quite some time, if the graphics of CS1.6 were as good as CSS, it could live longer."

What attracted you to CS in the first place, why not another game?

"I love CS because I can play together with my teammates, which is an amazing feeling. Also, the way recoil handles and balance is the reason why I chose it."

What is your role within your team, in-game leader, AWPer, rifle?

"I play as the in-game leader and I am a AWPer on some maps."

What in your opinion separates you from the rest of the CS players out there?

"I will watch a lot of demos and try to study the new skills of throwing flash grenades. I think what separates me from the rest is that I can make the strategies for the team and see through the weaknesses of our team very quickly."

What in your opinion does the Asian FPS scene need right now to develop?

"More international events and long term Asian leagues are needed. The EPS league of  the Nordic region is a good example.
It was hard to realize this hope a long time ago since the quality of the Internet all over Asia was weak. But recently we began cooperating with TGS from Hong Kong(www.tig.hk) and we have found some Asian teams to test a certain server. Everything is going smoothly so far and it is possible that there will be a successful event, which I am really looking forward to."

What event would do you want to win the most and why?

"IEM world championships. All the strong teams from all over the world will gather there so it would be amazing to win the championship. That shows who the real champions are."

What in your opinion makes the perfect player?

"Constant thinking and looking for your own problems and the problems of your team. Then try to solve the problems efficiently. A well-scheduled practice and the ambition to challenge everyone, are also very crucial."

What is the next event we can expect to see you at?

"I think it will be ESWC or WCG."

 

Any shoutouts or closing thoughts for your fans?

"I'd like to say thank you to our sponsor ZOWIE GEAR and our management. We couldnt make it today without their support. Also I'm very thankful to our fans, they are the motivation for us to keep fighting. Thanks for your interview, have a nice day."

 

A special thanks goes out to UMX Manager Hao Yu – Tseng, aka Xanver, who assisted in answering some of the questions, as well as organizing the interview.  And a very special thanks to Wang 'wosiiro' Xinrong for translating throughout the interview.

Turn To the next page for Chinese version and additional photos->