The first team we are going to introduce is the new ALTERNATE aTTaX lineup. During the Acer Predator Masters we had the chance to talk to them about the change to ALTERNATE aTTaX, their past as well as their future plans.
This interview is going to feature an introduction of each player as well as some in-depth question for the In Game Leaders.
Hello Christian. When it comes to the audience - at least the international one - you are one of the known players of the new ALTERNATE aTTaX lineup. Could you tell us a bit more about yourself: Who are you, what is your job as in-game leader, a brief history of past teams, as well as the current team atmosphere from your point of view?
Well my job is main in-game leader. Oliver has taken up the role of the secondary IGL. That being said, I am the main caller. Oliver takes over whenever he feels like something other than my calls could work or if I simply run out of ideas. You could say that I’m more the one actually calling in-game, whereas his duty is to prepare matches beforehand, work out certain strategies and analysing demos.
Apart from calling in a match, I think one could best describe me as a support player as well. Both Oliver’s job and mine is to make room for the other three, support them with flashes and smokes. In my past I have played for teams like Mousesports, PENTA, myRevenge and also ALTERNATE amongst some others. Unfortunately I had to change teams involuntarily quite often. That’s also why I feel so comfortable in this team, under this banner right now.
How does it feel being forced out of a team?
Let’s be honest, it feels like crap. Apart from that it’s not the right decision in most situations. This is a problem I see in both the German and, to some extent, the international scene. Many young and upcoming players are too stats-focused. Success has to be there from day one, otherwise you are gone. One always seems to be the weakest link. The way I see it is that everyone has good and bad periods. It’s impossible to reach a level of consistency if you have to leave a team as soon as you hit a slump period.
This is exactly what is different in this team. I think we have shown that we are able to reach that consistency, be it under the Killerfish or ALTERNATE banner. We’re keen to keep that streak of consistency of course. With ALTERNATE as an organisation, I hope it will be even easier for us to do so, because we have access to a level of support did not have before. We are able to visit more offline events, in doing so gain even more offline experience, which eventually will benefit the team as whole.
For me personally, it is not a huge victory to play for ALTERNATE, simply because I have played for them before. But as a player it benefits me heavily, because I have the support I need in order to fully concentrate on the game.
Hello Oliver. Along with Christian, you have taken over a special role within the team. You are the second in-game leader. Could you tell us more about what your job in the team is, as well as a brief recap of teams you had played for before? In addition to that, could you please give us insight on the current team spirit?
Well, as Christian already said I’m the strategical guy outside the game. My job is to prepare matches, watch demos, analyse and improve our current tactics, look for new grenades, calculate walk distances and such. In the game itself I am assisting Christian. When I feel like I have read the enemy well enough to call a certain execute, I have the freedom to do so. But in general I would say the ratio of Christian calling in game to me is about 80:20.
We have also watched a lot of demos of other teams in the past in order to prepare for a certain match. However recently, we cut down on that. Simply because we have come to realise that many teams tend to vary their play style a lot. In addition to that, we want our enemies to adapt to our play style, not vice versa.
For each map we have invested about 30 to 50 hours of work. That being said, this is just to build a foundation. Additionally, we always go deeper into a certain map if needed, or even investing a couple of hours before a certain match to polish bits and pieces.
Apart from me helping Christian, I think I’m the all-arounder within the team. I can lurk, I can support, and in case our fraggers don’t show up I tend to do so instead. In general I do whatever is necessary to help the team.
I used to play for Killerfish, with the current line-up of course, apart from that: Playing Ducks and Mousesports. I really like the team spirit. Some of us have known each other for over a decade now. When it comes to a team, there is no difference from real life, in some situations you argue, in other you laugh together. Overcoming arguments and keep working together is what counts.
Hello Kevin, you play a very crucial role within in team - you are the main AWP player. Does sniping put more pressure on you, or does it free you in your capabilities? Could you spare a few words on that, as well as a where you came from and how you feel about playing for the team?
Sniping definitely frees me in my capabilities. I don’t feel any pressure being responsible for the AWP. I know my team allows me to do whatever I want because they have trust in my abilities. This can be very advantageous. I always try to go for a pick - the sooner the better. Getting an early advantage in the round can be key. However in the event that I die, I know there’s always someone near me to secure a trade kill. I think what keeps the pressure away from me is that my team has trust in my capabilities, but they don’t heavily rely on them. The team is not built up around me; they can win rounds without me. However being the AWP player who is not needed to get two or more frags every round, but who can get those kills is what suits me perfectly.
In addition to that, I know there’s still much to learn for me in terms of sniping. I still make a lot of mistakes and have definitely not reached my full potential yet. I’m glad Oliver helps me with consistently improving upon my mistakes.
Regarding past teams, I have played twice for Playing Ducks as well as Killerfish. Representing ALTERNATE aTTaX is both different and similar. It’s different because for me, it is the best German organisation. Of course once you represent an organisation like this, you want to show your best, perform for both your team and the banner you are playing for. But it’s also not really different for our team itself. We give 100% now, but we gave 100% as well when we played for Killerfish.
So for us as a team, at least performance-wise it doesn’t really matter who we play for, because no matter who, we will give all we have.
Last but not least: Do you think you are already the best German AWP?
(...) Yes. I think I am.
I think so too.
Hi Tizian. After watching your recent matches, it feels like many key and clutch frags are on your account. How would you describe your role within the line-up? Putting that aside, what teams have you played for before and how do you feel like playing in this lineup?
My role in the team is easily described: Entry-fragger. I go in first and try to get a kill. In case I’m not able to, there is always someone like Stefan to back me up and at least get a trade kill. Wielding the AK-47 is crucial for me. I feel like I’m most impactful with it. On the other hand, I try to avoid the Five-Seven.
For me personally the team atmosphere is at its peak moment. We have all known each other for quite some time now. With the recent transfer to ALTERNATE, we all experienced a huge boost in our mentality, bonding us even closer together than before. Prior I have played for ALTERNATE twice in the past as well as Mousesports. Apart from that I also played for Killerfish, Planetkey Dynamics and dotpiXels.
What emotions do you experience as a brand new addition to team, being in the spotlight for merely a couple of weeks after challenging a top 5 team like Astralis to a close 1-2?
Well of course it gets you on a roll. You get the feeling you are a potential top 10 team. However, you have to deliver that strength consistently. Just recently, here at the Acer Predator Masters we lost to teams that are inferior to Astralis. Of course it is always different playing on LAN than online. But nonetheless we cannot pat ourselves on the shoulder for what we have achieved so far, we need to continue improving.
Hello Stefan, you are the fifth man in the roster. Much like Tizian, you seem to be responsible for key frags. Can you explain your role in the team for the audience? What teams have you played for in the past, and how have you settled within the team so far?
Well, you are right about that. Just like Tizian, my role is to secure key frags in the game. We think about it as first and second fragger. Tizian is usually the first - or entry fragger, whereas I am the second fragger or re-fragger. My role usually revolves around getting into close situations after Tizian, helping him as well as sweeping up. Occasionally, based upon the current momentum of the game, we can also switch up said roles.
Currently I’m feeling comfortable with the role. I have always been the ‘mad fragger’ in previous teams to some extent. Because it has worked out so far relying on my raw aim frequently in order to get impact frags, I feel like I suit my team well in what I do. In addition with Christian as our in-game leader I have the support needed in order to be most successful.
Similar to most of my teammates, I also played for Killerfish and some other small teams. With ALTERNATE aTTaX, however, everything feels more organized, which gives me in turn, as a player, some sort of certainty within in the team, which in itself boosts my well-being significantly.
The team atmosphere is great. Of course, from time to time things get heated up, this is absolutely normal. But apart from that - because we’ve known each other for a long time - the atmosphere is present and therefore creates a vital spirit within the team. Having a stable organisation as well as a healthy atmosphere makes us keen to make it through the group stages in the next major.
Hello Stephan, last but not least you are the force surrounding the team - their manager. Could you tell us more about yourself, your responsibilities within the team and the experiences you have been able to gather in former teams?
The force surrounding the team? More like the general servant. The guy who gets the water and whatnot. On a serious note, my job is to do whatever needed, so the team solely concentrates on the game. This, of course, also involves simple things like getting food or drinks, but it goes beyond that. I book flights, hotels, rent cars, set up match times, organise the computer preparation on LAN events and many other things. Basically, as I said before, I do everything so the players can just sit down, warm up and play the match. It is worth mentioning that I’m not a team coach. I have no say in stuff relevant to the game itself. The guys are awesome in handling this by themselves.
I’ve been working in the eSports scene since 2008. I’ve worked for teams like myRevenge, EURONICS Gaming and allesgebenTV. I joined ALTERNATE two years ago, where I first managed the social media, after that the female Counter-Strike team and now our current team.
Regarding the team atmosphere, I can only repeat what the players have said already. I think the atmosphere is great. There are no dislikes among the team members whatsoever. Of course you fight sometimes, that is normal and can even be beneficial. But we laugh way more than we argue.
I think this team has a lot of potential. Playing for ALTERNATE a little more than a month now, they have already shown what they are capable of. Apart from various online matches, they achieved a victory over the former champions HellRaisers here at the Acer Predator Masters. One map with a pretty convincing 16-2 victory. With our support I think it’s more than possible to reach the goals the guys have set themselves.
Christian, Oliver: The team has been playing together for about five months now. Three of those under the Killerfish banner, and about two month for your current organisation: ALTERNATE aTTaX. How did the original lineup emerge?
Answer from Christian: This line-up is based on the original Playing Ducks line-up which featured kzy, keev, tiziaN, kirby and myself (crisby). Back then the line-up didn’t work unfortunately, which eventually led to it splitting apart. I had an offer from PENTA which was the best possibility for me back then, so I took it. Playing for PENTA I was disappointed in my own skill set. Due to that it became more and more certain that I’ll leave PENTA sooner or later. During that time, the contact with Kevin and Oliver never ended. So we got back together and thought we would give it one more try. At the time Killerfish offered to join up with Stefan and Tizian to play under their banner, which we all eventually agreed on.
Having played for both Killerfish and now ALTERNATE aTTaX, was the change the right move to make? Is there a difference in the atmosphere within your team, as well as the connection between the organisation and your team now?
Answer from Oliver: I can absolutely say yes, it was the right move to make. The support from ALTERNATE is on another level, there is always a bunch of people behind you, there is always someone you can talk to no matter what. Unfortunately we didn’t have that kind of support with Killerfish. There was always only one guy to talk to; often we had to wait for answers. We can clearly see a change in structure, ALTERNATE is way more organised. You can see the big company behind the name. Yeah, it’s way better now.
How much does an organisation influence a team? In addition to that, do you feel that ALTERNATE aTTaX can provide you with an ecosystem that suits your needs as a team and if so, could one say you’ve found a new home within ALTERNATE aTTaX?
Answer from Christian: Well, as I said before - yes. The organisation influences you as a team. We have the freedom to fully concentrate on our game. If we need anything outside the game we talk to Stephan and he will take care of it. We don’t have to mess with anything outside the game. This is basically what every team wants. ALTERNATE fully supports us with whatever they can. A new home within ALTERNATE? Definitely yes. Given the support we get and the current line-up, we hope to keep playing like this for the next couple of months, even years.
Having two IGLs is something I’ve never seen before in a professional team. How have you guys come up with the idea and how has it worked out so far? Are there also problems to mention - do you sometimes contradict each other?
Answer from Christian: Having two IGLs is not something we have come up with over one day, it has evolved and it’s still evolving. So far, it has been working out great for us. I think this is a concept other teams could take utilise as well. We have a strong AWP, two main fraggers and us as IGLs and support players. This concept gives us the freedom to have three players just doing what they can do best together with two players being the brain of the team. This also gives us the ability to switch up the calling if needed. In case we encounter certain situations where some calls don’t seem to work we always have a second IGL to take over and adapt which gives us the opportunity to maintain a steady and controlled play.
Answer from Oliver: I also think teams could adapt to that. Especially teams that have a hard-core IGL like gob b was for Mousesports. If he has no support in calling, he has to exclusively focus on manoeuvring his players like chess pieces and can’t focus on his play itself. We can share this responsibility, maybe even from round to round which lightens the pressure on each of us.
Answer from Christian: This also enables us to split up in a 2-2-1 fashion. We have Kevin as an independent AWP player. Therefore Oliver and I can team up with either Tizian or Stefan in certain situations, support or even guide them whenever needed.
Do you two sometimes contradict each other in your calls? If so, how do you solve that?
Answer from Oliver: In principle, I always speak up if I feel like one of Chris’ calls is not going to work. I also justify why I feel like it. However, Christian is the primary IGL; therefore he has the last say in it. If he thinks it is going to work - we are going to do it. Throughout the years I’ve always said: A bad tactic executed properly is better than a good tactic executed poorly.
In about four weeks playing for your new organisation, you’ve competed in twelve professional matches. Amongst those matches, there are a few surprising results considering how young your team is. A few to mention are: 1-1 against Vexed Gaming, 2-1 against E-Frag, 1-2 against SK Gaming and my personal favourite: a close 1-2 against Astralis.
You guys basically came out of the blue and were not present before January this year. About 20 days later you managed to seriously compete against a top four team. Explain. Please.
Well it’s not like we were not present before ALTERNATE aTTaX. We played in the Game Show League under the Killerfish banner through the qualifier and group stages. But what has changed is that playing for ALTERNATE, you get invited to more events, the possibilities for participating against known teams are better now. We have been a solid team for a couple of months now; finally, we can show it.
At the moment you are ranked #39 in the international GosuGamers CS:GO rankings. Do you think you will finally be a second German team to compete at international events? What is your future perspective, what goals have you set yourselves?
Becoming a second German team to compete at international events is the goal - absolutely. We already feel like being a top 20 team, regardless of a site’s rankings. Where we still have to work on is our consistency. Having the feeling to be a top 20 team doesn’t mean we will win against a top 30 team every day, but as you mentioned we managed to win against top 10 teams. So this is the area we have to work on. Keep on going up the ladder.
Regarding our future goals, most important at the moment is the upcoming season of ESL ESEA Pro League. Apart from that there are the majors of course. We heavily focus on them as well with upcoming boot camps and more.
Christian and Oliver, as well as the rest of the ALTERNATE aTTaX team, thank you for this in-depth interview. You’re an upcoming team in both the German and international scene, and this should give an impression to the audience in regards of who you are - and who you are going to be. Thanks!
Thanks as well!
