Get to know em : A closer look at Western Europe

FnaticMSI [MSI]

Thanks for doing this interview, why don't you introduce yourself?

-“I'm Henrik "Fresh" Hansen, 22 yrs old, Denmark and I'm a sucker for anime.”

With the recent losses against Loaded and then TSoG, the team appears to be in a slump. Are you guys worried that teams are beginning to figure out how to beat you?

-“We have kind of been waiting for a team to beat our trilane strategy, and we knew that the time would come at some point. When we played against tsog we had 1 guy who was sick and couldn't talk, and 1 guy with microphone that didn’t work. So basicly we had no communication, but that aside tsog is a great team and they played good so props to them. And we aren’t in a slump, quite the opposite, since now we can work on new strategies and new ways of improving our current strat and/or make new ones.”

The World Cup matches are to be played on fixed dates, seeing that all of the dates are weekends, will we see Rexi play more in the World Cup? And if so, who he might be replacing?

-“Being in the army, Rexi is considered as inactive so no, our main lineup remains the same.”

Is there a team you guys would like to face the most in the World Cup?

-“I was gonna say Load, but then there’s always the ping issues which cripples teams so much when playing online usa vs eu. I'm gonna go with empire, since they are a solid strong team that always brings a new lineup/challenge for each match.”

Fun question next, how hard was it to persuade your team to give Wildsoul a shot?

-“It took me 1 game with notail as observer, and then i had to take a private jet to Israel and do some things to bot I'd rather not speak of. Nevertheless i at least got it tried out.”

Assuming no upsets, who would you rather face in the 3rd round playoffs? Druidz or Korok's Crew?

-“Definitely druidz, they are a constantly improving team and always puts up a good fight. Ikzu my darling, love ya.”

Thank you for your time, Fresh. Any last words to wrap this up?

-“If you think fnatic is boring 1-strat-wonder, you're in for a big surprise. And a shoutout to my lovely supporting sponsors: MSI, SteelSeries, Bigfoot Networks, UGAME and SLAPPA.”

Druidz Qpad [DrDz]

First off, thanks for agreeing to this. Why don't you introduce yourself?

-“Sure, my name is Henry Dickenson I'm 18 years old and I live in Falun, Sweden and I'm the captain and a support / gang player for Druidz.”

So, you were previously in the TSoG side who beat DrDz at the Swedish DYA Qualifier at Dreamhack, what caused you to make the transition?

-“Just some private issues, I'm still on good terms with TSoG and on some levels I do regret leaving, but I'm comfortable with my current team! While we're there give a shout out to TSoG, see you guys on the battlefield!”

The team has underwent a lot of changes, from the days of Loda and Akke till today. Who's idea was it to pick up Cuddly Dogs and the recent addition of ex-FFS clan leader Keitaru?

-“All I know is that Ikzu talked to CD. I had nothing to do with the pickup at the time because I wasn't a part of the roster. Good pickup nonetheless. I joined within a few weeks again, as I get along with fantastic, piratkuk and Ikzu, which is most important, and we agreed that I'll be the one leading ingame and doing the drafting, although we usually do it together anyway. Keitaru is a good player as most people know, an old veteran from the beta and just lost a bit of his touch but he is getting that back at such an insane rate it's actually sick. I can put him on almost any hero and he will win that lane which is always good to know. The language barrier is not that big of a deal as I am fluent in Swedish and English and I can easily move between the two without any problems, as can the rest of Drdz.”

With so many new faces, why don’t you introduce your members?

-“Sure, Ikzu is a Swedish 19 year old from Sweden and he is our hottie. Damn good solo player and you will see him playing most of our solo heroes (TB, SS etc). Great guy and a little shy but is loud when we need him to be. piratKUK is another 19 year old from northern Sweden and he is our... comedian! Hilarious dude can't make enough jokes and he does our main support. It's so much fun playing with him because even in a serious game he will make us laugh and make sure we're talking in ventrilo. Darkwonyx is an 18 year old from Sweden again and just like Ikzu he plays our other solo hero due to the current metagame. Good guy he is pretty normal, talks when needed, shuts up when needed and all around a good guy. He has quite an active real life so he and Keitaru will be swapped back and forth as Ikzu, Piratkuk, Fnastic and myself are pretty much online all the time (real nerds SHOUTOUT!) Fnastic is a brilliant dude, he plays our trilane carry and is very famous for his madman (banned in nearly every inhouse). He and piratKUK click so well together so when pirat gets going with jokes you just know fntastic is gonna be right behind him making some more. This by the way is what a real team does. There is hardly ever tension in our vent, which is so good when, it's the beginning of great team play which is obviously needed. Skill wise he is obviously Einstein level just like the rest of us, haha. Keitaru is our little Irish friend, an ex-FFS player and has been living in a hole for the past few months but he's back on the scene to rape some russians. Being from Britian myself it keeps us both on our toes as we both want to be the best from Britain (not a lot of competition) but it keeps us going! He plays pretty much anything I give him and he will win that lane like I said before, great guy, great player.”

I believe that's all I need, thanks for your time. Any last comments to finish this interview?

-“Shoutout to Druidz, Qpad, UniqFazer, Athildur and my mum!”