Beyond the Gamer - Shadow

Let's now talk a bit about WCG which just concluded at the beginning of this month. You won the first match vs dLm, then you won in Winner Bracket 2 vs eF with an amazing score, then you beat your mates from Constanta in a hard match. The second day you won your first match in Winner Bracket 7 vs wizards, then in the Winner Bracket Final you won vs TeG. What was going through your mind when you played vs IGG in the Grand Final?

The matches against dlm and ef were very easy, usually we do great in the starting matches, we played on nuke against iNsane, a map in which we trained a lot with them. In my opinion our first difficult match was against wizards, we relaxed way too early and we also underestimated them. I don't think I'm exaggerating if I say we played almost perfectly against TeG on dust2, we didn't lose focus at all in that match and we won a lot of rounds on T, on CT me and Sedan won 2 v 4 in the first round, I think that lowered their morale greatly, we won 16-4. In the finals we faced IGG on inferno, a map we enjoy, and a map where we win a lot, as T we made a lot of individual mistakes, ending 7-8, as CT we started great with a 5-0 lead, but starting with the 6th round we played defensively, staying back, in both X's, unfortunately for us we lost the first match. During the break, we had a pep talk, which boosted our morale, and we decided that we will not let this slip through our fingers once again and the rest is history!


You lost against IGG on inferno, on which you lost in the online championship as well sooner this season, of course under different conditions and with kamikaze in the lineup. Although you had quite a good lead in this match, what aspect of your game allowed IGG to come back?

It was the fact that we allowed them to attack and we didn't counter their tactics at all, even though we knew most times what they were up to, we knew they were going for the hallways at bombsite A and faking a lot, but we underestimated them again.


You also used "special strategies" against teams like TeG and IGG. Were you inspired by SeDaN? What do you think of such strategies?

Special strategies? You don't need them when you play with the best in Romania: best player (bandi), best aimer (sedan), the most aggressive player (dece) and the most constant and calm (ferdi).


Were you happy with your performance at WCG 2007 qualifier?

Of course, but it would have been regarded as a much greater performance if we wouldn't have lost any games.


Most top professional teams have worked with hardware companies to produce stuff like mice, mousepads, etc. Will we be seeing you working on such things in the future?

Maybe in the future, but we need to achieve more on the international level to get there.


What do you think about the level of Romanian players? Do you think that their playing styles differ a lot from the other European, Asian or American teams?

The difference between us and them is that they are much more serious and dedicated, of course they are motivated by the numerous sponsors who are interested in esports, although let's not forget they started from scratch too! Our play style varies from map to map, most times we go classic, we have a tactic for the first round on both T and CT, and other than that we have a classic which we develop on the course of the weapon rounds.


Are you more a team that has set strats on a map, or do you adapt to what the other teams give you?

About 40% set strats, 60% adaptation to the opponent's playing style.


That's about all. Thanks a lot for your time. Any last shout-outs?

I would like to thank my teammates, the Eq staff, our fans who stood by us, loyal, we love you and last but not least SAAAAAAAANTAAANAAAA.