UKTerrorist

Games Domain Online Championships

Since May there's been a Counter-Strike competition taking place at Games Domain. It started with online group stages, with numerous 4 clan divisions. Then it hit the knockout stages, and as the rounds went by the number of competing clans got smaller, finally leaving 8 to attend the LAN finals held in London. The clans attending will receive free travel and accommodation as a prize, but only the winning clan will take home a smart £4000. Information on the championship finals can be found, here.

So with the Games Domain Online Championships finals steadily approaching (Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th September), myself and Fluke thought we’d conduct short question and answer sessions with each clan who successfully made it through the qualifying stages. The clans are:

• erm:cs
  
• iLLuminati
  
• Infinity-eSports
  
• Nocturne.uk
  
• North & South
  
• Online Multiplayer Gaming!
  
• Stalk Confront Engage Eliminate
  
• X-Treme IT

Each clan answered the following questions:

1. First off, please describe you and your clan.
   
2. Did you face any tough games during the qualifying stages? If so please describe.
   
3. Do you have any prior experience on LAN? If so, please describe.
   
4. How well do you think you'll perform at the finals?
   
5. Anything else you'd like to share?

So, in alphabetical order, let the interviews begin!

erm:cs (#erm:cs)

TeppuM provided the answers from one of the UK's top clans.

1. 
   
2. I'm TeppuM, leader of Team erm. erm were founded late September last year for the WCG Qualifiers, where we got beat in the first round against noc, since then we have changed a lot, and are now working hard on creating a good reputation for the team and our players.
   
   
3. We got through our group without playing a game, with 4/5 defaults, then we had a default in our first knockout, then ended up playing SO19 in the last knockout round, although I wasn't playing I heard we played extremely well, and got the job done, 13-3 I think the score was.
   
   
4. We attended i10, but this wasn't with out real team as we had two mercs (tmc and floppy, from SO19), but since then we have attended various LANs around the UK, such as Roweb, where we placed 2nd losing to Infinity-eSports in the final. We also attended the pre-CPL Qualifier at Northampton and won those to qualify for our place at the UK Qualifier, where we unluckily were seeded 7th and had to play Infinity-eSports first, and then nocturne.
   
   
5. With there being 2/3 weeks until the finals, we're planning on practicing as much as we can in the run up to the LAN, and we're hoping on a top 3 spot.
   
   
6. www.fastvision.net are the best, and www.cspickup.net owns you... Oh, and, get your butts in #erm:cs.

iLLuminati (#illu)

After hearing what snarcy (iLLu's organiser) thought of their chances, other clans will surely have to watch out. We spoke to MiG in this instance though.

1. 
   
2. My name is John Reilly, i'm 16 years old and i'm currently playing for iLLuminati, our lineup is Xs, Adam, iCe, ubj, Stinky, SiN and me :) . We have been around for about 3 months.
   
   
3. As we put a lot of time and effort into devising tactics and improving our teamplay, we encountered very little difficulties in qualifying
   
   
4. I myself play on regular local LAN's, me and ubj play for a VGA team so we have weekly LANning, Xs played with m0o in the PS2002 qualifiers and the rest are fairly new. :)
   
   
5. We have never had the chance to prove ourself at LAN before, but we aim to win, obviously I-eS are the favourites but if we have the chance to play them on one of our stronger maps, I think we can give I-eS a run for their money.
   
   
6. SiN says if we win we will be happy to donate the winnings to Adams life long dream to be a man.

Infinity-eSports (#Infinity-eSports)

We spoke to Wright, member of the current number 1 clan in the UK, Infinity-eSports.

1. 
   
2. My name is Douglas Wright; I’m 21 and the CL of Infinity-eSports. Infinity-eSports formed early in 1999 under the name of [B!TCH]. The team quickly rose to the top of the Counter-Strike scene and became the Counter-Strike division of the famous Four Kings clan. We left 4 Kings in late 2001 to form our own clan called Infinity-eSports, and we are now enjoying much success as the UK's top Counter-Strike team. www.infinity-esports.com *coming soon*
   
   
3. I think we only ended up playing one qualifying game because other teams did not turn up. Toughest so far has been collective, demos will be on the website when it’s up.
   
   
4. We have been to many LANs, most recently the CPL World Championships in Dallas, Texas. We came 6th in the end, with a particularly memorable game vs. SK to knock us into the lower bracket and a tough cbble match vs. GoL to knock us out the tournament. Again, demos will be on the website when it’s up :)
   
   
5. I just hope we play as well as we know we can. If we can get our tactics together ahead of time I’m sure we will do well.
   
   
6. www.infinity-eservers.net!! Also I'm pregnant with marcs baby and we are both very happy.

Nocturne.uk (#nocturne)

With a recently re-shuffled line up, Nocturne will surely pose a threat to I-eS, we spoke to Rhyzz about their chances.

1. 
   
2. Hi friends, my name is Paul Fitchford, and I’m in the qualifying team 'Nocturne' for the Games Domain LAN Finals. Nocturne have a brand new line up ready for this tourney, and that is; Myself, Marcus[CL], landshark, ND, Fly and darkstar-x[dsx].
   
   
3. We had a bit of a rough ride with SO19 in the group stages, as we forfeited one of our games against them, so we were lucky it came to a 3 way tie. We then played them on prodigy and beat them 9-7 I think, I didn’t actually play this game, but the guys said it was easier than the score suggested, so I wasn’t too bothered, even though SO19 have a good team.
   
   
4. I have been to quite a few LAN's yes. I have been to the i-series since i7, where SLDR got torn apart by 4Kings (unlucky Greg) but also I have been to the WCG Qualifiers, where I ironically got knocked out by noc. ps2002 I went to, and I was also at the CPL quals.
   
   
5. I think we can make at least second with out new team. Hopefully the people watching our game vs. Obsessive were able to see the teamplay we have developed, and I'm hoping that with some last minute good practice, we can make it past the group stages, and get into the final for the first time in almost a year.
   
   
6. Marcus *DOES NOT* own any shoes, there, Infinity-eSport | Harriman (lil) has agreed to share his with him. Thanks lil.

North & South (#n@s)

Scaramanga represented North & South here, who have always maintained a high level of play online.

1. 
   
2. My names Simon Pearson a.k.a Scaramanga and have played CS for over 2 years. North & South basically was formed from a bunch of m8's that wanted people that are good players and not moaners especially formed by me and Krondor about 10 months ago.
   
   
3. No not really, we had alot of default wins in our group stage and only played 1 game vs e-raw which we won on Nuke. The knockout games were pretty easy too only dropping 4 rounds vs NQD and EN.
   
   
4. Every player in Ns have got LAN experience and having all met each other at 1 time or another. Most of us have played at CPL,WCG,PS2002 but not together as a team apart from PS2002 where we went at a time we weren't really playing at all which was a shame. Six of us went to i12 and had a good laugh together but did really poor in the CS tourney getting knocked out in the 2nd stage on Dust not really using any tactics on it.
   
   
5. Not sure to be honest, if we put our minds to it and practice alot we can play really well together as showed when we beat dNc on Dust2 in BWCSL. We practiced that map alot for about 2 weeks cause we thought we'd have to win to stay in Div1 for next season but as it happened we didnt anyway cause of a default win we got.
   
   
6. Er what times the bar open till? ;P

Online Multiplayer Gaming! (#omg!)

m0rph took the time to represent OMG! for their Q&A section.

1. 
   
2. Online multiplayer gaming! is a clan reformed by Munk(ex LCA) and me (UKLA) a few weeks back. Craig from UKLA approached me after the clan folded and asked me if I was interested so I thought, 'Hey why not'. Lucky enough for us there were a number of players who had also recently left clans in the form of Sarge and Baal and Brorjace decided to come back to competetive CS.
   
   We couldn't let such an opportunity go and decided to form the team. At the moment we're a multi gaming organisation with the recent introduction of a Jedi Knigt 2 squad and future expansion will follow.
   
   
3. The game vs. ins.eu proved a challenge I think. When we first started I must say some of us were a bit nervous - we really wanted to get to this lan and win convincingly on a map we've been praccying for about 3 weeks now solid. I must say ins.eu were a pleasent surprised regards atitude and performance in game. They showed some nice aim and good individual play - on some occasions we had to rely on single players to win rounds for they broke our attacks down quite swiftly and efficiently. Luckily enough we managed to get through in the end, relieved it was all over tbh :)
   
   
4. This team doesnt have an experience together as we only formed a little while ago. Me and Brorjace were recently notching up our lan play @ nethouse in London, and in the near future we are planning for a mass rendezvous @ a London cafe to practice along with a 4 day event before the Gamesdomain finals take place :) our first lan will be the Gamesdomain lan in September, we are immensily looking forward to it
   
   
5. speaking with the team I genuinely believe we will see anything outside a top 3 finish a dissapointment - although this is our first lantogether we've already put a lot of effort into preparing for it, playing some top euro clans (ru, DST etc.) and building up teamplay - I must say I don't want to tempt fate, but we do honestly believe we can mount a serious challenge at the lan finals and hopefully, with a bit of luck pull off some shock results.
   
   
6. I'm personally quite lookin forward to playing clans like i-es,noc and clanone - I met most of the lads from i-es and some noc before and they seemed like good lads and above all top players. We'll treat them with respect at the finals because what they have achieved is immense over the last few years - but at the same time we'll give it a good go and who knows what might happen?
   And on behalf of OMG! I'd like to thank to beset and ven0, wouldn't be here without u guys

Stalk Confront Engage Eliminate (#scee)

DK represents SCEE for their Q&A section; after not showing up for the CPL UK Qualifiers some would believe they have a point to prove.

1. 
   
2. SCEE are a gang of people playing CS surprisingly. Strange but true!
   
   
3. Yes 6Kittens was a tough game, those finish fuckers have nasty configs. :p
   
   
4. Yes I run 2 PC's from home and have done many 1v1 with my 8 year old son.
   
   
5. I think the 1v1 training with my son will give me the edge at GDOC over the other elitists.
   
   
6. Yes, SCEE wouldn't be SCEE without the following people: FELLA, Omni, Hav, Storm, FMC, MS^DK, Peanut, Psychocat, gds, Megafurax, Mid, Dr Evil, one, KingKiller, Docker and Allan.

XTreme iT (#clanone)

Using their sponsors cafe as a training ground, XTreme iT/ONE will surely come into the finals looking to upset a few clans, we spoke to Barely Legal.

1. 
   
2. Hello there sailor! I’m Gary Roberts (19/m/stoke) also known as Barely Legal. I've played CS since beta 7 and only really got into the more "pro" side around version 1. That’s when I rejoined ONE after a small stint in some other clans such as nD, OG and midian souls. When I rejoined, the clan was a bit large and lacked focus so we cut the squad down and started training with a smaller focused group. Our current team is: - Obi (manager/player), Righteous, Barely Legal, Strikes, Kid, Nerf, Negotiator and Keiju. We are aiming to become one of the top clans in the UK. Perhaps even number one!
   
   
3. Well at first we didn't really know much about the league or competition until our sponsor brought it up. We played really well against DBDUK on dust2 in the knockout stages even though I came home drunk :D. The final match against c0alition was a good one. We didn't really feel nervous but made a few silly mistakes. We managed to perform convincingly in the end and rightfully earned our place at the GDOC finals in London.
   
   
4. The last major LAN we attended was the UK CPL Qualifiers. It was the first time that our whole team was together to play in real life at such a big event. We all have our own smaller LANs we attend such as the game-junkies.com LAN and a number of our members play at our sponsor’s internet cafe, Xtreme-iT.
   
   
5. I really think we can make top 3 and get some of the bling bling. At the CPL the team we fielded was very unpracticed and we had to recruit the most excellent "Strikes" back because we had member problems. This time we have a solid team who have been playing together for a long while now. We have been pcw'ing some very good established euro teams and seem to be doing great. But there are a lot of very good clans attending the finals. You have to say i-es are once again favorites for the 1st prize. OMG! could also give a bit of a shock as they have some very experienced old skool players such as Brorjace, Baal and Sarge. At the end of the day it’s whoever can perform best on the day when something big is at stake.
   
   
6. Good luck to all attending the GDOC finals. Thanks to our sponsors Xtreme-iT for letting us praccy at the net cafe and supporting us all the way (even if the manager, Adam, is a ratboy).
   
   I was once nearly caught masturbating over the wheel of fortune...

Conclusion

So there you have it. Each clan seems as though they're all looking forward to what should be an interesting competition to say the least. UKTerrorist would like to thank all those who took the time to answer the questions, and good-luck to all those taking part at the finals.

Fluke & Ripper