Hello Jacob. Before we begin with the interview, would you please give us a short overview of your career prior to transferring to CS:GO for those who haven't followed the Counter-Strike: Source scene? Do you remember how you learned about the competitive side of the game and when did you start to play it in such manner?

"Hello! I started out playing Counter-Strike: Source mostly just was for the fun of it. I played in a lot of different Danish teams, the best one was MoD-eSport who when CS:GO was about to launch, was the 3rd best Danish team.



Then I rather quickly switched to CS:GO and started playing for Anexis, then Western Wolves, then Copenhagen Wolves, and in the past 1½ year I played with Dignitas, and now SK Gaming. I was sort of self learned regarding the competitive scene. I found out you could play more serious, and given my nature, and the competitive mindset I have, I found it fun instantly. From there it was just one long process of gradually getting better and better, and yeah, now I'm here."

You joined our organization back in early December and so far have participated in only one offline tournament under the SK Gaming banner. Can you describe what your role inside the team is to our fans and what benefits you are bringing into it with your own words now and in the foreseeable future?

"My role in SK Gaming is sort of a guy taking over map control together with our caller AcillioN. On most maps at least that is, there are still some where we find it better that another person should have that role, due to having more experience in the area. Besides that I as everyone else try to contribute with as much insight as I can while we're playing, that being anti strats, ideas on what to do, etc. Basically trying to make it easier for our caller to either come up with new ideas, or put some into his head that might work out."

DreamHack Leipzig 2016 was your first appearance for the year as well as an SK Gaming member. You managed to contest Luminosity Gaming to three maps, after a discouraging loss to Na'Vi in the opening round. Walk us through these two matches. Were you satisfied with both your individual and team performance in Leipzig considering the circumstances?

"First off, my individual performance was not great. It was a very anonymous event for me, in the sense that I never felt I had a great game, or contributed the way I would have liked to. Team wise we got a really bad start against Na'Vi who went on to win the event, so I'm not really sure how much you can put into that game. They simply are at another level right now, and the score reflected that just fine.



Going up against Luminosity who rather surprisingly lost their opener against Faze was also very bad. They are arguably a top 5 team at the moment, so expecting to win against them is hard. Nevertheless we got off to a really bad start again on the 1st map, and it never really came close. On the 2nd map, which was Mirage, we played a great game. I felt we had it under control the whole game, which is not something you get to feel often against a team of that caliber, ending up winning 16-10. 3rd map we were the ones who got off to a great start, leading 7-3 at one point, but from there on they shifted gear. They showed us and everyone else that had the extra that was needed in order to turn it around, and ended up winning 10-16 against us on Train.



It could've been much closer, I'd even say we could have won, but in the end we didn't had a straight answer for the changes they made mid-game, so it was fully deserved."

Your current goal is to qualify for Valve's upcoming major tournament to be held in association with Major League Gaming in Columbus, USA, via the last chance qualifier delivered by CEVO. How's the preparation going on so far? Are you feeling confident coming to this single elimination best-of-three bracket? How's the team spirit?

"That is one of our main goals, yes. There are so many big tournaments to play, the majors are of course some of the highly prioritized ones, but putting too much pressure on yourself by only focusing on that would be a mistake in my head. Nevertheless, I feel we have a great shot at qualifying for the closed qualifier. We started out by beating a great Russian team named Arcade 2-0, that even with a stand-in so it was a great start. We are now going up against another strong Russian team, and should we overcome them its either ENCE or Penta, who both are two strong teams. It will not be easy, but I do feel we have the level to make it.



Playing single elimination leaves almost no room for mistakes, luckily for us it's bo3, so we can have one bad map, but not more than that! Team spirit is fine, I feel that everyone on the team believes that we can make it, so that's good!"

Aside from the Major Championship, which approaching tournaments and leagues are you looking forward to take your chances in?

"ESL Pro League is most likely the biggest online league to date in CS:GO so that will of course have a high priority for us. Besides that DreamHack Masters qualifier is coming up, as well as a lot other small and medium sized events and online tournaments. There is a lot to play, and I hope we can do well in them all!"

What are your thoughts regarding the current Danish scene? What can you tell us about your ex-teammates' recent success in Leipzig and also what do you believe is holding back Astralis from consistently maintaining a top three rank?

"Dignitas is, and have always been a great team. After they changed me and Aizy they have changed a bit in their style, but as we saw at Leipzig it worked out fine for them. They were playing some solid CS most of the time, and that was great to see.



Same pretty much goes on for Astralis - they are the Danish Counter-Strike flagship, and if Denmark wants titles, it's Astralis we should put our money on at the moment. I'm not sure what they exactly need in order to be the very best, but I'm sure they are doing everything they can to figure it out themselves. It is so small things that separate them from winning tournaments, so I have high hopes in them figuring it out sooner or later."

If you had the chance to change anything you wish in CS:GO, what would you primarily go for? You can write down multiple things including in-game and code changes, new maps and modes, tournament structure and format improvements, casual tweaks, etc.

"The game is +/- fine as it is now. I would maybe like to see a deagle nerf, but that is only because I myself am horrible with that gun, while everyone else seems to be on point, so I might have to practice a bit more.. :P



Besides that I would just like the qualifying process from each tournament to be top tuned, as well as tournament structure to be the best possible. At Leipzig it was bo3 in the losers match, and in the elimination match which was a very good change. It allows you to have a bad first game, and playing a bo3 is always better to find the right team, than playing a bo1. So be creative with the tournament structure, and I'll be more than happy to try them out, if they work in theory."

Let's turn the topic about your career as a professional Counter-Strike player aside for now. Tell us more about yourself outside of the scene. Would you like to share your other hobbies and interests with us? What do you think you would have been doing right now if you weren’t in professional gaming?

"Good question. I would properly study something, maybe teacher of some kind. I have always had as a goal to do something meaningful in my life, and if possible being meaningful for other people, and I feel that teacher is a great way to be so. In my spare time I like to work out, I run a lot, I cycle a lot when the weather and body allows it, and I have just started a little bit of strength training as well. In general I'm a very active person, who likes to be on the move. Sitting still and doing nothing is not something I'm a fan of, unless it's with a good book, I have started to read quite a lot."

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and time with us, Jacob! I wish you the best of luck for the future and hope you'll bring us the first major title in the discipline of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The last words belong to you.

"Thanks for the interview! Thanks to SK Gaming and their partners for supporting us, and thanks to all the fans that constantly are holding us up in both good and bad periods! :)"

#SKCSGO

We have caught up with the Danish idol and newest member of our Counter-Strike: Global Offensive division, Jacob 'Pimp' Winneche . Jacob is one of the most talented and recognized names in the Danish CS:GO scene. His career dates back since the Counter-Strike: Source era.He has been an essential part of a number of Danish teams' success including Copenhagen Wolves, Team Dignitas and Western Wolves, the latest famous for being one of the first to take down and furthermore upset Ninjas in Pyjamas during their dominant period on LAN, winning 16-2 on Nuke during the group stage of DreamHack Summer 2013, one of the strongest maps of the Swedish team at that time.In this interview, we discussed with Jacob his time so far in SK Gaming, preparation for the last chance pre-qualifier for MLG Columbus 2016, opinions and thoughts regarding the current state of the Danish scene and more. Read below to find out.Stay tuned to SK Gaming as we will release more interviews of this kind featuring our team members in the near future. Do not hesitate to share your thoughts with us via the comment section below or on social media using