Interview: A two-piece interview with the AWP of mousesports 30.01.2014, 16:30

Hey Chris, the year 2014 just started a few weeks ago but first of all let's talk about the last year. After you and LowLandLions decided to part ways, you got signed by a German EPS-Team. What was the reason that you stopped playing with your Dutch mates and how did you get in contact with the German EPS?

Chris ' chrisJ ' De Jong:



I had played in the 2012 EPS Summer Season with them in CS 1.6 and also went to GameGune with them, although with a slightly different line-up. I remember there were some troubles in the line-up, but that was all between other players. I still had a really good relationship with both Johannes and Niko, and the only reason I didn’t play CS:GO EPS with them was because there was a Benelux ESWC Qualifier and I just had the feeling I should play there because it’s not very often there’s such a qualifier for the Benelux. Months later when they asked me to come and play for n!faculty I was immediately interested, not only because I wanted to play with my old mates again, but also because of the supposed support Well first of all the Dutch team we had back then under LowLandLions was nearly broken because one of our star-players, Kaj 'kajsking' van Staalduynen, had decided to focus more on his job/real-life instead of Counter-Strike. I think that happened basically right after the Copenhagen Games . We then tried playing the RaidCall EMS One Spring qualifiers and some PCWs with different line-ups, with only ferrid and me remaining from LowLandLions’ original CS:GO team. We actually finally arrived at a lineup that I thought had at least some potential to compete in the next EMS season and hopefully get a step further than the last time, but at that point I got pm’d by my old teammates: tabseN and LEGIJA I had played in the 2012 EPS Summer Season with them in CS 1.6 and also went to GameGune with them, although with a slightly different line-up. I remember there were some troubles in the line-up, but that was all between other players. I still had a really good relationship with both Johannes and Niko, and the only reason I didn’t play CS:GO EPS with them was because there was a Benelux ESWC Qualifier and I just had the feeling I should play there because it’s not very often there’s such a qualifier for the Benelux. Months later when they asked me to come and play for n!faculty I was immediately interested, not only because I wanted to play with my old mates again, but also because of the supposed support n!faculty could offer.



Back in the days for Playing Ducks... Back in the days for Playing Ducks...

After your stays at n!faculty and Playing Ducks where you were able to pick up the EPS-Titel that's let you to mousesports where you are still active today. Were you proud back in the days when you signed the contract? After all, coming from the 1.6-scene, you already knew that mouz was an established powerhouse in Counter-Strike.

Of course, I’m extremely proud to play under the mousesports flag, and I was really happy when we signed the contract. Since we didn’t really live up to the name yet, I don’t know, it just feels like we have a lot to prove still, to show that we are worthy of the mouseports name.

For you as well as for the other German teams there’s been no real wins so far at international tournaments. At the RaidCall EMS One Finals and especially in the BYOC tournament at DreamHack Winter you did not perform like you have done in previous online-matches. What are the reasons for this?





The loss against



However, those things didn’t matter the most, I think the biggest reason for our losses was that we didn’t have somebody fully committed to being IGL in the team. It switched from Hmmm, it was clearly due to a combination of reasons. Regardless of the reasons why we didn’t live up to expectations: we have never defeated NiP or UniversalSoldiers online or offline, so I think if people expected us to do so, they were expecting a bit too much perhaps. Of course we hoped to put up more of a fight, but in the first match against NiP with a team that doesn’t have that much LAN-experience, it’s just difficult; it’s hard to argue against that.The loss against Xapso at DreamHack Winter was of course another thing. Even though cadiaN played really well individually, and probably also lead his former team really well, we still made some stupid mistakes or missed shots that we normally wouldn’t. We had some serious travel delays and problems with the monitors for the laptops (couldn’t get 100/120hz on them) which caused us to sadly miss a lot of sleep and rest, which perhaps could have helped us.However, those things didn’t matter the most, I think the biggest reason for our losses was that we didn’t have somebody fully committed to being IGL in the team. It switched from crisby to Troubley , but both are not true IGL’s in my opinion, even though they both have a good understanding of the game and certainly do not lack in the fragging department.

You have settled in well to the team, especially as a Dutchman who does not speak German perfectly. Is it still difficult to communicate in some situations or do you understand everything now, allowing you to respond quickly when it comes to strategies and situations?



...and nowadays for mousesports ...and nowadays for mousesports

Communication really is not a problem anymore, at least not because of the so called “language barrier”. Of course there are misunderstandings sometimes in-game, but this is not because I can’t understand German or because my teammates can’t understand English. I have been playing with LEGIJA for so long now and heard enough regular German conversation that in-game I understand 100% and outside the game I would say about 90%, depending on the topic that is being talked about.

A few days ago you presented cadiaN and cLy as the two new players who will complete your lineup. How did you get in contact with them and why did you choose these two? Particularly the recruitment of cLy was relatively surprising since you guys know very well how his past in CS:GO has been.





Indeed cLy has been a person that has drawn some unwanted attention to himself, sometimes through his own mistakes, and sometimes just by unlucky line-up combinations in his former teams. I had a certain rivalry with cLy myself since the start of CS:GO, but we talked about this and realized we need to work together to hopefully reach a higher level than we previously have done in separate teams. I am happy that we are on good terms now (not that we had any serious “personal” problems), and the cooperation has been working great for the whole team. I’m excited to see what the future will bring for this line-up. Well after we realized gob b and crisby didn’t want to, or could not be part of the team anymore, we made it our priority to find a good IGL. This has been the biggest problem for the recent mousesports CS:GO line-up and has been a problem for many of my previous teams. We had some contact with cadiaN, mostly because he managed to kick us out of the BYOC at DH:W with his former team Xapso. We ran some test-games with him and it soon became clear that we had a very good click with this guy, and that he had a certain plan and ambition to become the IGL of this team.Indeed cLy has been a person that has drawn some unwanted attention to himself, sometimes through his own mistakes, and sometimes just by unlucky line-up combinations in his former teams. I had a certain rivalry with cLy myself since the start of CS:GO, but we talked about this and realized we need to work together to hopefully reach a higher level than we previously have done in separate teams. I am happy that we are on good terms now (not that we had any serious “personal” problems), and the cooperation has been working great for the whole team. I’m excited to see what the future will bring for this line-up.

In the second part you can read more about the opinion of chrisJ relating to the latest performances of the new lineup. Besides that he is talking about his detractors who still see him as an 'onliner'

In preparation for the EMS One National Finals, which take place in the mid-February, the mousesports team will travel to Berlin to run a bootcamp. Right before that we had the chance to talk to Chris ' chrisJ ' De Jong and ask him several questions. In the two-piece interview, the Dutchman responds to questions about 2013, the new mousesports lineup, as well as future tasks.