Timi 'aslak' Verkkoperä



Increasingly you’re becoming known more and more for your AWP talents, and people are even saying you’re one of the best in the world.Have you always been skilled with the big green gun or was it something that you just kept practicing at? Do you think AWP skills come naturally or dedication to become better at it plays a major part? Increasingly you’re becoming known more and more for your AWP talents, and people are even saying you’re one of the best in the world.Have you always been skilled with the big green gun or was it something that you just kept practicing at? Do you think AWP skills come naturally or dedication to become better at it plays a major part?

What’s it like when people compare you to other great sniper players such as markeloff? Do you think that you can match up with those kind of AWP giants?

Which team do you think will dominate this year?

How important do you think the role of the AWPer is in the team? Is it always necessary to have one?

Kimmo 'BASiC' Fagerholm



You had a successful tournament at Copenhagen Games after defeating potential winners SK Gaming and Natus Vincere. As a result of those games, do you feel as if your role as a tactician helped the team achieve those wins? You had a successful tournament at Copenhagen Games after defeating potential winners SK Gaming and Natus Vincere. As a result of those games, do you feel as if your role as a tactician helped the team achieve those wins?

Do you prefer playing as a tactician or as a normal player in the game? Can you ever see yourself taking over that role in WinFakt full time?

How do you think your role as a tactician matches up with lurppis’? Are you similar in any aspects or do you both take different approaches?

Which opponent are you most fearful of and why?

Aleski 'allu' Jalli



WinFakt is known for always managing to overcome the best teams in the world but yet never managing to take a major title yet. Do you feel that beating those kind of teams but never winning is demotivating or do you feel as if it helps your team to have the will power to carry on and keep trying to take that first gold? WinFakt is known for always managing to overcome the best teams in the world but yet never managing to take a major title yet. Do you feel that beating those kind of teams but never winning is demotivating or do you feel as if it helps your team to have the will power to carry on and keep trying to take that first gold?

Outside of the CS world, how do your family and friends feel about you travelling the world because of professional gaming? Are they supportive?

How many hours of practice do you think it takes to stay at a professional level? Do you think it requires nothing but focus on the game and it’s hard to hold down a full time job while staying at the top level?

Hannu 'H^N' Pohjalainen



Your team is one of the only good teams left in Finland. What do you think the reasons are for other Finnish teams being unable to compete on an international level? Your team is one of the only good teams left in Finland. What do you think the reasons are for other Finnish teams being unable to compete on an international level?

Some players such as ceh9 will say that his teammates are not friends but rather work colleagues. Do you share the same opinion or do you feel it’s important to have a friendship with those around you in a team?

What plans do WinFakt CS have for the future? Which events can we expect to see you at next? Which opponent do you most look forward to playing and why?

Endel "MedaY" Koch



You’ve expanded increasingly over the past few months, what are your plans for the future with WinFakt and do you have any more plans to take on any more squads? CEO of WinFakt,Endel "MedaY" KochYou’ve expanded increasingly over the past few months, what are your plans for the future with WinFakt and do you have any more plans to take on any more squads?

As an organisation what do you feel are the main difficulties faced when providing support to gaming squads?

Increasingly FPS titles are being dropped from major tournaments due to rises in games such as LoL and DotA II. What’s your perspective when people say things such as FPS will die out in light of the new games, are you as an organisation aiming to focus more on games such as LoL as a result?

What kind of things do you look for when you pick up a squad, do you search for pure talent? Are the player’s personalities an influencing factor also when considering how marketable they can be?

In this interview we sit down with four members of WinFakt Fi in the form of allu, aslak, H^N and BASiC. To gain a greater insight into the organisation and e-sports as a whole, we also talk to the CEO of the organisation Endel "MedaY" Koch. The team most recently performed at Copenhagen Games, where they caused many upsets by overcoming the main favourites to win the tournament in the form of SK Gaming andHow exactly does Kimmo 'BASiC' Fagerholm compare himself to the leading tactician of the teamlurppis? How does Timi 'aslak' Verkkoperä feel when he's compared to other great AWPers in the CS world? What are important factors when picking up a professional team? Read on to find out!Of course I haven't always been skilled with it. I think it was 2009 when I started to buy the AWP whenever I had the money in some clanbase matches, which we actually played a lot. I remember me and allu playing against BASiC and H^N's teams basically every day. It was really effective to play against them because both of them handled the big green quite well, still do.During that time, I played for munkka. At some times we had both me and allu awping, other time there was lukee having the role, but even if I wasn't the primary awper I still played with it in CSDM every day, to be in shape if it was needed.I don't think AWP skills come naturally, as neither do anything else. Well, some skills might come naturally but the ones you need for getting to the top, don't.It really requires a lot of practice, but it's not hard at all if/when you love what you do.I think it's awesome! markeloff has been the best AWPer in the world for 2 years now. He's taught me a lot of things I know today, really a great player.I can't really say that. Markeloff for instance has been on the brightest top for 2 years as one of the best players in the world, and definitely the best AWPer in the world. So thinking of me as good as markeloff wouldn't be that smart, because I haven't done anything close to what he has done for his team. But time will tell these kind of things ;).I doubt any team will dominate this year just like the last year. I think this might be the year when so called underdogs win some events, for example fnatic won CPH Games overNa'Vi,SK andESC. Hopefully evenWinFakt might win something this year xD.It would be better for viewers as well, if the number one position was taken by not the top3 teams only(Na'Vi,ESC,SK). But yeah, all I want is that CS won't die and we'll have even better events than in the last year.AWPer's role is reeeally essential. Having an awper take control of some parts of a map, it's certainly a lot easier for an IGL to make a good tactical call and win a round. When an awper is on fire, he can determine an outcome of the match pretty much all alone.It's really necessary to have an awper, because not having it is a great disadvantage. In maps like train, tuscan, mirage, d2, if there are two equal teams but only other has an awper, I could bet the one with an awper win the map 100%.Even in nuke buying an awp might sometimes pay off. It shuts down a fair amount of tactics for terrorists to use, with this being said, an AWPer really is needed in every team. I think the biggest reason was that we were so unexpected to play against. We had some new tactics and our playing style was entirely different than with lurppis. We had more some fast rounds as a Terrorist and we didn't do so much that ”normal stuff”. We played whole tournament very good as a team, especially mid game rounds and that was one of the main reasons for those victories. Also aslak was on fire on those matches, so I tried to let him shoot as much as possible with his awp especially on de_train.It's like playing two different games when you have to call strats and make your game work or just be a fragger. I really dont know which role I prefer, because it's nice to lead your team for the win if it's partly cause of your game reading and tactics, but on the other hand it's also nice to focus only fragging especially when youare on fire. I don't see why I couldn't take ingame leader role fulltime, but it would need a lot of work to fight against the top teams again, becuase they can study how you play.I think we are different style leaders. Lurppis is more like ”fulltime leader”, who always tells for every player that what they have to do and which tactic we are going to do. Sometimes I'm calling strats with feeling of other players, if they got some idea that they want to go with and have confidence to try something, I'm usually accepting and making some new tactic which fits with that idea. But compared to Tomi, I'm a very unexperienced leader and not used to playing as a tactician, so I might do some miss calls sometimes and I dont know yet much about how other teams are playing.I'm not fearful to play any opponents and you can't give too much respect for any team if you want to compete against them seriously. Hardest opponent to play against is Na`Vi for me and before this tournament, I hadn't won against them ever even in online matches. Main factor might be that playing against them with normal tactics without taking any risks is really hard. I mean they have amazing teamplay and individually skilled players and when you get 1-2 frags from somewhere against them, they are still very often doing the right decisions on the right time and they can be able to win that round. So playing against them ”easily expected” game is not so smart for teams lower levelled than them. I'ts kinda 50 / 50, it gives us confidence and motivation to be able to win against the best teams in the world, but on the other hand i'ts also very frustrating to lose everytime when it matters the most. We will keep working hard and hopefully we all can see WinFakt winning a gold medal in 2012.My family and friends all think it's very cool that I get to travel around the world by doing something I like, but what they don't get is how I can spend a ridiculous amount of time in front of a computer :DHonestly, i dont know but i guess the 4-5 hours a day, 5 days per week routine should work for most teams as it comes to how much you need to play to be able to perform at you highest individually that differs a lot. Some guys might need 120hrs in 2 weeks while others can manage with 60. It shouldnt be a problem to be able to work at the same time as your practicing all week, but if you're studying it might get more difficult.Main reason why there's no finnish teams playing on international level is the competition here in finland is dead, theres no ladders to climb upwards and get better. Only few lan-events having cs 1.6 and there's no online-leagues or similar been held.Reason why its gone this way is the players have lack of motivation,not willing to put effort enough to improve their game individually nor team.Too many good players without team just playing for fun.I think its important to get along with your teammates since you are spending hours with them practising, on lans or bootcamps. If you dont get along there will be conflicts and conflicts always hurts the team spirit and reduces the motivation.I've noticed when the atmosphere inside the team is good, everyone is ready to put more into the game and the results are better.You have to want to win for your team not only for yourself!Our future schedule is kind open, nothing confirmed yet. I think Nordic Masters will be the next event for us. Im looking forward to playing against Fnatic because of our poor performance at CPH-games against them and especially losing momentum on de_nuke by mistakes was really disappointing.Well we will focus our max support to our LoL and CS team, but there are few plans for our future that we have discussed, so there can be some suprises on future.Well the main thing we want to ensure with our squads, is to have a good relationship with them and also support them as much as possible. There aint much difficulties with the squads, we are happy that they are motivated and take this seriously, because we take this seriously and we want to to well with supporting them towards future !Well people say that FPS will die and all sort of that, but they keep forgeting that we have the power to keep it alive and going on. We just need to support the community as much as possible, we need to watch the stream, support the players and also support the events. When everybody will start doing that, then FPS will not die, because we will keep it alive and enjoy it more for many years to come ;)Well we want to see motivation, we want to see squads taking it seriously, also when we see a talent with a good personality, we will try our best to do well together. But for us its important that our squads play and take this seriously, there are many teams who havent got the change to play on top level and organisation, but that can all change if they show great results and take the game they play seriously.For our last words we would like to say thanks to our sponsors such as WinFakt.be, SteelSeries, xHarbour and also great thanks for the guy who is making this all possible and that is Vincent Mast, who is the Founder of Team WinFakt !* All images sourced from fragbite.se