Friis: "We will end up in top 3"

They've recently hit the headlines after claiming national supremacy in the Danish WCG qualifier. What is up next for them, find it out from team cornerstone, Michael "Friis" Jørgensen himself.

p00nhandlers, formerly known as wCrea, probably represent this year's biggest WCG surprise as they'll attend next week's Counter-Strike Grand Final in Los Angeles as the number one Danish representative.

Placed in group A, alongside some rather anonymous teams such as Entity, bet4gamers or Earthquake, p00nhandlers nurture a realistic chance of getting through to the play-offs and then climb up the hierarchical ladder. 

What are Michael "Friis" Jørgensen's thoughts on this, as well as wider topics such as the future of his team, all available in the rather long chat below. Whether p00nhandlers will keep positive surprises running or not, you can make a judgement by yourself.

Everyone is familiar with you and many consider Friis synonymous with one of the best Danish players out there, for some time now. Considering all this, how come you're not with mTw? Did they ever approach you in the course of this year?

Honestly I have no idea. They've got Sunde and he's a guy you simply don’t just knock off the team. Also I believe I'm not first in line for a mTw recruitment, that's my view on the Danish scene.

Speaking of mTw, how does it feel to finally overcome them and claim national supremacy in the recent Danish WCG qualifier?

It feels absolutely fantastic. I have never tried beating them when it really mattered on who was going to major events like ESWC or WCG. I've won against them at Danish LAN events before, but that is without comparison with our recent victory. 

What do you think your team's current mix of players has brought extra in comparison to previous line-ups, like Ravens for example?

I believe we have a fine composition of players, a lot different compared to Ravens and I think we have a better in-game relationship. With that said, in Ravens we had a lot of fun outside of the game, but that also came down to me being linked with the guys in Ravens for a longer time than I've been with the p00n-guys.

Given that the line-up is still pretty young, how did you guys decide to get together?

It all started with ArcadioN and I talking together, he wanted karrigan on board and we both wanted to try suraNga. We were then at the point where we had to find the last member and as so many times before, it ended up being ArcadioN's brother wazorN, who drew the longest straw.

Do you think the fact that you have the two brothers in your line-up's composition, wazorN and ArcadioN, brings an added level of chemistry?

I believe we are all contributing to a positive and energized vibe in the team and having the twins is of course at times contributing to a good laugh.

Do you feel your team's recent result is a simple sign of the current state the game Counter-Strike itself is in? The same version has been played competitively for long enough that the cream of the scene, all the top teams have gotten so close to each other skill and strategy wise. Today it just seems that a match result is so unpredictable, sometimes it comes down to pure luck.

No I don't fell that's the case. Na'Vi won all the big titles this year and 9 out of 10 times you always see fnatic and mTw end up in top 3. On the other hand, never underestimate your opponents that can eventually cause you some serious and fast problems.

Do you think it was the same scenario in the recent final versus mTw?

I believe we played the better game in that final and we simply hit our shots. With that said, I don't expect us to be counted as favourites next time we face them, as we are far from that stage. They are still Denmark's best team and we lack a lot before we reach the same stage as them.

Right after the national WCG qualifier you guys were left on your own by your French based mother organisation. Didn't that just feel wrong considering your positive performance?

It felt a bit weird, but when you sign with something being a complete spoof, then there is simply nothing else to do.

What were actually the initial discussions when you signed with wCrea? What were they willing to offer the line-up? By the same token, did you feel they did not respect their side of promises when the WCG argument fell in?

The reason for us joining was that they offered what we looked for and it was written in the contract that we signed with them. When they learned about the case of us not representing wCrea at WCG, things all of a sudden weren't possible any longer. On top of that, we had requested money support for DSRack and SLAP LIVE, to make sure they had money, which they couldn’t live up to on either.

Now looking ahead to the upcoming WCG 2010, you've been placed in a rather easy group A. What are your thoughts about your group rivals?

I don't know that much about Earthquake, but the fact that TeG was able to push mTw at SEC and that Earthquake won the qualifier verus TeG, only shows that they can't be that bad. I'm expecting B4G to be the team we'll fight against in order to claim first place in the group. With that said, I expect no easy matches in our group, we have to bring out A-game to come out on top of this group.

A rather traditional question: how have you been preparing in anticipation to the tournament? Have you done anything special?

We have practised online a lot and we will be bootcamping this weekend, I guess those are our special preparations.

What are your ambitions related to the final outcome of the tournament for your team?

My ambitions are always extremely high when I attend such tournaments and this time even more, as we will attend to represent Denmark. My personal expectation is that we will end up in top 3, but we have to play really good to do so.

 

Who do you fear the most in this tournament and would possibly like to avoid until the final? Also who would you consider quite interesting to play against?

I don't fear any teams in particular. I would like to avoid playing mTw, unless we face off in the final, as an all-Danish final would be a dream-scenario. But some tough teams are for sure Frag eXecutors, SK and Na'Vi. Personally I believe we will get some great matches against teams such as MYM and compLexity.

Talking on a personal level, how do you think a top 3 would look like?

mTw, SK, p00nhandlers/Frag eXecutors in random order.

Probably the most important absentee from the tournament is the Swedish representative of fnatic. You are surely familiar with the reason of their absence, how do you feel about the conflict? Were they right bringing forward their dispute?

I totally understand fnatic and it is without a doubt a shame that they will not be attending, a team like that should be in a tournament like WCG. I do believe that fnatic got a point with the problem they raised. I also personally think it is weird that you cannot wear your own team's shirt and display your sponsors; it's one of the aspects that drive this industry after all.

You guys have had your fair share of conflicts already with the WCG. How do you feel about the format of the tournament and all these "interesting" rules?

As I mentioned, I find weird that we cannot wear our own clothes with sponsors. But with that said, I have never been at WCG before, so it is at the same time a little difficult for me to comment on how things actually take place, before exercising it on my own. But in regards to clothes and sponsors, I think it's weird and sort of a mockery to the respective sponsors of the various teams.

Looking further ahead, what's out there for you guys after WCG? Have you already got offers lined-up, or are you preparing a revamped Ravens?

We do have some offers lined up and I know our managers are working on what offer to go with. What is in sight for us, I'm afraid I don't even know and I have no idea if the offers on the table allow us to attend the tournaments we want to. I doubt we/I will ever represent Ravens.

In that sense, does the need to find a supportive organisation represent a high motivator to perform well in the upcoming WCG 2010?

The goal is to always do well and the thought of playing good to get an organisation was never on my mind. Personally I always have the motivation factor to do well leading up to an event of WCG's magnitude. I'm willing to do anything to win these major events and do everything in my power to become the best, with or without an organization.

What else is on your "events-to-do list" for this year?

Right now our plans are to attend DSRack, SLAP LIVE, Komplett Gamer Challenge, DreamHack Winter and hopefully some Arbalet Cups.

Closing this rather long interview, what would you say is your personal ambition as a professional CS player? Where would you ideally see yourself in one year's time?

My personal ambitions are always sky high, I want to be the best. I'm really hoping that in one year's time you will be able to see me win one of those big international events, with a Danish top team, at least that is wishful thinking. If it will be with p00nhandlers or mTw, I don't know, but I suppose it will be with p00nhandlers if anything.

Any final additions?

I would like to say thank you to all of our supporters and people who will continue to believe in us. We are going to need it. 

In case you've missed the kick-off of our WCG coverage, you can catch-up by reading our previous interview with compLexity's AWP master, Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo. Stay tuned with us as our pre-WCG coverage continues with more interesting interviews in the following days.