HeatoN: "We can beat VeryGames"

We sat down with Ninjas in Pyjamas chief Emil "HeatoN" Christensen ahead of his team's debut at DreamHack Valencia and asked the 'One and Only' about his view on the tournament and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

NiP are about to lock horns with 34united in what will be their first match on Spanish soil as they look to secure a berth in DreamHack Winter's $45,000 tournament in November.

This will be a baptism of fire for the team led by Christensen, who announced earlier in the month he had stepped down from ZOWIE in order to focus on the project he helped to build during his playing career.

In this interview, the retired gamer comments on his return to NiP, this time as a staff member, the team's chances against VeryGames, and also the current state of CS:GO.

What made you quit ZOWIE in order to return with the NiP brand? Do you feel that this is your project?

Yes, absolutely. I have always said that NiP was like my little baby, so when we decided to start up again, we knew we had to focus 100 per cent on this, because most organisations do not treat players so well, and we wanted to change this. The opportunities that SteelSeries has given us, in terms of marketing and flying to events around the world, it is so much bigger than we could have imagined. I decided that it was the best for me to step down from ZOWIE to focus 100 per cent on working for NiP.

Is there anyone else behind the team, or is it just you?

There are three people behind the team: it is me, Niklas Fischier, with whom I have some other companies, and Anton Budak from Inferno Online. My part is pretty much to manage everything, just like Niklas' part, while Anton is the coach. He could not be here, but in the future he will be standing behind the team, screaming and everything. I am going to try to do it as well.

After playing the game for so many years, it is strange to be behind the team?

I am getting so nervous right now. It is so weird and hard to be behind players. I really cannot watch it. I am sitting there, hyperventilating. When you are playing, you feel that everything is in your hands.  Now, you want to step in, but I know I would do a horrible job, compared to them. All I can do is sit and watch and help them with the preparations before the events and make sure they have the best conditions to perform as well as possible at events.

What do you think about your team's form? Do you think it is possible to win the tournament? VeryGames are also considered to be a strong contender.

To be honest, we have not practiced a lot. Xizt had a 10-day trip which had been planned for ages. Two days before he got back home, this tournament popped out of nowhere and we were like: "We have to go, it does not matter how prepared we are." But the guys practiced a lot, like 24/7 in the last four to five days before we came here, so they are pretty well prepared, but not as prepared we wanted to be. We have the raw skill to beat VeryGames, but they are going to be very structured. They play very well as a team. It is going to be a tough game, but I believe we are going to beat them.  

If you look at the Steam stats, you can see that the numbers are dropping. What is Valve doing wrong?

CS:GO is being updated a lot, it is not the same game that it was in the beta stages, because it was horrible back then. It is a very fun game when you start playing it. I actually had to jump in for four or five days to practice, when Xizt was not around. I think it is an amazing game. I am a not a big fan of the sound, because I used sound a lot when I was playing in 1.6, and it is not used to the same extent now. The silencer in the M4A1 is also an issue and they need to get a spectator client. Those are the biggest changes they need to implement to get the game going forward, because most of the professional gamers are switching over, but Valve has not really got the attention of most of the casual gamers.

Until the end of the year, what other tournaments do you plan on attending?

We will try to attend as many tournaments as possible. Our major plan is to attend ESWC, then DreamHack Winter, which is going to be huge because of the amount of money they are investing in CS:GO, the highest ever for a DH CS tournament. If we had to prioritize, I would say DH Winter is our main target, even though we want to win the ESWC as well, of course.

Stay tuned to HLTV.org for more exclusive content from DreamHack Valencia.