WinFakt dead, CS:GO team homeless

12-11-2012 12:02

Belgian organization WinFakt best known for its Finnish CS 1.6 team in 2011 has decided to close its doors, leaving the CS:GO team who were invited to DreamHack Winter 2012 without a sponsor.

WinFakt burst onto the global eSports scene in Summer 2011 when they sent a player to QuakeCon and signed the Finnish paistit squad following a successful experiement at e-Stars Seoul.

The Finnish team was cut in May 2012 to make room for Björn "THREAT" Pers' Swedish ex-Lions squad, who would only get to attend DreamHack Summer 2012 under the WinFakt tag as the team was forced to miss GameGune due to financial issues.

natu is once again trying his luck, this time with sponsors

As the Swedes didn't transfer over to CS:GO with Emil "FYRR73" Karlsson joining fnatic, WinFakt decided to recruit former member Aleksi "allu" Jalli's CS:GO team Hawks, which he formed together with Joona "natu" Leppänen.

The team has yet to attend any events as DreamHack Winter 2012 was supposed to be their LAN debut with a lineup that has seen Niko "naSu" Kovanen join a while back and Hannu "H^N" Pohjalainen disappear from the team. Here is what Leppänen had to say:

"This morning I got a message from Vincent Mast of Team WinFakt that they are going to be closing operations due to his lack of motivation and the main sponsor WinFakt.be shutting down the funding. This comes as a huge shock to our team as we have been spending hours in and out getting prepared for the biggest CS:GO tournament so far, DreamHack Winter 2012", Leppänen told HLTV.org.

"Signs of bad things to happen were in the air last week as promised things weren't covered and Mr. Mast himself wasn't available up to his normal standards. We were just told that due to the LoL teams tickets to Bucharest, their bank had issued a fraud investigation on the company Visa-card, which was delaying the process of booking our trip."

"We are in the process of contacting people from companies within Esports to salvage the situation, as we currently are looking at a 2500 euro budget that it would take to get us over to Jönköping at this point. We would appreciate it if our friends within the community would spread the word of this incredibly frustrating situation. We would also appreciate any tips in regards to hotels/hostels around the area with reasonable pricing. "

"The team will be known as "The Hawks!" once again and this wont hinder our drive to win. If anything, this is more a motivation to go out there and win the whole thing."

This morning captain Leppänen was informed by WinFakt owner Vincent Mast that he had lost his motivation to run to them, effectively stopping the funding coming from his father's company.

The Hawks!

Aleksi "allu" Jalli
Niko "naSu" Kovanen
Joona "natu" Leppänen
Timo "reflex" Rintala
Jonas "ScurK" Finnilä

Hawks is now looking for a sponsor to cover their trip to DreamHack Winter, estimated to cost roughly 2,500€. You can reach team captain Leppänen via e-mail at [email protected] with offers.

gl finding an other one

2012-11-12 12:04

Hahaha. holy crap. This time im trying to pull a rabbit out of there.

2012-11-12 12:05

6 replies

gl hope you get the funding needed!

2012-11-12 12:07

go natu!! destroy them all

2012-11-12 12:12

talk with arabs!! they burn money for heating hahaha

2012-11-12 12:48

2 replies

wtf

2012-11-12 16:20

2012-11-13 15:39

where is Hannu?

2012-11-12 13:57

Sad. GL natu & co.

2012-11-12 12:06

i think it's really unprofessional, winfakt can't warn them (now hawks) just 2 weeks before dh winter

2012-11-12 12:08

why do they have to contact you natu? why you dont contact other organisations? since when the bone comes to the dog? ^^

Did you read the post? ""We are in the process of contacting people from companies within Esports to salvage the situation" To me that sounds like we are very much indeed contacting people

2012-11-12 12:13

1 reply

when will dh start?

2012-11-12 12:55

Go Go Roccat!

2012-11-12 12:09

2012-11-12 12:15

wow, that really sucks. gl getting a new sponsor!

2500€???? use edreams or rumbo and you get tickets from helsinki to stockholm for 80€ per person... then just find your way with buses or train, surely less than 2500€

2012-11-12 12:10

2500euro must be + hotell else its a private plane

2012-11-12 12:26

+ hotel, motel or hostel + transportation from their homes to helsinki + transportation back to finland

2012-11-12 12:39

The only gaming organisation you can bank on is fnatic

2012-11-12 12:11

winfucked

4 replies

lol

2012-11-12 12:50

hahahaha n1

2012-11-12 14:43

hahha

2012-11-12 16:22

WinFAKE <<

2012-11-16 13:12

gl, but 2500euro is a lot of money !

really sad wanted to see the natu/nasu pair in action i hope they can find the means to get to dreamhack.

Sad, GL for the future guys!

The WinFakt.FIFA team is also looking for a new home !! :( The news was a big shock for us too, we where going to attend the virgingaming cup in Las Vegas that takes place in februari 2013. I know this is maybe not the right place to ask, but people who are interested in a 3 man FIFA squad can contact me @ skype : xline1988 or @ [email protected] This beeing said, GL The Hawks finding a new home and the needed money for a ticket to DH Winter!

2012-11-12 12:18

natu - edo maajka .. ex yugoslavs will know

2012-11-12 12:19

Good luck to all 5 of them finding the sopnsor who covers the trip.

2012-11-12 12:23

Thats disappointing. Really looking forward to see reflex in action.

2012-11-12 12:28

From Finland to Sweden 2500 for 5 persons that a joke. I am sure that he want keep some money self cause how long is event 3 days? flight 200 p. person and 100-200 p. person for hotel like 1500/2000 euros For this money teams from russia need it so much. Sweden and Finland brothers you can swim over the sea

2012-11-12 12:29

and how will their gears survive? they ain't waterproof afaik.

2012-11-12 12:52

2012-11-12 14:02

all the people who have 100% sure booked less trips (unless you work at a traveling agency) than me or natu once again chiming in with their knowledge on prices. isn't internet wonderful

2012-11-12 12:31

30 replies

u for real? 2,5k is huge amount money for this trip for a 5 man team. go via boat, 100e/person both ways, buss/train from stockholm 40e per face, food for the trip 100e per person, rest hotel, that leaves 1,3k, do they want 5star hotel nights or what? I do understand if they have booked stuff alredy and they didnt take the cheapest ways to get there etc etc but its too bad. idk how can u even say that the 2,5k is close to what they need if u've travelled alot before.

2012-11-12 13:38

17 replies

Na air rocks

2012-11-12 14:11

Don't even try to argue, lurppis is ALWAYS right.

2012-11-12 15:06

do you know how much hotels cost at jönköping during DHW? yeah..

2012-11-12 15:31

hey they are "big" mans there they need atleast 80e for food and energy drinks everyday + sauna after match it gives 40e more per face and ofcourse after sauna finger massage. but thats a shitty situation gl finding money.

2012-11-12 16:40

can't go via boat, it takes too long and people can't miss school/work for extra days, ruled out. flights to norrköping = 900e car rental (estimating) = 200e (no early enough trains) cheapest hotel at hotels.com = 1400e you ever booked last minute trips to piece of shit towns like jönköping which no one in their right minds would ever visit without an event like this and therefore have no reasonable means of transportation nor accommodation? u for real?

2012-11-12 17:32

12 replies

Good, you arrogant finnish nabs can stay home. EDIT: Yeah, who would want to visit this? travelblissful.com/wp-content/uploads/20.. communityofsweden.com/Thumbnails/82/4424.. ung036.se/images/18.39fe758813766ff31ca8..

2012-11-12 19:57

9 replies

i'm not in winfakt, i'm going regardless as a caster

2012-11-12 20:09

5 replies

I bet those who live there will welcome you to their piece of shit town. Enjoy your stay. EDIT: double standards <3

2012-11-12 20:11

it's a really small town in the middle of nowhere with basically no commercial flights = piece of shit town. yes.

2012-11-12 20:13

3 replies

I'm quite sure they even fly to Helsinki. But hey, not good enough, right?

2012-11-12 20:17

used to be able to fly helsinki-stockholm/cpn-jonkoping but those flights have been canceled. now the best you can do is fly to norrkoping and rent a car from there

2012-11-12 20:20

Oke, sad.

2012-11-12 20:21

1.bp.blogspot.com/-UpnStIPDYbM/T2ridB6tj..

2012-11-13 07:17

this pic gave me a boner

2012-11-13 14:27

:DDDDD

2012-11-13 15:49

I've never been to Jönköping, but even so, the entire Helsinki city area, including Espoo and Vantaa, are absolute shit through and through (and smell like it, too). And, as I recall, you are from somewhere around there, so I wouldn't go around calling other cities shit if I were you. It can't be much worse than Helsinki.

2012-11-13 12:41

the population is about 1,27 million larger than jönköping, there are probably +1000 more more free taxis at any given moment and there is an airport that served 15 million customers in 2011, about 15 million more than jönköping. if i cared more i would google how many companies exist in either etc, but i would hope you get the point by now

2012-11-13 15:08

2500 for five people is a huge exaggeration, I know that for a fact since me and my family have been traveling to Finland a bunch of times the last couple of years with various means of travel. You don't need to work at a travel agency to know that this is total bullcrap.

2012-11-12 14:13

2.5k from finland to sweden does seem like a lot though.. it cost us 2.5k to get from the uk to dubai for 1 week

2012-11-12 14:48

1) uk-dubai is a popular tourist route = lots of flights 2) i would guess you didn't book one week before the trip 3) dubai has lots of hotels you can choose from, all of them are basically fully booked in jönköping 4) jönköping is a tiny town where no one would ever go if not for an event like this and that's why it's hard to find any means of travel that go there -> higher prices

2012-11-12 18:34

@everyone: The trip only costs this much because natu & co. couldn't find a hotel for any cheaper than €1200 for 4 nights; all the cheap ones are booked up.

2012-11-12 15:13

22-11-2012 Helsinki (HEL) 7:55 - Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) 9:30 26-11-2012 Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) 19:30 - Helsinki (HEL) 23:15 €920,85( tinyurl.com/afcxsrh ) 22-11-2012 12:51 Stockholm C - 14:13 Norrköping C SJ, Regional, train 269 14:55 Norrköping C - 17:17 Jönköping C Östgötatrafiken, County, train 8761 26-11-2012 09:34 Jönköping C - 10:08 Nässjö C Östgötatrafiken, County, train 18733 10:24 Nässjö C - 13:45 Stockholm C SJ, InterCity, train 200 €403.243 ( tinyurl.com/4lgq3as ) sleeping: €0 @ venue = €1200 under budget €1800 hotel in town = €600 over budget(excl cab fare) €260 4person cottage out of town = lol, have fun. €2500 is a bullshit number that anyone with half a brain could figure out.Its either not gonna cut it or is way over. (shit I even bothered to make sure they can have plenty of time to have catch all their flights & trains, silly unexperienced travel that is me. )

2012-11-13 04:39

7 replies

and don't get me wrong It's a shame the orga is dead & I'd love to see these guys at dreamhack. numbers just don't add up for me.

2012-11-13 04:40

I wouldn't recommend sleeping at the event for any team that intends to win a match at DH.

2012-11-13 04:49

you'd have them arrive in jönköping at 5:17pm on the day when they need to be there at 9am, and leaving one day later, forcing them to miss an extra day of school/work. you can't sleep on the venue if you plan on competing (as chrisj said), you can't afford staying at a hotel and you'd spend 30 euros each way going to the cabin twice a day, possibly for two taxis if there were no vans available (which is tough for small towns)

2012-11-13 07:24

are you planning to play csgo competivly ? or u are switching to a caster ?

2012-11-13 14:30

i will not play csgo. i'm not "switching" to a caster seeing as it's not a fulltime gig by any means, but if other events want me to cast for them i will try to work something out

2012-11-13 16:07

if it is not a secret, did u study during your career ? i mean like do u have a job now ?

2012-11-13 21:15

i dont like sharing information about my personal life but i currently study

Good luck guys... :(

2012-11-12 12:33

damn thought that was a strong org.. how things change.,.

2012-11-12 12:38

well you can go on foot..begin today and in 2 weeks you might be able to get there...or rent a horse thats also cool :P

2012-11-12 12:51

Winfakt deaded.

well this sux. good luck @ finding sponsor for DH Winter trip

2012-11-12 13:11

Good luck.

2012-11-12 13:15

try [ewok] sponsored by nollapingi.fi

2012-11-12 13:17

They sucked anyway...not a big deal

2012-11-12 13:21

2012-11-12 19:59

2500 euro indeed is a big amount given the fact that finland is a neighbouring country to sweden and their chances of winning the tournament is not that high...i was wondering if train travel is possible

2012-11-12 13:26

thing is im quite sure they can find travel from helsing-jönk, jönk-helsing for about 700euro but they have to stay somewhere and that probably costs around 1.2-1.3k euro. I guess not everyone lives in helsingfors so thats some more money needed.

2012-11-12 13:37

their chances of winning the tournament is not that high Trust me :D:D It's very high. I have no doubt that they can beat VG.

2012-11-12 13:42

the travel probably is cheap, but every cheap hotel in jönköping is probably already booked

2012-11-12 16:14

Didn't they ask for writers and such a week ago on here? haha

2012-11-12 13:45

Need moar ROCCAT!

2012-11-12 13:54

Too bad for the Hawks team. Cs:go scene sure could use a team with super aggressive tactics(or that's atleast im thinking how they would play). Hope they will get the money to travel there!

2012-11-12 14:01

they should train poker, any good internet poker player get 2500d in like 10mins(if we count 10mins of their monthly winning hours) no need for sponsors after that maybe they should ask some sponsor money from plastE, he is winning poker player and plays like 4 levels lower games than i do, which is pretty good still

2012-11-12 14:08

Brag post much? :DDDDDD

2012-11-12 14:12

aight, why don't you play 10 min poker and give them enough money then?

2012-11-12 19:52

So why not make some fame then and give them 2500€, as it seems it only takes you like half an hour to make that? Oh wait... you're full of shit

I'm sure they will find someone to fund them sooner or later. gl hawks!!

2012-11-12 14:17

+ aslak!

2012-11-12 14:22

RIP

2012-11-12 14:31

maybe they join power gaming or roccat

2012-11-12 14:38

Be notice is not 0815 team, is an high-seed team but anyway its a neighboar county but I am 100% the hotel costs so much, flights are very cheap if YOU PAID LONG WHILE BEFORE

2012-11-12 14:42

:GO guilty of this. :GO go die together Winfakt.

2012-11-12 14:53

This is really a shame to hear... I hope they won't have to scrap their DH plans now that they don't have a sponsor to pay for their trip. Best of luck to natu and the boys; you guys deserve nothing but the best.

cs go problems? where are the BIG multigaming here? It's the first step, of course cs go will not become so big if valve don't fix it asap ;) that's my opinion

GL aleksi, gatherking

2012-11-12 15:11

2012-11-12 15:14

2500euros is one months salary in Finland, so whats the problem if you are eager to attend DHW?

2012-11-12 15:57

2012-11-12 16:38

Keep in mind that Sweden is one of the most expensive countries in europe guys!

2012-11-12 16:05

haha, no it's not, wtf?

2012-11-13 04:35

I welcome you to norway!

He said is ONE of the most, not THE most.

2012-11-13 06:19

Hope you get sorted out Joona, good luck.

2012-11-12 16:37

SK needs CS:GO team! :)

2012-11-12 16:50

....................

2012-11-12 17:53

For all of those saying 2,500 is a lot you have to take a few things into consideration. First off, of course they are going to round costs up. They need to get a negotiation edge on any organization. Odds are they won't find someone to give them 2,500 EUR but they are probably willing to negotiate to a lower price. Second of all they are going to be booking pretty last minute. 2,500 EUR is just a "ball park" number (an estimate). They want to BE SURE that they will have enough money. That being said: ex-Winfakt: You guys probably won't need to spend 500 EUR per person. I remember the good old days when teams would carpool across the country to LANs and find places to sleep, even on someones floor. Would be nice to see some professional players care that much again. My advice to you if you don't find a sponsor - look for cheap flights on all the cheap flight websites. About sleeping, maybe you can couchsurf somewhere. This might even turn out to be free and might not have poor quality of living. The couch surfing community is awesome. A trip like this IS POSSIBLE for under 1000 EUR.

2012-11-12 16:54

8 replies

That original estimate of 2500 euros was from having checked 5 x flights over to Gothenburg or Norrköping - depending on if we rented a car (250euros) or took trains back and forth (not sure how much they would be. The biggest issue was always going to be hotel, as the whole city is literally booked right now thanks to the event. The only hotel that had rooms left was at a "modest" rate of over 1200 euros for 4 nights. So as you can see, most of that budget would have been spent on hotel. Second of all, as you may guess, people have jobs and other obligations and taking a boat takes alot more time. It also means we'll have to drive over an 4 hour drive. All the time spent on the boat and driving is straining and takes important energy that an event like DH requires. We have gone creative though and I spent couple of hours calculating what was the most cost-effective way to go. That ended up being 4 people taking a boat+car and 1 flying over plus having a remote location for living (a cottage 30km away from the venue) made possible by having a car. That'll be around 1200 euros with boats, fuel, accomdation and the flight covered. We certainly are NOT trying to live like rock stars here and all we want is to go to the event and show what we can do. Anyone implicating that our "budget demands" are redicilous can go and start finding out how easy it is to find reasonably priced flights and hotels with 10 days notice....

I'm not saying your demands are ridiculous. I'm trying to give you options. I'm glad you guys are trying hard to make this trip happen as you guys are a good team and it would be a shame if you guys couldn't make it.

2012-11-13 01:12

not everyone is ok living like the polish

2012-11-12 17:34

So are they pussy

2012-11-12 19:37

I lived 18 years in Los Altos Hills, California. Don't let the flag fool you. Don't offend and generalize the Polish nation either. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Altos_Hills,_C..

2012-11-13 01:10

Im just curious, can you tell me why you decided to study in Poland instead of the US ?

2012-11-13 06:24

University is shorter. For instance 5 year law degree (or a 6 year medical degree). In the states you have college + w/e you choose. Also the degree is valid all over the EU which is my point of interest for various reasons.

2012-11-13 13:57

Fair eough, thanks.

2012-11-13 14:31

Roccat said they would sponsor you.

2012-11-12 17:56

Good luck with getting the cash together. I would be interested to know about eSports Pros protection about things like this happening. iheartesports.blogspot.co.uk/

2012-11-12 18:03

- ScurK ,natu,reflex + aslak,lurrpus, BASiC

2012-11-12 18:21

+ good grammar, +1200€

2012-11-12 18:25

Good luck

;( WinFucked.. good luck natu & co, I hope you can make it guys!

2012-11-12 18:54

IDGAF

2012-11-12 18:55

rip cs:go

2012-11-12 19:21

If they are going to take the ferry they have to be 1 day off work, 5guys * 8h * 15-20e/h = money If you go by ferry you should take a trailertrash with you to sleep in :)

2012-11-12 19:41

So then don't attend. BUHU.

2012-11-12 20:02

hater much?

Not at all, I would love seeing more top teams there. But I hate the crying.

2012-11-13 04:56

I don't get why anyone would like to throw 2.5k away into air :D On what basis they can "ask" 2.5k from sponsors... Also if this is the situation and they want to go so eagerly to DH and win the whole tournament(as natu said that "If anything, this is more a motivation to go out there and win the whole thing.") They could pay it from their own pockets, because guys being at work should have money...?? And also isn't there in DH somekind of an sleeping area or something... or some CS scene friends living close etc... ? There are other ways... and there are also teams that are paying from their own pocket... So cocky acting.

2012-11-13 19:43