MurK-Kristján
Hi Kristján, would you give me a short presentation of you and your team? My team called MurK is an Icelandic team that has been playing CS since CS started (beta 1.0). The lineup we have at the moment has been playing for over a year now but individually everyone played around three years.
You are the most well-known Icelandic team. Are you the supreme rulers of CS on Iceland or are there other clans that can challenge you? We have our good days and our bad days. On our bad days we tend to have very exciting matches versus the other Icelandic teams. We sometimes lose matches versus them but rarely. Drake|, diG and ice are the three strongest opponents here in Iceland.
In an article from not too long ago it was said that online gaming in Iceland is very popular. Is that so, and if yes, why? If it's the same article I think it is Iceland was most played per person in the world and I think that's true. The population here is very small (380.000 people) and the reason why, in my beliefs, is that due to the small population of the country the teams are very close. Nearly all the teams are here in Reykjavik and often meet each other in day to day life which makes the game more interresting.
What about connections? Do you have good internet connections to Europe, America or both? We just got up a new ISP to Europe meaning we get around 50 ping to UK at our best. To other European countries we get from 60-200. :) We have always been able to play America since an ISP line was straight there always, still we get best 70 ping in CMD and never gotten better then 80 on an server ingame there. We are starting to play European teams much more because of the good ping there and hopefully we can attend some European leagues such as EC in the future.
What are your expectations on CPL? Are you planing to make a name for Iceland there? The USA teams know us very well there. We were placed 5th-8th last CAL-I after losing 13-8 to Gamers-X on nuke. We were very satisfied with the ranking since we never get better then 80 ping out there. We have always aimed for the gold in every LAN tournament we have attended and we plan on doing the same here. We believe we can make some big upsets out there and hopefully people will know that Iceland isn´t a state in the US but a country in Europe. =]
I'm sure you'll do well! Are there a lot of LAN:s on Iceland? Any big leagues, like SEL in Sweden? We have a league called Thursinn which is held around two times a year where only Icelandic teams attend. There is a LAN called Skjalfti held here in Iceland four times a year which is kinda like CPL in respect here. In this tournament teams get to prove themselves and get respect among the strong Icelandic teams. In the eleven Skjalftis held we have won nine of them including the last five.
That's a pretty good record! What do you expect your chances of challenging the top scandinavian teams at CPL to be? We believe we have a very strong shot at them since we play differently from the other scandinavian teams and use strategies they haven't seen before! =]
Is there a lot of media attention towards E-sports on Iceland? Well, we have been on the national news, magazines, local magasines and national newspapers along with lots of interviews but compared to the size of the country it's not that much. We have never gotten media attention from other countries yet or any big television stations.
What's the sponsor situation? Are you financing the trip to Dallas with your own money? We got sponsor that pays around $2000 or worth 150,000 Icelandic Kronur which is what the trip costs for one person. We are financing the rest ourselves or around $1600 per person
That's pretty expensive, you really have to believe in yourself to pay that much. How will you prepare for CPL to make sure your trip is worth the money? We are practising really hard now–-around five hours a day and more and more when the event draws closer.
As you have played in CAL Invite you should know a little more then the rest of the scandinavians about de_cpl_mill and de_cpl_fire, are these maps good for tournament play? What made them so popular in America? These maps are very good. It gives teams that practice a lot of good advantages. In my opinion these maps are the best maps, since they are designed for match play but not public play.
Do you believe the Europeans will be able to challenge the americans, and you, on these maps? I believe the best American teams (TEC, GX, zEx and 3D) will have a great atvantage on these maps and probably dominate them at CPL. Although if the europians LAN hard on a bootcamp a week before or more they might be able to find a new way to play the map differently and surprise and even upset the American teams.
What teams will the top five at CPL consist of? Team9, SK, 3D, zEx and 4Kings
Thanks for your time! Anything you would like to add? Ye, thx pacifico for your server in the UK real help and SHOUT: ÍSLAND BEZT Í HEIMI!
That's what Kristján had to say, I wish him and his team good luck at CPL! Hopefully the connections from Iceland to the rest of Scandinavia will improve so we can see them battle the top scandinavian teams in the future!
