As far as I know you have had your red cap in every picture in our gallery, and this is (actually) something that had confused the community. What is the deal, do you have a special relation to this headgear?



It started when I had played golf pretty badly during a period, but at the first time I played with the cap I played an awesome round. This was in the beginning of this year, and after that it has been something of a luck thing, and it makes you recognizable too of course. ;)





For a person who doesn't really know anything about the golf world, could you tell us a little bit about which level you play in? How much time do you spend on playing golf?



When I was 15 years old I had the lowest handicap of the 86's in Sweden, so I guess I was top 5 in Sweden back then. Now I'm rather crowded out, and it has been a while since I've played seriously, so it's hard to tell which level I'm in right now, I play mostly for fun. When I'm free from CS, i.e. when we're not bootcamping or competes, I play a couple of hours a week.





From what I have heard you started playing CS late, in 1.5. How come you started playing from the very beginning?



Actually it was my brother who showed me the game. When I played Starcraft you for some reason hated CS players, that's what it was like in that scene – everyone hated CS players. ;) But I tried out playing some aim_map against my brother, and after that some public at Are3nas public server, and on that road it went.

Your CS career must have proceeding in a rapid speed, tell us – was it hard to take the step to the more well-known teams in Sweden? Tell us how you ended up in xPerience.se!



I got to know a guy named noble at Are3nas public server and he gave me a try-out in his friend's clan. It was illion, some may know him from Almost Famous, and his brother whaX who had a clan together with n0ble, because they all lived together in the same flat. I played together with these three players in several clans until noble got mad with illion and whaX after they had played with aimbot the whole time. Then I and noble started up our own 2on2 clan, nothing serious. After that I quitted playing CS a couple of months because I had a girlfriend and got stuck in the "noob sink" – that you'd never got to play with any good clan, seeing that you weren't famous so to say.



After a while I started talking with the gcc guys who were pretty good in 1.3, they lived in Gothenburg and we started playing some. After a while dampv got kicked out from xPerience.se. dampv was in my class in school back then, so I recruited him to gcc. He didn't play long in gcc, however, because mezzo wanted him for his new project – LANIA. It was then mezzo gave me the chance to play with good players against good players, and it was when I played in LANIA I really developed as a player. I played with dampv and mezzo in one and a half years in different constellations until we ended up in xP.se.

mezzo: I've known who Oskar was in nearly whole my life, seeing that we studied in the same school. We shared some friends but didn't keep company ourselves. When I played in xPerience.se a long time ago ins had just begun playing CS and he idled in our IRC channel a lot, asking questions and so on. He also was dampv's class-mate so they were good friends.



After the xP time dampv played together with gcc for a while, I wanted to play with dampv in LANIA and he didn't want to leave ins. We had played gcc sometime and ins had impressed me so I accepted the idea to let him try out with the team. In LANIA ins developed very fast and he got good contacts with "elite players" more or less without my help. I introduced him to the elite and he took the chance, I haven't seen anyone as motivated as ins, so much time that he played is almost unhuman. That's why ins has gotten so skilled as he is today. I may have helped him on the way with perhaps playing less egoistical, which he learnt to do in mixes, but he's the one who made all the work.



I'm not following ins success in NiP more than that I talk to him about how it's going for him and the team. I haven't analyzed his playing style the latest, but I'm personally convinced that he's one of the more important parts of the team than most give him credit for.





What made it fail in xPerience.se that led to joining Team Fastlane?



We had a blast in xP and we were pretty good at one point, but we didn't have any sponsors and we got in about the same situation that skobbsunited had some months ago. We also had the same manager as they had – Raw. Pretty soon we realized that he was fraud, and after that it was only me who played CS a lot, so it was rather natural that I tried out something different, and Fastlane had some sponsors to events, and also I knew chea from before.

That HeatoN saw a spot for you in NiP should mean that your potential takes form a while back in the time. When do you think you made your breakthrough in terms of yourself being able to consider yourself to be among the better CS players?



I have for a pretty long time considered myself to be good at CS, but I guess it was during the xPerience.se time most people in the CS elite started recognizing me. We were a little like internet heros in xP and outplayed all clans in PCW's. I also played alot of CB during that time. We were a bunch of people, perhaps 15 persons, who played CB every night. It was during the CB time I got to know HeatoN, but he believed, just like the rest of the scene, that I cheated on CB. But he still gave me the chance to test and play with NiP during the ESWC qualifier and here we are. I feel I've developed a lot in NiP because we've played so much on LAN and I feel much more stabile now than before.





When you got the offer to join NiP, what were your thoughts? Were your surprised about the offer? How easy was it to make the choice?



Seeing that I was the greatest CB hero on the net back then I was kind of hoping that NiP would ask me, but I thought they would choose someone more well-known as many tend to do. However, HeatoN gave me the chance which I'm really grateful for, I hope he has no regrets. ;) The choice for me was pretty clear seeing that NiP seemed to be really serious in comparison to Fastlane, and also that NiP had better players.





When you went from Team Fastlane to NiP your star status reached never before seen levels and all in a sudden you had become an internationally famous Counter-Strike star. Tell us, in what ways have things changed for you after you've joined NiP? What has been good and bad?



Suddenly I got a lot more attention on the Internet, 200 messages on IRC a day, but aside from that things were about the same. It's now, some months later, that people know me on the street, which is fun. It's a great difference between playing with NiP as an organization and what I've played for in the past. It has been much easier to tell family and friends what I do because the organization around NiP is so proffesional. My parents are, however, rather reactionary and they don't really understand why I put CS before my studies.





How important is the money income in your CS playing? Would you play CS today if you wouldn't have got any money for it?



I wouldn't have played CS as much today if I wouldn't have gotten any money for it. It has nothing to do with I'm thinking CS isn't as fun any more or something like that, it's because I'm starting to become too old – and because I chose not to study it would've meant I had to get a job, which would result in less time for CS. So I'm not playing CS for the money, I do it because it's fun, but I wouldn't been able to afford playing CS all days if I wouldn't get the money, simple as that.

Share some thoughts about your team-mates! How are they like as persons and how is it like to be their team-mate?



walle: Always calm and nice to be around with. Feels nice to have the tactics called in a Norrland accent, it has a calming effect. ;) I think walle is the world's best CS player, always shoots awesome and is really smart.



HeatoN: Emil is a really funny and skilled CS player. He has alot of experience and knowledge about the game, which help in many situations. I thought Emil would be more serious as a person before I joined NiP, but he's mad. :D We almost have too fun when we scrim, which often results in shotgun towers and things like that. :)



Potti: Potti is somewhat the dad in the team. He's funny and he wins many important situations for the team. He also changes resolution at least three times per PCW. Outside of CS he also make us lose alot of money on poker. ;)



zet: zet is the dampbarn in the clan. Really difficult to meet because he's a pretty stuck-up in say, which has led to him being threatened on LAN several times. One of the world's best aimers who easily can headshot the whole opposing team if they attack him. He can also sleep with trance on highest volume on the mp3 player.

walle: It feels really nice to have ins in the team seeing that his really skilled, smart all-around player with a very high bottomlevel. He's probably on of Sweden's most underrated player right now.

Is it something special in your play that is significant for yourself? For example, zet has this "get several HS meanwhile he is running" style as his significative thing – do you have anything like that?



I like to jump when I play, other than that I think I play like most others.







Tell us about your nick!



I've been playing computer games for a pretty long time so my nick's history is kind of long. I was sitting and playing the awesome FPS game Hired-Guns, to Amiga if anyone remembers, and I needed a cool nick so my brother came up with the nick InSane. ;) I played with that nick during the QW and Starcraft/Broodwar time. When I entered the CS scene in 1.5 there were already many, especially Germans, who nicked insane so I had to change to a more anti-mainstream nick, which automatically become ins.





How does a regular day for you look like home in Sweden?



I usually wakes up around 13.00, if we aren't scrimming before an event I usually hang out with friends or my girlfriend. I also often, if the weather gods is on my side, play some golf when I'm home in Gothenburg. I sit in front of the computer when I come home at night, perhaps playing a CB game or some public before I look at the latest tv series and sleep. I usually go to bed at 03.00.

Do you have any special individual goal? Perhaps something like to totally dominate a CPL final with a better frag/death score than what IsKall had in the final of CPL Summer 2004?



I just want to win as many events as possible and have fun for as long as I can, and also try to travel and see as much of the world as possible.





Are there any players in particular that you have looked up to in your time as a CS player?



When I started playing it was, of course, HeatoN I looked up to and also everyone in SK.swe. I also looked up to dampv and mezzo back then, because I knew them both IRL and they played in xPerience.se that was a really skilled clan.





Which players in the CS scene do you want to give the thumbs up to and also unwillingly want to see in the opponent team? Why?



I think f0rest has become really skilled, also SpawN is difficult to meet, but I don't have that much respect for any particular players in the scene. It's always great to meet discarded players, but CS is so random nowadays so I don't have really know. It seems as teams with a mix of new and old players reaches most success, Begrip, Speedlink and NiP for example.

You are, as most know, living in South Korea for the moment where you are participating in the big competition called WEG. Living in another culture for such a long time could be an over-whelming story. I am going to let you rank the three best and the three worst things about living in South Korea!



The best thing is definately that you're famous if you're a progamer here, people recognize you on the street etc. It's a little different from being a progamer in Sweden where people usually look down on you when you tell them that you play computer games. The food and the living as a whole cheaper than in Sweden. Another thing would be that Broodwar is on TV 24/7. ;)



The worst part of living here is, without doubt, the language. I didn't really think of that when I first travelled here. I knew that it would be difficult to communicate, because you cannot really read anything either so you can't make an order on restaurants, because there's only Korean letters on the menu. If you're somewhere in Europe or South America you can always figure what things are and what they mean, but that's impossible here.





How does a typical day for you look like in South Korea?



I get up around 16.00 perhaps, eating some breakfast and head over to the computer room. After a couple of PCW's we go down to city and eat something. We usually eat fajitas, korean barbecue or subway. Later on we play another PCW and afterwards I look at some tv series or play some DOTA.

Tell us about how you live!



We live in a regular hotel where we have usual hotel rooms and a computer room with five computers. The standard of the hotel could be compared to Scandic hotel in Sweden.





Obviously, there is a great deal of time for a CS clan as yourself to play CS now when you are in South Korea. How much do you play, really? Is it important to have a balance in how much you play or should you take the opportunity to really play much now when you have such a golden opportunity?



The most important part of CS is that you think it's funny to play, then you play your best play. If you sit and play aim_map 24/7 you get sick of playing pretty soon, therefore it's important to vary with other games aswell. We got so much time here because we sit in front of the computers almost all the time. But we usually play three PCW's per day and some aim_map. Then it usually feels nice to relax with something else.

When CS is not on the schedule, what do you then?



Usually play DOTA or look at some tv series.





Is there something in WEG's arrengement that you would like to change?



Naturally it would be better with a bit shorter time here because it's difficult to be away from girlfriend/family so long. Other than that I think WEG has the best concept for a competition. That they pay lodging and food is really great, it opens opportunities for teams without sponsors to show how good they are.





How is it like to play in the tv studio? Can the fact that you play in the studio affect teams' performances in some way, you think?



I think it's really good to play in the studio. You sit well and there isn't a high sound level, so I can't really see how any team would be affected in a negative way. In most other events I've been to the sound level has been so high that you almost could've played without sound in the game and it wouldn't have made any difference.





What do you think about your performance in the first group play?



We have been playing rather stabile throughout the group and showed who's the better team in the group.





Has your own play been doing good so far?



Yeah, I've taken my frags I think. ;)





Thanks for the interview and good luck in the second group play! The last word is yours!



Thanks to you too. I want to thank our sponsor Soft-Trading, also check out our homepage, www.nip-gaming.com