Actually it’s grown to 3500+ words…

Last sunday I finally sat down with g0riLLa and it took us a little over 2.5 hours to come up with what I’d call the longest interview in the history of CSM. Lean back and enjoy the read!

1. My first one is not a real question but merely an introduction. So please tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do besides CSM.

Well my real name is Jonas, I’m 20 years old and live in a town called Linköping in the middle of Sweden. I’m studying Cognitive Science at the university over here, that’s also why I moved here to begin with university. Besides CSM and my studies I exercise regularly, play floorball, and party quite a lot *laughs*

Recently I began playing Starcraft quite much after being linked to Korean pro league games in the CSM off-topic forum. *laughs*

2. How did you get in contact with CSM?

I was some 14-15 years old when I first heard of CSM, I think it was from a classmate at that time, who himself was playing it. I remember sitting there LIVE watching the livebot, totally excited over what I would today consider as quite boring. I don’t think I did very well in the beginning, maybe I won some division but I think I got stuck at div 2 or 3 and didn’t manage to get past this.

My interest for the game instead turned to the Transferlist and ways to make money. After a while I figured out how to kind of abuse the CSM-agent transfer system that was used at that time, and when V1 ended I was filthy rich, even richer than I am now.

3. By winning 1337, the Godlike WorldWideTournament and the Champions League you managed to win all major competitions you could attend. Did you expect to win 1337 by an impressive 30-0-0 streak?

Well to be honest, a 30-0-0 in 1337 is in my opinion not much of an achievement compared to WWT and CL titles. But I did of course still not expect to win all games in my league during the season, since even if you would be a totally better player than the other managers, random elements like afterplants and selection of tactics would make you lose a game eventually.

What makes certain managers like jonsass, SpiDevil or arcane win streaks in the 1337 divisions in such impressive ways is their ability to cheat the Game Engine randomness and almost become untouchable. But I should also say that my team was starting to feel really strong just before last season, and is feeling even stronger now.

So if there exists a time for me to have those clean 30-0-0 seasons, now is the time… But if I were to make a prediction for this season, I would say that my win streak will end. My win streak only says 37 but If I recall it correctly, the only game I haven’t won during the last 2 seasons was a draw against snuggles. So it could have been longer *laughs* but it could also have ended a long time ago, I have had some lucky wins as well.

4. In the CL Finals you beat Spidevil clearly. How did you prepare for the game? Was there any difference to the other CL Games? Did you know anything about his tactics beforehand? Did you expect to win this game by 16-8?

Well what I did this time was that I played my normal best tactics. I guess that’s why I won.

The two times I have been in the final before, I have always made completely new tactics just for the final game. But no matter how hard you try, it’s not that easy to come up with perfect tactics in 3 days time. This time I didn’t care about his tactics, since I was confident in my own set instead. I was guessing that SpiDevil would play his normal CL-tactics, which are not bad but not new either, so I felt that already by deciding to play my best tactics I was a step ahead, making risky anti-ing unnecessary.

The thing was that from what I saw, he did play really good tactics though, much better ones than I expected. But I should also say that I really believe my team is better than his at the moment, making it a bit easier. But yeah with my team being ahead, and with the confidence from playing my normal tactics, I felt before that I should win.

I was quite surprised when I heard SyN state in his (by the way awesome) live coverage of the game that it would be an upset if I would win. Although you can never be sure to win a game in CSM due to random factors, I was just feeling that I should win even though I didn’t expect a big result. The final score from the game doesn’t really matter, but I do feel that it doesn’t give a good idea of how close the game went. I was really luck with afterplants on B, so a closer result would have been fairer.

5. Due to the SingleElimination/BestOf1 format in the WWT the winner has to win every single match. A single loss tosses the team out of the tournament. Do you think that a SE/Bo1 format is appropriate in a tournament where the skill differences are this small? Would a SE/Bo3 or DoubleElimination Bracket suit the needs of such a tournament better? Especially with Dust2 being considered a random map due to afterplants? Do you think your team was the best of all the attendants?

I think the WWT structure is good as it is, since we do also have the CL. The WWT structure is more random, making it possible for a team to have an easier way while the 2nd best team in the tournament could potentially be tossed out really early, having to face the best one.

With a proper working seeding system in the CL playoff, this can’t happen. What I mean is not that the CL structure is better, but that it’s good that they are not the same, making it more interesting.

I do believe my team is the best in CSM at the moment, although as you say the differences are so small so that this is not really such a heavy factor for winning a tournament as competitive as the WWT. You have to be lucky in both the drawing and in-game situations.

I don’t want WWT to become a second CL, why a DoubleElimination Bracket is out of the question. Having Bo3 instead of Bo1 has both pros and cons. While I do believe it was nice that we got a Bo3-structure in the cup, I do believe WWT is good as it is.

Please tell me briefly about about your perspective on pros and cons in Bo3.

Well the main contra for me is the anti possibility. Take a look at the Cup, the CL qualifiers and perhaps also the league qualifiers. (I haven’t been there for a long time)
A 2 or 3 hour gap in between the 2nd and 3rd game opens up the possibility for the active user to login, watch the first game played on the same map, make anties and win. Thereby making it impossible for the less active users to advance.

With a 3rd map bo3 would definitely be my first choice. But in my opinion it could also work if the third game was played instantly after the second. That way users had no time to make anties. Or if the 3rd game was played 24 hours after the 2nd game, so that even normal users active enough could adapt their tactics. What I want to avoid is a structure which demands from you to log in to CSM every two hours in order to be able to advance.

To sum it up:

Bo3 has problems in the structure that I don’t find in Bo1, while Bo1 can be somewhat unfair. I don’t see Bo3 as clearly better than Bo1 today, why I think a change is unnecessary. With inferno in the map pool it would be a different case.

Is there any opponent that you fear the most? Somebody who was qualified for WWT you think you could not have beaten?

There is no user that I think I couldn’t have beaten, no. But there are many really good users that I fear and that I could lose to.  tyrAnt! for example always produces extremely close results against me. I guess SpiDevil was the best user that I managed to avoid during the WWT. Facing him again after having shown all my tactics in the CL-final would have been hard.

Actually I thought I would make really bad results in last season’s WWT due to the fact that I did show all my tactics in the CL-final. One of the reasons that I chose to play my best tactics in the CL was to force myself to make new tactics afterwards, since I had been a bit lazy with that during the whole season.

So nobody really tried to anti you or expected you to play the same tactics?

Well no, it doesn’t seem so. Although I did change the pistol round tactics of course.

But if you look at the playoff structure from WWT you will see that I mostly played Dust2. And kirsch for example, who I faced on Aztec in the semifinals. To be able to beat me he would have to dominate the game tactic wise since his current team is in my opinion too weak to be a threat.

You played a really close game in the first playoff round vs. tyrAnt! winning by 19-17. Tell me about it.

We both had tactics that the opponent couldn’t beat. I won because my T-pistol finally worked in Overtime while his still did not. He did not make anties at all, in case you were wondering. We just always seem to have this kind of result.

6. Taking a look at this seasons update. What do you think of the shrunken Bomb areas? What do you think about the Ts still not being able to walk past the A-site on Aztec?

Well overall I think it’s a great update, although I haven’t seen the full effects of it yet. Unfortunately I still have a lot of things to do at my university before it ends, why I still haven’t made much new tactics since that CL final.

The update was necessary, now it works as it should have from the beginning.

About that A bombsite area on Aztec: I guess it would open up for a lot of much more interesting T tactics if it would be possible to let the bomb carrier run past the bombsite. I haven’t heard about any plans to fix that though.

Some kind of negative effect of the shrunken bomb areas is in my opinion that it makes it even harder for the CTs on Dust2. It is very well known that the afterplants on B on Dust2 are very strong, and this update makes it even harder for CTs to hold the bombsite in the first place, since Ts get one more player to anti sync them with, as well as not having to leave the bomb carrier behind as an easy target for CTs.

But me personally I wait for waitpoints to balance things out. I have also promised myself to become a lot more active in making tactics when waitpoints arrive, since I should also have more time for it by then due to summer holidays.

7. Talking about the Game Engine, everybody knows about the so-called Fabulous 5. But what comes after them? I know you have been training teamplay and creativity and many others have been training calmness. What do you currently (without AI money management) consider the most useful skills after the known 5 ones and why?

Well that is a really hard question. The only thing I can say for sure about secondary skills is that they matter somehow. I can for sure say that my players are a lot better now at 800+ skillpoints than they were with only main5 trained. But already there is some uncertainty since this effect could as well have been produced by experience, value or even age. It’s impossible to know.

Having a player at 750 skp, then lancamping and training him, giving him another 50 points in creativity. It’s impossible to tell the difference. When your players are young… when they still have 400 skp and you give them another 50 in determination, then you can really tell the difference. But in my case it’s like standing next to a flower trying to see the progress of it growing. The progress is too slow for you to take notice of it, and it also includes too many variables to keep track

One guess I have for secondary skills is that they don’t count at all, individually. That it’s rather some kind of total skp boost that makes them worthwhile. Since it’s impossible to know I just maxed them all out to make sure to get all the advantages I could.

If you forced me to list “the” 6th skill, I would still go for playing iq with calmness as the competitor. After these two come creativity, teamplay and patience in no particular order. With playing iq I don’t have much new to add. It improves grenade throwing. I have been wondering whether it also affects some defuse patters, that higher playing iq makes players clear the area before attempting to defuse (for example when Ts sit inside the doors at A on Aztec), while worse players just go for the bomb and get sniped by the remaining Ts. But since all my players are maxed I can only notice this behavior when I meet low opponents, so I can’t really say much. Again it could as well be experience, age, total skp or something different that produces the effect.

8. What do you think of the upcoming AI money management, weapon drops and Waitpoints? Will they have a big impact on gameplay or will it stay very similiar?

Weapon drops and money management won’t have a big impact for sure. They will just make teams having to eco less often. They are still very useful and needed updates though.

Waitpoints could have a big impact on gameplay. Especially in the beginning there will be a time where some users take advantagfe of new options while others don’t. Eventually everyone will get the same tactics, and we will be back to where we are today. But it won’t be as boring as this made it sound like. *laughs*

I am still wondering whether the waitpoint update will make it too easy for CT, at least on Aztec. On Dust2 I guess they are already so far behind that it will only be good for the balance. But on Aztec, to be able to have a “hidden” runner wherever you want, making it impossible for Ts to be able to have a antisync for him, giving the runner at least 2 frags while CTs at the same time can have a fast nice retake…

My point is that the only flaw with CT-tactics using a runner today is that T can go kill the runner and then go back and go another way. This won’t be possible if CTs can hide the runner wherever they want. And the CTs will be able to make even better retakes since they will know exactly where the runner was when he died, unlike how it is when you have a normal moving runner nowadays.

Overall I expect waitpoints to be an awesome feature in the game, adding an extra tactical dimension.

9. Let’s go back to your Team »Tяiλđ • שαηηαβє«. What do you expect from the upcoming season? You already said you have a very good feeling about your team. So you expect to be a top contender for 1337, CL and WWT again? Do you think anybody can hold up against you in 1337.se? Will you be able to pull of the triple again?

I would be surprised if I didn’t win the 1337, even though anything can happen in CSM. My team advantage is at least as big as last season, and I don’t see any managers active enough give me a real fight tactic wise. But I mean with some luck any team in my division could beat me, so I could also end up in another spot than the first, but I hope not.

Getting the triple again is very unlikely. In all those international top games even being the favorite only leaves you maybe a 60% chance to win, at least that’s how I usually feel before these games. You have to be really lucky to win all the games in a row, so I think it’s too much to hope for winning both Tournaments again. I will also be concentrating more on the cup, as I am still missing such a trophy. I do have to hold high expectations - this is the time where my team is at its best.

When I realized the cup was going to be a long one I decided to start to lancamp my players and to really go for it, so anything else than a top3 place in the cup would be a disappointment. Anything else than a win in my 1337 would also be a disappointment, but only a minor one compared to the cup since it’s so much more important to me.

It would be nice as well to grab at least one trophy in the WWT or CL, and it wouldn’t hurt if it was a golden one.

10. What do you expect from the upcoming three seasons, Team wise was well as Game wise? What updates would you like to see? Will you stick with your players or do you already plan to switch one or the other? Maybe even sell them while they are on top of their value and go on complete rebuild? I honestly don’t think you need the money but still…

Well I will try to keep my team on the top, I have no intentions to ever rebuild again. I have been thinking to keep my 3 youngest players until they are quite old, but ladiesman and lauretta will be replaced immediately after the cup, if I only find replacements good enough.

Moneywise with those huge prize incomes I had last season I made something like 250k profit(lancamp costs of 35k not substracted) it is as you said. I don’t really have to care to sell my players before they lose value. I play this game very economically, so I wouldn’t waste my money even if I can afford it *laughs*

As for the game development. I am hoping for a lot from the new sponsor system and the overall new structure that will come with it. While the waitpoints will add another dimension to the tactical side of the game (Inferno doing the same whenever it arrives) the new sponsor system should add another dimension to the management side and the game as a whole. As it is now you don’t have to really think about the sponsors, the missions or the national Open Tournaments, since the same decisions are the best every week. If the update works out fine we will have more competition on all levels and smart managers who make the best sponsor and mission choices will be rewarded.

I hope for the game to become totally awesome *laughs*

11. We are almost done now. I would like to do five first reaction questions with you. So I give you a word or a sentence and you write down whatever word/sentence comes to your mind FIRST! Ready?

Haha okay! Go!

a) New Ranking System

awesome, finally telling the truth

b) Goras

hahaha, not working with csm anymore?
aka jorgos invisible friend *laughs*

c) Development Team

making CSM make progress

d) User based CSM Nations Cup

It’s a really nice idea and really nicely executed. So all respect to those behind it.

e) Swedish participants in the Cup

unfortunately not as strong as we used to be

12. Thank you for your time and attention. Tack ska du ha. Anything you want to ad? Somebody you want to greet?

Thanks for the awesome interview.

I wanna greet all the super members in my super awesome community Tяiλđ! You are the best! Special thanks to Greg ( RiFLE+) for all the active things he pulls up whenever he finds time, and for making the trip to France (me and some irl-friends going down to visit him this summer) possible!

I wanna greet all the nice guys who were at the CSM ferry trip last time, I’ll see you in Gothenborg this summer!

I wanna thank jorgo for making this game and for (seeming to) being a really nice guy, just make sure to join us for the trip next time ffs, no excuses!

I wanna greet SyN and all his slaves for taking CSM to another level with the Radio Show and everything around it. I love it, keep up the good work! *laughs*

I also wanna greet everyone I was supposed to greet but forgot! Cheers guys!

As always: Please comment and let me know what you liked and what not!