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Has it been a tough decision to retire?
It is always tough when you have to give up something you love, however, I felt that this was the natural choice for me to take since my studies demand a lot of attention, and I have gotten a new job.

Is there a moment related to gaming you will never forget?
I will never forget any of the major tournament winnings nor my trips around the world. The two moments that most likely will be in my memory for life, is the time when we won WEM and got escorted over to a shopping mall where a lot of Chinese fans were waiting for us to sign autographs – we felt like superstars. The second is my first major victory together with The-Titans back in 2004 at ESWC. I remember when EraZ and I were about to win the last round, when I realized that we would be the winners of ESWC, my eyes started growing dark and I went through one of the greatest emotional rides of my life.

You once said that you strive to be perfect at everything you do. Did you feel you were not able to be perfect at everything anymore lately?
It is hard to strive to be perfect at something, that you don’t have the motivation for anymore, and in the end with mTw - after our successful 2008 - I wasn’t able to find that needed drive to perform as good as I might have could, and that was probably one of the reasons for my retire as well.

Do you regret that you put so much time into gaming, keen on becoming a perfect player?
I will never regret my time with gaming, since it has given me so many experiences and friends, that I wouldn’t be without, and I feel that I haven’t really missed anything on my real-life-bank account besides the occasional social event.

What was your environment's reaction when they heard about your decision?
I suspect my teammates saw it coming since I lost more and more motivation when I started studying, so they were pretty supportive and we didn’t end up with hard feelings or arrears. My friends have thought that my retirement was a bit overdue since they wanted me to get an education, and they didn’t believe that I could play and study at the same time - they were right. My family and girlfriend just want me to be happy, so they have supported my absence from gaming, but they are still asking if I’m satisfied with my decision.

Did mJe and Guddo leaving the team affect you to come to your decision?
It would have ended my career anyway, however, I must admit that I’m a bit happy, that they have left as well, because I believe that you can call it the end of an era, and I don’t think that I would have the same effect alone.

What are your thoughts of mTw's new lineup?
I know trace and he is talented as few and I have talked with my ex-gamers-in-crime, and they have said some pleasing words about minet, so I think this new blood will add up to some new victories for mTw.

But why did you choose to retire before the World Cyber Games?
I said to the guys that I was willing to play WCG, but I would retire afterwards and I wasn’t able to compete at SLAP, because I went to Rome with my girlfriend. They took the decision that it was better for the team to get trace in and replace me before WCG.

Will you completely be turning your back on gaming now? Could you imagine to accept another job within the scene, maybe become a manager, coach or a commentator?
I’m still following all the tournaments intensively, and I feel great joy watching the matches, interviews etc., so I guess I won’t turn my back completely. If the right offer comes along, I will take it to consideration.

Can you remember how eSports was like when you got into touch with it for the first time? How have things changed?
The organization of tournaments still faces the same problems with the delay of matches, different rules, delay of prize money etc – which I honestly don’t understand - but there are a lot of more tournaments now all around the world and that is a pleasing fact compared to the early years of eSports. Skill-wise and tactical-wise the teams have improved so much, and it takes so much more of a team to be on the top of their game, since it is common for a lot of teams to study each other.

Now that you can see things from a different angle, what is the reason for eSports not being as popular as many fans think it should be?
The major reason is probably that some of the games in eSports aren’t as spectator-friendly as they should be when you are trying to reach a broad variety of people, and when people e.g. don’t understand the rules in CS and don’t share the same interest in computer games, they don’t feel amused and don’t want to watch it. I don’t have a plan to counter that though.

Did competitive gaming reach a point where innovations are needed?
Tactical innovations are needed, but I don’t believe that coaches or mental coaches are desirable at the moment. The equipment has a role when people have been playing with the same mouse and mousepad for a long time, however, I only think you can make the mouse more attentive to the quick and small movements of the mouse, so I wouldn’t call it innovations. The headsets, however, are working in the way of noise-cancellation and that is a brilliant idea, because of the noise at tournaments, it would be soothing to get a headset where the only sound you would hear, was the in-game sound and the voice from your fellow teammates through the voice program.

Thanks for your time, Jonas. The last words are yours.
The pleasure was mine. I would like to say thanks to mTw and our sponsor once again for great 1½ years, and I hope that everybody will cheer for the new mTw – I can tell you that I will. Cheers!