Harstem joins the Academy

We are proud to present you our newest European StarCraft 2 addition to our squad, the young and talented Dutch Protoss player Kevin "Harstem" de Koning.

Harstem is only 17 years old, and yet he is a well-known player in the StarCraft 2 scene. He used to play Warcraft 3 with Undead, and before joining FnaticRaidCall he played StarCraft 2 for Dutch team Mouse-Control. He shows his constant presence in the online cups, and he is a four-time finalist of the CraftCup Lite. His most notable achievement is the recent DreamHack Summer 2012 performance, where he reached the top sixteen, where he lost to fraer with 1:2. On his way to the top sixteen, Harstem took wins over players such as ThorZaIN, Lalush and Naugrim, while he also lost in close matches against fraer, Bly, and the DHS 2012 champion MaNa with 1:2.

Here is what Kevin "Harstem" de Koning had to say about FnaticRaidCall, our players, and what he thinks about his future on the team:

At Dreamhack summer I already spoke a bit with ToD and he really helped me prepare myself mentally before the games against Fraer. We went to eat and he told me what to focus on and what to think of. When I started playing I felt really relaxed and felt no pressure, I just wanted to do my builds and do well. I sadly lost, but I played well and showed some good games. After my run at Dreamhack Summer a couple of teams contacted me and the one team that really stood out was Fnatic. When the manager first contacted me I thought he was joking, because joining Fnatic was something that only happened in my dreams. After having contact for a few days with the manager of Fnatic I started chatting with Nightend, he helped me tons with my PvP and PvZ match-up. This amplified my feeling that Fnatic is the right choice for me and with the help of great protoss team-mates like ToD, Nightend, Oz and Ares I feel like I will develop a lot quicker and improve rapidly. I would like to thank Fnatic and all our sponsors: Raidcall, MSI, Steelseries, Eizo, Slappa, Bouncer4you, FShost OWN3D and DXRacer for giving me such a unique opportunity. I also would like to thank my ex-team Mouse-Control for supporting me for 2.5 years.

 Elroy "Noname" Pinto, FnaticRaidCall's general manager and the manager of StarCraft 2 division said the following:

Today we bring in a youngster from Netherlands who surprised everyone with a good performance at DreamHack last month into our Academy. We feel he has great potential for the future and we want to give him that chance needed to take his game to the next level. With his high school now over he can focus on his StarCraft 2 career. We are extremely excited to add him to our roster and can't wait to see him in the upcoming Summer LANs in Europe. We would also like to thank team mouse Control for being supportive of the transfer, being one of the leading organisations in eSports we respect every team and we made sure both parties reached a mutual agreement on a fee. A big thanks to our sponsors RaidCall, MSI, SteelSeries & EIZO.

Ruben "CompleX-" Been of Mouse-Control also gave statement of his own regarding Harstem, their mixed feelings about his departure and more:

Mouse Control is having double feelings about the departure of Kevin “Harstem” de Koning. Of course we are very proud that Harstem joins ranks with Fnatic, but on the other side we have lost a great talented player. We feel that his departure is -in football terms- a transfer from Ajax to FC Barcelona and that’s what makes us very proud. Harstem is not just a player with a huge potential. He is also one of the most loyal, motivated and dedicated persons I’ve ever met. That’s what makes Harstem a complete player who’s able to compete at the highest level. Harstem deserves this transfer more than anyone.

We want to wish a warm welcome to Harstem and wish him the best of luck in his black and orange future. We hope that he will grow into the Protoss player that he has a potential to be.

Additional information about Mouse-Control

Mouse Control was founded on the 17th of April 2008. Back in those days the organization was known as DOK Gaming, supported by the Dutch library “DOK”. On the 1st of February 2011 DOK Gaming and Mouse Control fused and kept the name Mouse Control. Nowadays Mouse Control is the leading E-sport organization in the Netherlands. Since a month Mouse Control decided to re-build their Starcraft II and Trackmania Nations Forever section first, before supporting a third E-sport title.

The picture used for the banner and the spotlight picture is courtesy of Jeroen Weimar.