Fnatic - A profesional gaming team

Only hours remain until FnaticMSI will be attending DreamHack Summer. Although in the middle of preparation, FnaticMSI's latest addition Björn 'threat' Pers took some time to sit down with Fnatic.com. Björn talks about the importance of the team's first title at Arbalet Cup, the preparation for DreamHack, Rasmus 'Gux' Stahl and more.

At Arbalet Cup Europe, you claimed your first title in 2010. How important has this title been for the team?

It felt really important since we've lost in the finals too many times now, getting second place at both the EM-European and World-finals.

How important has this title been for yourself? You have been subject to criticism in the past, and some people claimed FnaticMSI was stronger last year.

Of course it feels really good to proove that we are able to win a tournament with all the best teams in the world without loosing a single match. As for myself, I don't really feel
it's more important for me since I've gotten some criticism in the past and I don't really care about what other people outside of fnatic think about my game.

How would you describe your playstyle, in comparison to Gux? How did FnaticMSI's style change when you replaced him?

I think I'm a pretty good support player, making the madfraggers able to do their job with ease and of course also doing some fragging myself. As for Gux, I think he's a pure aimer and playing with big confidence (sometimes too big ;) ). He's a really good player to say the least.

Ahead lies a stressful summer, with events all over the world. Are you looking forward to a special one?

I'm really looking forward to ESWC for two reasons. First of all, last time I attended, which was back in 2007, I got eliminated from the tournament in the first groupstage so I really feel I want some revenge this time. The second reason is that the event is going to take place at Disneyland Europe which hopefully will be a blast! (laughs)

What are your thoughts on the Nordic Pro Series? There have been rumours that FnaticMSI might stop playing online matches.

To be honest, I really don't like playing online tournaments for several reasons. It's really hard sometimes to find a server that have even ping for both teams, and lately there have also been DDoS attacks making the matches nearly unplayable. But we're going to finish the EPS league online, we will finish what we've started.

At DreamHack, you will be attending three different tournaments. Do you think that playing so many matches will be a disadvantage for you for later matches / tournaments?

Of couse it can be a disadvantage since some teams who are only attending the "standard" DreamHack tournament will be able to watch our games and see our tactics in the earlier tournaments.

Could you tell us how the preparation for the DreamHack events did go?

We've been practising for 2-3 weeks now and the last 4 days we've been playing from GeT_RiGhTs house. The practise has gone really well I think and hopefully we can play as good as we did at Arbalet Europe.

Is there any team you don't like to play against at DreamHack?

I actually don't want to play against H2k this tournament since so many of my old teammates are playing there right now. It would just feel weird, knowing their game so well and they knowing mine.

Do you feel increased pressure going into the WCG Qualifier, considering that the World Cyber Games is like the only tournament there is FnaticMSI has never managed to win?

Of course there is a lot of pressure because we have to win the first game to qualify but I wouldn't say that it's because fnaticMSI hasn't won it before more like we just really want to go there.

Will you and the team be doing other things at DreamHack as well?

We will have very limited time since we're playing three tournaments but I think we will be able to squeeze in some time in the MSi booth greeting some fans.

Thanks for your time Björn. Any last words?

Thanks for the interview! I want to thank all of our sponsors MSI, SteelSeries, UGAME and BigFoot for making all that we do possible and I also would like to thank GeT_RiGhT's parents for letting us stay here and bootcamp before almost all tournaments!