I had the chance to interview Kevin ¨kev1n¨ Hansen from our Danish CS:S team regarding their stay at Reason, their tournament results throughout 2011 and what their goals and expectations are for the upcoming year, you can read the whole interview below.
1. First of all, thanks for your time Kevin, could you please start by introducing yourself for those who might not know you already ?
A: No problem. My name is Kevin, I’m 20 years old and live just outside of central Copenhagen. I just finished my education, so right now I’m searching for a job to pay the bills.
2. Could you tell us a bit about how your first got into CS:S ?
A: It started back in 2004 when I saw my bigger brother play it. Before then I wasn’t really into gaming, as I would rather be outside golfing as I did on elite level back then. As both me and my brother lived with our parents at that time, we had rooms just next to each other, and we were playing and yelling across the rooms. At that point I didn’t know that it was basically what you do when you play competitive games, but when I found out I instantly got hooked.
3. When did you realize you had the skill to compete at the highest level in CS:S ?
A: To be honest I’ve known that for a long time now. Back in 2006 I think it was, I was picked up by the second best team in Denmark, so since then I’ve pretty much been playing on top level. Obviously the skill level wasn’t the same back then as it is now, as every top team are making up new strats.
4. Now moving on, it hasn’t been that long since you joined Reason Gaming, but how has it been so far at Reason ?
A: I can easily say that Reason is the most professional run organization I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. There is a lot of very good managers out there, but I think it’s just that Reason has what it takes to be able to do things for the players. We’ve got an insanely good sponsor in Razer, who provides us with the best gaming gear out there. Not to forget dallow has been there 100% on everything we have ever asked him for, and that is what makes it all so perfect.
5. Your first tournament under the Reason tag was ONIC, a tournament that didn’t go so well for you and your team, what do you think was the problem at that tournament ?
A: Damn you, I forgot about that! Haha. Well uhm, we just had a nearly perfect run at the ESWC qualifier short before that, so I think we felt unbeatable given the difference in the skill of the teams competing at the event compared to the teams in the ESWC qualifier. It’s easy losing to worse teams than your own, if you don’t focus 100% on what’s happening, as the underdogs always are hungry to get the better of you. We thought at that point that we were world beaters, but it turned out we weren’t. Since then a lot of people have considered us onliners for some reason, even though we’re all solid lanproven players. But since then we’ve won a Danish lan and ended 5th-8th at the most powerful international lan ever held, so we’ve come a long way mentally since ONIC.
6. After that you and your team went on to redeem yourselves by winning Gaming 4 Life, what changed in order for your team to have a way better performance ?
A: It was the mental part 100%. You can’t reach top level in Counter-Strike if you’re unable to keep yourself together.
7. Your team then went on to secure a spot at the ESWC Finals in Paris after an impressive run in the online qualifiers, and managed to take a respectful 5th-8th position at the Finals, is the team happy with their performance at ESWC, could the team have done better ?
A: Our main goal was to get through the groups which we unfortunately didn’t live up to. But with the best teams from the whole wide world, I refuse to see ESWC as a “bad” lan for us. Yes, we think we could’ve done better, but we will do better next time.
8. Currently your team is playing in EMS Season IX, with a total of 3 wins and 1 loss against Team Thermaltake, what do you think are your chances of getting out of the group stage ?
A: Funny you’re asking – we’re already through 😀 We lost that one game against Thermaltake who were just better on the day. We haven’t been practicing since ESWC pretty much, so we just had to get through groups, and we will be ready to go for the win in the new year.
9. Currently your main rivals in Denmark are the guys from CKRAS, do you think your team can take them down in 2012 ?
A: Of course I believe we will take them down in 2012. We’ve come across them three times now I think, all 3 times online. We’ve lost with 2 rounds as a max, so it’s definitely gonna come very soon. I think though, that if we played them right now at lan, we would come out on top – I think we’re best at lan, as our team atmosphere is just so much better then.
10. Talking about 2012, what are your expectations for the new year as a team ?
A: Our goal is to be the best team in Denmark, and come closer the number 1 spot in Europe. We’re currently sat on the 5th position for the second month in a row, and we’re only going one way. Forward.
11. Does your team have any LANs already planned for the upcoming year ?
A: We’ve got another ONIC event I think, then we’ve got Copenhagen Games, HKLan and Gamers Assembly in Finland I think. That’s what I know of as of now, but surely there will be plenty!
12. You have been to various events throughout your career, but, which one would you say you enjoyed the most ?
A: Without any doubt I enjoyed ESWC the most. It’s just one of those major lan events where everything is just 10 times bigger than what you’ve ever seen. The amount of spectators and the way everything was set up was incredible.
13. Finally, moving on to the upcoming CS:GO, have you had the chance to test the game, if so, what is your opinion about it, do you think it has the potential to be a competitive title ?
A: I didn’t ever receive my key from ESWC, so I’m a little disappointed about that. I’ve pretty much only heard negative things about it, from both source and 1.6 players. So since that’s the only sources I’m not able to make any conclusion. It’s still a beta, so everything can happen.
14. Any words you would like to say to your fans before we wrap up this interview ?
A: I’d like to say thank you to everyone liking and following my facebook fanpage, everyone liking Reason-Gaming on facebook, everyone liking Razer on facebook – pretty much everyone who has something to do with Reason, and everyone whos supporting. Mostly though, the shoutouts will go to my team and our lovely manager, dallow.
You can follow kev1n at his facebook fan page here.
