Previously called NoA, the Danish team really stepped up in 2008. The second places at the ESWC Grand Final and the WCG in 2007, it turns out, were just the beginning. mTw.dk won the Kode5 Global Final in May and the ESWC Masters of Paris, defeating Fnatic in the finals of both.

Would they be the best team in the world right now? We ask Danny 'zonic' Sørensen, the team's number one star.

From now on, are we safe in saying that mTw.dk is the best team in the world?
Well I do believe we are the best in the world right now, but we still need to beat mYm to be the number 1 team in the world 100%. Our goal for 2007 was to be a top international contender, and we did - our goal for 2008 is to the best and I think we are getting there.

It sounds like you expected to win ESWC Masters. Was that the case?
We bootcamped before the event and we know it's extremely difficult to stay on top and keep winning major tournaments, so the main goal for this event was to qualify for the Grand final in San José. Approaching the end of the tournament we started playing like we did in Moscow and the goal quickly became winning the tournament.

What's the recipe for beating Fnatic? You seem to know exactly how to do it.
I don't know the exact recipe, but I think we are three teams in the world who have this curse on each other; Fnatic beats mYm, mYm beats us, and we beat Fnatic. Fnatic's gaming style fits perfectly for us and we know where we have them every time we play against them. On the other hand we never know where we have mYm, but I think we are getting closer and I look forward to my next meeting with mYm.

What is your team's main strength?
Probably that we have so different qualities on the team. Christoffer 'Sunde' Sunde's AWP is crazy right now, Alexander 'ave' Holdt is reading our opponents very well, Muhamed 'mJe' Eid is the best in the world to cover a bombspot by himself, Jonas 'whiMp' Svendsen is very smart and I’m a good backup for both bombspots if needed. Another factor is the social aspect on our team. We have a lot of fun at our bootcamps, people like each other and we hang out outside the game as well, we share the same hobbies and such. Everything is really great on the team nowadays.

You got a string of strong performances last year but you reached higher goals only in 2008. What made you take that extra step?
One thing we have learned in NoA over the past years is that it’s stupid to put your goals too high. When Brian [hpx] and I played with the Norwegians back in 2005/06 our goal was to become the best in the world and that goal was just too high and pressure was huge on us. However, when we got the lineup we wanted in 2007 we sat down, talked about our goals and agreed on becoming a top team in the world after good results in 2006. When we reached the goal by the end of 2007 it was time to make the new goal which was to become the best team in the world for 2008. I’m sure we would have failed big time if that was the goal for us in 2006.

So it was a natural progression, a major plan coming to life rather than just the addition of whiMp to the team and his influence?
Jonas [whiMp] is a great player and he is also a huge reason for us being where we are today, new blood was a big motivation for us. We seemed to fail our goal early in this year by not qualifying for the NGL One Finals and Extreme Masters. Even though we failed our goal still remained the same, we just needed som new blood; whiMp was the final thing we needed to fulfill our goal and that's also why we needed to let go of our dear friend hpx.

How important are you for mTw?
Tough question, honestly I think I’m very important to the team. My role on the team is to give backup to either Muhamed [mJe] on the small bombspots or the three other guys on the big bombspots. If they are in trouble it's my job to make sure we get the round despite losing two guys in the beginning of the round. I also think with mJe's game-play lately and Sunde's AWP we have become the best CT team in the world.

But as I said, if the guys are in trouble or meet a team who counter-attacks them it's my job to turn the round into our hands and hopefully win the round. Lately the guys have been playing very well so it has been a some "quiet" days at work ;)

How about outside of the game? I hear you make fun of the rest of the team all the time.
Haha yeah well, I try to make people feel comfortable in the team by making some jokes with them. I think it's important that no one on the team feels like an outsider. I also try to play with the whole team after practice, on many teams its normal that the team is divided into two groups, and these two groups don’t do much with each other besides playing when it's practice-time. I think it's important to get along with everyone on the team, and you could probably say I’m the one who tries to get all the players “together”.

How do you get on with the other teams? Do you get this "vibe" that Fnatic and MYM have, where you don't really hang out with each other that much because you are rivals?
Both Fnatic and mYm are friends of us; we talk with them and go out with them after tournaments, winning or losing. After we won KODE5, mYm congratulated us by saying we deserved it and Fnatic bought beers to us right after they lost the final. Both teams are all dear friends of us and we have huge respect for them as players but also as persons.

What can the fans expect from you in 2008? Are you the rock solid favourite by now?
I hope so, teams probably want us to beat us now, and I have a philosophy called: It's tough to get to the top, but it's even tougher to stay there. We believe in ourselves and we will keep playing hard to win every single tournament we attend. We have a two tournaments we really want to win this year, ESWC Grand Final and WCG 2008. To perform well in both ESL Extreme Masters and WCG ELC are of course also high priorities.