Having won IEF 2009 after defeating wNv.CN twice in the Grand Final, tyloo is currently ranked #2 in China. alex admits that it is never easy to play against Team West. However, he is confident that tyloo has the potential to defeat any team this weekend in Korea.

You are considered responsible for wNv's victory at WEG, and stayed with the team for several years, but why did you ultimately leave them to join Tyloo as a manager?

tyloo was formed in 2007, the owner contacted me at the beginning of 2009, inviting me to work for the organization as the team manager as well as the in-game leader. His plans for tyloo's future and his hardworking spirit were the things that impressed me a lot. Being only a player in my former teams in addition that I am not young anymore, I decided to accept his offer in order to learn more things. Everything that has a beginning that has an end, so all I can do is to say 'Good Luck' to wNv.

How much of a deal is Tyloo playing at eStars for you and your team?

This is our first international event, and we are also the representatives of China which make eStars very very important for us. We will try our best to make tyloo known to the whole world.

Last year Team Dragon represented China and managed to defeat MYM (now Wicked), this year Tyloo have been selected for Team East. Are you purely concentrating on performing well in the Full League (individual team tournament) or do you really think you can beat one of the Team West teams the Continental Cup?

We had watched the demos of all the opponents which helped us to know them better and it helps us a bit being an underdog. Although fnatic, SK and mTw are hard to play against, I am confident with my teammates. No one wants to lose at anytime, neither do we. We have the confidence to beat each team.

In the Warcraft3 competition, the competitors have a similar skill level but for the Counter-Strike competition many would agree there is a huge gap. However, last year, even with Emulate, Team West was much stronger but still struggled.

Yes, I have to admit that the European CS scene is stronger than the scene in Asia, but I fear no one. Each match is going to be tough and hard at eStars no matter who wins.

What's your opinion on the whole topic of coaches? The eStars coach for Team East is a Korean, but you are the manager of Tyloo and are experienced at being their motivator. Can the coaches really make a difference?

As we all know, coaches are necessary in any competitive sport, and I do think that we need coaches in esports which makes it like a real sport. However, the coaches are less helpful at the moment because most of the time, the players motivate each other and themselves more than the coaches do.

Living in China I know that playing opponents outside China can be a huge problem but how easy is it for your team to find practice outside of China? Or does your team purely practice with other Asian teams?

The internet connection is always a big problem. We mainly train with national teams and wemadefox from Korea.

China has developed players with unique styles such as TH000 in Warcraft3. Does China have its own style of CS? If so how is it different?

I think that the styles of CS are the same no matter which team it is: one is slow and careful, the other is fast and simple.

You are considered China's most famous Counter-Strike player, but you've seen your game slowly lose attention in the Chinese eSports scene. Why do you think that is? Was it one event in particular that caused it?

It is a cultural thing in my opinion, just like the eastern people prefer to individual sports such as chess and I-go, while people from west like the team-based sports better such as football and basketball. The esports holds the same theory in the east, so we like to play individual games more such as Warcraft 3 and Starcraft.

How can Chinese CS recover? Or do you think it is too late?

We need more younger players and professional teams to get involved. In 2005 and 2006 when the Chinese CS scene was on top, we had more than 20 or even 30 professional teams which assured the quality of practice. However, currently there are only few pro teams making it hard to train with national teams. But we do believe that the Chinese CS will recover one day just because that we have been practicing really hard. With luck on our side :D

TyLoo lineup:

Zheng Wei 'alex' Bian
Chao 'GoodRifle' Xue
Chen Hao 'tb' Ma
Xi 'karl' Wang
Xue Feng 'xf' Lai

Image courtesy of PCgames.com.cn