With compLexity set to compete at the IEM IV Global Finals this week Andrew 'Irukandji' Timmerman answered a range of questions about his team, which has just taken in impulsive in place of hero, as well as the event which is set to be the biggest test yet for a coL team in the post-CGS era. coL are placed in Group B and will be facing SK Gaming, WeMade FOX, KerchNET, Roskilde Ravens and MYM.se.

Having played against impulsive for years as a rival and now seeing him in practice what have you learned about him as a player?

He's one of those players that I think will fill a niche that we've been lacking sometime - that is, a player that can not only frag, but will also help keep up our morale and energy midmatch. On top of that, even though I had seen him at a bunch of LANs, I never really knew the guy so it was a nice to find out at practice that he likes to goof around like the rest of us (but still know when to buckle down and work hard, too).

I'd say Derrick is a really versatile player in that he's really strong with both rifles and AWP. Obviously losing Hero has put us in a position where we needed an AWPer and so far in practice Impulsive has exceeded expectations in that area. Derrick also has a ton of experience which has given him quite a high CS IQ which will be crucial if we're to succeed in Germany.

Is he on the same level as a fRoD or Sunde when he uses the AWP within your team? How do you use him within your team as a sniper?

I can't really say at this point how strong of a sole AWPer he is without having played with him on LAN. I definitely don't think we're asking as much out of his AWP as other teams ask out of their primary AWPer, though. I think you'll see us utilize his AWP more as a change of pace to keep teams off-guard as opposed to asking him to dominate every gun round of every half.

Are you at all concerned your numerous roster changes over the last nine months have affected your team's consistency or gradual improvement or do you feel as though the team would have stagnated without them?

That's a tough question to have a definitive answer about without having competed with this lineup on LAN yet. I can say 100% the lineup we have now is practicing 2-3 times harder than any of our previous rosters and we're looking to prove that we can win with this 5. I think it'll be obvious after the next two weekends (IEM Finals and ESEA LAN Finals) if the decisions have been for the better.

A cycnical observer might suggest coL has been stuck in a cycle of changing players, getting the upper hand in the EG rivalry, doing poorly domestically and so changing players again. How do you see that assessment?

I don't feel like our track record vs. EG is a good measuring stick for determining if our roster changes helped/hurt us. The reason I say this is that EG has beaten us recently not because we've gotten worse, but because they've gotten better. They added a good, new player, they attended bootcamps in Europe, and they have performed at a higher level (as shown by their ability to compete with some of the better teams in Europe). Although, we placed 3rd at DreamHack, we didn't show the ability to beat the best Europe has to offer so now it's up to us this weekend to show up and play our best. If we want to take down EG consistently (and same for them vice-versa), we're going to have to raise to a level they can't touch or I would suspect the same trend to occur.

For us, it was simply a case of a player not being able to commit the effort/energy/maturity to the cause or just a time where we had all played with a player previously and knew we wanted him on our team in an effort to get better. I can't really speak for EG, but I have nothing but praise for Ediz (not insulting Warden) so I think that was a bit of a no-brainer for them after Warden retired. What a lot of people don't realize is that American teams aren't wanting to make roster changes, it's just what happens when teams think they see a way to improve (sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong).

It's out there in the ether that coL and EG don't practice together, despite frequently mentioning in interviews lack of quality practice opposition. What can you say about that?

The only time that we haven't practiced versus EG is when they did not want to practice against us. That was mostly during the summer and we have since played them in scrims (PCWs) regularly. However, we (both teams) choose not to play that much at certain points when there is a domestic LAN coming up as we'd rather keep each other a bit in the dark as we expect to play in the Finals.

Is it productive for coL and EG practice together or can there be an element of unnecessary oneupmanship and trying to anti-strat the other involved?

I think so. I know from our end we don't run our complex strats versus them in practice anymore because it can become counter-productive. I know when EG first came back to 1.6, we basically knew all their strats not from watching demos or studying their matches, but simply from scrimming them. Nowadays, we mostly just work off our default and try to improve teamwork or test out strats that we are unsure if we want to use versus good teams. It's definitely more constructive than playing a scrim against a team that feels like they aren't shooting back...(no offense here to American teams, I'm sure we'll see a few American teams with the ability to start showing up as EG/coL killers on LAN :P)

A criticism which could have been levelled at previous coL teams was overeliance on frontrunning and being unable to claw back into games where you had to play from behind, due either to low morale or moments of lacking in mental strength. What are your thoughts on that analysis and have you seen any specific growth in that area?

A fair assessment in some ways. We definitely have to get stronger mentally and I think we've done that over the past 4-5 months. We'll see how well it pays off in Germany as I'm sure for us to make a good mark, we'll have to rebound quite a few times with the strength of teams in attendance.

When we went down 1-0 in maps to Millenium (big loss on Tuscan) for the 3rd Place decider in Sweden, I really felt like that was a point that we could have thrown in the towel since we weren't really playing for anything that big. Instead, we fought back 1 round at a time and were able to finish out the match 2-1. It's those type of comebacks and that resiliency we'll need in Germany, albeit, mid-match since Group Play is all bo1, of course :P

Let's address each team in your group one by one:

SK Gaming

I think they're a really strong team with a good tactical foundation so they're a team you can't ever completely dominate (or put away if you get up big early). That means to beat them, you've got to play well and you've got to keep up that level the entire match or they'll make you pay. I would have said they had the AWP advantage had they not removed Khrystal, but I'd say we stack up okay now (obviously ignoring their superior experience).

SK would definitely be my pick to top out the Group without question. I think a close game versus SK would definitely favor us as if we can keep it close until the end, you never know what can happen in CS when 4-5 rounds will decide a match.

I really am unsure on the move as I thought Khrystal was a really strong AWPer and was a big factor in them finally beating fnatic last year. I also really don't know that much about GuX and I don't want to overhype him since I seem to think a lot of people could win with the fnatic four (dsn/carn/forest/gtr). With that said, though, watching GuX in demos and in matches in person, he is definitely a really, really good player so I think if SK can transition mesh his skill into their playstyle, it could be deadly.

WeMade FOX

I think they're really creative and have great tactics, but I think they're also hurt by lack of good practice in Asia. They are definitely a team to fear though because if you can't stop their exeuctions (like we couldn't last year in Germany), they will make you pay big time.

My head says they will catch a few teams off-guard and compete for the relegation spot. My gut says to watch out for them even though EG dismantled them badly in Mexico.

Roskilde Ravens

Ravens seems to have really strong teamwork and I was surprised at how well they played together at the EU Finals. I think the best way to beat them is to be prepared for any tricks they try to throw strategy wise and prepare a few that will hopefully catch them off-guard. Like all the EU teams, we will start the match behind in the experience category so we'll have to use our creativity to try and get even.

I think they're a talented team skill-wise, but not the best Europe has to offer. If there's a team in the group that we can outaim, I'd pick them over the rest, but we'll still need good teamwork and communication to beat them, I'd predict. No matter what team we play in Germany, I don't see aim being enough to win - we need to play our A game and work well as a team.

KerchNET (Na'Vi)

Well, with Edward and Markeloff on the team, they possibly could have the most-skilled team in Group B. I know when we play them, we are going to be very strategy focused and not try to out-aim them because I have a hard time seeing that go in our favor. I think our plan coming in will be to use our complex strats early and often to confuse/annoy them and hopefully win that way.

I expect them to finish near the top if they win their first few matches of Group play. I would say them and SK are by far the most challenging teams in the group.

MYM.se

Stay away from [Delpan] at all costs is the game plan. I think against them we'll play a bit of a more slow, methodical style of CS as opposed to trying to run and gun with the Swedes. And we definitely won't forget to grab some smokes to try to harass and annoy Delpan as much as possible :P

I think moddii was a big loss for them talent-wise and that takes time to rebound from (i.e. gain teamwork > skill). They've had 2-3 months now I believe with FYRRTE in the lineup so I'm sure they'll be a more well-rounded team and just as much, if not more, dangerous than in 2009.

I think at IEM Europe it was tough because it was their first event without their normal 5 so they just came into it a bit out of synch.

The objective observer would likely pick coL-WMF-Ravens as the teams not to progress from B if one is excluding current form and coL-WMF-MYM.se if one is including it. What do you think about that and what is your analysis of how the group will play out?

I don't really think anything about that. It seems like a pretty fair opinion so can't really say anything against it. I simply hope that we come in and play our best. As long as we don't beat ourselves in matches, I'll be satisfied with our performance. Obviously, our goal at this juncture is to advance of our groups so I'm sure I'll be a bit dejected if we fail to do so.

I would have SK advancing as the sure pick and the second place going to Kerchnet or MYM, depending on who is playing better at that time. With only 1 day of matches for each group, if one of those teams (MYM or Kerchet/NaVi) gets hot, I could even see them going 5-0 in group play.

Coming from a position of arguably having more knowledge of EG than anyone else outside of their team what do you think of their chances in They have perhaps the most difficult group draw in history so if you would have them progressing then surely there is no scenario from which you wouldn't see them progressing out of a group? Who makes it out of A?

I honestly think EG can beat any of the teams in their group. I'm not saying they will, but I think they have the potential to mount some upsets. I see them beating Oxmoze easily and putting up a good fight versus mTw and FX. I wouldn't bet on them beating Fnatic or Mousesports, though.

I don't necessarily see them making it out, I just don't see them getting blown out in any of the matches. As long as they can stay in all the matches, it gives them a good chance to pick up a few W's over very good teams. As for Top 3, I guess I'll be cliche and go Fnatic, Mouz, and mTw (I think Sunde's return and Trace/Sunde duo will give them a boost)

What is your take on fnatic's new lineup and the impact replacing GuX will have?

It's hard for me to say because it's still early in the year and if I based the GuX lineup off that first tourney (IEM Euro last year), I would have had my doubts then. I would say that I think their next lineup is smarter, but not as talented so that may give a team like ours a better chance since we focus more on CS IQ than out-aiming other teams. That, and GuX raped us last year in Germany so...yeah :)

Final words?

Just another thanks to SK for taking the time to interview me and a shoutout to our sponsors: Creative, XFX, and G8 Clothing.

(Photographs copyright of compLexity)