At the start of 2010, the German team of Mousesports added Roman 'roman' Ausserdorfer to the ranks. Their first event, IEM4 Euro Finals, would see them win after a 2-1 victory in the final over fnatic. They then the team would have a stint of poorer results, with 5-6 placements at the IEM4 World Finals and Arbalet Cup Europe. However, earlier this month would see them win Germany's ESL Pro Series, increasing their confidence going into tomorrow's ESWC.

Hi Manuel, how are you doing?

I am doing fine! I'm in Cologne at the SK office preparing for the upcoming ESWC tournament together with my team mates, Cooller and rapha. Its fun!

You started the year by winning the IEM 4 European Championships, after adding Roman 'roman' Ausserdorfer, why do you think that was?

I think the main reason was that we added some fresh blood to the team and we were really motivated to show the people that we can win tournaments. Another factor was that we went through our tactics after the addition of roman and were quite unpredictable in terms of tactics.

Some people believe the success from mousesports is down to sheer individual skill rather than teamwork and tactics, which could be seen from your IEM Euro win, what is your reaction to that?

To a certain extent I would agree. We have a very good tactical leader in person of gob b, but to win tournaments i think every player needs to have very good aiming and be in top shape. Of course tactics will help you in some situations but eventually the team with the better aiming will win.

Why do you think you could not carry the same performances from the Euro finals to place higher at the IEM Global Finals and Arbalet Cup Europe?

I think we were pretty good at IEM Finals losing the deciding match against NaVi on the last and third map 14:16. It was a tough match and they deserved the win, but i am quite sure we would have won the tournament if we had a little bit more luck in the match against NaVi. In Arbalet Europe it was different. We were not that good at that time and practised not as intensive as we used to do, but we have learned a lot from our mistakes.

You recently won the ESL Pro Series Season XVI, defeating n!faculty and Alternate in the process, how much of a confidence boost is that going into a tournament of this scale?

Its quite a confidence boost winning the Pro-Series for the fifth time in a row, although the competition in Germany is not comparable to tournaments like ESWC or Arbalet Europe. Still I'm very proud to be the German CS 1.6 Champion :)

Unlike some other teams, you did not attend Dreamhack, meaning you have had a lot more time to prepare for ESWC. How have you and the team prepared?

We have started our preparations two weeks before ESWC, since we took a short break after ESL Pro Series Finals. The last 5 days before ESWC we were bootcamping in Cologne.

When you know who you are playing in the next game, what’s the traditional preparation routine for you guys? Is it a matter of going over tactics or try get acquainted with your opponents playing style?

We used to talk about the opponent`s tactical preferences. how are they defending spots, which spots are they attacking more often etc.. At ESWC we will not adjust to our opponents and play our game.

We all know the situation of the old ESWC owners, but what are your thoughts about the new ones? After all they came in, announced an event with a huge prize pot and then backed it up with a bank guaranty?

I like ESWC a lot because it used to be the best tournament in the world for us players. I hope the new owners will handle the tournaments and the show as good as the old owners. Its good that more and more tournaments are coming up/back such as ESWC or Arbalet since it used to be somehow boring last year without so many competitions. The fact that they guaranteed prize money through a bank certificate is big plus for me since it is a sign of stability.

Moving away from that, with there being twenty eight teams in attendance, so who would you most like to face and least like to face, with explanations for both?

Fnatic, because they are #1 team in the world and NaVi because we want our revenge for IEM Finals.

Going into the tournament, have you set specific place to finish? Do you have certain teams to beat?

We want to do as good as we can and show some good games. We know that everything is possible for us and we need to be very focused and dedicated when entering the tournament.

You have been drawn in Group H, with OSLF.dk and Playzone.fi, what are your thoughts on that? Are you confident that you will advance?

Both teams are really good and it will not be a walk-over and we will advance to the playoffs. Anything else is not acceptable.

Thank you for the interview and good luck at the event, any last words?

I would like to thank our fans , my team and our sponsors Home of Hardware, Razer, GeIL, Intel and Reebok for their great support.


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