On the eve of Evil Geniuses 's roster swap replacing goodfornothing with dboorN, we got the opportunity to sit down with Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbert to discuss the change. n0thing also talks about compLexity 's release of their American team, when he thinks he will quit CS, the reason goodfornothing retired so suddenly and what his take is on the Loaded-EG merger situation.

First of all, congrats on winning WCG USA and the BEAT-IT tournament. Do you think toppling Fnatic (and other top European teams) is something EG can do on a consistent basis from now on or is there still a lot of work to do?

Well, there is always going to be a lot of work to do to be able to beat the top teams on a consistent basis. But I think the more recognition and respect you get from the top teams, your focus goes more into handling that type of position. So in our case, we need to be aware that teams are going to analyze us at least a decent amount , but at the same time its up to us to stay confident in our game, and not drift away from our flow because we're worried about each team. Basically, we need to focus and stay dedicated if we want to take out the big dogs, and I do think we can pull it off.

You have been playing for Team EG for quite awhile, and you have represented the organization with a couple different rosters over the years. During what era (with what roster) do you feel you played your best CS?

With my current roster. Some may say with our old roster of steno, chE, evolution, and NineSpot, but I feel I've matured as a player since then. On that lineup we had a very freelance playstyle and I was able to get alot of frags, but the system we had wasn't effective if you were trying to beat the best teams consistently. Nowadays I'm still learning, but I also don't think I've stopped learning and that's why I say now I am better than before.

Switching gears a little bit, what is your take on the release of the American CS team from compLexity?

Well it's unfortunate to see more American CS teams falling apart. As fun as it is to be 1st in the nation and qualify for all the tournaments, it isn't fun when theres no competition and you don't have anyone to practice against. POV like we know now also is disbanded, so its definately rough in the American scene right now, so its up to anyone whos still dedicated to keep at it.

The obvious follow-up question to that is: what is your opinion on the coL organization picking up the former FireGamers squad as opposed to another American team?

Well I wish them the best of luck. The FireGamers guys are good guys and passionate gamers who deserve a solid sponsor. I would like to see as much North American support as possible, but right now its hard enough fielding a solid top tier team. If the chance arises it'd probably be cool to see coL support another NA 1.6 team.

Let’s talk about another top American team, WinOut. This team currently fields four extremely veteran and ‘old school’ players in zid, Rambo, s0nNy and org. Do you see any other top players making a return to the game or do you think the American scene will remain relatively stagnant as it has been?

WinOut seems to be putting in a decent amount of effort and trying to contend right now. I know theres alot of years of experience in that lineup so hopefully they keep it up and give me some good competition :). I like playing against the players who quit as I was coming up for sure, but I don't see many other old school players returning to play really... It's kind of tough to dedicate real time to this game unless you can get some return for your time invested.

You are at the age now where I am sure your friends are starting college or are in the midst of getting their education completed. Are you ever tempted to hang up the mouse and move on from CS? If so, do you have a time or age planned out in which you will retire from competitive Counter-Strike?

Well, at some points I have thought of possibly starting college, but so far I've delayed it. I graduated high school and right then I had just joined EG. The past couple of years I've been traveling so much each month, to multiple different countries every year, so I really felt comfortable just taking the time off and waiting till I feel motivated and have time to start college. I don't know when for sure I want to quit CS, but I'm just taking it bit by bit and enjoying as much as I can while I'm lucky to be doing this. I would love to work in e-Sports in some way, shape, or form after competing, but we will see I guess! Life is full of surprises :~).

I came across a picture of you on a full-size billboard out front of the Los Angeles International Airport, advertising the WCG Grand Finals. Have you been able to see it in person yet? What do your friends and family outside of eSports think when they see something like that?

Haha! Pretty cool, right? Theres another one up in Hollywood as well. I havent actually seen either of them in person haha! I've gotten text's from friends in L.A and when they were passing it, as well as my friends seeing it online... Everyone I showed was amped and really proud, so that was fun. I enjoyed looking back to the time where I was a little kid playing CS in an internet cafe at 12 years old, I just never could of imagined how the game would change my life.

It is widely known that one of EG’s starting 5 CS players, lurppis, cannot compete with you guys at WCG events. With that said, do you personally feel that a team that uses a stand-in has a shot at winning a WCG Grand Final (or even placing in top 3)?

Well without Tomi it is going to hurt us for sure. Luckily, he will be consulting with us as our coach throughout the tournament so that should help. Suprisingly, I think if we come out with a lot of energy, I don't see why we cant get top 3. I'm not saying its going to be easy by any means, but It's fun to keep that goal in mind, because it is possible on any given day.

If you had the power to do so, would you change or eliminate the nationality restrictions the WCG has in place? Perhaps change the rule to where if your team has a majority of players from a certain country (3/5), a team can still represent that country?

Hmm... I think I'd make an exception maybe like... If the player has proof of competing with that team for atleast 3 months prior, or something like that it might be cool to make it 4/5. Cause I wouldn't like to see teams just randomly bringing in foreigners for 1 tournament... But I'm not fully sure, maybe I'm just saying that because of Tomi.... Probably not :).

Quite awhile ago Warden, long time teammate of many of the current EG members, decided to retire from Counter-Strike. Have you talked to Warden lately? Can you give us any update on what he is up to and how he is doing?

Matt is living in Houston right now and is going to school. He talks to me sometimes when I'm at tournaments via text or steam just to ask how things are going... He still likes to support us and talks to Danny, Tyler, and Tomi as well.

Just yesterday we saw goodfornothing announce his retirement. Do you know why he chose to retire right before the WCG Grand Finals? In my eyes, it may have made more sense for him to finish off his career with one last tournament.

Yeah it would seem that way, but Ediz wanted to take his trip down to Columbia and travel down from South America through Central America before starting his new job. So he chose to take the trip with his friend and make it happen ASAP, which ended up unfortunate for us as far as timing goes.

dboorN, goodfornothing's replacement, made a comment in a recent interview that he was not particularly good friends with the EG players before joining. It is a safe assumption to say you guys chose to bring in dboorN because his pure ability and that you will worry about how he meshes out-of-game later on?

Well yeah, basically we just have never been on a team with him, Tomi and I both have talked with him and around tournaments a bit, but thats about it. I think we'll mesh pretty good in-game, we're just going to have to spend some time like any new team, but thats about it.

Lastly, a few days ago we saw the Loaded organization dissolved into EG, with many of Loaded's former players and staff being left behind. I realize you will have to be political in your answer here, but do you think it is good move for North-American eSports to have one of America's better organizations closing up shop in this fashion?

Well for me I'm happy to have improved the strength of the EG brand. There are still sponsors out there so I'm hoping some people with the connections will help fund another multi gaming organization. I don't like to see more organizations collapse, and to be honest I don't know the full details of this move, I just know Freytag wants to keep expanding gaming in North America and in my opinion hes now in a better position to do so.

Just going to throw off a few 'rapid fire' questions to end off the interview here:

What do you like most about playing CS competitively?

CS is just fun in general. Playing with a team vs the other best players in the world and battling it out is exciting.

Who do you think is the best CS player outside of North-America?

Hmm... f0rest... Yeah he's pretty good.

Which LAN event was the most fun for you in your career?

Probably Kode5 2008 in Moscow.

Anything else you would like to say? The last words are yours.

Thanks for the interview hydrolis~ Shoutouts to Intel, SteelSeries, MSI, JINX, BigFoot NetWorks, Gigabyte, and Kingston HyperX. Shoutout to all my fans and anyone who supports me or TEAM EG! :D.

(Images courtesy of myEG.net and n0thing's FB Page)