Once it was better, once it was worse, just like in every family. In most cased we were able to separate the game from outside matters, and you can?t hide that in the long run, this type of atmosphere will affect your game. - this is how Filip "NEO" Kubski explains the reasoning behind the changes in his team. We welcome you to a talk with the best player of the last decade.

After two years spent in foreign organizations you have made your return to a Polish organization. Can you describe the feeling, playing in an organization of your native country?

As you can see from how often we would change which foreign organizations we were representing over the past two years, we haven't had the best success outside of Poland. Only with Meet Your Makers everything was the way it was supposed to be (at least at the beginning), where it was better than we could have imagined. At the very end, as always we ran into problems, our salaries didn't always come in, and we lost contact with the organizations. Communication between the players and the organization was always a problem. When complications arise - contact with managers and sponsors was practically impossible - when someone didn't want to explain delays in payments, debts, and what we were promised, they stopped talking to us. Until recently we still were trying to fight for the money we were owed from all the organizations we were with over the past two years.

We have huge hopes for Frag eXecutors - to find stability, meaning, something which we haven't had for the past year. - Filip 'Neo' Kubski

An additional scandal are the winnings from tournaments which to this day, no one has any idea if they will be paid out. When we heard from the organizers that we won the tournament being tied to another organization so the money from our victory should go to that organization, I have to admit, that in some cases we gave up and lost hope to gain anything. Our comeback to a Polish organization means much more to us than it may seem. We have huge hopes for Frag eXecutors - to find stability, meaning, something which we haven't had for the past year. Additionally, we are happy that this is a Polish organization. By playing for foreign organizations it might have seemed like we were non-existent in our native e-sport scene - let us hope that this will change along with our return.

Can you tell me how much more or less organizations and event organizers owe you?

From the ones we will rather not receive - ESWC 2008, CPL, and maybe EM in LA and Dubai in which we took part in still as MYM - this will be 55 thousand dollars. From the ones which are still supposed to come, meaning EM Global and Continental Finals in 2008, WCG, KODE5, EM Dubai, WEM - which comes out to $70,000. I'm looking over the fact of our salaries, which we haven't gotten yet from MYM, Wicked, as well as Vitriolic from which we could have $10,000.

You chose the offer of Frag eXecutors, however it is no secret that other Polish organizations were after your team. Why did you choose Fx?

Fx's offer seemed the most serious out of all of the other offers we received. We have known this organization for many years, and their proposal was supported by their many year activity and certain stability, which like I mentioned, we were looking for. Additionally, they put the best offer on the table, specifically the opportunity to go to many international events - which we expect of any organization. Now we can only wait to see if the words will turn into actions, or if they will only remain as words. It is unfortunate that I must admit that after so many failures with organizations, we approach any proposition very suspiciously and because of this Fx might have some troubles with us, however, I hope that after a short period of time we will be able to talk it out and form an ideal team.

One of the main reasons you left from PGS two years ago was the drive to be able to attend the largest number of international events possible. Currently, can Fx guarantee you such trips?

PGS, as is known everywhere, was our first serious organization with which we signed contracts. With time, when we started to get results on the international arena, our ambitions grew, and we wanted to participate in all of the ongoing international events. Unfortunately, PGS wasn't able to meet our demands at that time, and additionally we received a few interesting offers. Matters went in this direction and not another, and now, laden with new experiences, international events have become our main demand in signing contracts. We already have a preliminary list of tournaments that will take place this year to which our new organization plans to send us. Also, I can openly say that we have a few interesting guaranteed trips in 2010.

Readers are probably interested in the circumstances and when you made the decision to sign contracts with Fx. Can you familiarize us a little more with the backstage talks of the negotiation process?

We commenced talks surprisingly early - even before joining Vitriolic, who we planned on playing for until the end of 2009 until we wanted to start working with Fx in 2010. Our plan was almost ideal - the one issue was the sudden backing out of our new organization. I have to admit, that we really believed that such a small unknown organization like Vitriolic could be a bulls eye. When we were in Dubai as Vitriolic, after talks and the promises we received from one of the representatives of the team, it was definitely going through all of our minds that we could work for much longer with these people. Unfortunately, reality quickly came back and we were brought down to earth. However, other than this "small" incident, our plan to work with Fx has worked and we are back on the road to our plan to take over the e-sports world.

We commenced talks even before joining Vitriolic. - Filip 'Neo' Kubski

Does your return to your native country mean that the gaming community will again be able to take part in various events with your presence? Specifically by this I mean certain projects you have done in the past such as the ones you did while at PGS ? the opportunity to play with you guys etc.?

Definitely yes. I must admit, that already in MYM I missed the promotional events and promoting e-sports in Poland. This was caused by the fact that our organizations were not interested in working in our country. Only MYM had some kinds of plans to get into the Polish market, but as we all know, those plans quickly ended. From what I know, Fx plans to organize these types of events with us in the main role. The only thing that is left is to see what ideas will come up for these promotional events!

Staying on the topic of your projects, what can you tell us about Guns Are Drawn - for a long time everyone thought this would be your new team. Can you tell us something more about this, what is GAD?

Guns Are Drawn will be a platform thanks to which young gamers and clans will be able to gain experience from not only the sports aspect such as - guides, decision making, tactics in written and video form - but also the organizational aspect. The authors of the project predict certain types of situations, and will in a simple to understand manner explain what is the best way to market your team, gain sponsors, and how to make simple and complex marketing decisions. Everything is presented in a very friendly way, and put together by the proper experienced individuals.

A question which I must ask, I am certain that all of your fans have been awaiting this answer. After four years of playing together, you have said your goodbye?s with Łukasz "LUq" Wnęk. Can you explain the reasoning behind this decision?

A lot of our fans are probably shocked by this decision. To answer this question I really have to say a lot. I can start from what happened over a year ago, when we tried to take certain steps to improve our level of play. Our form was a bit unstable - once we were able to win a tournament with great competitors, and in the next moment we would crash in the group phase. Evidently something was not right. In the beginning it first fell onto LUq, and the next day the whole world was saying that it was actually kuben who will be replaced. As you can see, already then we had something in our heads that our squad was not the way it was supposed to be. After Dreamhack Winter 2008, we saw however how much kuben meant for our team, and that without him we aren't better.

As it is already known, our squad quickly went back to its original form, and we ourselves came to the conclusion that maybe it wasn't a problem with our squad, but a problem with us individually - training, approach, and motivation. Another year went by and the situation repeated itself. Our ambitions did not necessarily turn into results, new theories were formed, and we came to the conclusion that maybe we do need something new after all. It's worth noting also, that fnatic showed us all that roster changes sometimes bring great results, and don't necessarily mean that different has to be worse. Late in the year, again we were debating on what to change in our squad. We went to China with Pasha, with whom we had the chance to already play with at ENC in Germany. He has a very similar play style to Łukasz, and I think we saw a certain occasion to make a change, without having a huge effect on our style of play.

Pasha has a very similar play style to Łukasz, and I think we saw a certain occasion to make a change, without having a huge effect on our style of play. - Filip 'Neo' Kubski

I also think, that we can stop hiding that a huge part of the transfer was because of certain problems inside the team between a few players for quite a long time. Once it was better, once it was worse, just like in every family. In most cased we were able to separate the game from outside matters, and you can't hide that in the long run, this type of atmosphere will affect your game.

Łukasz has been replaced by Jarek "pasha" Jarząbkowski. It is many people's opinion that he will not be able to fill in the gaps left behind by Łukasz. Do you think Jarek will be able to grow into your team?

You know, after such a long period of time playing with one squad, Jarek has a tough job ahead of him. After so many years of spending every day with each other, practice after practice, you can say we have our own jokes and ways of behaving which are only understood by us. Just like in game - our opinions and the way we look at things are similar in many ways, and we have our own ways of dealing with things created from all these years of training. An additional complication could be the pressure which lies on Jarek from all of the fans and viewers - everyone expects that right away he will represent the same, or even a higher level of play than Łukasz.
In my opinion however, as I mentioned, the factor working on Pasha's side is his play style, which is very similar to LUq's style of play. Just like his predecessor, he is a sniper, and he knows how to work with a team very well. I think that when it comes to this, Jarek has an easier task. It will be harder for him to assimilate amongst such nerds, which we must admit we are. He is one of the most positive individuals I have had the opportunity to meet in life, and I think that it could be easier than we all think. I even think that Jarek will bring in much positive energy, thanks to which we will also learn a lot.

I know that other than Jarek you looked at other players to fill the vacant spot in your roster among them one other member of D-Link PGS. How were you convinced that Pasha was indeed the correct choice?

We learned from our own mistakes and we didn't want to commit a similar mistake like we did last year. Back then we replaced a player whose tactical contributions were huge for Pionas who was another sniper. It's worth reminding yet again, that originally Pionas was supposed to replace LUq. However, this is not what ended up happening, we were not happy from the effects and now we didn't want to make the same mistake again. Replacing Łukasz, we needed someone with a similar style of play, and Jarek matched up to this plan ideally. Of course we took in consideration other players, but Pasha in our opinion was clearly the best candidate.

I think that when it comes to this everything is already clear. Let?s go back to your plans for this year - where will we see you guys next?

At the current moment we are eyeing a slot for the EM Global Finals. As we all know, we didn't have a successful event in Germany. At the end of the competition we did however win an additional match with the German team Alternate, which gave us the ninth place finish and a reserve spot. If one of the teams won't be able to show up at the finals, than we will most likely receive a slot at the tournament. Unfortunately at this time, the chances for this are quite slim. Other than EM, we would like to take part in some kind of DreamHack, GameGune, we hope to compete at ESWC, and of course the WCG Finals. If in the meantime something interesting comes up, we will definitely go there.

Let's focus on the Polish e-sports scene - a few days ago cybersport.pl announced a complete new form of competition. The leagues decision has spurred many comments and much criticism - what do you think of the new decisions made by the league regarding the competition format?

We want to take part in ESWC because of its prestige. - Filip 'Neo' Kubski

I must admit, I'm not completely educated on the new regulations of the league, but I don't think this will stop us in any way from competing in the league. We train a lot, and we are available almost on every single day of the week. So the problem doesn't directly affect us, doesn't bother me.

ESWC is has returned, and everything is leaning towards the fact that we will see eliminations in Poland. Will you be competing for your third championship at this event?

Of course yes. Although we still haven't received our winnings from ESWC 2008, we will still be competing at this tournament because of its prestige.

Other than playing for Fx, ahead of you have two essential national team tournaments. In ClanBase Nation's Cup all of you are playing except for Wiktor "taz" Wojtas, and a similar situation will probably be seen in ENC. What are your chances for repeating your success from 2006?

At the current moment, CS stands at such a level that every top team has a chance to win. Since in my opinion I think we are such a team, I consider that we have every chance to make a victory possible. We will have to apply ourselves, but if we do we will win everything. You only need the desire!

Translated by: Max "mki" Kieturakis