Speedlink Trigger talks to Crossfire about how where and why the CoD scene has been in such a state of flux competitively, despite one of the most active competitive scenes.

Speedlink have possibly been the only team to have enjoyed a period of dominance in the CoD2 scene, from Netgamez 2005 to the TeK-9 lan this Summer winning Eurocup along the way. Speedlink ruled the roost whilst many others struggled to find their feet. Dignitas lacked compassion and consistency, TmG (check6) were still infant in their road to glory so it was left to an infallible Speedlink to reclaim their place on top of the pile that they once had under the Ocrana brand in CoD1.

Wonderbase, all be it without the Germans, crowned the 5th different champion (logitech) in 5 straight events. These teams that have risen to fame and glory have come at the expense of Speedlink and the germans have been knocked back down to ground. So why has this gone on? Where have our lovable Germans gone! And what the heck is going on in the CoD2 competitive tree!

Why do you think you haven’t won since TeK-9?
Quote Its hard to describe. If we would know it, everything would be cool and we could go for it again. But its simple that we don’t have a clue. Personally i think its about our spirit and day-performance of players on LANs. Not about cheating online or whatever, for sure not. But as soon as we are on a LAN, its not the same as online again. Our performance is way under our normal and thats the thing we have to work on


Screaming yyyunnnngggs doesn’t have the same effect anymore?
QuoteWell its motivating for the first step but the spirit overall is missing. On MILK we did a great job till the hard fights. Some Players couldn’t get into the game again and we werent fully concentrated anymore. Also i think we got some problems lately to just play straight away, even if we are not leading by the score as soon as we have a 3-6 or summit, we dont have much ideas to change somethings and our tactics aren’t changing that much. Thats a prob we can work on i guess, for the others i dont have a clue.


Does it ever cross your mind to change players?
QuoteJust after events like EC Finals and MILK we surely thought about changing. But overall we know it wont help, even more i would say we are done then anyway. If u change one of the main guys into that roster, playing 1-3 years together now allready, it will split up. For me was the question "Gaming or no Gaming" actually, aswell and it took me a while to know what I want. Yet, I’m not 100 % sure but within 1 month ill know more. Maybe I will go on and play or ill just cut it. Sounds like a normal question, but to answer it is really damn hard.


Speaking about you personally then, how does each defeat effect your motivation? You say you've contemplated quitting, did this ever cross your mind after winning TeK-9?
Quote For sure not. The only thing I’m thinking about quitting is to lose more and more. I know, its kinda sad to say "I wont play anymore cause of loosing". But I’m just a person who cant handle loses. Its hard for me to see us loosing 3 events straight behind, also if a 2nd and 3rd place isn’t really loosing, it feels like it. After we won everything over month from beginning of cod2 it feels kinda shit to just lose now. Thats the main part why i would quit.


Now for CoD in general, when Dignitas beat you at Crossfire it looked like they had what it took to evolve and grow into a dominant position. What went wrong for them?

Quote Uhm I don’t know. That win on Crossfire was "a bit lucky". Everyone knows that dignitas is a good team and got really nice players. In the End they won because of 2x 1on1s, if we would have won both and not lost both, we would have won that tournament. It was a bit unlucky, but they played really good aswell, so thats fine how it is. I talked with Mick after that event and we discussed a bit about both teams. I felt that dignitas with an all UK Lineup is way better then a europe mix, eventhough their UK Lineup was as good as the skill from the European Lineup.


Serious, DigitalMind, TeK-9, can any of these go on to win the next event over you or dignitas?

QuoteSure, why not? They did it in the past, why not again. CoD2 is open for new teams who put work into the gaming, everything can happen up on the Top. dM and serious I personally dont see as good as tek9, dM we could handle really good on MILK LAN and serious I would say was just on a go for EC Finals, but still they can do much and win stuff, Its not anymore a Top2 or Top3 like before with x6, dig and SL. Now the Top5 decide the first spot, the way it should be. Even though I don’t like it cause the chance to lose is higher then, its the perfect way for a good competition game.


Does this not motivate you as a player and as a team to improve and a reach and even harder goal? One maybe that hasn’t existed in cod1 and 2 before
QuoteMaybe it does a bit. But for me its more de-motivating then motivating to see other teams winning over us, even if i give 100 % or more. But maybe i can accept sometime that games aren’t made to only win, but also to take loses. It will take some time, but maybe I will get it sometime :P


Who do you expect to see win the next event? (lets just pretend all the big names are going)
QuoteWell as far as i know the next Event will be "PlayZ 2" in Sweden. Dignitas, Logitech, Tek9 etc will be all there i guess and it will hard to say who will win it. Everything is open and thats why I cant say anything exactly.


What are your thoughts on the current play style of CoD? 1 Map MR15 is in this interviewers opinion, unfulfilling to CoD's potential, do you agree less MR and more maps? And if so how many from each
QuoteI really like MR15. Sure, more Maps are good anyway, but I don’t think we will get some good or even decent new Maps in the future. Wonderbase used the Mr12 mode, maybe thats also a good thing. 10 is too less in my opinion, its way more fun to play 15. Never tried 12, only in CS, but I wouldn’t say no to 12 as well