image: bannerecocef3


So i started the day off in work with a choice, build an exchange server.. hmm nah i really couldnt be bothered, so i set out with the task of interviewing players from the teams in this seasons EC, 8 hours later and probably a boss who would be really mad at me if he knew how productive my day had been i give to you my interviews:


Belgium EDiT
Croatia Cortana
Europe kirwa kirwanderin kirwurit
Europe Just TAG
Finland Vicious and Evil
Finland Incomplete!
Germany megaProGaming e-Sports e.V.
Europe Impact Gaming



Belgium Team <O> - Part of 8Bits vs Estonia oxygen - xZone
Netherlands OVERLOAd.X-RAYPAD vs Netherlands team ephix
Europe FatGames vs Europe Oceans6
Germany HighBot vs Europe one4one eSports
France muse-gaming vs France dESIRE
Italy n1ce.it vs Hungary Overdose-Gaming
Poland Fear Factory X-Fi vs Poland Authentic-Gaming
Europe hardMethodgaming vs United Kingdom unKind


What the players have to say about it all[/u]


Netherlands
eVo: your qualifier is against NetherlandsEphix your dutch rivals, how do you feel the game will go and how prepared is your team?
BuLL: We are playing together for more than a week now and were doing ok. We got used to each other and it feels great. I think well prac pretty hard these days, but nothing is sure over here :D

eVo: So what are your thoughts on the ephix team , any players you feel you need to watch out for? Most importantly who is going to win?
BuLL: Yea, we are really scared of NetherlandsRonner and I hope he wont rape us too hard in this match. We are afraid to get overrushed by him and hes the keyplayer of the team for sure.

eVo: So this EC looks to be full of some very strong teams, who is your favorite and can you see any dark horses of the competition?
BuLL: United Kingdomimpact, Finlandvae, Europekkk(if they are active), Belgiumedit (with lio) & Germanympg

eVo: The Belgium EDIT situation has been a great topic of discussion in recent days,
some say that there is no way that BelgiumLio cheated because he is LAN proven and that it must be a bug whereas others have decided he must have been using or had something on his pc that caused this, what are your thoughts on the matter?
BuLL: i think lio is innocent and it makes no sense he used cheats. But Spain doneX is a pain in the ass for so many years now and he likes to get personal.

eVo: ok well good luck in your qualifier and any future EC campaign that you may have.


Netherlands
eVo: ok well lets start off by talking about the direct invites and qualifiers, any surprises there for you or shock inclusions?
Ronner: As with every EC there is bound to be whining from the community about team A or B not deserving a direct invite or even a qualifier etc, but this time around it seems the community is only pissed about Europe bSturz having a qualifier. I think the rest of the invites are ok, dont see many surprises really.

eVo: so you have an all dutch encounter with Netherlands overload, its a fantastic lineup on paper but they underachieved at cdc, how do you feel about this qualifier and whos going to win
Ronner: Lets just hope Netherlands bull is just as drunk as he was vs yermany

eVo: That sounds like your very confident :P What do you think about the standard of the teams in this EC and whats your predictions for top 3 teams
Ronner: Fortunately there are better teams this EC than the previous one so Im hoping we can see some exciting games again, which Im sure we will. My top 3 prediction, hmmm 1. United Kingdom impact, 2. Finland vae, 3. Europekkk

eVo: ok well your a busy man so let me finish by saying good luck against Overload in your qualifier
Ronner: Thanks mate, hope we can qualify. Would be nice to play EC for once at my old age ;-)


United Kingdom
eVo: congratulations on your direct invite, kind of expected but what are your thoughts on the other direcly invited teams, any shock invites that you can see or has CB done a good job in your eyes?
Toxic: Well, the big mistake was clearly adding Europe bsturz, as they are full of cheaters and so on but that decision got revoked and they got replaced by Estonia o2. Rest seems fine, not so sure why Spain azure didnt receive a qualifier but I guess them being the only Spanish team let them down as they seem to prefer having a national qualifier with dezire playing vs muse

eVo: A lot of people have said that Impact are now a weakened team due to the loss of England Sheep a man who Estonia Night has quoted as never happy unless he has armed 5 mines and thrown 4 nades, the Estonian Estonia Reload has been brought in to replace, how do you think this will affect the team going into this campaign?
Toxic: Well, it definetely changes the team as reload and sheep arent exactly the same type of player. Its basically going to be me night and rev doing all the multiclassing, including rifle, while before we had 4 people with iron and sheep, so like this, Id say we have a better balance. Although Sheep is a quality player, spammy as night said, we feel that in adding reload to maus and matti, we have enough firepower to hold them better

eVo: This EC promises to be on the best in recent years with many strong teams in the competition, who do you think are going to be your main rivals and how do you think it will end?
Toxic: Finland Vae are definetely one of the contenders as they are a very very strong Finnish team that have been playin with each other in other clans and Team Finland for ages. The Europe kkk team would be awesome if they prac but wont, will still be up there tho, Germany mPg obviously, last EC winners, Belgium EDiT are always about, damn annoying Belgians, Europe Fatgames if they can blend as a team. Lots of challenges this year, hopefully United Kingdom Impact, Finland vae, Germany mpg will be top 3 in that order

eVo: Ok looking at the EC qualifiers, give me your prediction for who will win the matches and a very brief reason for each of them why
Toxic: ohhhhhh u mother fucker lol
- Europe 8bits, they are better than o2 basically
- Netherlands overload, if they can get their shit sorted unlike the previous krea teams then Im sure it will be an easy win
- Europe Fatgames, strong lineup, will see if they can perform up to the high standards
- Toughie, Ill go for Europe 141 as theyve been very active in the last months
- France muse, no need to give a reason or anything here, they have pumu
- Italy n1ce, mama will kick their asses (see what i did there?!?! )
- Poland Fear Factory - Polish will be Polish, strong lineup, got potential
- United Kingdom unKind, Youll kill me if I say otherwise


eVo: Ok cheers Steve and good luck.


Germany
eVo: Your the current EC champions, this time around there appears to be some strong teams, what are your thoughts on your competition this season?
Snoop: I guess weve got to fight even harder this time to get a top3 spot or even the gold medal in the end. But im pretty sure well do very good if we get enough prac.

eVo: With a lot of teams quoted as contenders for Gold they all seem to be struggling to practice hard, how prepared are MPG going into this?
Snoop: We are the most prepared team of all the top3 favourites and we will keep on praccing much so weve got an advantage since our lineup isnt the very strongest by players.

eVo: Your belgium rivals Belgium EDIT have been struck a blow with the CB Ban of Lio, MPG have a couple of players who have seen this before, what are your thoughts on this?
Snoop: I think its hilarious that CB banned lio because hes obviously not cheating. I always found it stupid to ban lanproofed EC players cause everyone should know that they just tried some stuff on public or have some bugs as lio has.

eVo: With most people suspecting a top 3 of Germany MPG / United Kingdom Impact / Finland VaE are there any other teams out there that you see as a dark horse and would prefer to not meet?
Snoop: Europe Fatgaming (or however they are called :p) and Europe KKK are teams who can reach something in this EC too but Im not affraid to meet any of them since I wanna beat the very best to win the tournament.

eVo: Ok lets test your knowledge now of the lesser teams in the qualifying games :) Predictions on who will win from the qualifiers
Snoop:
Estonia Oxygen
Netherlands overload
Europe fatgames
Europe one4one
France muse
Italy n1ce
Poland FF
Europe hMg


Poland
eVo: Firstly congratulations on receiving a qualifying game, Tell us a bit about the current FF squad, i see you have an old school legend back in the shape of Poland Frag Stealer
Ufol: Hello, the current Fear Factory squad consists both of oldskool and newschool players. This mix is rly doing a good job. Although, Frag had a long break, he is playing rly well, even better than before.Then we have Wrobel-Wiesiek-Templar trio, Last but not least, our sexy fop sOme` and great rifler wiadro, who is really making great progress and me the best knifer around

eVo: :D your qualifier match is against PolandAuthentic, many would say that this team is as dodgy as it comes, what are your thoughts on their lineup and how do you think you will fare against them
Ufol: In my opinion, this match will be a real thriller, nice to watch. Their lineup looks very good on paper, but lets see how their new players will manage to fit into the team. It can go either way, we played each other quite often, but i hope we can win

eVo: FF are a team who are well known in the scene and always tend to do quite well, how far do you think you can go this year and if you were to predict the top 3 who would they be and are you in it?
Ufol: We will do our best to reach the playoffs, later everything can happen. My guess is that Germany mpg and United Kingdom impact will fight for the top spots


Europe
eVo: Tell us a bit about TAG, their current lineup and how you feel it compares to that of the one who won OC premier thus guaranteeing your EC invite
Zerender: as you probably know, we created tag as a pure mixteam, we didnt really prac at all, after the oc signup some people took it more serious and wanted to do tax and stuff ^^ so it became more and more serious. After the big fail on lan we decided to start again with the old lineup, our lineup is not 100% ready yet but it will probably look like: "lightning, hope, overdrive, muditza, NetherlandsTBA, fets, zerender"

eVo: With a direct invite you dont have to worry about qualification so that gives you some more time to prepare, once ready what sort of impact do you think you can make on what looks to be a very tough EC season with some serious competition around
Zerender: well tbh i would still prefer the mix-gaming-style and i dont want to take it serious at all but Im not sharing this point with the others ^^

eVo: lol u have now :P
Zerender: ye but i dont think we will create any big surprises but we should still be able to beat a couple of teams

eVo: onto surprises, who for you is the dark horse of the competition?
Zerender: i think Finland vae will do quite well, dont exactly know whether they are praccing or not but with a bit of preparation they will be easily end up in top3


Finland
eVo: congratulations on your direct invite to EC, tell us a bit about the VaE team and your preperations for the season
Iron: Thanks. We dont have any special preparations for anything, but of course eventually we have to start to play more. We have quite a consistent line up even though we have 7 players. We all know each other already well because were basically Finland Team Finland. As individuals I cant say anything, because theres no need for it.

eVo: very true, its an incredibly strong line up on paper, how far do you think this team can go, are we looking at the next EC champions?
Iron: We dont have any special goals for the season. We just play for fun and it might turn into our advantage. Honestly I have no clue whos going to win this EC, its gonna be exciting at least :p

eVo: What about dark horses, any team or teams that you think will surprise a lot of people with their performances, who do you think could do that?
Iron: Im looking at the team list, and I cant see any dark horses there. Never know ofc.

eVo: Lets look at some of the qualifier games now, can you give me your predictions on the upcoming games:
Iron:
Belgium Team <O> - Part of 8Bits 4:0 Estonia oxygen - xZone
Netherlands OVERLOAd.X-RAYPAD 4:0 Netherlands team ephix
Europe FatGames 4:0 Europe Oceans6
Germany HighBot 0:4 Europe one4one eSports
France muse-gaming 0:4 France dESIRE
Italy n1ce.it 4:0 Hungary Overdose-Gaming
Poland Fear Factory X-Fi 4:2 Poland Authentic-Gaming
Europe hardMethodgaming 0:4 United Kingdom unKind


Italy
eVo: Well done on your EC qualifier, you play against the hungarian team of Overdose, most dont know much about them, what do you know and do you think they will put up a fight ?
Mama: Well Ive played a couple of time vs them ( mostly with the Italy italian lineup while we were praccing for the CDC4 ), and i guess it wont be that easy to beat them like most of the people think, even though we might have got one of the easier qualifier opponents looking at the other teams , but we wont underestimate them

eVo: To those that said ET was dead we now have a EC season with some of the strongest teams in a long time, what are your thoughts on the state of the ET community and the teams competing in EC?
Mama: ET is definitely not dead but its also not in good shape. Many teams dont prac as often as they might have 1-2 years ago. Sometimes its hard to find a decent opponent especially when u try to avoid playing cheaters. Many teams just came back cause they want to play Eurocup and will disappear after it i guess , i wish it would be different but i think thats not gonna happen.

eVo: Which team do you think will be champions of this EC and who will be the runners up?
Mama: My guess is that its gonna be decided between Europe KKK Germany MPG & United Kingdom Impact. No idea who exactly gonna win since we only pracced Germany MPG so far. I think Croatia Cortana could surprise everyone again like they did the last EC


France
eVo: Lets welcome you back to ET, tell us what made you decide to return to the game you have said is "dead" for a long time now? :)
pumu: I stopped gaming last december when i had just started with CoD4 because i knew that i wouldn't have enough time before CDC4 to practise. And now when i have enough time again i thought about playing again, i played CoD4 a bit aswell as ET. But ET was way more fun, didn't play it for almost a year - that's why i also didn't get any bored until now with it. And then seeing all these great new teams with all the old players, i had to come back too!

eVo: you have linked up with France muse gaming, a team that did very well at CDC4, how are things going and are you well prepared for this EC?
pumu: We haven't practised that much yet since the team is reforming at the moment and we did not find our final lineup yet. But i think we will complete this in the next days to start practising for real, cause for now we are just mixing mostly.

eVo: You mentioned all the old faces returning, what do you think has caused this? How do you feel the state of the community is now compared to when you quit the scene a year ago
pumu: Probably lots of them have taken a break from ET as i did and think ET is fun again now, i guess lots of them got bored by the game. About the community - no idea. I have just been back in the scene for approximately one or two weeks. Though there are way more known active "top-players" than a year ago.

eVo: You have a qualifier vs the french team France dESIRE, some have said that they are not the cleanest of teams, what do you know about them and how do you think the match will go?
pumu: To be honest i've never heard of any of their players. But that should not mean a thing since there are also other players which are pretty much at the top now that i never heard of before. I don't know if they cheat, but if they would do it in our game i'm sure they would not come far with it as i trust in Spain donex and his CB anti-cheat crew. And i think that we will win. Though dESIRE is going to recruit Belgium Ganon now i heard.

eVo: hmm so if thats true even more old names resurface. Who do you think is going to be crowned champions and who will be the runners up?
pumu: If they are both active Europe KKK and United Kingdom Impact will go to the Grand Final - i think Europe KKK has more potential in the lineup. Third place might be grabbed by Germany MPG, Finland vae or Europe fatgames.

eVo: ok well thx for your time and gl in EC ;)
pumu: np & shoutout to mout


United Kingdom
eVo: savage thanks for taking the time to do this interview, you just came from from CDC4 where you competed with Europe 8bits and showed to everyone that you are just as good on LAN as your are online, how does that feel to silence the critics?
Savage: Well, I expected to play average, but I did quite well. To be on CDC meeting all the players Ive played with or versus for so many years was just awesome.

eVo: you have now linked up with the predominantly British United Kingdom UnKind squad, how did that come about and how do you feel the team has dealt with the changes since CDC?
Savage: I met the United Kingdom unKind players at CDC, and they impressed me a lot, the teamspirit was just superb, when we in 8bits more or less decided to go different ways unKind felt like the right choice when England Ross asked me. We've had some small changes since CDC4 but nothing major, we got the Portuguese powerhouse Portugal sexyhot and I think he's doing a great job.

eVo: you have a EC qualifying game against Europe hMg, what do you know about them and how do you predict the match will go?
Savage: I know Sweden slajdan and Sweden nordan from Sweden team.sweden and from the very famous clan #disposable. I've played with those 2 for some years now and overall they got a very good squad. I assume it will be a tough game as they got some really good players. But in the end I am more then confident that United Kingdom unKind will be the ones reaching EC. ;)

eVo: this looks to be a very strong EC season, who do you think will come out as champions and who will be runners up
Savage: A tricky question, because as you said this is a very strong EC season. But I do think United Kingdom impact should be able to win the EC crown this year. We got some good teams such as Croatia cortana, Germany mpg and Belgium EDiT though. But from my point of view I guess it would be like following: 1. United Kingdom impact 2. Germany mpg 3. Croatia cortana.


Europe
eVo: Well done on getting a EC qualifier, however i saw a comment on Crossfire from you that basically said lol @ CB, i suspect then maybe you felt a direct invite was deserved or that your disagreed with other invites or qualifiers, what can you tell us about that
Sol: That was more directed at the mix up whereby everyone thought Europe 141 was getting a direct invite. Even still, ClanBase's logic is quite strange at times, I'd say Europe KKK are in the same boat we're in - unproven but with a good lineup, they got a direct invite but we didn't. I'm not that bothered really, I'm no stranger to ClanBase inconsistency!

eVo: well Europe KKK some would argue is basically the old United Kingdom Impact squad under a new name whereas yours is a completely new lineup?
Sol: Their newspost implied that the EC wouldn't be taken too seriously and they've been inactive since the last one, but I'm really not too bothered at all about having to play a qualifier.

eVo: speaking of your qualifier, you have Europe oceans6 next up, what do you know about the team and how do you think the match will go?
Sol: I've never seen them play nor do I know how actively they play, certainly not going to underestimate them though!

eVo: Some would say Europe fatgames are a dark horse in this competition, how has your preperations gone and how far do you think you can go?
Sol: I'm not really sure how far we can go. Our activity is limited to about 3 nights per week due to Estonia Holz's work and Germany urtier playing ET:QW, that suits the rest of us though as none of us want to overdo it. On the nights we do play we try to get some solid practice in though. I think we might do quite okay if things start clicking, we're a way off yet though

eVo: Its a strong looking EC season, potentially the strongest in a long time, its obviously good for the community but what do you think has caused such a change?
Sol: There's always that happy and giddy '<3 ET' feeling after a good LAN and the aftermath of CDC4 was no exception. Having said that, I think the good turnout this ET might be somewhat overstated - Europe KKK already said they won't be too active, United Kingdom impact also aren't very active, there are probably a few others who aren't going to be taking things too seriously, so it might not be the EC everyone expects.


Belgium
eVo: The standard EC questions just aren't going to work here for Belgium EDIT as i am sure you can imagine so i will start another way, you recently picked up a CB ban for a gamehack during one of your recent games, its been the talk of the scene for the past week, can you give us any update on this, any actions you may have since taken etc?
Lio: Well obviously I have done anything I could to prove I haven't touched any cheat, this includes sending multiple tickets to evenbalance, asking known people from the community to help me out with the case. Unfortunately, everyone from the community is always saying they hate cheats but when someone gets kicked, it&#8217;s like a media fest going on with everyone wanting to say a word instead of being just sad about what happened, at least that&#8217;s what I would be if some well known player gets kicked for something what could be a hack. I'm still hoping this case gets solved so I can still play the upcoming EC with my team.

eVo: I suspect most of the community is also hoping that, should the worst happen however what will that mean for Belgium EDIT, we have already seen posts saying you have disbanded, i assume you therefore hope to fight this action now but if you are unsuccessful, is that the end of the road for EDIT or will we see someone else step up to replace you?
Lio: Well I have told the guys that I want to see them finish this EC season, and we are somewhat hoping that I won't get kicked from esl for the same reason as I did on clanbase. Altho I don't know who will be the person that would replace me in that situation and I don't know if they would still want to play without me as I have been the in game leader of Belgium edit from the very beginning. Anyway, in my view if EDiT doesn't play cuz of me not getting unbanned we are just letting those guys win that did this to me.

eVo: a very good point, so lets take a different approach, lets assume this matter gets cleared up and Belgium EDIT continue, the last EC season you achieved silver, but you had the powerhouse that was Belgium mAus, since then you have improved and are now seen to be the key to EDIT's success at CDC and if you are to achieve more in EC, how far can you go?
Lio: Well for us personally, I think team play wise without Belgium mAus we might just be a bit better, players like Netherlands abort and Belgium snot tend to look on revives a bit more then frags like Belgium mAus does, attacking wise this is good for us but defending wise of course without Belgium mAus we might sometimes miss the 'big' aimer in our team to damage up teams when necessary. Altho looking at all the line ups this year, I must say I really hope I will be able to play this eurocup, I have participated in many eurocups already but this season, with all the teams I have seen signing up this might just become the best eurocup ever in my opinion. Any spot in the top 5 should be do-able if we get our things together.

eVo: It says a lot about ET and the scene currently when we see such a strong Eurocup after many wrote the game off as dead, what do you think has if at all turned it around for ET?
Lio: Well for one of the first times again Clanbase is gonna give some prizemoney for this seasons eurocup aswell as ESL coming back with some money aswell. Things like this just make the game atractive, especially for the high skilled players that were on a break. I think they see their chance now to actually win something back for all the time they have played the game.

eVo: Ok lets look at the qualifiers now and see if you can predict the winners for the matches:
Europe Team <O> - Part of 8Bits vs Estonia oxygen - xZone
Lio: Both teams have been playing together for a while now, its to close to call but as most players from team <O> have been at cdc already I will give them that little advantage of being more experienced.. 4-2

eVo: Netherlands OVERLOAd.X-RAYPAD vs Netherlands team ephix
Lio: Well odds are saying OVERLOAd all the way if you look at the players but we know what happened at cdc thinking this way. If OVERLOAd start practicing then I see them winning this otherwise Netherlands Ronner the baldie is gonna send them right back home with a clear 4-0 ;D.

eVo: Europe FatGames vs Europe Oceans6
Lio: If Scotland razz is back playing up to his usual skill level then he will be a major factor to this game. If so then Oceans6 will win with a small difference altho I hope for the guys of FatGames they will be able to pull this one off for their new organisation.. And the fact of having players like kot and urtier must count for something as well 2-4

eVo: Germany HighBot vs Europe one4one eSports
Lio: I think HighBot has guys that have known eachother for a long time playing together again, it must be a great feeling for these guys to be able to compete in a eurocup again. It will be up to one4one to prove they deserve a place with the greats of this game. 4-2

eVo: France muse-gaming vs France dESIRE
Lio: I don't know why but I'm kind off a fanboy of these muse guys, they seem to be a great and consistent team for a while now, I can't really give an objective opinion on this one, I hope muse can pull this one off.

eVo: plus they added the deadly Germany pumu
Lio: they did ? rofl :DD add: muse is going to win EC

eVo: Italy n1ce.it vs Hungary Overdose-Gaming
Lio: I don't know any, but really not even 1 player of Overdose-Gaming so it would surprise me if these guys are going to win against a n1ce side that have been playing on a decent level for a long while already. If they would pull of this win I can only add 1 thing: GAMEHACK!

eVo: Poland Fear Factory X-Fi vs Poland Authentic-Gaming
Lio: Watching the line ups at first I would say Authentic is gonna win unless Fear Factory have actually been praccing abit for the game and gathered some teamplay which they had loads of in the past.. 2-4

eVo: ok and last but not least: Europe hardMethodgaming vs United Kingdom unKind
Lio: No question about it, maps will be radar and adler and Wales sqzz is gonna strafe the docs home in both maps with a time less than 4 mins, his stats will be 0-14 but he will have won the game for his team!

eVo: : D lmao, well thanks for the interview, i would like to wish you the best of luck in your appeal and we hope to see Belgium EDIT continue in this EC
Lio: no problem, i only hope for the best, shoutout to everyone for once :P


Croatia
eVo: Congratualtions to you and Croatia cortana on a direct invite to this seasons EC, do you feel its deserved and what can you tell me about the team and how its EC preparations are going?
Frozz: Currently we are doing just regular praccs, although some of them would like to play even more, but is not possible because Croatia aCoZz and me doesn't want to play that much. :>

eVo: so i would imagine your like many other direct invites then who have also not started to practice hard yet, as you say due to longevity in the squad you have an advantage, some would say that makes you a dark horse for the competition, would you agree and if so how far if not all the way do you expect to go?
Frozz: Yes, I think we have an advantage towards other new teams, because we are intensively playing together for ~3 years. Some even more, for example, I used to play with Croatia calisto in our first clan called MadBeavers, somewhere in October 2003. We might be a dark horse for this EC, but that could be a lot of the other teams too, because this EuroCup looks strong and if top teams will pracc enough it will be exciting to see who will win it. I hope we will be around 5th place, just like we did in last EuroCup and if we repeat that result I think we ll be satisfied because this EC is stronger than the last one, as I said few lines above. Maybe we can go even further, but who knows, only time will tell.

eVo: So you mentioned top 5, who will be the teams in there and who will be the eventual winner?
Frozz: Hmmm, hard to predict, but my top 5 would be Europe kkk, Europe Fatgames, United Kingdom Impact, Finland vae and Croatia us :P. I would also like to mention Germany mpg (haven't seen them playing yet), Belgium EDiT (don't know how will lio's departure affect on their teamplay) and Finland Incomplete (fins are always able to make a nice surprise). It's hard to say who&#8217;ll be in top5, but these would be my top 8 teams. And as an eventual winner, I ll say Europe Fatgames, because there line up looks quite promising and they surely have a lot of experience, they just have to train a lot, if they wanna win this EC. If they won't take it so serious, I would go for United Kingdom Impact.


Europe
eVo: ok firstly congratulations on your EC qualifier, its been a busy couple of days for you after you found out you would be playing against Europe bSturz, thats now been rectified and you will play Estonia o2 instead, how do you feel about your qualifier game and your new opponent?
Worm: First of all thanks, and I'd like to thank the EC admins as well, since they had the guts to remove Europe bSTURZ from EC. We're pretty happy that this happened, just to clear the EC from those online only players. Facing Estonia o2 is (I think) positive, although they're a stable team. They got their deserved invite, so we surely shouldn't underestimate them. With players such as LudA and anim they have got a lot of experience as well

eVo: You have rebuilt your team since CDC4, how does this new team compare to your old lineup?
Worm: Tough question, CDC is still a huge difference than playing online. With the CDC team we had a lot more potential than our final rank showed, but we just didn't play enough for that, for several reasons. This (pretty) newly formed team is improving a lot every day, the good thing is that the motivating and team spirit is very high right now. And with players like Belgium jetro and Belgium dAv1d (magic backup) for example we have the individual skill which is needed to be just that bit better than the others. This team compared to the previous one - this team is more teamplay-based I think, the other one was pretty much aim-based. We'll see if it works out well. Let's hope for the best :P.

eVo: So how far do you think you can go, what would you be happy with and who do you think the eventual EC winner will be?
Worm: Actually just getting in EC at first (by winning the quali) is the main thing. If we already do that, and then just play solid games (and maybe surprise some teams), I think we'll be happy :P. My personal top 3: United Kingdom Impact / Europe KKK / Finland vae or Germany mPg.

eVo: Ok thanks for taking the time to do the interview and gl in your match
Worm: Ye gl to United Kingdom unkind aswell! And shoutout to my teammates, and ofc the Europe 8bits management.


Europe
eVo: well Hype congrats on your EC qualify, this will be your first ever experience on EC, some would say its a long time coming, how do you feel and how do you think your game will go?
Hype: Well, I must admit it is nice to finally get there but I'm more delighted for the team. I think there's a really nice team here, especially in terms of the balance and individual experience. About our opponent, no doubt that Europe FatGames have a great bunch of individually skilled players who have all played at the highest level, on paper they are probably the best team in the qualifiers but we prefer being the underdogs going into this one, it injects more motivation into us and we will strive to overcome them and pull off a great upset.

eVo: Tell us how your preperations for EC are going and how far should you win your qualifier you believe you can go in what appears to be one of the hardest EC seasons in a long time
Hype: Well, I haven't really followed many Eurocups to be honest with you but there does always seem to be only 2-3 great teams. This season there is indeed alot more and I think it will be an interesting one. As for our preparations, for now it's going to be tough as United Kingdom FaTaL is living it up in Portugal and is not back until Friday and Norway Lakaii is moving back home for Easter to visit his family, so the only way we can play this week is if Scotland razz and Finland besche are available. Assuming we win our qualifier, how far we can get in this tournament will be directly correlated with how much we practise, at the moment everyone seems motivated and ready so I think we can do well but also depends on how tough our group will be :P


Thanks to everyone for taking the time to answer these questions, this is my EC preview, i'm not a CB admin or similar however i hope we can all appreciate that coverage in ET is very important and we can all do our bit.