Six years of RazZ!

As part of the November ET-Cast we are bringing you an interview with the well known UK player rAzZ, we hope to bring you many more interviews as a part of ET-Cast in the future!

Hello Razz, please introduce yourself and let everyone know who you are outside of the gaming world.

Hello, I am Druwyn Fraser from Scotland Inverness. I am 19 years old nearly 20. I have been a Gardener for the last 3 years now since I left school. I spend a lot of time chilling out with my mates, playing football and I've had a girlfriend for nearly 3 years now who I spend quite alot of my time with.


Where did you think of the name 'razz'?

I started on publics with the name RaZeR, shortly after renamed to razz when I got a clan ( Mutilation in 2004). Have played with this name ever since then only changing the capitals every now and then. :P


How did you come across ET and was it your first FPS multiplayer?

My first FPS multiplayer game was Unreal Tournament which I played from the age of 8 until I was around 13. I discovered Enemy Territory through two of my uncles who were both into online games, started to play it a bit and became addicted like everyone else who loves it.


Who were your first 'competitive' ET team? Who would you say you enjoyed playing the most with and why?

My first competitive teams would have been from 2005, like Rewind, uQ/Reason/141, Helix etc, the most competitive team of them would have to be one4one, we were playing all day long, any format, even trickjumping and random stuff on private servers lol :P

Next to 141 would definitely have to be Evolve (aka polar eSports, Junk52) competing in EC XV. We worked very hard to win it and the competition was not a walk through, the playoffs had great teams like TLR, pro5, Fear Factory etc that we had to beat, who I believe were all in great shape at the time :) Some players still idolise these teams to this day, being able to compete against them when they were all performing awesome felt great especially once we won EC.

Quote by ClanBase EuroCup XV Playoffs

Dignitas
INTEL d.JaKaZc
INTEL d.kot
INTEL d.Night
INTEL d.r3vers
INTEL d.RELOAd
INTEL d.senji
INTEL d.sol
INTEL d.urtier
Evolve
evolve. Azatej
evolve. future
evolve. perfo
evolve. rAZz
evolve. sNoOp
evolve. sqzz
evolve. toxic
evolve. XyLoS
Fear Factory X-Fi
FF-JC X-Fi
FF-r1co` X-Fi
FF-sMi X-Fi
FF-S4rna X-Fi
FF-wiesiek X-Fi
FF-Wrobel X-Fi
Impact
M1lk'i
mystic'i
Mztik'i
Raveneye'i
teKoa'i
Tiigeri'i
Xpaz'i
Insignia Cadre
cadre/cadein
cadre/chmpp
cadre/kmble
cadre/lettu
cadre/MulSu
cadre/Squall
cadre/twidi
pro5
p5'butchji
p5'drago
p5'gifty
p5'Hatred
p5'kErAn
p5'potter
p5'RamiN
p5'rapture
p5'_shy
The Last Resort
TLR{ aCoZz
TLR{ Clown
TLR{ dAv1d
TLR{ marv
TLR{ mAus
TLR{ Winghaven
Vicious & Evil
v&e.fireBall
v&e.gotti
v&e.Iron
v&e.phobeus
v&e.Sheep
v&e.vegi

The team I’ve enjoyed playing the most with has got to be the one4one team with me, Mztik, sqzz, syK, overboost, h20xyg3n, FaTaL, con and CrozZ (uQ -> Reason -> one4one) mainly because of how we had structured our teamplay in every match, we were always very active on comms and we just seemed to have the perfect balance of players who trusted each other and knew exactly what to do when a team mate was in a bad situation. I had played with these guys for a long time and we had a lot of fun together, those times are probably my best in ET and I miss that a lot.


You left one4one for Team Helix (aka Rewind) in November 2005, around 6 months later you were busted for rivatuner and disallowed from playing most cups, was this frustrating at all?

Well yeah, of course, I was annoyed that I got banned but if I was in the position all the leagues were in I'd ban a player caught with rivatuner too. The only frustrating part of it was that cas said he'd asked admins if it was allowed or not because he used it in NC and they said it's fine, so I didn't feel weird at all for using it in the 3on3 that I got busted for. But shit happens, I came back from my long ban and I'm still playing.


How does it feel to have played so many times for the UK? As well as being the only British player along with sqzz to have placed top3 twice in CB NC (VIII 2005 & XIII 2010)?

It always feels good playing under your nations tag, and Nations cup is one of the most important things for me and most players who manage to play it so yeah it’s great to have been part of the team that placed 3rd twice, even if Team UK never live up to the expectations the names on paper give :)


6on6 and 5on5 - Which do you prefer and why?

Hard question, I think 6on6 was way more fun back in the day but sadly ET came to a stage where competition began to decline, but I think 6on6 was the better out of the two because i could play my rambo style, which would never really cripple a team back then. Sometimes it can pay off in 5on5 format but if it goes wrong you're screwed, nobody wants to take the blame for losing a round/map/stage because of a fullspawn. Generally I think people just stay safe now, whereas in 6on6 you could take those chances and not be afraid of consequences to losing 1 player for a spawn.

In 6on6 everyone was always trying to think of new tactics and ideas to beat a new opponent, people would experiment new ways to attack and defend in practises and would put private time into trying new things like trickjumps etc. In 5on5 I doubt anybody really does it at all, everyone pretty much bases their game on what people have done in the past which is not good at all for the activity and thrill that ET once had. That's the reason why people are getting bored of maps like supply because everyone attacks and defends the same way, at least in 6on6 you would see something different once in a while.

It seems to me that in the current format nobody is trying anything too risky and it's not really the same game for older players who return to compete, though I mentioned everyone bases their tactics on those from the past, I think it will still be hard for those old legends to return and adapt to how ET currently is - very aim based and nowadays if your opponent gets something as simple as a 3man frag against you, your defense for that stage or the attack for that spawn could be completely ruined, under most circumstances anyway.


There was a lot of controversy toward the end of NC XIII with Kamz stepping down as UK Captain and leaving the team, rumours were that he was unwilling to play with you and sqzz who left colt45 for Impact at the beginning of an EC season - is there any in-depth story behind this and how is the relationship between you three currently?

Basically, sqzz left colt45 for Impact for whatever reason he had and made me the offer to go with him, saying that they’d like me to. So I joined Impact ( Kamz stepped down as UK Capt. at this point) and after this I was also removed from the list of top players for the ‘This is ET’ allstar movie made by Kamz, which is understandable after leaving colt45. Some time later I fell out with eVo (I didn't agree with everything that happened that season), obviously leaving Impact, after a short period I got asked back into colt45 to finish the EC & EMS Season.

Even though a lot went on during that Spring, me, Kamz and sqzz are still talking and playing regularly, nothing has really affected us and we’re still the same friends we’ve been for many years, just a few random hiccups but none of us really care that much about the little things when it comes down to it.


What can you honestly say is your favourite/best achievement in ET?

I would say my favourite achievement in ET were those with uQ/141/Reason. It was the first time practise ever paid off for me, since I didn’t really have many serious teams before joining them (maybe Rewind), we worked really hard to win the CB Summercup 2005 ( ultimate Quest), ET Cup #1 ( one4one) and the ETNation.co.uk Cup ( Reason Gaming) so I think that’s my “proudest” moment. Other than that I’m happy to have won/competed in so many skilled competitions.


Has there ever been a team or player who inspired you?

When I was young I always thought *BiO* were the best clan ever and in 2004 when I was only a kid (like 13 :D) I got the chance to join them, it felt so great to be playing with a bunch of skilled players even though I was just a noob.


Razz, you've just finished EC and EMS with MVP, placing 3rd in the CB EuroCup and 4th in the ESL Major Series - as a team you guys have surprised the community with some of your results, are you satisfied with how you guys have performed this season, did you expect better or worse when the team was formed and are you happy with your placing?

I'm very proud of how we've performed this season, we started off abit shaky, but now we're taking good teams in officials and giving hard matches to teams who you'd expect to completely bash us. I'm very happy with our placing in both tournaments and even though I think we could have given TLR much harder games when they knocked us out I'm still pleased with the team! Aside from how we've performed I love playing with everyone in the team, bunch of great guys and it's cool to spend free time with them :)


Best player?
Mztik or XyLoS

Nicest player?
eujen

Best ET Team?
one4one (uQ.2005) or Evolve

Fop or Medic?
I like both the classes equally in certain maps, I prefer taking a certain class but I can mostly deal with any class.

Favourite Fragmovie?
Welcome to ET by sock - when it came out it really illustrated how thrilling ET really is, it gave a great feeling when I first saw it and also motivated me when I was feeling bad about playing some seasons, it just had that impressive vibe that I really love to see in a fragmovie :)

This is ET by Kamz - simply amazing and shows how superb people can become with effort. I loved the frags, editing, cams and the movie in general!

Music genre?
A bit of everything, but mostly Oasis, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kings of Leon and bands like that.

Favourite 3on3 team?
I have a couple so this is a hard one, I think had the most fun playing in Queens but I also loved my other 3on3 clans such as defix, pwn-team, mita ajan? and Mutilation. I love 3on3 and it's the best way (for me) to keep my aim in shape, which is kinda hard because of the aim-based competition nowadays.

Thanks to?
Everyone who's keeping this game alive keep up the good work and don't ever let ET die! And Artstar for the interview :P

RazZ Trailer by razerr
one4one Decimated - Trailer by -Max-
Razz vs violence by indu
razz the egoboost by sNoOp
Fragarea 2 by quaky