His name speaks for himself. He is the keyplayer in Norways' Counter-Strike: Source scene, but he always stayed down to earth. We are obviously talking about warclown. During his career he was playing for many famous organizations all around europe, for example Reason-Gaming, who recruited the famous team of eSuba after warclown left. Another team was crossed, a mixture of the old fnatic players together with warclown and his close friend Leffa. Although crossed had the money to tighten the team, the idea of mixing five top player failed. This is the reason why we caught up with warclown talking with him over the past, the present and the future.

mymTw: Hello Warclown, a few days ago the community noticed that you were building up a new team. Could you please tell us more about the idea behind that team and something about the players itself?

Simen "warclown" Henriksen: "Good day! Well after playing in Reason Gaming for approximately 10 months, I know how a team should work - I started crossed with the dutch fnatic players and some of my mates. After playing there for a while I soon realized that the team wouldnt work, because we had different views on how to run a team. So I left the team after the eXperience 08. For a team to succeede you need people that get along both ingame and outside of the game. Which we do great in "Freelance". We've met each other before at events/concerts, im going to school with gem who has been my friend since I was a little kid - and he has played with infected for almost two years now. Our team only consists of top norwegian players, both from 1.6 and Source. We have stingeR who is  an ex-MYM 1.6 player, gem & infected who are ex-MultiGamer players and MAGNUS who last played in a team at the eXperience07 where they actually managed to draw Fnatic - when they were at their prime. He has A LOT of potential, and most of the top european scene knows this. I've always questioned about why no one ever tries him out in Norway. I have a lot of belief in my new team, and with the right organisation I think we can really do well in the top European scene."

mymTw: As some people might know, "Gem" is your cousin and also good friend of you. He also accompanied you in your first steps of playing professionally. Is he an important factor for a more stabilized team and which advantages/disadvantages does this relationship bring along?

warclown: "That's true. I think that the fact that we are playing together again should make the team more stabilized. We both have the same idea on how to run a team, and since we attend the same classes at University we get to talk a lot about our plans and team-related stuff at school. It's clearly an advantage being in the same team. We are both mature enough to know the difference about problems ingame and problems outside the game. We won't have any problems leaving ingame problems when we hang out or go to school."

mymTw: Don't you think this might be dangerous for the team?

warclown: "No, not at all. In crossed I played with another very good friend of mine, Leffa. And us playing together was not at all the problem in that lineup, it was actually one of the good things about the lineup. Sure, I know gems flaws - and he knows mine. But that only helps us at getting better, both ingame and outside the game."

mymTw: At the moment your team is called "Freelance" and you aren't playing for any big organization. It was the same with crossed, but back then you still had financial support. So, who was the man behind crossed?

warclown: "The financial backing behind crossed came from a guy from England, going under the nickname m4d4ms. He contacted me prior to the CGS combine, where I attended with the REALmix. He financed my cgs mix team to the combine, to show that he had the money. He is a really great guy, but after me leaving crossed I think he will either find another team or support prophs new team. It won't be long till we have a good management supporting Team Freelance!"

mymTw: Do you know something about the future of your former crossed teammates?

warclown: "I know quite alot. But I dont really want to "spill the beans". But Leffa went to TCM Gaming and XraeL made the new Sway UK team."

mymTw: Did you already receive any offers for your new team?

warclown: "Yes, we have recieved several offers. Some not that interesting, but some that have the right financial backing. But we don't want to jump into conclusions. We don't only want the backing for events, but we want a solid management and a good brand to represent. I think we would do a better job joining an organisation that has a brand and management that we have alot of faith in."

mymTw: You actually had your best time with Reason Gaming. How does it feel, when you see the the former eSuba team playing for Reason?

warclown: "Well it's mixed feelings really. It felt weird, but obviously they wanted a new css team after we split up. And at the time eSuba looked good, after winning LAN79. They did on the other hand not do that well at eXperience 2008. But at i34 they came back kinda strong, beating Birmingham Salvo once - but ending up losing to them in the grand final. But to me, Reason Gaming will always be jIMMy, fetish, warclown, giftig, helblinde (+ hudz/cobain and abit ritch, even though he screwed us over in advance to the Eurocup match against fnatic. He was still a funny guy to play with.)"

mymTw: If your former team would still exist right now, what would be their position in the rankings?

warclown: "Call me cocky, call me lame. But I think it would be best European team, sharing the number one position with Birmingham Salvo. We had the chemistry, the dedication and the perfect gathering of different skills."

mymTw: Whats your personal Top5 in Europe right now?

warclown: "1. Birmigham Salvo / 2. Magnitude / 3.Epsilon / 4. 4Kings / 5. Logitech"

mymTw: And where is your team?

warclown: "This new team? I don't really know as we haven't played any officials or events yet. So I don't want to get into that just yet (laughs)."

mymTw: The CGS is a well-known and very lucrative CS:S event worldwide. What do you think about CGS and even more important, when will you be playing for a CGS franchise?

warclown: "CGS is a great thing. It has a lot of flaws, im not alone when I say this. But it has the right idea, and with a bit of work more people will like it. I like the fast paced ruleset they use, but there are also a lot of people who don't - and I understand why. Sure, one day I want to see myself in the CGS. But that's up to the General Managers!"

mymTw: And what team would you be playing for?

warclown: "It would have to be Birmingham Salvo or Berlin Allianz. They both have great GMs, and I love the way they think and how they manage their team. But seeing as im European and not from England I would then have to say Berlin Allianz!"

mymTw: Some time ago, you managed to win the Qpad-1.6-Aimcup, which was only for players from Denmark. Beside the fact that you weren't allowed to play the cup, didn't that change the mind of all those saying less skill is needed to play CSS?

warclown: "Yeah that was really fun actually. My team back then (Reason) was sitting next to me and chanting me up, and basically they were just laughing at the 1.6ers face expressions after losing to a source player. It was fun, and I think I shut some 1.6ers up. Didn't really hear any "you are bad"-comments from 1.6ers after that (laughs)."

mymTw: Lets continue with another issue: Would you do the same as zet did with SK, if there is a good offer? Switching back from CSS to CS 1.6?

warclown: "Hm, thats a hard question really. For the people who didn't know, I played regular Counter-Strike since its early beta stages. And went over to source with some real-life friends after the Norwegian scene got contaminated with hackers online. I still like Counter-Strike: Source better, and I wouldn't leave my current team for anything. But if I was teamless, and a salaried offer came along - then yes."

mymTw: Could you give us a small insight of your private life. What curiosities happened in your daily life in reference to gaming?

warclown: "I think I have a million examples (laughs). Just here the other day a guy asked me when I was out drinking "LOL are you warclown?" when I was sitting with some friends. But the worst thing that has happened, is probably the time I were a TV-host on a norwegian tv-channel. One of these programs where the viewers can send in text messages, you know. And people recognized me and started spamming SMS messages, where they asked me stuff like "lol simen we need one more for a clanbase game, plz come" and "ah so this is what you do when you are not infront of your computer owning noobs".

Also there was this one time at a Norwegian theme park, when I was waiting in line for one of the biggest rides there. A guy I just met said LOUD AND CLEAR "Oh my god, I can't belive that im standing here with WARCLOWN". Never been that embarassed in my entire life."

mymTw: Do you think that esport in norway is more accepted than in germany or how would you explain the circumstances in norway?

warclown: "Another hard question, as I'm not really familiar with how things are in Germany right now. But the whole "If you play CS, you kill people IRL" thing that Germany has, is not to be found in Norway - something im obviously happy about. It's actually quite accepted among the youth in Norway, and the main norwegian league in CS:S is actually having playoffs live on Norways main TV channel (NRK). So I guess it's more accepted in Norway. But the "business" world in Norway is not really open for sponsorships to gaming establishments. So its hard to stablish a really good Norwegian organisation."

mymTw: Thanks for the interview and good luck with your new team!