Alexander 'ave' Holdt

mymTw: Hello ave, how are you today?

ave: Hello, I'm good! I haven't done a whole lot of stuff today, but I guess that's what you're supposed to when it's sunday :)

mymTw: A while back you arrived back home in Denmark after two disappointing events, finishing 5-8th at ESWC Cheonan and more recently 4th at the KODE5 Global Finals. What do you think is the reason behind these disappointing performances?

ave: Yeah, it's true we disappointed a lot of people at the recent events. I believe the ones most disappointed is ourselves. It might have something to do with us not playing our A-game when we needed it the most, but we certainly faced some really good opponents who proved that we must be more consistent in order to reach our goals.

mymTw: Do you think the fact that you had to face fnatic at both events was one of the reasons behind not reaching top3 at any of the two events, seeing as they have been on a roll lately?

ave: I definitely believe they are a top contender at every event they attend. It seems they improved their team a lot with their new additions. At EM-III I thought it could be they just had their game running for one event, but they proved they're an improved and consistent team. They might be the team to beat for most people right now.

Taking ingame
responsibility

mymTw: As an ingame-leader you obviously got a huge responsibility for how the team is doing in every game you are playing. Do you ever feel regret not calling a certain strat in a certain situation, or vice-versa, after losing an important match?

ave: Of course I'm regretful everytime we loose a match. It's a team-based game and it's really painful to get your team heading in wrong directions, making wrong stratcalls. Lately, though, it's more been the CT-side we've been handling too poorly. We lost a lot of rounds on the big bombsites, which I'm also covering, so that's something I'm trying to improve the most at the moment.

mymTw: With the summer well on its way, there is not an awful lot of events coming up. How is your team's calender looking for june, july and august?

ave: MJE left for vacation and will not be home before July. At the start of July we'll start to practise for e-Stars, probably only online though. But it's true, there's not a whole lot of CS going on at this time, so it's really about regaining motivation and hunger for the next season.

mymTw: Will there be any changes in terms of preparation for the upcoming events in the strive to improve your results?

ave: I don't think it's our preparation that's an issue. We might have made some mistakes when we had arrived at the event. I believe we didn't talk enough about the opponent we had to face, in terms of deciding which tactics to use and what we had to look out for. We did that a lot more in the past fall, when we had our greatest success.

Manager guddo together with ave

mymTw: Is it likely that we will see a change of gameplay from your side in order to get the most out of each player and perhaps to adjust and exploit, for example, fnatic's weak spots - or is your strategy to keep playing the same way, convinced that it will work out in the end?

ave: You always try to mix up your stuff to confuse your opponent, but I don't believe we'll change our style that much. There will be some kind of adjustments, but we haven't got together to discuss it yet, so it's hard to tell what/if we're going to change.

mymTw: Already mentioned fnatic have taken over the role as the team to beat after being victorious at three major events in a row and for understandable reasons this is not something you are very happy about. However if you look at the bright side of it all, doesn't it feel a bit relieving to not be the team to beat anymore and thus not as heavily studied as usual. It might be giving you some breathing room to pause and start over on square one to work things out properly without the same amount of pressure, just to later on come back stronger than ever when no one is really counting on you?

ave: It might feel like some kind of relief, but most of all it gives us new motivation to get better. The recent disappointments have been a slap in the face for us, a wake up call. I'm looking forward to get together with my team again and plan how to get back to the top spot.

Christoffer Sunde

mymTw: Obviously it is of great importance that each and every player is playing well in order for the team to be successful, but how important is it for you that Sunde is on his a-game? Is a cobra-deadly AWP in the hands of Sunde the ultimate recipe for success?

ave: It's really not about getting one certain player to hit his A-game. It's a team-game and every player has to play his part in order to win. The way the scoreboard ends up is really only half of the truth.

mymTw: How does a normal weekday look for Alexander "ave" Holdt?

ave: I try to get up at 10 am., but it usually ends up with me getting out of bed 12 am. At the moment I usually try to get out to eat lunch with some friends, but it really depends on their schedule since most of them work. Also, I use a lot of time getting my new apartment in order. In the night I play some games, watch series and, right now, watch the NBA finals, of course!

mymTw: What activites do you like spending your free spare-time on?

ave: I like watching american sports, especially the NFL and NBA. Also, I like playing different computer and ps3 games sometimes. I guess I'm pretty ordinary.

"Planning to get back on the top spot"

mymTw: How did your gaming career start and what games are you playing at current, besides CS?

ave: I think I've played my first videogames on my N64 and my brother's computer. Duke nukem, Wolfenstein, Zelda, Final Fantasy VII & VIII were my favorites, I think. Later on I went to a netcafé and got hooked by CS. Currently, I play a little DotA & TF2. But CS definitely takes most of my time infront of the PC.

mymTw: You mentioned DotA, which is a game that lately seemed to attract a large number of CS players like yourself and I guess serves as a hobby game beside CS. What is your opinion on this game and do you think it has a shot of becoming nearly as successful on a competitive level as CS has done throughout the past ten years or will it remain as just a "hobby game"?

ave: I don't believe DotA will become as CS, but it could be fun if it did. It really has a lot of teamplay involved and is challenging in a lot of ways. The problem is that it's kinda hard for a regular spectator to understand much of it, so it probably won't get as big as CS.

mymTw: While being at the EPS Scandinavia finals, you did not only play the tournament but you also signed a two-year contract with mTw, which should be considered as an unusual long amount of time to be committed to the same organisation when you are talking about e-sports. What was the reason behind this and what thoughts ran through your head while signing the contract?

ave: I think it's a great opportunity for both the mTw organisation and us to have a long cooperation. It's something that's going to benefit us both. I believe mTw will be the last team I'll play on.

"I believe mTw will be the last team

I'll play on"

mymTw: Just like in any other sport, there comes a time in e-sport when you feel that newer and younger abilities can do what you are doing better than yourself and it is time to put the playing career to an end. What are your plans when you reach that point? Will you perhaps decide to take a management position somewhere, such as Oskar "ins" Holm chose to keep active within fnatic after calling his playing career quits - or will you move on with your real life instead?

ave: I'll definitely move on to the real life. I have a lot I want to accomplish in my life and I think it's something beyond CS.

mymTw: Alright, thank you for the interview. Anything you would like to add?

ave: Thanks to all our supporters and sponsors!