Nick {{"n0it"}} Nowakowski has been at the top of the scene for as long as I can remember. Originally rising with verGe.css, he has played for numerous top level teams and truley proven himself as an incredible player. With a professional attitude to match, he is the perfect candidate for our first installment in "Across the Atlantic", a series I will be writing over the next few months to analyse the US CS:Source scene. I will look at it's strengths and weaknesses, some key members of the scene, and look at comparisons on the EUro scene, including aspects we can improve on and aspects they can improve on.

Having been in the original verGe CS:Source team, Nick took a strong part in their rise to fame. With numerous local LAN wins under their belt, verGe's first big achievement was back in 2005 when they beat the world famous Powers Gaming team to win the Digital Life Newegg Tournament in New York City. After this success seemed to follow them wherever they went, with a promotion to CAL-i and an invite to CEVO-p to follow soon after. verGe had one of the most stable rosters in the game for over a year, which helped form some of the friendships between players that have stuck with Nick throughout his gaming career.

However, this changed on 23rd January 2007, when n0it and cannon decided to part the team together. No statement was made on behalf of the players, but at the time verGe had an 8 man roster, so changes were inevitable. Shortly after this, juan left the team, with paradox and STRuK to follow soon after.

With a few brief stints in teams such as Team Carbon and Sheephunter, n0it struggled to find a suitable team for a while. However, the lack of activity did not affect his gameplay in the slightest. Returning from inactivity to help out a friend from frantiC in CEVO-p, n0it helped frantiC take compLexity to overtime in one of the most exciting games of the season, dropping a huge score on both halfs.

It wasn't until recently recently Nick finally found a team that suited him, in Team Forbidden. Consisting of 4 ex-verGe players, Nick found a home with his friends from the past, and skill to match their chemistry. Having been formed recently before the event, Forbidden went into Buy.com LAN 2007 with very little preparation, and yet managed to steal the victory from top US teams such as x6, rS, Hyper, and their old organisation, verGe. This guaranteed their qualification to the upcoming CGS league, and established them as one of the best teams in the US scene.

According to Gotfrag statistics, Nick has a +277 kills over deaths performance at LAN, quenching any disbelief from the harsher critics. With one of the fastest, most reliable AWPs in the scene, he is certainly a top player. However, this is all folly without an attitude to match. Fortunately, Nick provides this, with an incredibly professional demeanour, separating him from other players of a similar stature. Over his whole career, Nick has managed to stay above his critics by refusing to sink to their flaming, and always made mature and well thought out statements, in the way any top level competitor should. For this he has been seen as a rolemodel for many aspiring gamers, and this will help immensely when CGS comes out and CS:Source is used on TV.

Ultimately, n0it was chosen for this article to show how gamers should behave at a top level. Although this attitude is adopted amongst most top players of 1.6, in CS:Source it is not so prevolent, especially in Europe, with many top players flaming on forums, making unprofessional statements and generally having the wrong attitudes to further gaming as a mainstream past time. He should be used as a blueprint for top level gamers to set an example as gaming increases beyond the internet and into other forms of media.

Thanks for reading, hope it wasn't too preachy. I know a lot of people won't care about what I have to say, but I'm not forcing you to read it.

Sources : Gotfrag.com, verGe-gaming.net, team-forbidden.net.
Thanks to : n0it, Caine, Marcou.