IC: Hey Topi, thanks for sitting down for a chat, could you start off by introducing yourself to the readers please. Hey people, my name is Topi as you read already and I'm going seventeen in a couple of months. I study in Cygnaeus High school in Jyväskylä. My interests besides DoD include driving with mopeds and other kind of bikes with my very best friends. I spend a lot time with music, listening and sometimes even playing if I'm not lazy. I'm living with my parents still but mostly dealing everyday by myself as I go to work and pay the costs of internet etc.

IC: As we already discussed earlier, we'll have a less gaming based iview, lets try and get behind the player, but before that could you just tell us a little bit about your current source team and its members. Shortly after playZ LAN #2 I got an invite from Xcite who's team TLR attended playZ as well.. I went to see how things run and had a long chats with the team mates. For now, I've had bad and good experiences in TLR. Mostly I have had fun because those british guys are so damn funny! Our spirit is very good but when it comes to pcw's we just intend to whine and moan, but when we're playing an official things are different and we really try to play as a team and it feels damn good I must say. I'm gonna run a list of our lineup and have a look on every player.

• brazen (heavy): Eddie is a great guy and he's the one who deals with the jokes. Usually he gets all the sarcasm on himself but he doesn't mind.. always up with the "I've heard it before". Ingame Eddie does his job very well tho he has played only couple of months with heavy! At the moment brazen is our backup because this guy is getting married!, but he usually plays more than our main heavies. If you have a chance to know this guy, don't miss it!
• RiN (heavy): You should avoid this monster ingame! Amazingly skilled guy and damn good person. He's kinda quiet in ventrilo but when he really pisses off, no one stops him with the weird sounds and stuff! Oh and, one of the best heavies you can get in this scene.
• Lommelun (rifle): The Norwegian sexbomb! I must say that Jon is our father ingame, "COME ON GUYS, COME ON!" and so on. Very bright in both ingame and real life I can tell you that! Sometimes Jon gets some weird attacks and starts to yell at us but it's for a good reason and I like that, someone needs to show where we are going.
• swizer (rifle): Jesse and I got recruited at the same time and I have really enjoyed playing with him. He is always wanting 3 pcw's in a row but after the first one he's done and quitting! One of the main players in our team for sure.
• owNage (rifle): The Spanish lagmonster. Manu is probably the most funniest guy in ventrilo, at least ingame, always yelling something funny with an accent when he gets killed. I love this guy to be honest.
• Xcite (heavy): Xcite is the workman who doesn't have that much time for DoD everyday so he has been semi-actively for awhile but he's getting back active and I'm sure that that's only a positive thing for our team. Skilled guy!
• danger (rifle): Arttu is our newest guy in TLR, also known as R2D2 (=D). Comparing the amount of his skill and the time what he has just spent with Source is incredible. Only couple of months and he is one of the best around at the moment.
• xvO (sniper): I have just changed to sniper but I must say that I'm doing well. My weakness is that I get drifted away from the game very often and start yelling vittu all the time and frustrating my team mates with that.

IC: TLR you must admit have had some very indifferent form, beating n!faculty and loosing to supremz in the same week is somewhat strange, what do you think is the reason for the up and down form of you guys, or is it just the strength in depth of the community at this stage? I must say that we have had some troubles with our lineup and teamplay lately.. We concentrated versus n!faculty and eXplicit alot and won with pretty damn fine playing but when it came to supremz we thought we had the game but instead of that we got rolled over. But of course, last couple of months have been weird for this scene, new teams dominating and so on, also a bunch of new maps have been released so that's putting some pressure for teamplay everytime and some teams can surprise.

IC: What is TLR's outlook on 2007, as regards what you think you guys can achieve and where can you improve?

We are having high hopes with new upcoming CB EC and HTGN season. We have practiced every day and still are. Also the good results have given us some kind of strength for upcoming matches. Hmm, with the play we are playing now I guess I could say we're going through from EuroCup's group stage and do good results after that. We have to improve our teamplay because it's not really stable yet plus we have had lineup problems for awhile but it's settling now.

IC: eXplicit and zeroPoint! have both fallen by the wayside in recent times, who do you think is the team to challenge Insignia Cadre, I don't just mean once off wins, but to really challenge them for every major honour in the game, and stop their monopoly on winning headsets :p

Cadre's good friend copyriot is showing pressure on Cadre more and more. Today's dod every top team can challenge cadre but winning them couple of times in a row needs alot. Last results on this scene have proven that there will be new top teams.

IC: Now that we've spoken a little bit about your gaming life, lets look at your everyday life. School must take up alot of your time, what are you currently studying and how does that impact on your gaming.

Yes it takes, school days are nearly 8 hours every day and it drains the hell outta me. I'm just running to the finish line with my first year on high school. I have started off well with good grades. You don't really have "majors" here in Finland but my main subjects are advanced maths, english (I know, I suck at it), finnish and music. It doesn't impact on my gaming because usually when I come home from school I usually just drop my backpack in the corner and start listening music and forget about the homework. Though I have good grades with that style of studying it means when I have the last day before exam I do work like a maniac.
Beside school I go to work 15 hours a week so it's not getting infront of gaming (omgeek) neither. The work I do, I won't say what it is because I don't want to get insulted :D. But my everyday basis is just to hang out and listening a lot of music and sometimes even go driving and have fun with my friends.

IC: Any plans to further your education at university and beyond, and in what field of study?

Well I would've gone to vocational school immiatedly if I had known what to do. I still don't have a clue what to do but at least I have 3 years to figure out and I have a got a duty for Finland to do before I continue my education. If I had to choose right now, I guess I would go study english.

IC: Most people have their own style and tastes, its fair to say that alot of folks might take you as a little emo or punky, tell the readers about the music that gets you going.

First of all, I must admit that I have really extensive taste on music. Emo and punk gets me going but I don't forget any genre. The best thing in music is seeing a band live. Best concert overall where I have been is Paul McCartney's and technically Motörhead's concert was off the ground! Bruce Springsteen, Guns N Roses, I could do this all night. They all are awesome live.

IC: I have to admit right now I'm pretty freekin' hungry, are you one of these Finnish guys who eats reindeer and stuff?

Everyone in Finland eats reindeer and it's decent, but I think no one fancies it so much that eats it regularly. My tongue has dedicated itself to the tastes of Spanish food mostly. Tortillas and salsa gets my tommy alive! Mm, no one likes liverbox(?) but I do, it's freaking awesome with a slice of butter.

IC: Wash down that munch with a sneeky drink or seven?

Oh yes, this is the Pepsi part. Yea, I am addicted to Pepsi and I spend all my money on it almost :D. I drink it every day at any time but when it comes to meal I wash it down with milk.
IC: Tisk, tisk, Topi clearly didn't get a wholly Irish way of reffering to drink there ;)

IC: Weekends offer the oppurtunity to kick back and relax, how would you generally occupy yourself?

Mostly just meet up with my friends and try to figure something out as we don't have any hobbies without CS. At fridays we usually get wasted and have some damn good time somewhere. Saturdays I visit my lovely grandma and eat everything which she offers, I can't never miss it. Sundays I dedicate to sleeping and the night for PC as usual =D

IC: Does your real life circle of friends include some of your online mates?

Got that right, every male of our class plays Counter-Strike and we usually play with our clan have a little whinebreak there. And yeah, most people have MSN so basically no one lives here without computers!

IC: Alright big guy, tell us how skilled you are on the women scene, any little Suomi chicks for you ;)

Haha I just only wish! My right hand is getting tired of all the work =(

IC: And quickly just back to gaming, I got in touch with some TLR.eSports members and quizzed them about xvO

TLR.Lommelun

The light who became a hell of a sniper. He first joined TLR.eSports as a light, but after brazens lacking performances with the sniper, we decided to give xvO the chance, and it was a success from the start. So far he has been a reliable person in matches, and shown great skill with the sniper. He can be a bit low on selfesteem sometimes, but a quick pad in his back, and he is back on track again =)

TLR.brazen

Topi plays consistently well, I can't remember him having a really bad round ever since he's taken the sniper rifle. He can rush really well and take down 3/4 at a time, but he sometimes has a problem of holding maybe looking to always rush forward. Topi is a nice and funny guy to play with, enjoys a joke and can take his dods serious when needed, but I gotta say he's the funniest guy I've ever heard getting angry on ventrilo when speaking in finnish, and everyone cheats to him!

IC: We played some Day of Defeat 1.3 back in the days of dFiance and so on, I know personally what I'd like to change about the game, but, what do you think of the Source version, and in reality are we all just used to the randomness at this stage?

It's just the accuracy of the guns which makes the wtf where did my bullets go -feeling. Watching those "no-reg" spots on demo confirms just that you missed. But at top level of gaming, no one really concentrates at aiming but just shoots somewhere over there as fast as possible. At least I think so :D

Quick Questions.

Favourite Map:
1.3: dod_railroad1
Source: dod_anzio

Favourite Weapon:
Garand.

Best Gaming Moment:
All the matches with Unimatrix 01 and its bootcamp. But in top of that, playZ #2 and the trip!

Top 5 in Europe/ Current Dreamteam:
1. Insignia Cadre
2. copyriot
3. Afterlife
Rifles: Tomsku, xyfo, nkr
Heavies: RiN, nightmare
Sniper: steinr


IC: And finally xvO lets get the obligatory shoutouts.


APaX and Apu deserves a bunch of hugs.
ristous, ruohiz, lennox
psych00, Cero, snd, markku, Tsiiisus, BlackJehova (+ his roommate =D), The Last Resort, zP! Crew, #Rambolace, blanzzi, rnl, premi, {{KAZA^}}, HOTW makers.
Everyone I play with and know and have known. Thanks for making this game fun!
Thumbs up for brazen with his upcoming marriage!
Thanks to you dR!