I bring you a surprisingly insightful interview with Björn Andersson aka bybben from 4 Kings, looking into his game, his history and good rant about the Pyro. The interview also touches on the future of Team Fortress 2 and the current scene surrounding the game. This is not an interview to be missed!

I intend to bring you a whole series of interviews, talking to many top players from all the different classes in the game and from many different teams. So this will not be a one off, more the beginning in a whole chapter of interviews.

Before I begin the interview, I would just like to say a massive thanks to bybben, and to the readers I say: "enjoy!"

To start could you give an introduction, who are you, who do you play for and your class etc...

Hi everyone. I'm a 20 year old guy from Sweden who loves computer games, and is currently stuck with TF2 (doh). I've played for Syre/Excello for the biggest part of my TF2 career, but now playing for Four Kings with Scout as my favoured class, and also Sniper lately.

I think it is safe to say you didn’t start gaming with Team Fortress 2. What is your history in video games, and how do you think your past complements your current TF2 performance?

I've played a lot of different games in the past... CS, WC3, Q3, Painkiller to name a few. I was hooked up the most by WC3 actually, I really enjoy those RTS games. As for FPS games, Painkiller is my all time favourite, just a shame it didn't have a proper community that lasted. It's hard to say what those games have helped me with, because the aiming in TF2 is very different from PK, and there aren't much elements from WC

What is your attitude towards training, do you really apply yourself to improve or do you just relax and play?

I always find things to improve, that's pretty much what keeps me going. I always hate to blame the game for my failures, instead I try to practise harder to become a better player. But of course I'm also very relaxed (or try to be) when I play, and try not to take any game so seriously... so I guess it's a mix of both.

And how do you train your skill in Team Fortress 2? For instance how much time do you spend training, what sorts of game types do you train with, i.e. mixes, 1v1, public etc.?

The only way I can really practise is by playing clan-wars. I mean you only get to a certain point with good aim, and then It's all about routine & strategy and such... which you can't learn without your team. But I can of course enjoy some mixes and pickups now and then, but that's just-for-fun, don't really even try to improve when playing those.

How do you keep things fresh and in the moment when you have played the same map x hundred times, and been through the same movements many times before?

It's actually very hard to do new stuff and keep things fresh, because I don't think the game allows much wider game play and styles that you haven’t already seen. So at this point I really rely on new maps coming up, to get some variation.

Do you think you are at your peak in terms of performance at the moment, or do you think you have more to show?

When I have a good day, then yes. It has been awhile since I had one though, and I think I've been kind of known to be very inconsistent with my performances. Some days I play really well, but the next day I can be totally shit. So that's my biggest problem at the moment, and I'm trying to figure out how to solve that problem.

Something people are always interested in, what peripherals are you using, and more specifically what mouse and sensitivity are you using?

Ok I'll try to mention everything that could be of some interest. As for keyboard I'm using Logitech Ultra Flat, and my mouse is a Logitech MX518 (with a QpadXL mouse pad). I've always played with a low sensitivity, having default in Windows, and 1.6 in game. And headphones are Creative HS-900.

What are the major upcoming LAN tournaments for you, and how are you personally and as a team preparing for these events?

Right now we're looking at PC Gamer LAN in late September. We haven't really begun to prepare for it yet, because we haven't actually confirmed that we're going. But when we do confirm it we'd probably start playing 5-6 days a week with a lot of public when we don't play pcws. So in short, we'd just play more clan wars when an event is coming up.

With large cash prize tournaments on the horizon, how much further do you see TF2 rising in the e-sports scene in the future?

It's a hard thing to predict, because I know what happened with Painkiller. PK was looking very promising and even made it to CPL. And after that it just went dead. TF2 is already a lot bigger than PK ever was though, and I hope that it will last long after the upcoming events are over.

What does it mean to you to be playing under the 4 Kings banner?

For me it's really awesome. I've known Four Kings as a community while playing WC3 (and even CS) and their players has always impressed me with their talents. It feels good to be a part of such a good, well known, successful organization as Four Kings.

A lot of lower skilled players and teams experience rage and frustration when developing, is this still a part of high level play? And if so how do you and your teammates deal with it?

Sorry for bringing other games into this interview, but I know of a WC3 player who started out while there was already a lot of pros out there, and didn't think he'd had a chance to get very far. Then he said to himself that he would never get angry while playing, and never rage and such.

And guess what, he's now one of the best players there is, and known as one of the most mannered persons in the community. That’s something that I look up to, and want to be like. But of course there's a lot of rage going on in higher levels, but I guess you don't see it very often. I still can get very frustrated while playing, but I never show it to the team, so they wouldn’t know anything about it.

I only get frustrated when I play poorly, and that's nothing that my team should have to suffer from.

How do you compare TF2 to other competitive games out there?

I haven't played a game that has so much team-play involved. In most other games, you can get a pro player to mercenary for your clan and he could win the game for you. That's not going to happen with TF2 in most cases. And of course there's the different classes that brings variety to the game. And the graphics are just amazing, don't think I can play another FPS game after TF2, would just feel so dull and boring.

"I don't think I can play another FPS game after TF2, would just feel so dull and boring

What is your opinion on the currently controversial question: should major tournaments change to Demoman limit 1?

I'm all in favour for Demoman limit 1. As a scout, there's nothing more frustrating than a good Demoman, and when they bring two of them I just go AFK. Everywhere you try to go you'll end up in a sticky trap, and whatever you try to pull off is going to get blocked by waves of spam. I'd rather not limit the game by rules, because I like that different clans can make their own class-setup to be unique in some way, but playing versus 2x Demoman makes this game boring.

How do you feel about the recent changes to the game brought about by Valves patching, including the changes to ‘cp_well’ and the new Pyro class weapons?

I love the new well, it was a very good thing that they patched it. But the Pyro is just ridiculous. It was known to be the most annoying class in the game... and they just made it worse. I still don't think pyro can be used properly in high level clan wars, and public is just awful nowadays.

Any thoughts on what valve might release for the upgrades to the scout weapons, and how it may affect the game?

I'd like to see something to reduce the splash damage taken as a scout, and also some cool gadgets or devices. I'm not a very creative person, so It's a hard question for me. But yes, rather something new and fun instead of just and upgraded scatter gun.

Anything you want to add, any shout-outs etc?

I'd like to give shout-outs to the following; haunt3d, robert, valli, Glufse and to my clanmates.

Thank you so much for your time, this has been a great interview. You come across as a really great guy and I wish you all the best for your future.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed making it! Please feel free to leave feedback below. So, until next time...