The first time most of you will have heard of Mads “VH” Andreassen will be when his team – then MoD – were winning games against far more established names during the fnatic “Game Idol” competition. It wasn’t all positive of course… There were the accusations of cheating as well, but despite people making a lot of noise about it the wins just kept on coming and eventually the team, Mads and all, were rewarded by being picked up by one of the biggest names in e-sports.

It was the completion of a journey to be recognised and successful that, contrary to how it seemed, had taken many years. Having started playing Counter-Strike competitively back in 2004 his first successful team, emu!, was something of a poisoned chalice for him. In 2006 their good performances got them noticed, but when it transpired that three of the players were cheaters everyone in the team was tarred with that brush.

That year he turned his back on 1.6 and decided to look for a new start and moved into CS:S where he worked his way up the Danish scene playing with a team called FetishNight, but that too came crashing down around him after what he describes as “attitude problems”. After a brief spell back in 1.6 he came back to Source and formed a team called Magicians, which became HastaLaVista, which then became MoD. They kept a pretty much solid line-up and showed that, despite a change of name, they still had their “magic” touch about them when they beat everyone that came at them in Game Idol. No mean feat when you consider that those names included 4kings, Czech It Out and of course the old fnatic line-up who were known as “Eindbazen” – Dutch for “The Final Boss”.

But whatever magic they had has certainly forsaken them, perhaps only temporarily. Since becoming fnatic their performances have been hit and miss, and currently mainly miss with a run of defeats against opposition that some would argue they should be beating. This is the flipside of coin, when a player has to go from looking up to the big names, to living up to them. With the pressure most definitely on the fnatic team know that their performance at the next few events could decide their future. Mads doesn’t seem too phased by it all, as we found out when we spoke to him:

After all the flaming not even a ghost can unnerve VH

So, first question, you went into the fnatic Game Idol competition not being seen as favourites to win it, but you managed to put in a string of good performances against some teams that were perceived to be better than you, until you eventually won the competition. How did you step up your game and emerge victorious?

Well, we went mental in CSS at that time. We played ALL the time so we were at our peak level right then. We felt very confident throughout the tournament because we were seen as underdogs, so if we didn't win people wouldn't care anyway. That has changed since though. That and they underestimated us big time. And with good reason, we didn't even see us as the winner of the group play back then.

There were a lot of cheating accusations aimed at you personally during the course of the competition, but nothing was ever proven to be conclusive. How did that make you feel at the time?

I was on a study trip to Greece with my college class when it all escalated, so when I was told I was quite chilled about it. I got my brother to upload the demos for me, so there wouldn't be any problems. Actually I didn't play that well in the match, I just had a lucky T side on de_tuscan and played terrible on the other maps. But I understood because no one had ever heard about any of us before the tournament. The reaction to the accusation was basically just a lot of random kids joining the bandwagon, which made it escalate out of proportions, since I didn't actually cheat.

The spotlight on Mads at LAN

Without wanting to labour the point, would you agree that there has been a discrpency in the level of performance in the games that saw you accused and your subsequent performances since you have joined the fnatic organisation?

As I mentioned earlier, I had a really lucky T side. I also had a lucky CT side on nuke vs CiO, and a lucky side as CT vs Eindbazen. If people judge a player on 1 half of a bo3 match, I don't really care about their opinions anyway.

There were a lot of twists and turns during the fnatic Game Idol tournament - not least of all at the end when you had to play and beat "Eindbazen" (the former fnatic side), something that was sprung on you at the last minute. What did you think when that was announced?

We were told by Sam a week before the match was actually supposed to happen, and of course we weren't happy about the decision, since we had already won the Game Idol tourney. But once again we felt confident as being the underdog, and beat EB fairly big. Yes, since the match was after our very poor SLAP LIVE performance where we actually managed to end 7th-8th... It's actually quite sad to finish that low (laughs). So yeah, we were very motivated in regards to the match, and showing off our newest addition, Krogh.

When it was announced finally that you were fnatic what was going through your mind? It is is still one of the biggest names in e-sports…

I saw stars and thought that I had finally made it to the top of CS:S, so we lost our focus on what was important, and that was representing fnatic the way we did MoD. That was with stable good performances and that is what we are starting to rebuild. We have a very tight schedule right now and our focus will be 100% to prepare for OOF3, where hopefully we will once again bring glory to fnatic CS:S.

fnatic playing in front of spectators at the recent TheBlast.dk event

We’ll come back to that in a moment, but one of the things I wanted to ask you about was your “bromance” with Nicolai “staRfire” Bjørkvig… I’m told that you two are close in real life and I wondered how that impacted on your playing together.

His big brother married my cousin so we're half related and therefore forced to like each other. Jokes aside I don't think it has any impact at all. I've only talked regularly with Nicolai as long as he’s been in this team, so I don't know him as well as maybe some people think. I see Nicolai as my friend, so we don't really talk a lot about family relations and I never go into arguments anyway. I don't see us emulating zOo but since Herden and I are talking about moving together when I'm done with college, so maybe a small fnatic apartment, if we choose to focus on 2on2, and if we're still in fnatic at that time. But besides that, no, no fnatic house.

OK, I guess you'll know what territory we're moving in to now. Your recent performances haven't been particularly sensational and a lot of people are saying you are not good enough to be representing an organisation like fnatic. First of all, tell me how the criticism affects you and the team.

We have always been a "best of three" team, so one map matches are our weakness. But lately we haven’t been able to practice for 2 weeks because of Herdens work schedule forcing him to work until very late the whole week. On top of that, I've had my exams in maths which I wanted to do well in. So as well as Herdens work schedule I didn't have time to play either. But we are starting practice again on Sunday this week. It motivates me when we are flamed but some of the other guys care too much about what other people think. Quite simply I can’t be bothered to care what others think.

How do you explain the change in attitude towards the team? When you were beating established teams as MoD people were cheering you on, now it feels like every time you play people are just willing you to lose.

I don't know why people enjoy flaming us that much. I guess it's just a question about jealousy that has created an image of us as anti-heroes. People seem to forget we did all fnatic asked us to do so we got what we deserved. And we will perform better in the future, that’s a promise.

So right now, when you're on a bad run, what are you doing to put it right?

We lost the "new team" effect a long time ago, so now it's time for us to gain as much experience as a team in order to compensate for that loss. We are doing a complete re-run on maps at the moment and getting help from fams, who will coach us and help us in the best possible way. We have to find a solution, and we are doing excellent progress. I find it true that you learn more from defeat than you do in victory. People tend to make more mistakes when pushed, or fall back to what they know, and if this doesn’t work, some players crumble, and we are trying to get better at re-adjusting mid-round.

Mads looks to a bright future for both CS:S and fnatic

Let's talk now about European CS: S - A lot of people say it is in decline and teams seem less and less willing, or able, to support teams going to LANs. What is your opinion on this and where do you think fnatic fits into the equation?

fnatic have a really good financial situation as far as I know. We have some awesome sponsors such as MSI, Steel Series, CM Storm and Ugame. As well as that Sam & Anne are doing an awesome job running it together with Neil. But I think it's a shame that the financial crisis has affected e-sports as an international event and holding teams back in their respected countries only. We need more dedicated souls and money if we want to turn the tides around. I hope CPL will be a success, and maybe the middle eastern investors will invest more in the scene.

What do you think personally would be considered a successful time for you in fnatic? What do you feel you have to achieve to have made it worthwhile and live up to the fnatic name?

A top 3 finish at both OOF3 and TEX.dk would be awesome. That would satisfy me and the CSS scene I think. And maybe more players on the national team next time, then I would be satisfied. We are working our very best at the moment to achieve that goal, but I will contribute myself by playing more than ever. And if we all find our skill level as we did in Game Idol I don’t think anyone can stop us.