It's not long before the first of the CS:S semi-finals goes live and players are stood outside the studio cursing and smoking in the blazing sun. There's been arguments over monitors, paranoia about cheats and worry over the schedule being met. Whatever they say about the tournament, no one is taking it any less seriously now they are in the trenches.

One such player is Henry “HenryG” Greer who is muttering under his breath while surrounded by TCM management and a couple of his colleagues. I seize on the opportunity to catch him for a brief and impromptu interview, even though he is pretty reluctant.

“Just get it over with Gonz... You know I hate these things.”

“You owe me you scurvy swine... You don't think I've forgotten you bailing on 4kings.”

“Fuck!”

And with that we get under way:

So, what are your predictions for this game? How do you it going?

We're going to win, but it will be a close game for sure. A lot of it will come down to the choice of maps, but I'm pretty sure they'll pick de_dust2 and we're ready for that. So I think the first map will be a close one, then when everyone has their eye in I think we'll just blast them away on the second map. We've prepared well for this event so I'm quietly confident.

What kind of preparation have you taken for this tournament then?

We had a bootcamp at casa de Greer and we really drilled our strats and set-ups. Bootcamps are the ideal way to prepare for any event because you can iron out problems a lot easier with the benefit of being able to explain and discuss things in person rather than just relying on verbal communication. We wanted to come here and show people we were a serious team so it was important that we gave ourselves the best opportunity to do that we could.

I saw some of the Crack Clan players complaining before the game, but wasn't sure what was causing the commotion. Could you elaborate on the problems, if indeed there are any?

Well, there's been the problem over monitors. We were told that you could use your own if you wanted to, but that seems to have changed now. On top of that there is no GUI and people are being allowed to upload their own configs so obviously they're not happy about that either. To be honest I agree with them – I think it's a concern all the players share, I'm just too laid back to go and say anything, but some of the Crack lads don't have any qualms about being vocal. I'm sure all these problems are being looked into but the organisation in the event has been poor and they should look at the admins for future events. That's just my opinion, but I have been to a lot of events and so have the other guys that are voicing their concerns right now.

So, how much of a rivalry is there really with the guys in Crack? A lot of them are your ex team mates and you spent a long time playing alongside them.

It's not a rivalry as such. We're all committed players and we all want to win They know how I play, I know how they play, so we have to always be mindful of that knowing each other's games so intimately. We may have banter but you can't play with people for that long without building up a healthy respect for each other. I just want a good game with no animosity.

HenryG warming up before the game against Crack

Who do you think will be the players to watch in this game?

ShadowmaN for us, definitely. I was sceptical about him before but seeing how well he has played at this bootcamp has convinced me that this will be his event. For Crack Clan I think Hughsy will have a good game. I'm not sure how active he's been lately but he is always capable of great things.

Assuming you do win, which of the other two teams would you want to play in the final?

I'd want to play and beat Reason. I know all the Dig guys personally and obviously wish them well, but I don't enjoy playing against people I know. In addition to that, with all the controversy surrounding Reason at the moment I think it'd be a good time to play them because they will be feeling the pressure.

Before the tournament people didn't seem to rate your chances of winning too highly. Can you think why you have been underestimated in this way?

Well, we are technically a new team and I can say that we have started from scratch. We kept nothing from the old 4kings tactics or anything like that. We completely rebuilded from the foundations up. I think as well we are hampered by the fact are only real official result was getting beaten by mTw quite badly, so there's not a lot to go on. But we came to this event aiming for first and for me anything less than that isn't acceptable.

Compared to other teams you have played in, how highly do you rate this one?

In other teams it has been a while since I was completely in charge because I've always been the guy who joined. In Crack I had to take a back seat and watch other people take the reigns. This team has some of the best chemistry and team-work I've been in, so even if people think it is weak on a player for player basis, we make up for that in other ways and that is far more important.

Any final thoughts?

Basically this is part of our ongoing development. TEX.dk is the big one for us and even though we've put in a lot of effort we are still not at 100% right now. But we are in it for the long haul and this is a good opportunity toshow just how good we are in a competitive setting.