Richard "Dr. Gonzo" Lewis & Faruk "pita" Pita talk some Counter-Strike

Meet Your Makers were the surprise package of the recent Intel Masters in Dubai making it all the way to the final when some were questioning just how good they were. They didn’t just make it to the final, but put together some of the most dominating performances at the event, brushing aside teams with a blend of aggressive tactics and incredible aim. Winning the event was perhaps going a step too far, but who knows what they will achieve at their next event. Sadly, due to an unfortunate draw, they won’t be out at WCG.

Right at the heart of that success was Faruk “pita” Pita who had a storming tournament and was widely praised many of the large number of viewers for his contribution. Yet in 1.6 he is still in that “new generation” of the top competitive players. One year ago he got his first big breakthrough when he started playing in Volt gaming with his now teammate Jimmy “jumpyy” Berndtsson. From there he went on to join Begrip after some impressive performances and that, of course, led to his introduction of the MYM brand.

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to talk to Faruk about Dubai, MYM and his thoughts about the future of 1.6, besides other things.

MYM had said that they would only pick up a team that would finish top 3 at events. When they picked you up the decision was met with some criticism from certain parts of the community. What were your thoughts about that at the time?

Haha really I didn’t know anything about criticism… I mean, yeah some people wanted the old mym to be MYM but still they chose us and we didn’t want to disappoint anyone. Just tagging up as MYM is a lot of pressure in terms of expectations, but you rarely think about that pressure while playing a match and it’s good to not feel any pressure while playing. It makes you independent and safe for the time being and that is what brings you results

Of course, you were the surprise package out in Dubai making it all the way to the final. What were your expectations going into that competition?

Well, every good CS player always use to think that he is the best and that just his team will win, and that was what we thought about Dubai. Still we knew that no matter what happens it will just be a good beginning for the team. We managed to play really well and for a second we felt unstoppable. But we clearly managed to top our expectations even if we didn’t end up winning the final

In that situation do you feel disappointed to have not won overall, or are you happy just to have had a shot at first place when people didn't believe you could be in that position?

We were really, really disappointed. I mean, going in to the finals and thinking "we will win, we will win" and then ending up losing, that was a real shame and i just hope that it won’t happen again. I still said to myself "its okay… Its the first event for us" but still, it would have felt so much better if we would have won. It’s not one of my biggest disappointments for sure

You guys looked on another level at times and some of the most one sided performances at the event came from you. I noticed on some maps your tactics seemed very aggressive and direct. Was that something you specifically worked on to try and catch other teams off guard?

Actually I don’t know. Jumpy is the one calling the strats in our team, but I know for certain that we play very random and we rely on our individual skill a lot. If everyone is at a top notch level individually, then no-one can stop us. And we aren’t a team that look how other teams play, the most is just our own thoughts and, of course, thoughts from zet who has played against those teams many,many times. I wouldn’t say we are playing freestyle, we just got strats that’s relying on our individual skills. I don’t want to say too much, but we aren’t a team relying on flashes and shit like other teams do

It’s really good that we can keep the Swedish flag up high. Though I’m bosnian 100%, I love Sweden as if it was my country, and I’m really glad that Sweden is top

A lot of people watching the games said you had a fantastic tournament personally, but from your point of view who was the stand out player in the MYM team that event? Was there also an opposition player that really stood out for you?

It’s really hard from our point of view to say who’s good, and who’s not. But players usually have their matches, like maybe i play good one match, and someone other a other match… but I would say that Jumpy played really good during Dubai and the same of zet who really has shown that he is the man and still in top shape.

I'm glad you mentioned Zet. He is a big name player and one that will always attract attention. Some people were doubting that he could get back to his previous level of form after a spell in CS:S and a period of inactivity. Honestly, did you have any doubts?

No we didn’t. We knew that he was really good. I mean, we played with him several times before picking him up and he just played outstanding every mix or gather, and we didn’t know what the problems were when he performed badly in SK. Now we know for sure he is the real deal.

Right now the Swedish scene is so strong in 1.6. In Dubai three of the four semi-finalists were Swedish, it seemed almost inevitable a Swedish team was going to win the event before it started. What do you attribute this to? Just why is the Swedish scene so strong?

It’s really good that we can keep the Swedish flag up high. Though I’m bosnian 100%, I love Sweden as if it was my country, and I’m really glad that Sweden is top. Hope it will last forever. I don’t know why we’re up there. I think that we got so many LANs here in Sweden that people can go and practice on and we got so many online tournaments everyday where lower players are playing every day to become better. I used to play on online tournaments everday like a year ago.

Let's talk about MYM as an organisation. When it came back with new investors people were a little sceptical about the whole venture. Yet so far they really seem to be steering themselves back on track and close to former glory. What's a player perspective from inside the organisation?

Yeah its really nice. As you said some peeps out there had some bad feelings about MYM but we knew that it was for real. Everyday is a surprise for us in MYM, new stuff coming upall the time, so I’m just glad that I’m a part of it.

The new MYM team in Dubai (Image thanks to ESL)

Pita congratulating his team in Dubai (Image thanks to ESL)

Now as you'll probably know Cadred has a large CS:S userbase so we always like to try and get a 1.6 perspective on that game. Have you ever played CS:S? What are your thoughts on why it doesn't seem to have reached the levels of 1.6?

I played a little bit of CS:S before with friends, but it’s so much different from CS 1.6 and the reason why source hasn’t reached the levels of 1.6 is that its another type of aim and other new things. I mean CS 1.5 and 1.6 got differences but not the same as Source has. Despite what people might think there are a lot of 1.6 players who were happy about the new idea of CSPromod when it first was announced but it seems like that has died or something. CS:S is a fun game and I could get used to it, but I prefer not to for obvious reasons. If they would make it a little less Source and more 1.6, then I would be glad to go over to that game.

CS:S is a fun game and I could get used to it, but I prefer not to for obvious reasons

We got flamed a little bit by some predominantly 1.6 sites for asking about 1.6 players their thoughts on CSPromod also... Realistically we all know 1.6 can't go on forever, CS:S hasn't really made it into the top tier of e-sports, so what do you think is the future for the definitive version of Counter-Strike? Does Promod point the way to what is needed?

Hm, I would say so, just so long as the aim is the same, and the graphics can change as much as possible, then I would say that CS would live a little bit longer multi-milionaire company sponsors like Coca cola and shit is really what could higher the e-sports scene to another level. If people like that back any game it will succeed. And of course the countries approving it and supporting it the same as a “real” sport. I hope china becomes a major superpower because they seem to like the idea of e-sports. It’s a small market at the moment but it will become bigger if countries start to approve it as a daily work.

WCG is round the corner - what are your thoughts about the event and do you have any predictions?

Though I’ve never been to a WCG, I know for a fact that its a good event… One of the best there is, if not the best. And I don’t know who will win but I would say that the final top3 will be fnatic, h2k and either mouz or ex-vitrl

How do you feel about not qualifying? Do you think the qualifying method was a bit unfair for you?

Well, for that time we were a new team, and people didn’t believe in us and we didn’t believe in us either at first. After playing really tight against fnatic we felt sad not winning, but it would be a shame not giving WCG & sweden their top team on a big tournament, so its okay with me.

So what's the next event you guys are going to be at?

The next event will be Dreamhack Winter. Let me tell you for that event anything except the first place will be a disappointment for us.

Cadred will have full coverage of the 1.6 WCG Tournament so make sure to stay tuned to see if Pita's predictions are right. We will also be bringing you coverage of the tournament they will not take anything but first in, namely Dreamhack Winter.

Images all thanks to ESL-World.net