zEnith in the confession booth - Reason Gaming

You are current a member of Reason Gaming, but in the past played for Fastswitch / Oslo Lions. How did that team get together and what did you do before joining Fastswitch?

"Fastswitch had been together for a while and I had just discovered the "scene" and started playing seriously, as I wrote earlier. There were some tryouts for Team Norway at that time which I entered. I guess they were impressed or whatever so Fastswitch took me in.

From there we joined a lot of cups and stuff like that, but we always had line-up issues, which was really annoying. People joining the army and other dumb excuses, which I won't get into. Before I joined Fastswitch I was playing for random .eu teams just for fun and I was playing loads of public! I actually thought COD4 public was fun back then .."

Eventually you left Oslo Lions to join Dignitas, replacing fellow Norwegian plaZma, who went inactive. Was this switch mainly by the problems within the team or did you just see it as a lucky break? Would you have left Oslo Lions if everything was well?

"Yeah, at one point I think we had an 8 man line-up .. and I couldn't stand most of them, as they were really REALLY annoying. Won't mention names, but they know who they are. Yeah it was pretty lucky, didn't think I'd get a chance like that again so I took it. It's hard to say if I'd leave the team if everything was going well, but it has never really gone well before so I can't tell. We've always had issues in the past."

Just six weeks later, Dignitas released their team, only to return to a full UK based line-up 2 days later, releasing both you and SKO. Were the recent results at that time the motivation behind the switch, or were there other reasons behind the sudden change?

"Yeah that was due to the recent results and people not getting along very well. Clash of personalities or something like that I guess."

Do you feel like you weren’t given the chance to show your full potential in the short time you played for Dignitas?

"Well it was pretty much a clash of playstyles cause they wanted someone to sit in a corner and not do anything, which I'm not a huge fan of."

Looking back, do you feel like you joined Dignitas at the wrong time? Feel like you perhaps were not ready or the team wasn’t in the best shape when you joined?

"Yeah, it probably wasn't the right thing to do looking back at it now, but what is done is done, nothing I can do about it. I'm glad I got the chance though =]."

You basically dissapeared for six months before reappearing in the new Reason Gaming line-up in February earlier this year. What have you been doing in the meantime?

"Yeah, that was a time COD4 was going through a rough phase. COD5 was released, and people could not decide what mod they wanted to play. I joined up with the Fastswitch guys again, but I'm not quite sure what happened. Nothing was happening.

I got offers to join other teams, didn't take them because I didn't wanna leave Fastswitch a second time. But, at one point I was just too bored, because we never really got started and were just fucking about, playing shit games and at one point we were even thinking of starting to play CSS as a team. So instead I joined Reason."

Did you consider quitting altogether or were you simply waiting to play for a big name?

"Nah, I was playing all along, I was just playing with Fastswitch cause I wanted to give it a chance. I already had several offers from decent teams, I even turned down Reason at one point to stay with them."

You joined Reason Gaming in February 2009. What were your first thoughts about your new teammates?

"I had been playing for Reason for like a month with kAMMYz and Lighters and we were searching for two UK players. This took quite some time, as they obviously didn't want to rush things, because the old line-up didn't work too well.

I've known Lighters for a long time and I like and respect the black man and I know he's really good. kAMMYz obviously is an incredible player, quite big headed though, but deep down he's a really nice guy. Sometimes. And is fun to play with. Me and him were talking a lot before I joined Reason about basically everything, just to get to know eachother or something like that =p. He was also the one who approached me to join Reason in the first place!

revoltz I didn't really know a lot about, except that he thought I was shit. He seemed like a nice guy and he is! I've always liked the infused guys, hilarious stories on Esports detectives and random flame on tek9, so I thought it could work out after we got to know eachother a little bit better and hopefully he doesn't think I'm shit now.

Last but not least, diablo. I was really unsure about joining a team with him as I know he flames. A lot. But after playing with him that quickly changed. He's a hilarious guy and is really fun to have on your team. He's an amazing smg probably the best =D, he taught me so many things. But, I have to admit I was quite unsure at the start."



Lighters (left) and Zenith (right) on the bus to Poitiers


If you compare your time in Reason Gaming and Dignitas, what are the main differences in terms of teamspirit, getting along with the team outside of the game?

"I have fun playing, which I didn't have when I was in Dignitas. This is probably the main difference, as I think having fun while your playing is very important and can help your motivation incredibly much. I feel we get along really good, and after LAN79 I think we really bounded =D and grew confident as a team. The teamspirit is also a lot better, even though we can be quite emo when a game can turn into a dribblefest and we just fuck about. But yeah, the teamspirit is with no doubt better."

You are rumored to be either leaving Reason Gaming before the summer or go inactive during it. Could you explain the current situation, what you were planning to do during the summer and what the plans are for the summer LANs (Outpost on Fire, The Experience and i37)?

"Yeah, I managed to get a summerjob and I can only take one week off. Which means I won't be able to attend OOF3. We're looking for a 6th for OOF3, as we wanna keep this line-up because it works really well. So they're not kicking me just yet. We're probably not going to attend i37, because most of the team hate the event. I will be attending TEX so everyone who is going, CU THERE."

Did the first place finish at LAN79 affect your plans for the summer, perhaps not working as long as you were intending to do?

"Yeah, it actually did, because if we placed worse I'm sure they would just replace me. But since the line-up works as well as it does we would rather try to keep it for as long as possible. The work schedule hasn't been changed, I have always been able to go to TEX, just not the other LANs."

Has the team already found a stand-in for the Outpost on Fire event?

"No, we haven't so if YOU think you're the right one for us contact us at xfire: adamkarow. Every offer will be considered and appreciated!"

So you have?

"No :P"

Do you feel that a similar performance as LAN79 is possible at either OOF or TEX, given that you’ll have to play with a stand-in at the first event and there’s little time between the two events?

"Yeah, I think that's definitly possible. We didn't practise for LAN79 because my internet was down, so why shouldn't we able to do it this time as well. I'm sure whoever we pick up as a merc will do amazing anyway."