x3o confident

Team x3o speak to HLTV.org prior to their trip to California for the 2008 ESWC Finals.

HLTV.org begins its countdown for the Electronics Sports World Cup Finals with an interview with top US team x3o. There are only 7 days to go until the competition kicks off in California, USA and we have more in store for you users over the next week.

Up until recently we have hardly seen any US team really contend with the finest teams in the Counter-Strike 1.6 scene. However, at Gamegune 2008, x3o proved that the wait for an American team to rival the likes of legends such as Team 3D and complexity is over. They finished fourth and proved they now have the discipline to do well.

Fresh from a win from national rivals Evil Geniuses,  and eagerly anticipating playing on home territory we speak to team leader, Ediz "goodfornothing" Basol.

Seeing as we are across the ocean and our users know little about the team, lets start off with a brief introduction on who x3o really are?

x3o is a team that has been around in the USA for a long time. We used to be Turmoil before joining x3o. We've been a team for about 2 years now with the same core lineup and have had limited chances to prove ourselves in the international scene so hopefully after this summer more people across the atlantic know who we are :)

The ESWC finals are here, one of the most glamourous events of the year to win. How have you prepared for the event?

We have been playing online scrimming almost everyday. However, the best practice for us came at GameGune this past month where we were able to play against some of the top international teams. Hopefully our experience there will help us to do better at ESWC.

Who would you most like to play in the tournament and why?

That would definitely have to be Fnatic. They've been the team to beat for a while now and we have lost to them twice in international events, so it'd be nice to get some revenge and prove ourselves to the community.

It has taken some time for an American team to challenge the European clans, however recently, at GameGune, you proved that you might be capable of that. Why has it taken so long to achieve this?

Well I think a large part of it is the fact that all the sponsors went with these organizations. They were the biggest organizations at the time and were the only ones really capable of sending teams to compete at all these events. Also they were the only ones with a lot of experience under their belts. It takes a long time to get used to the european playing style so US teams are just getting to the level that those teams were at back then. That being said however I think the top US teams now are just as good as coL and 3D were back in their day.

Would you say that you have competition in the US? Do you not see yourselves as the leading US team?

I think there are two ways to look at it. As far as head to head versus other US teams I don't think we're better by a wide margin at all. I do think that us and EG are at the top but there are other teams that can give us good competition. However, versus the international teams I don't think there are any other US teams that can do as well as EG or us, simply because we have been able to compete against them more. Hopefully that gap will close in the near future though.

The European teams have an advantage in the fact they practice against eachother in online leagues. What does x3o's training involve in comparison?

To prepare for the European teams we can really only rely on our experience and demos. However, you can only learn so much from watching demos. It's always been a big disadvantage for US teams because it's so tough to prepare. On the other side of the coin is that sometimes they are not used to some of our faster playing styles which can be to our advantage.

What is the CS1.6 scene in the USA like at the moment and what improvements would you like to see happen?

Well the problem is that the US scene largly relies on online leagues, mainly CEVO. Since it is such a big country and teams don't have sponsors it's really tough for a LAN to draw the top US teams from around the country. The prize pool has to be pretty big to make it worthwhile for them. It'd be nice to see more big tournaments in this country which is why I was glad to see that ESL is putting on a few tournaments here.

Do you think playing on home territory and having the support of the home crowd may enable you to go one step further than you've been before?

Well I don't know how much of an affect the home crowd is gonna be, but it is nice to be near home. No long flights, no jetlag, and we can get a few more days of practice in since we don't have to leave for the event so early

A user on our site is dying to know how mehLer can sit like he does and what is the reason for it?

mehLer:  Lol, my desk at home is really small so it was the only way my monitor, keyboard and mousepad fit. 8 years ago I didn't know I would be playing counterstrike at such a high level so I got used to it.  By the time I realized I should sit like a normal person, it was too late and i'm too comfortable this way.

Evil Geniuses have changed their roster recently, do you see yourself taking over the task of being US favorites for the time being?

Well they definitely got rid of one of their best players and I'm not really sure why. However, I think the addition of a new teammate has motivated them because I see them scrimming a lot more often now. I still think they're a top contender but I have a lot of confidence in my team so I think we are the US favorites for ESWC :)

Who do you think will finish in the top 3 and do you think this year's Grand Finals will be a close tournament?

I think we'll definitely see Fnatic and MYM in the top 3. It's hard to say who else because so many teams have been beating eachother reccently. The new ROCCAT lineup will also be up there I think. And yes, I do think the finals will be very close.

Team x3o's roster follows:

Ediz "goodfornothing" Basol
Matt "PaTyoJon" Iantosca
Dan "mehLer" Mehler
Ben "ben" Hui
Derrick "impulsivE" Truong

Well that rounds up our first interview and the official HLTV.org ESWC countdown begins! Stay tuned for further interviews and full event coverage.

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