The Swedish CS scene is the most prolific on the globe, and for this reason the nation has been named number one in the world for many years. What is the reason for this? The SKs , the NiPs and the Fnatics are just some of the major teams that keep Sweden’s reputation as an elite world class power. But how do these teams constantly remain on top?

One thing to take note of is that although the names of the teams that excel in their performances at major tournaments are the same, the players’ faces we associate with these teams are often different. Many times it is the same top tier players just shuffling teams; however, on the rare occasion, there are those unknowns, the young talents, who take the scene by storm.

A group of up and comers from the relatively unknown team called GoN are a great example of the ‘trickle up’ effect that is starting to occur not only in Sweden, but North America and other European nations as well. Often times in the CS scene there are many talented top teams vying to challenge those already established ones. Players on these teams often possess amazing skill, and it takes just that one big tournament for them to prove how good they truly are. Following a successful event, it is not uncommon to see these same players end up on those top teams they originally set out to challenge.

GoN original roster:
Jimmy "Allen" Allén
Fredrik "hibb" Isacsson
Oscar “Archi” Torgersen
Fred "hyrule" Nilsson
Joel "deffe" Hedin

Now:
Jimmy "Allen" Allén – SK.swe (past teams – GoN, RAW Gaming)
Fredrik "hibb" Isacsson – unnamed team, former mYm (past teams – GoN, RAW Gaming)
Oscar “Archi” Torgersen – Fnatic (past teams – GoN)
Fred "hyrule" Nilsson – clanless (past teams – GoN, RAW Gaming)
Joel "deffe" Hedin – clanless (past teams – GoN, SSV.Lehnitz)

In the Beginning:

Most of the players on GoN were just reaching the semi-elite level when the opportunity to band together and form a new team came along. Oscar “Archi” Torgersen says that although he had been on numerous clans in the past, he only felt like he had reached a new level of play when GoN was formed.

“I'd say GoN was my first team that could compete with the world top clans. I've had lots of serious teams before but never with players capable of beating the top teams.”

GoN, was originally called Playhard.se, and it started out as an amateur/semi-professional clan led by Torgersen. After some internal conflicts and with the team, he dismissed the entire team and brought four new faces from various clans.

“I was a player in a clan called Playhard.se (which later became GoN) and one day I got fed up with our results so I got the authority to kick the whole team except for me. I basically picked 4 players from different semi-elite clans that I thought had some potential and talent at the time: deffe from Lemondogs, allen & hibb from Club55 and hyrule from Boomchackalack.”

As can be seen from the names, the players who joined up to form GoN were not well-known and far from famous at the time. Yet judging from the results, it seems Torgersen knew exactly what he was doing, as the group was on the verge of achieving much renown.

The Start of Something Interesting:

Quickly achieving the label of a semi-elite squad, the team was in contact with the top tier teams in Sweden and the rest of Europe, but seldom got to practice against them. According to Torgersen, the team made the most of their opportunities, and that is how they made a name for themselves.

“The first day of practice started out with us playing extremely well. We beat most teams there in practice, NoA, SK, NiP etc. Already after a week with the new team, we were considered the best online team in Sweden. Most people made the assumption that we were cheating.”

Jimmy "Allen" Allén recalls that after the first few days, they were now facing the top teams on a daily basis, “We played against them (SK, NiP, fnatic) a lot for practice. Although there were no official matches, we had a lot of experience from playing these great teams.”