With the recent announcement by the Evil Geniuses organization of a near complete roster overall, GotFrag spoke with two key members of the high-profile lineup.

In this first of this two-part interview, GotFrag posed probing questions to the legendary AWPer and long time Complexity member Danny "fRod" Montaner. Getting to the bottom of issues about his time in the CGS, joining a new squad, and the addition of a new face to the tight-knit squad.

Following those responses, from the former EG.usa roster, sole remaining player Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert wieghs in on topics ranging from how he felt about his old teammates, to how his new ones are adjusting to 1.6.



Who will be the main strat caller for this team? Do you have a basic outline of team roles yet?

Matt will be the strat caller on the team. The basic outline of the team's roles are as follows: Matt will be the strat caller, to organize us, prepare us for matches, and call our strategies. Tyler will be using his rifling and teamwork expertise to fill in a lot of jobs for the team and cover everyone. Corey will provide his amazing movement, great rifling skills, as well as an immense amount of energy and team spirit. Jordan will be the young gun, showcasing his raw ability to lock down locations of the map and rush them, which will definitely be his major plus. For me, I'll just be the primary awper and provide as much cover and confidence as I can throughout my team.

How have you spent the interim between the collapse of the CGS and now?

From the time CGS collapsed until now, I have been playing non-stop 10 or 5-man pugs with my good friends that have been at the highest level of competition for many years. I have had a great deal of fun completely focusing on 1.6, whereas for the last 6 months I had been playing both source and 1.6 (and before then, mainly source for 18 months). Being able to just focus on 1.6 allows me to regain a lot of skill and remove a great deal of the source mentality, which is very different.

What led to the decision by you and your teammates to leave Complexity for EG? Describe the relationship between Jason Lake and the team post CGS and how did Lake respond to your final decision?

My teammates and I basically decided that we just did not want to let CGS get us down in the least bit, and wanted to immediately start looking to compete in the 1.6 scene. We had actually been trying to do so for the past 2 years as well, but CGS wouldn't allow us to attend many events. Now with the recent changes in North American eSports, we wanted to get into the new year as quickly as we could and have the support ready to jump start our team. I know that Jason may not like our decision but ultimately I think he will understand, and I want to thank him for all that he has done for me and my teammates.

First the move from 1.6 to Source, now coL to EG. How do you respond to the criticism that this team has no heart and just follows the money trail?

To us, the only kind of support that really matters is the ability to travel, which is the first thing we sought and got in place as a team before making any decisions. Having the ability to attend all the events we need to was by far our biggest concern, because missing out on the opportunity to attend big events or bootcamp can obviously hurt a team's progression. We want to be able to showcase our heart and our dedication at events, and we view our living allowances as relevant mostly during the off times in gaming. For us, our main focus and concern is attending events and placing as well as we can.

Why take Rambo out of the lineup? What will be the biggest difference for your team having Jordan in his place?

Our team has always had a formula and certain way we approach the game in terms of strategy, teamwork, and etc. This has been a defined formula that we as a team know is proven to work, going all the way back to the success of United 5 in 2003. We have always had every member of the team follow their certain role, and in doing so we feel we are most successful. Ron was a great player, but he didn't fit well with the formula, nor did he adjust to it, which made things difficult sometimes. I have spoken to Jordan and explained to him in great detail what our formula is and what he needs to do to be able to fulfill his role, and we are all convinced that he will be able to do so. Jordan is an extremely great natural talent and a true student of the game, and we will all be helping him as much as we can to fit this role. He will do just fine.

What are your first impressions of the teams ability to make the transition back to 1.6? How has the addition of nothing helped? In regards to the competitive community and the game in general, have you noticed any changes since your departure to CGS?

Well, we have been playing 1.6 competitively again since early July, and despite shaking off a lot of rust from not playing for a year and a half, we were still able to pull together the second seed heading into CEVO, and then finish in second place overall. We also achieved an undefeated record in the CGS pro am 1.6 season and took first place beating x3o in the finals. So I think we have done very well for playing Source four days a week during that time period, and since then we have been focusing solely on 1.6. We have been able to transition our mindsets a great deal so that we can get to the point that we want to get to, and we know with the addition of Jordan, we can only go higher. With the need for a lot more raw skill nowadays, we know Jordan will provide that for our team, and he will also be able to offer the patience and dedication necessary to play under the team's formula since we as a unit focus on our teamwork a great deal.

All money and competition opportunities being equal, if you were required to make a choice of whether to play CS 1.6 or Source, which would you go with, and why?

I can honestly say that I enjoy playing both, but the fact that 1.6 is just so much more difficult will always be my selling point. I have always liked 1.6 more for that very reason, because no matter how good you are, it seems that you can always learn and improve. The concept of being able to do that, and do that even in the biggest tournaments and on the largest stages, proves that the best player and best team will almost always win in that current moment. In CGS, there were a lot of random factors such as the short round time, and bomb planting making noise, that made the game simpler to a degree, and the skill gap and room for improvement simply wasn't there. In 1.6, so many factors are always being put into play that the room for improvement will always be there.

The competitive CS scene in the United States has been observed both domestically and internationally as being in somewhat of a slump. Do you feel this team can breathe life back into it? What are your goals for 2009?

Honestly, I feel this team can bring a lot of success to the USA, and I take great pride in representing this country and continent. We know as a team, that without the proper dedication and work ethic which we have had and instilled in our team over the years, we will not be successful. This has been one of our keys to success throughout our careers, and simply because we are making a roster change and/or team change, it doesn't mean that this unit will lose its goals and its dedication as a whole. We're going to work just as hard, if not harder, than we always have. As far as my goals, I would like to bring home some big tournament wins, and primarily make sure that our team is ready and focused for each and every match at every event.

Continued with Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert's interview on page 2.