GotFrag.com - With the recent announcement on GotFrag of Team EG's pickup of Tomi "lurppis" Kovanen, GotFrag arranged an exclusive interview with both the star player and EG's General Manager Alex Garfield.

Touching on a wide range of subjects from his return following a retirement announcement made only a few weeks ago, to his feelings about relocation half-way around the world to play for his new team.

Garfield explains the reasoning behind the surprise acquisition and reveals plans for the new roster.

What made you decide to come to America to play CS?

As I said in the interview when parting with Crack Clan, I didn't really have any plans for CS at the time, but when EG contacted me and asked if I might be interested in coming over to the states and joining them, it didn't take me long to make up my mind.

I have always wanted to go abroad and play for an international team, and most importantly this team obviously has huge potential, as well as the ability to attend all of the biggest tournaments thanks to our sponsors (Intel, SteelSeries, Peregrine, and Kingston). So for me it really is the opportunity of a lifetime. I'll be blogging weekly on EG's new website, www.myEG.net, so I encourage anyone who's interested to read up about my experiences in the USA :)!

Why EG? What do you like about the team?

First of all, we have a really good mix of play styles, and secondly if you look at the roster, three of the players have already won major events. I have personally won some smaller tournaments and have had plenty of top placement internationally, and Jordan is a huge talent who will continue to develop, so we have a good mix of experience and hunger. Everyone is really dedicated on this team, and that's what it takes to perform well in CS, so once we get our teamplay down and I'm adjusted to the team, I think we will be great.

Why are you a good fit with this team? What can you offer them?

I will bring the same dedication and motivation to the table that everyone else does, and I think I will probably contribute the most strategically, helping to change our playing style, and especially to adjust to European teams that have been kryptonite to North Americans ever since CGS. As far as individual play goes, I will do what the team needs me to do, be it entry fragging or clutching close rounds - I know I will get my job done.



What brought about this move? Why replace Hanes?

We just weren't happy with the growth process of our team. I think that in general, making roster changes because of one or two mediocre tournament performances (as teams often do) isn't really a good idea. In this situation, it wasn't so much about the results (our placements weren't terrible, but obviously weren't up to our standards either) as it was that we weren't happy with our inter-team dynamic, and that we felt this was hindering our growth process as a team. Thus, we decided it was time to make an adjustment proactively.

Why a European? Did you talk to or consider others?

We considered a variety of different well-known players, both in North America and abroad. When we were discussing options, we decided that the WCG roster limitation issue really wasn't enough to restrict us from looking outside of North America. It's obviously not ideal to not have access to Tomi for WCG competitions, but we still strongly feel that this is the right decision overall.

Tomi gonna live in the states? How difficult is it to get Tomi here?

Tomi will be staying with fRoD in the Dallas area. As far as the legal arrangements involved in order for Tomi to be here long-term, we're already well into the process of finalizing those, and won't have any problems. But in the short-term, bringing him to the USA hasn't been much of an issue.

Why Tomi? What does he add to the team?

Well, for those who don't already know, Tomi is already extremely well-suited to play on an American team, arguably more so than any other European player would be. He's one of the only players to be simultaneously entrenched both in the European and American communities, having worked for GotFrag and ESEA for several years.

Our core players have known him for years now, as he's been coming to the world's most prestigious events for almost four years now, so there was already much familiarity between him and our current lineup. For these reasons, we were able to consider Tomi without having to worry about any cultural or language barriers; we decided that with him, we simply got a world-class player with tons of insight into European and international play-styles.

We feel that with Tomi, we not only get top-notch talent and and one of the hardest working players in the game (a team leader for many years), but we'll also receive unique insights into what we need to do to be the best internationally.

When will he start with the team?

Tomi will arrive in the states on Tuesday, and will be on our active roster for the upcoming CEVO-P playoffs.

Check out the official announcement and the new roster HERE!