I had a chance to ask John “bigwie” Wie, CS legend, drama queen, fan favorite, ladies man, all star, and the co-leader of team vigor. Team vigor was recently moved to CAL invite following the demotion of nerve.

How does the move to invite feel, especially after Super was already promoted?

Bigwie: It feels great, I had no real hard feelings towards Super; I've known Valk since summer CPL and met all of the Super duper guys at Winter and had a nice time chatting with them. It was upsetting we weren't moved up before they were, but that's in the past and it doesn't matter anymore since we have gotten the nod up. People may have misunderstood my posts on GotFrag as somewhat inflammatory or a bashing of Super, but it wasn't, just a logical comparison and I was hoping they could see it from my perspective.

How do you think you will fare in CAL-I? Are there any teams in particular you are anxious to play?

Bigwie: Well, so far our schedule looks really tough since we play coL, D!E, u5 and zEx in the next 4 weeks so we're hoping to come out even with an upset, but we have to take things slowly because we haven't been putting much attention to CS lately. I'm anxious to play anybody, I had the chance to scrim tons of teams at CPL and a rematch sounds fun against any team.

The word in the smoke filled back rooms was that Vigor was passed over for the first promotion this season due to roster instability. Do you see this a problem or as a strength?

Bigwie: Yes and no, after CPL, beeRz moved to Sweden, derosa joined u5 and punkville retired for a while and all 3 of these players left big holes to fill. We've known jasido and rodman for a very long time and they live within 10 minutes from foomy and maRine and are willing to LAN every weekend so it could help us in terms of going to more LANs and becoming a better team. maRine/foomy and I have been in CaribOne/viGor for over 6 months now.

Your move up to CAL-I comes at the expense of a veteran team nerve, does this make the move up a bit more sour?

Bigwie: nerve has had a great history, and they've always had solid players including the last 2 incarnations of the team that were basically pugs. I have a lot of respect for them, and I do feel somewhat sympathetic towards them - however they have had so many roster changes in the past month and announced the teams demise twice in the past 3 weeks I'm sure they saw it coming.

Is there one team in particular that you want to beat in CAL-I? Why?

Bigwie: Nah, we don't have any grudges against any teams, online is just a practice field for tournaments - and since we are preparing to make a 2nd straight appearance at ESWC USA Finals and CPL, all I want out of this CAL season is the higher seeding (Hopefully better than 38 this time :P) and good practice against great teams.

Is there one particular rematch you want? Why?

Bigwie: Well, we played coL and DZ @ CPL and barely lost to coL and everybody knows what happened against DZ, so a rematch against any one of those teams would be fun. At our level of practice lately, I doubt we'd have a chance against either team online until a few more weeks when we get our groove going.

Bigwie: I'd like to thank all my buddies at iChester LAN center, besitzen, backdraft, penance and the teams that go to Level Up LAN center. Oh and just wanted to say fr3xmO u guys are the best


I spoke with Andrew “hendo” Henderson, manager of nerve, about the changes nerve has undergone in the past month, and their reaction to being moved to CAL premier.

Someone would have to be blind not to see the roster shuffling going on at nerve. What has been behind all of this and have you fixed the problem for now?

Hendo: The core of the newly reformed Team Nerve are all good friends, and have been on this team for 2 years together, so the stability is back, and we are ready to perform.

Where did you meet the three non-Canadian members of Nerve? Was it an easy decision to move away from your roots again?

Hendo: The non-Canadian members of the new Team Nerve (Simonz, Amic, Phobius), we know from a private scrim club, and also they are currently playing with Olsen, on e7 in CS-Source Open. Team Nerve was created as a fully Canadian Team almost 3 years ago, and we don’t have a choice to sticking to that tradition, because currently the talent available is in the USA, and I can not justify to have a sub-par team by sticking to players only North of the border.

According to CAL, Nerve is being moved down from the Invite division to Premier? How has the team taken this, and do you agree with their decision?

Hendo: Yeah CAL has moved us to CAL-P, the team is quite disappointed about this, when I first informed them of the situation, seeing how it will be the final 1.6 invite season, but in all honesty all the team cares about is CAL-Invite Source, and making it there for next season, or whenever it starts. I can understand where CAL is coming from on there decision to move us down, however we have already set and attained our goal with CAL-P, by winning the Pacific Division the first season of CAL-P. So it would have been nice to have been an exception to there strict rules, but life is full of bumps, and being in CAL-I is not a huge deal to us, Team Nerve has always focused on LAN tournaments, and to this day that is still what we care the most about competitively.

Looking at CAL-P do you see any teams that are competition, and do you feel that vigor the team that replaced you is a suitable replacement?

Hendo: There are several teams in CAL-P that we have played before on LAN and online, and some teams that we have yet had the pleasure to play. Butt off the top of my head I think Check-Six will be a dominant team in CAL-P this season with the pick-up of Ian Royle from Nerve, other then that there are a lot of new faces that we will have to play and find out. Check back with me in a week and I can give you a broader list then just one team. As for Vigor replacing us, some of us knew if the team was to be replaced when we announced our retirement it would be Vigor. I honestly think there are a few teams that I would have selected above them.

Any parting words you would like to share with our readers?

Hendo: Just want to thank you for your time, and let the community know that team nerve has more drama then your favorite TV soap opera.