PowersGaming flies into Denver this week as the number one North American Counter Strike Source team according to GotFrag rankings and almost anyone you ask. PG will be facing the rest of the best Source teams in America along with CS 1.6 powerhouse Team 3D. The venue is the EverLAN Winter NIT taking place January 20-22, 2006 in the Colorado town and it is turning into quite a showdown. Quite a bit of attention will be focused on PowersGaming in this tournament from the community and media. GotFrag had a chance to ask PowersGaming's "p0s" about the importance of EverLAN to the team and community as well as several other questions about the team and event.

GotFrag - Please introduce yourself and give readers a little background information?

My name is Trevor Randolph and I currently live in Wapakoneta, Ohio where I attend college full time and work while im not in school. I was on PG for the summer CPL team and the Newegg LANFest team in LA. After losing Newegg something wasn't right in the team and decide to take a step back and tried being the inactive member but Jason moved on and picked up the Upper squad so I was terminated D=. I started playing 1.6 again for a few months with local team in the Midwest. Since Digitallife / Newegg event I rejoined the team full time with few bumps since then.

GotFrag - Are you excited about EverLAN?

Yes I am really excited about this event simply because I think this could be the start of many more events, or the last depending on turnout.

GotFrag - PG has competed in the biggest Source tournaments to date, how does this one compare in importance to the previous CSS tournaments you have played in?

This event will be the most important for PG as a team. Since CPL we have been considered a top team but lacking in the results to back that assumption. As for me, I don't think anything will compare to CPL just because I believe that is when there was the most talent in the source community.

GotFrag - Do you feel it is important to win and is this a good tournament for the Source community?

Any tournament is important to win so you can be considered the top team in the community. This tourney is huge for the source community. If attendance is not good and Angel doesn't notice it, I don’t think there will be any hope of Source events during the 1.6 WT this upcoming year.

GotFrag - In New York (Newegg/Digitallife) PG faced Verge in some very exciting finals but were not able to get past them. Verge will be returning in this tournament with the same lineup. What kind of things are you doing to prepare for Verge?

We don't prepare for one team and don't plan on doing that simply because of a past loss to Verge. I could name numerous teams that have the same chance of beating us as Verge does.

GotFrag - How is this present PowersGaming team different from the team at LANFest, Newegg NY and Summer CPL?

I think at the past events we over looked the competition and won't go into this tourney with the same mindset. I know for one I didn’t think anyone would get close to us after the insane numbers we put up on top-rated teams at CPL and for the LA Newegg event. This team is more laid back also compared to the summer CPL team and won't underestimate any team this time around. As for the other events it doesn't sound like they had strong friendship within the team and I think that’s the most positive thing going for our team right now.

GotFrag - 3D has announced they will be participating in the EverLAN tournament. You guys are friends and of course have played each other in Source. Are you guys looking forward to playing them at the tournament and does the announcement have any effect on the way your team is preparing? Does this put more importance on how well your team performs at the event?

This is the team we want to face the most in the tourney. We would love to get back at our friends after they beat us in our last PG vs 3D event. We won't prepare any different besides warmach1ne and I will watch 3D's demos from the past CPL to get an idea of what they will try to run. With 3D taking part in the tourney this will be the time for someone to put the "they beat you in your own game" comment to shame. So if we perform, then we can keep all the 1.6 fan boys hush hush on the o so loved GotFrag forums.

GotFrag - Team upper will also be participating in EverLAN and as we all know the team includes previous PG members and previous rivals as well. Are you guys looking forward to facing your old teammates in a rematch of sorts from Summer CPL and LANFest 2K5?

Of course I would love to beat Haqshot and Cadaviar after they walked away with my computer in LA =). I have no bad blood with Upper at all and Green is one of the few players I talk to outside of the game. A payback at this event would be nice though :).

GotFrag - How are preparations for EverLAN going? How do you feel PG's chemistry and teamwork will be at this event?

Well this is where our team has the biggest problem is all 5 guys being on at a certain time. We would have liked to prep a lot more but everyone's lives have been hectic lately so our practice schedule isn't what it has been for past events. Chemistry and teamwork will be up to par hopefully by then with me flying out a week early to Clown's house to bootcamp with him and Moe.

GotFrag - Who is the in-game leader of PG? Who makes strategies for the team? Can you tell our readers just a little bit about each of the players in the PG lineup for EverLAN?

With clown's schedule being tuff for him to put the time into the game we all agreed on changing in-game leader to Clark. Clark and warmachine take time to go in servers to make the strats but I put in the time watching tons of 1.6 demos to try to copy stuff from certain teams and try to show them what worked on certain maps in 1.6.

Clark is quiet one on the team but the brains of the team. He keeps everyone on the same page in-game and can calm us all down when we aren't on the same page or something isn’t going our way.

Clown is the life of the team. He is a probably the most versatile player that we have on the team. He can play any position with any gun.

Moe would be considered the funny guy on the team. He has a solid AWP so we try to put Moe in spots where he can get a quick pick and put us up a guy early in the round.

Warmach1ne would be the serious one on the team. He is the best player right now in Source going into the event in my eyes. He will be looking to get revenge after being benched for the last event and will be trying to prove that he is for real after his somewhat disappointing results at summer CPL in many players eyes. He will be mainly rifling throughout the event while using the occasional AWP.

As for myself I would say I am a mix of all the players into one. I know when to be serious and I know when to be funny. I will be the entry kill person along with warmachine and will stick to using colt/ak the entire event.

GotFrag - The PowersGaming Ladies team will also be attending EverLAN. Have you guys been helping them and vice versa to prepare for EverLAN? How well do you see the Ladies team placing in the event?

We really don't help the ladies besides the occasional pug with them maybe. Potter and Izabel know how to run a team with their past experiences in other lady divisions, so they don't need help on how to run a team. They do their own thing and we do our thing simple as that. They are preparing for EverLAN extremely hard right now. Them placing in money is what I will want out of our ladies division anything less and I will have to break up with sapphire.

GotFrag - When will the team be arriving at the event? Will you have time to practice at the venue before the tournament?

We all are arriving to the event on the Friday so we don't have time for a bootcamp on LAN besides clown, Moe and myself spending a week in LA together =). We want to make use of the practice time we get on that Friday at the venue and during any other times during the event.

GotFrag - What teams do you see doing well at this event?

3D/Hyper/Verge/Upper in any order. Source is random so please some teams out there surprise me~! As for dark horses I see TeoS and CB7 being teams who will cause upsets.

GotFrag - Thank you for your time, of course we look forward to seeing you guys at the event. Is there anything you would like to add about EverLAN or any parting words of wisdom?

I would like to thank the GotFrag staff in trying to make this a huge success for the source community. Huge thanks for Everlan-Baker taking a risk in running a source tourney instead of knowing the turnout he could get in 1.6, he took a step for the future. Also big thanks to our sponsors Steel Series, Hurricane Host, Monarch Computer, and IMG.

Full GotFrag coverage of EverLAN Winter 2006 can be found here.