Stepping back from your team’s play, looking at the event at a whole, what are your impressions of this qualifier at a movie theater? How do feel that is working and general impression of this qualifier so far?

I think they are doing a really good job. The production that they have did an insane job setting up the stage. In the theater, it is definitely a thing that can be happening in the future. It is very comfortable for the spectators. They got the two broadcasters doing amazing play-by-play. I think that the ability to switch between the four games that are being played definitely keeps the spectators on edge which keeps it different.

As a whole, I think the event is very good and I think it would have been even more amazing had they given it a few more weeks of scheduling so that more teams could come out. Last second they did what they needed to do to get some teams and its definitely turning out to be a great event.

Recently it was in the news, that Complexity and Team 3D had been signed by CGS. What are your thoughts that these teams are already franchised and called for?

Well the draft definitely isn’t open given Complexity and 3D’s situation with Counter-Strike, but at the same the 3D and Complexity rivalry really has been American CS for almost two years now. With CGS taking advantage of that, it is definitely a positive step. It means they are not forgetting what built the Counter-Strike scene. Obviously there are teams like us, JMC, and EG that would like to have a brand involved too but at the same time, CGS wants to build their own. They knew they needed that rivalry so they picked up 3D and Complexity.

I think it’s a good thing, and I’m personally not upset that they didn’t choose to pick our brand. The players are the brand so if they have a differen’t name and they qualify for CGS then more power to them. The 3D and Complexity move was a positive one for CGS.

Taking that to the next step, if your team does qualify and they go separate ways, how is that going to affect Pandemic’s brand? How will it affect the other divisions of Pandemic and fall into this new world order?

The Pandemic brand has definitely been a Counter-Strike brand from almost three years now. When CGS started releasing more details, we definitely moved in a different direction. The division of World of Warcraft and Guitar Hero 2, took our brand a bit more mainstream then Counter-Strike posses. If for some reason, the CS guys get in, which I hope they do, they have been playing 7 years. They deserve to be salaried, and get all the attention CGS is going to bring them. The Pandemic brand can succeed without Counter-Strike. Some of the things our World of Warcraft team has been doing in the last few weeks, has made my head turn. I was very surprised by the number of fans they have and the numbers they pulled. Obviously when you go to China and win an event, it doesn’t matter what game it is. Even on the domestic side, the World of Warcraft team is definitely enough to hold the Pandemic brand without Counter-Strike.

Thank you very much Mark, any last words?

I just hope that all these teams understand CGS is looking after the players. Six teams may not be that many in the beginning, but they are definitely are looking into the future. If they don’t get in it this year, they really need to stay with it. At the same time, I want ours fans to stick with us. If for some reason we lost our CS brand, WoW and some other divisions we like to add will continue to the name. Pandemic doesn’t change at all, just maybe a few games change.

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