You’re one of the guys behind the ProMod, how do you see ProMod existing in a CGS world? Is it essentially a mute point now because to get a modification that’s purpose is to kind of replace the game play of the current game of choice that Valve is selling to the masses? Where does that leave ProMod moving forward if CGS is going to essentially dominate CS:Source play in at least North America.

Well the great thing about CGS is they are really aware what is going on in the community from all angels. People sort of take this stance towards CGS as if they don’t know 1.6 is much popular of Source. They are very well aware of what is going on, and they are very well aware of ProMod. Once I have a finished product that is good, and if they are still taking an ear to ProMod as they have been, I will pitch it to them without a doubt. What I think is great about ProMod, in re-guards to your question about what Valve thinks of it, ProMod works best for everybody. We’re not creating a mod and trying to sell it separately for profit by any means at all. The way we’ve been engineering ProMod, is as such as someone to acquire Source to use ProMod. So Valve wins either way. Right now I would argue it would be in Valve’s best interest, as far as profit margins go, to support ProMod. They’re a lot of 1.6 kids who think Source is crap. They think the game play is crap, and they don’t buy it. They are happy playing with 1.6 and that’s why one of the reasons Valve decided to put ads in 1.6. The only thing that ProMod would do to Valve is sell them million more copies of Source. I don’t see how that could be a bad thing. I’m sure to a certain extent, there some initial frustration or maybe hesitation because they want people to devise the game as they made it. At the same time, Software developers aren’t classical artists, not to say what they produce is not art but they aren’t as stubborn. I think they know they need to patch games, they need to fix them. They have a community of ten million people who love their initial work. In a sense all we’re trying to do is replicate their initial work. I think really finically and ideologically it works best for Valve, if ProMod works out the way we’re engineering.

How has the change to the new rule format, affected your team and has the adaptation to the new rule format taken longer then the adaptation to the actual game play or the other way around?

I would say yes. Just given the fact we only started practicing with the CGS rule format just before Buy.com and that was definitely a big factor their. Certain strats don’t work. For instance at Buy.com we had a slow outside de_nuke strat that worked brilliantly with “standard” or “cevo rule” set. It just didn’t work at CGS. We would get picks, then it was like “oh crap guys, we have 30 seconds and the bomb is outside T-box, what are we going to do go lower?” I would say by that point, our guys got used to the game and then there was a sort of re-accommodation period for the rule set.

Also I’ve been asking a couple people out here how they feel about Complexity and Team 3D, and being signed as franchises. Does that kind of deny the draft a certain form of fairness with the two most visable storied organizations in American Counter-Strike history. Does that somehow take some of the shine from the draft, what are your thoughts on that?

I don’t know what exact reasons CGS utilized in picking up those two brands. Whether because of their brand power, which is obviously immense, or it was the players. To a certain extent does it take drama out of a qualifier, yes. I think there is something to be said for wanting to ensure that this rivalry stays in-tact for a long time. That’s the great thing about CGS, it’s not just a one year and done event. They are really here for a much longer haul and they understand the evolution of e-sports which is what lot of us have been working on for a long time. Maybe it takes some drama away from the draft, maybe it privileges certain franchises over others to a certain extent. I would say side-effects for a very bright future for gaming.

We’ve seen some very close matches with United 5 and Nsync, which is a pug here with pham, clown, kg and some other great Source players. We’ve seen former 1.6 teams play Source teams very well. For me at least, this is the culmination of seeing how 1.6 teams have kind of evolved and come into their own. How would grade overall the 1.6 teams becoming Source teams? Would you say they still need some more work, or have they came into their own in this game?

I would say if you really want to look for an indicator of where the 1.6 teams are as far as adjusting to Source, look at the Stride Cup Invitational. The top four teams are arguably the biggest brands in 1.6 gaming in North America. You had JMC, EG, Complexity and 3D. I don’t want to discount Pandemic or zEx or anything like that but they didn’t play Source for as long so they didn’t get included in that invitational. There you go right there. I think largely because of that event uses a rule set that 1.6 guys are usually to playing. I think the CGS results are by the nature of the rule set going to be much more any given Sunday. Like if you asked me, If I thought my team would win this event, or if X team would win this event, I would shrug my shoulders. It’s very quick play style. What we’ve seen so far is that its very much any given Sunday. Great for television and for entertainment, just the nature of the beast. I think at this point, my team, JMC, zEx, Pandemic, and U5 to list some of the formidable X 1.6 teams to come over, they have all used their different set of formulas in adjusting. Pandemic and zEx had to sort of catch up, so they dropped a guy, picked up a Source player and sped him up. If Pandemic does well at this event, it will be impressive since they have been playing 1.6 for a long time. From the entertainment perspective, one would argue it’s a damn good decision. If you believe via parody like the NFL has sort of evolved into over the past 5-7 years, then I think you would agree with the rule set.

Well thank you very much Alex, do you have any last things you want to say?

I just want to thank Intel, KillerNIC, SteelSeries, ABIT, and Ideazon for supporting EG. Also want to think all of EG’s fans and the ProMod supporters. We have our fair share of forum detractors to say the least. They’re always good for a nice laugh. I can promise to even the detractors, if you throw something constructive in those forums, I would listen to it. If you call the Mod horrible, I’ll give it a chuckle. If you legitimately have a problem with something and you want to fix, put it in the forum.

Thank you very much and good luck in the rest of the tournament.

Thank you.

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