Auxilia Interview - John "Gandofini" Johnston
Auxilia are one of the big names in the UK CS:S scene, a surprising fact considering their almost jovial approach to competitions and the fact they have attended only a handful of LANs in their long history. They are always regarded as a good team to watch and enjoy a lot of support from the UK community. A big part of that is John “Gandofini” Johnston, a big drinking, fast-talking and friendly Scot who spends fifty percent of his time away working on an off-shore oil rig. When not pre-occupied he throws himself into his CSS, but always knows to take it with a liberal pinch of salt. We bumped into each other, not surprisingly at the bar, and shared a few words over a beer lovingly charged to the GotFrag expenses account:


This is your first LAN since i30 as a team when you took part in the ebuyer tournament. How do you honestly think you’ll do?

We’re aiming for top five, but our next two games are against Team CoolerMaster and Reason Gaming, so it won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination. You always need a bit of luck with these things and no matter how good you are a tough draw can cripple you.


Some people on GotFrag have said you won’t make the top eight – what’s your response to that?

Aye, I saw that. Was surprised to see it come from a fellow Scot to name but one person. I’m here for a good time first and foremost, a drink with the lads. If we do get top eight then that will be a bonus and it’s one I know we can achieve. It’s a real tough event this time around, so many good teams. But we’ll see what happens and win or lose we’ll be down the bar.


What do you think the main weaknesses in your squad are?

Same old, same old. When I’m away at the rigs we can’t practice, so we’re a bit loose at the moment. I saw you pointed out Deadcell as a weak link but that’s nonsense in my opinion. He goes way back in the UK scene and is playing really well right now, getting a lot of frags. If we could put the time in, we’d be a lot stronger, but money has to come first when you have bills to pay.


Will we see more regular LAN attendances now from Auxilia?

This team has always been for fun really. I’d like to think that we’ll always be decent enough to compete with the big boys, but we’re all adults with jobs. A lot of youngsters with no responsibilities are spending their days doing nothing but playing the game, so how do you keep up? Still, if the dates are right we’ll be there as we get some tremendous support from the Ministry of Gaming LAN centre in Edinburgh and we want to LAN more that’s for sure.

Why do you think you’re so well liked in the UK? You do have quite a following.

We don’t piss on anyone’s chips, or trade in our reputations. We will talk to anyone online or at an event like this and we’re very sociable if you know what I mean. If all the top teams were a bit more like us it’d make the top end of the game a bit more accessable.


Any teams you’d like to avoid this event?

I’d like to avoid Reason, but there’s no dodging them now it seems. 4kings as well, got a gut feeling we’ll end up playing them at some point. Both of them very good teams, but if we do go out, we’ll go out with style.


If you didn’t win the tournament, who would you like to see do it?

Infused Gaming without a doubt. Nice guys who I have helped out in the past and I’m told are currently beating fnatic as we chat. Better go watch that to be honest mate. All the best.