For those unfamiliar with your career in UT, could you shed some light?

I switched from Q3 to UT in July 2004 on purpose to qualify for WCG, unfortunately I failed against spawn2k4 (which is my team mate at the moment) and finished 2nd. I kept practicing and had in sight to qualify for ESWC.

Going into the EC XII playoffs must have been a daunting challenge. Players like fox, OoZe, Cooller, Vo0 and many more were all in contention. Optimism aside, did you ever think you would end up with a ticket to New York?

Since my ESWC title, I wanted to reach the best place ever possible in whatever international tournament I compete in. However, I didn't expect to go that far considering the class of players we had on the list and that I've played UT2004 for a year and had to make again an adaptation from UT2004 to Q3/Q4 game play this time.

You were knocked down to the lower brackets by kzyma, and would later go on to knock him out of the tournament. Did you think the first series you lost against the young player was a fluke?

Absolutely not, he played certainly much better than me and deserved to win, I was just not in shape due to a lot of hours of World of Warcraft.

Who was the most arrogant person you played in the EC XII playoffs?

Well I think every player have been nice to me and not arrogant at all, but if you ask them they would certainly answer I was! :>

Many people have claimed that your wins against Vo0 and OoZe mean little since they were online. Do you think that this is a look at things to come from you?

I think they are right, I don't take those wins as a fair reflection of our level. I stay realistic, I know I will have an harder time winning over Vo0 in LAN but I still think I got good chances to take it.

Aside from the finals in New York, what is the next notable event you look to attend?

I am going to attend all of the international tournaments along this year, i.e. CPL WT/ESWC/CPL Summer mostly.

How hard was it, on a professional level, to switch from UT to Q4? What was the hardest thing to adjust to?

It wasn't that hard for me, because as I said earlier, I switched from Q3 to UT. I am not basically a UT player, I started playing Q3 when the demo came out.

Let's say you go on to be one of the most dominant players in Q4. If UT2k7 arrives and it's every thing you expected, what will you do if the big money is still in Q4?

I will keep playing Q4 while the tournaments are a worth it. I just like competition and proving what I am capable of; it just has to be on a good FPS game.

What's the best way, in your mind, to practice or get better at a 1v1 game other than scrimmages?

I think talent is a big part of it, I know a lot of people that practice much more than me, and are still average. I am not telling you that in an egocentric way, it’s just what I think. If you are talented and motivated to practice as much as needed, then you will go far.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a player?

My aim.

And your greatest weakness?

My timing ability.

Many people say Phrantic is more aim oriented than tactical, do you think this is true?

Actually I think its more spam than anything else.

Many novice players know that once you (they) lose the initial control in a map it's hard to gain it back. What do you do when this happens? Do you try and focus on one thing and try to control it or what?

I just try to outthink my opponent to steal away the major items of the map. If you don't manage to regain the control of it, then you just don't deserve to win the game.

Competition aside, how enjoyable is Q4 for you? Do you play solely for the competition, or do you find the game fun?

I have to admit I really enjoy being able to slide and ramp jump.

How will the cancellation of the 2006 World Tour play into your plans?

Won't change much I guess, WSVG seems to be replacing the World Tour.

Q3 was dropped by the CPL, and then Q4 was released and it was picked up for the World Tour. Now that Q4 has dealt hefty damage to the Q3 community and now looks to have a more limited future after the WT cancellation, how do you feel about all of this? Where do you see Q4 going?

Q4 is definitely not going to die, at least not right now, there are still major events - CPL Summer/ESWC and probably WSVG (in my opinion). But I don't know after those events. UT2007 will finally come out and I don't know what will happen. I don't have anything planned yet.

On behalf of the GotFrag Q4 Department I would like to say thank you, winz, for taking part in this interview. If there is anything you would like to say, you have the floor.

I would like to thank aAa solutions, Creative, Razer, Sennheiser, Shuttle and Xraypad who all give me a nice support, Samy "Sunscorcher" OUERFELLI who works for aAa as much as an exploited asian, Zco and Raoul for their hosting skills in their apartment and everyone else I forgot.