Name: Johan Quick
Alias: toxjq
Age: 23
Location: Sweden
Current Organization: Free Players

Can you tell us a little bit about you and your gaming history?

I started to play PC games when I was 10-years-old. I started with Quake 1 and since then, I've played all the Quake series, and I'm currently playing Quake 4 professionally.

You've been playing with a "j" in your name instead of an "i"; why the
change? Does it mean anything special?

I changed the name to make it a bit more unique and personal. Toxic is a name that a lot of players use nowadays and I don't wanna be mixed up with any other gamers. I use "toxjq" now as my nickname, but you still pronounce it "toxic".

What hobbies or other activities do you have outside of gaming?

I try and go to the gym four times a week. I'm also trying to walk a few times a week, as well as keep up with a cardio workout.

How do you look back on your years playing with your famous clan
IceClimbers? Do they have any plans to start playing Quake 4 TDM?

I really enjoyed playing TDM with IceClimbers back in Quake 3. We haven’t played much Quake 4 together, but we are the still considered the world champions in Quake 4 TDM from our win in the GGL Transatlantic Showdown in 2006. I don’t think IceClimbers will ever make a comeback, at least not with the same players as the old days.

Do you see TDM in Quake 4 becoming as popular as it did with Quake 3?

No, I don't see the TDM-side of Quake 4 really taking off like it did with Quake 3. I would love to see 2v2 really make a comeback though. I had a lot fun with that.

What are your thoughts about the patches and updates for Quake 4 and
Q4MAX?

Honestly, I liked the 1.3 version of all the patches so far. I think there’s too many
speed bugs and too many random elements involved now in 1.4. I thought 1.3 was very well-balanced and I enjoyed playing it a lot.

Now to focus on this past week where you took second in the WSVG Lanwar tournament. What was your training/practice schedule like going into the competition? Did you bootcamp at all?

No I didn’t bootcamp, and actually, I really didn’t practice that much before the event. I applied for a business visa four weeks before the event and received my passport and visa three hours before my plane left, so I wasn’t really expecting to be able to go to Lanwar. I felt like I went into the tournament under-prepared and out of shape.

How do the way Europeans prepared for the event differ from the way the Americans prepared for a major LAN?

It seems like most players, no matter which continent, found a player or group of players to bootcamp with. Every now and then, I will bootcamp with other players, but for the most part, I’ve just spent most of my practice time online.