Dallas, Texas - GotFrag sat down with Rafik "Lost-Cauze" Bryant after we found out that he was forming an all North American team to help some of the top duelers in the continent gain skill and grow as a player. He spoke to us about his upcoming Lost-Cauze gaming tournaments, and the bootcamp that he has hosted for the past couple weeks.

Can you tell us about the team right now please?

American Steel right now is myself (Lost-Cauze) and Griffin, Canada's best dueler. We may look into picking up more players but at the moment it's just us two.

What was the driving purpose behind forming this team?

The purpose of American Steel is to unite the best duelers in North America under one flag so that we can significantly compete against the Europeans. It's also to help each other out, which is what we've done for about the past couple weeks at our bootcamp. We had Chance, DaHanG, Griffin, ERMAC , mrkram and I may be missing some names, but generally all the premiere North American players

When did you think of doing this and when did it start becoming a reality?

It's an idea that I've always had, and in my opinion, that's what makes the Europeans so good; that they are able to collaborate and practice with each other constantly. But plans started being made right after WSVG Louisville, and that's when we started making calls to people.

Does the team have any sponsors?

Well the only sponsor we have for the team at the moment is Able Planet. I have my own edition of the Able Planet headphones that will be released in Circuit City and CompUSA and I will be going on a nation-wide tour to promote them later this year.

What do you think about the present deatmatch community?

I think UT3 will have a larger community as well as be a better game out of the box. With all the modifications that Epic does for it's game makes it really popular with the competitive and non-competitive crowds alike. Though alot of players have stuck by the game and really made it a nice game now, most people are just waiting for the new game and haven't come back to Quake.

Will you be an entirely Quake-based squad?

Basically the team will be all duelers. So we're not really tied to a certain game. So when UT3 comes out I'll probably make the switch as well as Griffin.

So I've heard whisperings of a Lost-Cauze tournament, can you explain that for us?

Right. One of the things I think is a problem in gaming right now is that there aren't enough LAN tournaments to keep us busy, and there are a complete lack of online events to keep gamers interested. What we're trying to do is give players enough competitive matches in between LAN events to keep them in the game. Also, our tournaments will be weekly and feature cash prizes. So not only will they be able to stay competitive among the community, but the top 16 players will be able to win money. What we're trying to do is raise the bar and keep players in the game and dueling. Also, the tournaments won't just be for just dueling games; we're going to have a bunch on platforms to play on. It will be an actual software implementation just like ESEA, that players will use to connect to the games. It's in development now and it expected to release in the next months.

You hosted a bootcamp for this event, how has the bootcamp gone?

The bootcamp has gone extremely well and I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from all the people that came to it. The nice thing about the place we're staying is that it's a large area and we're not piled on top of each other like some of the other bootcamps out there. We have enough space for about 12 players to practice, sleep, and eat, all without anything problems like people always being around each other. It's a nice place to relax and have fun, but at the same time, get some serious practice time in and work on their skills.

Is there anyone you want to thank?

I'd like to thank Able Planet for their continuing support. I'd also like to thank Gateway for their support of our bootcamp. Last but not least, I'd like to thank PMS and H20 Clan and my management team, who have always been great.