HLTV.org sat down with fnatic captain Patrik "cArn" Sättermon, questioning him about the upcoming Extreme Masters World Finals.

The Swedish team have been drawn in Group A, having to take on mousesports and mTw, as well as oXmoze, Evil Geniuses and UMX, in the opening stage.

fnatic, one of the main favourites for the Extreme Masters title, failed to win the European Continental Finals ´last month following a 2-1 defeat to mouz in the Grand Final.

They are now looking forward to this event ahead of some busy months, with EPS Nordic, KODE5 and the ESWC all coming up.

In this exclusive interview, Sättermon discusses fnatic's displays in recent competitions, the loss of Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl and the team's goals for the Extreme Masters World Finals.

Your team was last seen on LAN at the Extreme Masters European Finals, where you finished runners-up to mousesports. Were you happy with your second-place finish or did you expect more from your team?

After losing that close game we were far from satisfied. But looking back on that tournament we can be happy with our performance. We came from a long break and performed great overall, just unlucky we couldn't seal the deal when we forced mouz to go for a deagle round.

Last weekend you competed in TBH-Cup, an online tournament, losing to n!faculty in the final after you had defeated them 16-2 earlier in the competition. What went wrong?

A lot went wrong but to be fair we won't be sleepless over that. Our main focus now is the IEM season 4 finals, where we will do everything in our powers to defend that title.

How will your team prepare for the Extreme Masters World Finals?

The same old online practicing has commenced, we will be playing roughly as much as we can on weekdays to freshen up our tactics and aim. On this Thursday we will meet up to play the last days on LAN, something I am looking forward to!

When Gux left fnatic, it was stated that he and the rest of the team had grown apart during the latter half of 2009. Can you elaborate on this?

Not really, I think you said it yourself. However, I am happy to repeat the fact that Rasmus is a great player who will probably do some great impact in SK.

Do you think that losing Gux has hurt your team's chance of success?

We lost a strong player but signed another. There are huge shoes to fill for Bjorn but so far so good, we won WEM and almost made it in Germany last month.

SK recently welcomed Gux to their ranks. What is your opinion about your former mate's decision and SK's new line-up?

I do not have any opinion on that.

What is your opinion about the teams you will meet in the group stage?

A strong group overall with many teams able to win it. I hope we can keep up the stability we had in the last group stage in the European finals in January.

Initially a stand-in, threat ended up joining fnatic on a permanent basis. How would you rate his contribution so far?

As stated before, he has played two tournaments with us so far where we have been very successful. I can also add that Bjorn brings a lot to the social part of the team and he is a really really nice guy to be around.

The inevitable question: do you still think about retiring from gaming some time soon?

At this age you do think about it, but to be fair, this is so much fun being able to play intensive competition and being fortunate to go to amazing destinations. FnaticMSI has been so successful in the past years and as long as that continues I am pretty sure I will be a part of it.

If you do choose to retire, do you see threat as a good substitute, as far as leadership is concerned?

Sure, he has good qualities as a leader.

fnatic have been confirmed as one of the participating teams in EPS Nordic. Are you looking forward to this league?

I do look forward to this league. I fear the first half of 2010 will be very calm competition-wise so having a online league to play will be lots of fun. Great job, ESL.

After failing to win Dreamhack Winter, and more recently the Extreme Masters Europe Finals, do you see a win at the World Finals as a must?

Funny question. There are lots of teams around that should be concerned about their performances. We are not one of them but winning it would be sweeeet.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Thanks for all the support we got out there. Many thanks to fnatic, who is supporting my team with help from MSI, SteelSeries, Bigfoot Networks, Slappa and Ugame.net

HLTV.org will be in Hannover, providing on-site coverage of the Extreme Masters World Finals, so stay tuned to our website for all the latest info on the tournament, which will run from 2-6 March.