Next up on our list of pre-ESWC interviews is Chris "chrisJ" de Jong, the ingame leader of Dutch representative LowLandLions.

After interviewing Kory "semphis" Friesen from Area51, Brandon "weber" Weber from fm-eSports TOXiC and Filip "Neo" Kubski from ESC Gaming, it is now time to get to know a little bit more about the winner of the Benelux qualifier.

LowLandLions, who were previously known as ChillTeam, made a roster change just two days ago, which could prove to be quite the setback for them, with the ESWC just around the corner.

How have you prepared for ESWC 2012? Have you bootcamped or only practiced online? Do you feel ready for the competition?

Actually, I once again feel our preparation is lacking. We have been practising and discussing things a lot the last few days, but since we decided to change members a few days ago we have not had time to go through nearly every map... Sadly, bootcamping was not an option, either. So it is only online preparation but we are putting in hours so we hope for the best !

How many hours have you played CS:GO overall? How about your teammates?

I am currently a little above 300 hours, same for my team-mate Spartacus. Ferrid is around 200 hours I think. Stefan and gerrah have been playing since the beta and have about 400 and 600 hours, respectively.
 
What are you thoughts on CS:GO? What do you like and dislike? If you could change one thing, what would it be?

What I like a lot is the netcode/reg, it feels like if you get used to the recoil that you can always headshot someone if you aim for the head. This was kinda different in 1.6, where you had to make sure you switched your weapon after shooting some bullets to counter the recoil bugs. And it feels like in 1.6 your internet connection and PC setup had a lot to do with how easy it was to control things like your USP and AK recoil. In this way, CSGO is a lot better.

What I hate are the small and cramped maps, the sluggish and restricted movement. Also ECO-rounds are way too strong in CSGO, but this is, in my opinion, also the result of the small maps. Pistols like P250 and Deagle are just way too strong at close range, if the maps were bigger this issue of overpowered pistols would be solved, I think. The AWP having no ability to make quickzooms reliably also frustrates me a lot, and makes this a really random weapon in close-range battles.

If I could change only one thing it would be to improve the movement to be more 1.6-like, though.
 
What do you expect from ESWC 2012? If your life depended on guessing your final placing, what would you guess?

Actually, we will not expect much at all. We barely made it through the Benelux Qualifier so it would be stupid to rank us as a topcontender. I guess we could place top8 or even top6 on a good day.

Photo of ChillTeam after winning the ESWC qualifier

What can you tell us about your competition based on seeing them play and practicing against them? Who do you consider the strongest three teams going into the event?

We have not practcsed against any of the teams that are attending ESWC, actually. But I consider NiP, Mousesports and the winner of the French Qualifier to be the teams that are most likely to reach top3.

Can you talk about your teammate and explain to our readers what everyone's role on the team is in-game?

Stefan is our main awper/picker.
Gerrah & ferrid are our main riflers.
Spartacus also AWPs and plays most of the small sites
I am usually the rotator/backup player; and I guess I do most of the IGL-calling as well, but everybody comes up with ideas we use.

Many say CS:S players had an advantage in switching to CS:GO, do you agree? Has the game been out long enough for it to even out?

I think they had a certain advantage in the beginning, because the maps are way more Source-Like and the game did not use "tagging" at the start, which is also the case in CSS. At the moment I feel anyone who puts in enough hours will be able to do good, does not matter if you come from 1.6 or CSS.

Do you believe it is necessary or advantageous to mix players from different games, or do you think it does not help?

I do not really think that is necessary. What I think is important is that you have at least a core of CS players.

With CS:GO still being a relatively new game, do you believe simply playing more hours still gives players a clear advantage?

Yes. Well not just playing; thinking and talking about the game with other players that are interested in improving is equally important I think.

Your interview on our site showed almost no confidence to the level of you almost accepting a failure weeks before the event. Are you just playing down your chances or do you think you have no chance at all to make playoffs?

Indeed, I think our chances to advance to the playoffs are very slim. We (Dutch teams) never had much chances of advancing to the playoffs in 1.6, and although I think our chances are a bit better since this is a new game, I still think it wouldn't be realistic to rate us as one of the better teams on ESWC.

chrisJ with LowLandLions at GameGune 2011

Having played with a BF3 player on your team for sometime now and just recruited another player with a background in BF2, how do their playing styles and attitudes towards the game differ from CS players?

Actually our newest recruit stefan has played a lot of CS:S next to his BF2 career, so for him the switch to CS:GO was not too hard. Gerrah has made up his lack of history in the CS scene by playing a lot, I think he should be over 650 hours of CS:GO by now (since beta). Playing style is hard to say, I think every player has at least something of a unique style, I would not compare this with the game they previously played , though.

In the latest THOR Open qualifier, your team went out in the third round after a defeat to Team X.  Were you surprised to exit the tournament so early?

Not really. Team X consists of a lot of big names from the 1.6 era, and so I know these guys can play CS very well. I guess we hoped to at least stay in the tournament for 1 or 2 rounds more, it did not work out this time, so we will try to do this in the next THOR Open Qualifier.

Is the deal with LowLandLions for ESWC only, or will you stay in the organisation after the event?

The idea is a long-term deal; We will be attending DreamHack Winter for sure, and after that we will look to attend either XLParty or Northcon. Whatever tournaments pop up after that we will try to attend, for sure! On a sidenote, I would like to thank our sponsors, MSI, Sennheiser, ROCCAT, iiyama, Western Digital and GameGear.be.

Keep checking our website on a regular basis for interviews with the other teams and all the latest info about the ESWC finals, which will take place from November 2-4 in Paris.