AlekS on collegiate CS: "This is a way to still do what I love"

Fisher College is part of a growing trend in the North American collegiate Counter-Strike scene to bring in European semi-pros to buff their ranks, with the Boston school bringing in two imports in the form of Alexander "AlekS" Andersson and Nils "ReFuZR" Groot. These import players were on display this weekend at Fragadelphia CS/DO as Fisher College managed to claim a playoffs berth in their LAN debut.

Following their Ro16 win over MCS, Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore spoke to Swedish rifler and NA LAN debutante Aleks about his first taste of NA LANs, why he decided to move to North America, the trajectory of his career in the Swedish scene, and having a fellow European on the team, among other topics.

Fisher College has had a very strong run here at Fragadelphia CS/DO. How are you feeling after the MCS win yesterday?

It was a good start of the day, it made us feel warmed up for the rest of the games we have. We have a game in 50 minutes and hopefully we'll have two more matches after that.

You recently arrived in America and this is your first FRAG. How are you enjoying it and is there anything similar in the Swedish LAN scene?

I think there is, but the hype and the trash talk that happens here is not the same as Sweden. We in Sweden are a bit behind and it has been a lot of fun to be honest. The only thing I'm missing to be honest is I wanted to have stronger opponents.

Do you think being a European player gives you a leg up on the players here?

Yeah I would say so. If I look at all of the teams I have been playing for, it has given me a lot of experience that anyone at this LAN has had.

What was the main factor in your decision to come to America?

When I look at my esports career it was on a downward trend and this is a way to still do what I love and in the meantime I can get that education and go to Fisher, which is one of the best collegiate schools. It also allows me to compete at the highest level of Counter-Strike and not only play with FACEIT Level 5's and stuff like that.

You're playing with Pryde in ESEA Advanced playoffs. How did you end up on their roster?

Our AWPer from Fisher, FRIZZY, was playing on another team and he brought me in there so I could get more playing time which is what I felt like I wanted when I first came over. I just wanted to feel out the scene and how good people are so I can keep my own skill level up.

We've seen a few other European players come into the collegiate scene, like danss and swicher, did they inspire you at all to make this decision?

This was my own decision. I had never heard of them until I made this move and then I've been speaking to danss a bit about his own experience and comparing it to my own. This is the next move for a lot of Counter-Strike players to be able to compete and still get that education at the same time.

As a competitor, do you think you could have continued to climb the ranks in the Swedish scene, or was the end of the road for you as a Swedish player?

It was a hard one. I might have been able to climb up again, but once you have your one golden opportunity you need to snatch that, and do whatever you can to keep improving. Whenever I missed that chance this was the only way for me to go.

With swicher, one of the reasons he left and went back to Estonia was a feeling of homesickness being the only European on his team. Are you and ReFuZR good friends on the roster, and does having another European help you avoid homesickness?

Me and ReFuZR have been good friends ever since he came here. It helps a lot with having a European that you can speak to about everything that happens in school and CS, but it's not going to dampen your homesickness feelings too much.

Looking towards the rest of the event, how do you feel about chances and who is your largest opponent here?

I think LAG would be. On LAN anything can happen and especially when you play MR12 maps can go super fast. So far we've been performing well and I've been playing well individually so I don't think there's anything that can stop us from keeping our momentum here.