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Welcome, Rubenstock. Fans of Death Match have known your name for several years, but since 2017, especially since last autumn, everyone who follows competitive AoE should know you too.
How old are you? Would you share a photo of yourself and/or your gaming set-up?
I’m 22 years old.
Since when do you play Age of Empires 2, have you played Age of Empires 1/3? What are your expectations and wishes for AoE 4? If you could change one thing about AoE 2, what would it be?
I started from Age of Empires 1 trial version when I was 6 years old. Few years later my friend got the Age of Empires 2 and I went to test it. I didn’t like it at first. Took some years until I was ready to leave AoE 1 and I started to play AoE 2 single player. Me and my school friends got the idea of playing it on LAN multiplayer and we had absolutely blast with it.
As time passed my friends switched to other games but I still wanted to play AoE from time to times and tried to find a place to play it online. I found a link to GameRanger from an AoE related youtube video and downloaded it. The year was 2011. Played mostly DM there along with some RM/Europe games and even some CBA. I got tired of the amount of hackers there and it didn’t take long before I downloaded Voobly.
I have played some AoE 3 campaigns/single player and a little bit multiplayer. I feel like its too different from AoE 2. I honestly don’t know what to expect from AoE 4 because I don’t know anything about it.
Why did you choose the name “Rubenstock” and what does it mean?
I have used it as my nickname since I was 13 years old. I can’t remember where it comes from but it has no meaning. I have probably just wanted to have an unique nickname. Some people have called me as Ruben in real life so I just added something to the end to make it rhyme.
Currently you play in Suomi. I would consider it the most successful team after TyRanT/Secret during the last 1.5 years. Can you tell a bit about what has made the team so successful?
The battle for top 2 teams is really tight, I don’t think it’s clear that which teams it is. We have played together for couple of years now so everyone has found their own place in team. We almost always prepare well for tournaments and put some thoughts into strategies. Also I think part of our success is our ingame communication. There is always space to improve it but it helps a lot to be able to talk in your mother language.
One example. The 2v2 cup that TheMax and you won, many people remember the Nomad game. Did you plan anything like this before or is it decided spontaneously, with or without good communication?
We didn’t plan it. There are a few factors that lead me to douche in that game. The first was that I was surrounded by two players and water so I could have not done much apart from early aggression. The second was that I was next to Chinese which are usually ahead in dark age. Also Chinese can’t make dock early while my fish enabled me to make villagers while douching.
And then I lost a villager to his tc so I would have been behind anyways so I just decided to make maximum damage knowing that I’m going to be out of the game anyways. But it didn’t go as I had expected I forgot to make a lumber camp not only once but twice. Luckily Max had made a market and he was able to send me resources so I could continue my douching journey. The feeling after winning the game after being more than a dead was a bit surreal to say the least.
After being one of the top DM players for some years, both in 1v1 and TG and already being a good (but not top of the top) RM team game player, 2 things changed for observers: From not playing many rated 1v1 at the highest level (only around 2k) and not playing in many tournaments to reaching 2k3+ on the 1v1 ladder and winning tournaments as part of Suomi. Did you improve a lot or is it just that you did not do those things but already could have done before? It’s not that easy to express, but another good example would be Hearttt, who also was a good Black Forest team game player, but then played Arabia 1v1 and suddenly was in the top 5 of the ladder. He probably would have reached a high rating before too, just did not play 1v1.
I have always enjoyed playing team games more than 1v1’s. I had reached 2k on RM 1v1 few years ago mostly playing nomad. I didn’t play 1v1’s regularly for like 2 years until like July 2018 around the time when ECL started. It was pretty clear that I was going to play in some of the 1v1 stages so it felt like a duty to improve my 1v1 skills. I guess I had gained the skills before by playing lots of team games on a high level.
How would you describe your playstyle and how much has it changed during the last years?
At heart I’m a boomer. Late game has always been my favourite part of the game. But to get there I have had to improve my early game skills a lot. At one point all I did was some crazy forwards but problem was that I became too predictable. I have tried to mix my play style a bit to avoid that. I must say I can’t deny that I’m sometimes having fun doing some crazy forwards and rushes.
Do you stream? If yes, what is your stream link and how often do you stream?
At the moment streaming is not possible for me. I wouldn’t mind trying it if I had better internet.
Which city do you come from/live in? What do you like/dislike about it and where would you like to move to?
I have lived my whole life in Helsinki metropolitan area. I’m living close to a busy road and it makes me want to live in somewhere more peaceful place. Also living closer to nature would be nice. I just find living creatures more appealing for eyes than huge concrete walls and asphalt jungle.
I have not been to Finland before, what/where would you recommend to visit and at which time of the year?
If you are a city person there are unfortunately not tons of things to see in Finland. Our capital city Helsinki has few beautiful old buildings and couple of other tourist attractions. Since the city is relatively small, the best way to go around is by foot or a city bike.
However to truly get into the Finnish mindset you have to rent a summer cottage preferably near one of our thousands of lakes. Go to sauna and then watch a midnight sun on summer from a lake view after taking a refreshing swim in the lake.
If you decide to visit on autumn or winter I suggest you to go to Lapland. I don’t recommend visiting on summer unless you want to get eaten alive by mosquitos. Autumn there is really beautiful when trees leave their leaves. On winter you can see northern lights and do some winter activities. There will be a lot of tourists on winter though.
Favourite things:
a) What is your favourite food and drink?
It’s difficult to pick one favourite food. Even a simple food can taste amazing in a certain situation. I have done some fishing in the past. After trying whole day to catch the fish and you finally get home and start cooking a creamy fish soup out of it. Oh boy it tastes amazing.
Favourite drink has to be coffee. I need like three cups to start the day and few cups later afternoon. Beer after sauna is also a pretty good drink. Also sometimes I make homemade beer that only needs to fermentate 2 days.
Which foods from your home country/region and family background would you recommend?
Finland has lots of wild edibles that you can pick for free in the nature. My favourite berries are blueberry, lingonberry [see picture],
cranberry and raspberry.
I try to pick those as much as I can every year. Pies made out of blueberry and lingonberry are common desserts. We also have various wild mushrooms.
I mostly pick these:
But this is my favourite:
Its Finnish name is “lampaankääpä” and it tastes amazing when fried in butter with some spices.
As a drink I recommend a Finnish beer “sahti”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahti.
What can you cook well yourself and how often do you do it?
Very basic stuff. Almost everything I cook contains mushrooms in one way or another. I used to make mushroom omelette almost every day before. Now I mostly cook creamy mushroom pasta. Mushrooms work in a risotto or in a soup very well too.
What would you put on top of a pizza?
I rarely order same pizza twice. I always try to look for new tastes and combos. One of the best pizzas I have ever eaten had some fried mushrooms, parmesan cheese and air-dried ham on top of it.
b) What is your favourite colour? (Does not need to be one of the 8 AoE II colours)
Green.Places like these are incredibly pleasing to the eye.
c) What is your favourite animal? Why?
I have always wanted to see a brown bear in nature. There are couple of thousands of them living in Finland. Last summer I found some bear traces close to my summer cottage so there is definitely one living close by!
Probably a similar feeling to seeing fresh jaguar tracks. Depends on whether you are alone when finding them or not, though.
I read that there are flying squirrels in Finland. I would like to see some of those. Have you seen any?
Those are nearly impossible to see since they live during night.
d) What/where is your favourite place on Earth?
Sauna after doing something physical in wet and cold conditions.
e) What is your favourite song at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)?
If we had to show aliens one song from our planet it would be this masterpiece from my childhood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA52uNzx7Y4
f) What is your favourite movie at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)? Who is your favourite actor?
I barely watch movies nowadays. I’ve seen Lord of the Rings series couple of times. I remember Legolas aka Orlando Bloom being my favourite character when I was kid.
g) Do you have a favourite sports team? (football, basketball etc.)
Not really. I used to watch sports before. In the past I watched every ice hockey world champs, Suomi titanicing on football and some cycling races. Nowadays I might take a glance but I have lost interest in following regularly.
h) What are your favourite traits on a woman?
Naturally long hair.
What time do you usually go to sleep? What do you like doing before sleeping?
Between 11pm-1am. Ideally I would read some book to get better sleep. But in reality I end up reading forums on my phone most of the time.
Which countries have you visited?
Spain, Germany (I have been in real black forest - Schwarzwald), Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Canada, China, Thailand.
I would say “the real Black Forest”. As the AoK map is based exactly on that one, like Baltic, Mediterranean, Arabia and more. I actually did not realise that when I was younger, because I played AoE in German and there the map is called “Dunkler Wald”, which is an incorrect translation.
And where would you like to go to? Why?
I would like to go bikepacking one day to see places that you wouldn’t normally see on a holiday trip. I don’t know where and when but it’s one of those “maybe some day” things I want to do.
What are your hobbies beside AoE?
Cycling, especially mountain biking. I love the freedom and fresh air you get on a bike. Also few years ago my friend introduced me into mushroom picking and it quickly became one of my favourite things to do. Last year we tried to pick as many mushrooms as we could in 2 days and the result was this, about 70kgs of them!
Which languages do you speak/understand and which would you like to learn?
Finnish, English and Swedish. The very Finnish combo. Of course it would be great to know more languages but it takes a lot effort. If I had to choose one that I wanted to learn it would probably be Spanish.
Who would you like to meet once, who you have not met? One AoE player and one other person.
It would be nice to meet with Kellan aka [QuEnDi]True. He was an active figure in the DM community before and he helped me and many others to improve. The time he dedicated to coaching was incredible and he also did it for free. I hope he is doing great in life since his retirement from AoE.
Other person: I’m a fan of Noam Chomsky’s videos on Youtube. He brings up super important topics on his speeches. It’s very unlikely I’ll ever meet him though.
Do you have an AoE idol?
Probably not an idol but there are players who I appreciate. I remember back in WSVG Maldives finals on G3 Yo was ahead 2-0 and everyone expected him to pick Nomad as his home map. He didn’t pick it and was later asked why. He said that he didn’t want to win on a map where you can win just by having a “lucky” start or something like that. I had to respect him for saying that. He is also such a great TG player.
What is your favourite civilisation, map and unit?
Britons Warwolf trebuchet on Black Forest.
What is your favourite in-game sound?
The sound of getting resources. I love sharing the happiness with other players.
If Arabia did not exist, which map do you think everyone would be playing like people play Arabia (and not Serengeti etc., which are just very similar to Arabia)?
People already play a lot of other maps than Arabia, like Black Forest and Land Nomad.
Who is your favourite and least favourite 1v1 opponent?
In the past it was Mkd_Mandara aka Mkd_Dace. We used to play tons of Nomad against each other and our games were always a total shitfest. He never respected any rules and would start villager fighting before TC was up. He still plays and his playstyle is very inspirational. He barely uses any build orders even for Arabia.
Nowadays I prefer to play against players with low ping. I have played lots of games against Villese. I would consider him as one of my favourite 1v1 opponents.
Who is your favourite team mate?
a) For just playing
I guess TheMax. We usually plan the strategies for tournament games. I usually get some crazy ideas and TheMax is good at judging whether it’s useful or should be thrown into garbage bin. Also he has always been supportive when I have announced my TC-rush plans which is enough for me to make him a good teammate
.
b) Also outside of the game
I want to mention Jupe here. We have known each other since 2012. Even though we are like a day and night we get along surprisingly well. We have had some ridiculous arguments where would sit on team speak until 4am. Remember to go to check his endless trying to get to 2k on his Twitch channel (https://www.twitch.tv/jupeeeeee).
c) Would you live in a a) 1-bedroom, b) 2-bedroom) apartment with him/her for a) 1 month, b) 1 year?
If I lived with Jupe I could get a decent income by returning his empty beer bottles back to store, Kappa.
How much do you get per bottle in Finland?
I think it’s like 10 c-40 c.
In the new expansions, what is your favourite new civilisation and unit?
Berbers are pretty fun. Even on water maps you can have fun blowing up enemies fleet with super fast demos. Aztecs Atlatl Imperial Skirmisher has to be my favourite unit on WK. A skirm that does 2 damage per shot to a Paladin!?
ECL is almost over. How do you feel about the tournament? Who will become second and are your expectations for your team fulfilled? Will you be disappointed if you become 3rd, 4th or 5th?
It is the most well-organized tournament I have ever played in. I have enjoyed it a lot so far. A bit pity that it doesn’t get that much hype. But now that we have tried fixed positions in other tournament it feels like this should be the last big tourney without those settings.
Our goal since the start was to get to the top 2. Early tournament didn’t go too well but winning both stages of East Asia gave us lots of hope. Now we just have to do well in last few stages and we still have a chance climb back top 2. I hope the final event will be great for any top 2 teams, viewers and organizers.
Make a list of the current top 10 1v1 players, both for RM and DM.
I don’t think this is a matter of opinion. I think everyone can see how past tournaments have gone and make conclusions based on those results. Also I don’t know what is happening in DM scene at the moment.
Are there any stories about the 2017 Nations Cup which you would like to share, which have not been told yet? How was it in China? What did surprise or shock you?
It was such an unique experience overall. So many things happened in such short period of time. Meeting with my teammates, flying the longest flight in my life, meeting with other players, playing in front of a live audience, etc. Food there was really good and I didn’t know eating chicken feet was actually a thing. The last day we went to visit the city of Fuzhou and people there asked if they could take photos of us on the street. They had probably never seen Western people before. Certainly a trip that I will remember the rest of my life.
If there would be a Nations Cup, Finland would probably be one of the most obvious teams: TheMax, Zuppi, Villese, you and Pike as top 5. But if one or even two of you could not make it, who would be the top 4?
Since we have grown together pretty well it would be difficult for anyone to replace one of us. There are some Finnish players that have potential to reach high level. It would be good for our team to have more players since we are now relying on 4 active players which makes absence of one of us impossible.
It would probably be on WK, which maps would you like to be included apart from Arabia, Nomad, Islands?
Black Forest, our beloved home map.
Where/how do you think a next Nations Cup should be organised? In the Escape Gaming studio in England? By Memb, by Nili, by Zak or by all of them together? I would like it to be in China again, but at the moment that does not seem so realistic without the Chinese sponsors.
Do you mean some kind of LAN event? If so, I hope it would be in Europe just because of the travelling distance if we got into the final LAN. Also possibly having a Chinese team in Europe would be awesome since their community has organized the previous Nations Cups.
Do you or your team still have contact to DreaIVIs? What is he doing?
I have no information about him.
Which 4 players would you like to see forming a team? (can include inactive players)
Lyx, Straydog, Vivi and Tim for an ultimate forward team.
In which tournaments would you like to participate? (maps, seeding method, player limitations, team size etc.)
Now that we have tried playing with fixed positions and no sling, I hope those settings will be implemented in all of the upcoming tournaments. Settings wise I prefer 4v4 tournaments the most but I understand the reasons why those can be difficult to organize. Also for the viewers 4v4 games can be tough to follow.
Also, I think we need a good old black forest tournament. BO1 every round with free hidden picks.
Why BO1? To have every game go 3 hours?
To save the players and viewers health.
You have participated in many tournaments recently. Now Suomi also participated in the Doubles Age 2v2 tournament. You did not advance past the group stage. How do you feel about this small tournament? I had no chance to follow it. In the past it would have been the tournament of the year with the participating players, but now it’s kind of just happening in the background, in between so many other tournaments.
It’s true that there are many tournaments going on at the moment of which I’m very happy about. It wasn’t the case before like you said. Couple of years back we would have long periods without a single tournament going on. These smaller tournaments provide an opportunity for bit more “relaxed” playing and maybe a test ground for unconventional strategies while still trying the best to win the games obviously. Although I would courage the organizers to be more open-minded with the settings and maps. This tournament wasn’t that creative with maps since all of them were basically from ECL.
What is a) the funniest, b) the saddest and c) the strangest moment in your life you experienced because of AoE?
That’s a tough question. It certainly doesn’t help to live in a country where cost of living is one of the highest in the world. Daily living at this latitude requires lots of resources. In general, I think we as humans haven’t done great job making the world better place for our next generations or other living organisms. It would sound hypocritical to answer anything on this question.
In AoE world: douche less.
Why not more?
Write a rap of 8 lines (or more) about something AoE-related, either in English or your native language
One day I was slinging
And I heard a songbird singing
Next thing you have to do is a douche
Or you will never drink any booze
Soon came the teal paladin
Enemy started to flee like a flying carpet Aladdin
Last chance they had was to get on a boat
But the spot was reserved for a headless goat
Choose without having any background information or what it should be about:
Chris or DauT? DauT
Tim or TheViper? TheViper
RiuT or F1Re? RiuT
Nili or Memb? Both do great things to the community.
Lumberjack or Farmer? Lumberjack
Knight or Cavalry Archer? Knight
1v1 or 4v4? 4v4
Feudal Age or Castle Age? Castle Age
Arena or Islands? Arena
Btw, this section could be much better if you said some word like “arabia” and then me or whoever had to say the first things that came to their mind. Just choosing one option leaves many things unexplained. Just my opinion though.
I can do that too, but it is a different thing.
Thank you a lot for the interview. It took some time, but finally it is here. Good luck with your last games in ECL.
How old are you? Would you share a photo of yourself and/or your gaming set-up?
I’m 22 years old.
Since when do you play Age of Empires 2, have you played Age of Empires 1/3? What are your expectations and wishes for AoE 4? If you could change one thing about AoE 2, what would it be?
I started from Age of Empires 1 trial version when I was 6 years old. Few years later my friend got the Age of Empires 2 and I went to test it. I didn’t like it at first. Took some years until I was ready to leave AoE 1 and I started to play AoE 2 single player. Me and my school friends got the idea of playing it on LAN multiplayer and we had absolutely blast with it.
As time passed my friends switched to other games but I still wanted to play AoE from time to times and tried to find a place to play it online. I found a link to GameRanger from an AoE related youtube video and downloaded it. The year was 2011. Played mostly DM there along with some RM/Europe games and even some CBA. I got tired of the amount of hackers there and it didn’t take long before I downloaded Voobly.
I have played some AoE 3 campaigns/single player and a little bit multiplayer. I feel like its too different from AoE 2. I honestly don’t know what to expect from AoE 4 because I don’t know anything about it.
Why did you choose the name “Rubenstock” and what does it mean?
I have used it as my nickname since I was 13 years old. I can’t remember where it comes from but it has no meaning. I have probably just wanted to have an unique nickname. Some people have called me as Ruben in real life so I just added something to the end to make it rhyme.
Currently you play in Suomi. I would consider it the most successful team after TyRanT/Secret during the last 1.5 years. Can you tell a bit about what has made the team so successful?
The battle for top 2 teams is really tight, I don’t think it’s clear that which teams it is. We have played together for couple of years now so everyone has found their own place in team. We almost always prepare well for tournaments and put some thoughts into strategies. Also I think part of our success is our ingame communication. There is always space to improve it but it helps a lot to be able to talk in your mother language.
One example. The 2v2 cup that TheMax and you won, many people remember the Nomad game. Did you plan anything like this before or is it decided spontaneously, with or without good communication?
We didn’t plan it. There are a few factors that lead me to douche in that game. The first was that I was surrounded by two players and water so I could have not done much apart from early aggression. The second was that I was next to Chinese which are usually ahead in dark age. Also Chinese can’t make dock early while my fish enabled me to make villagers while douching.
And then I lost a villager to his tc so I would have been behind anyways so I just decided to make maximum damage knowing that I’m going to be out of the game anyways. But it didn’t go as I had expected I forgot to make a lumber camp not only once but twice. Luckily Max had made a market and he was able to send me resources so I could continue my douching journey. The feeling after winning the game after being more than a dead was a bit surreal to say the least.
After being one of the top DM players for some years, both in 1v1 and TG and already being a good (but not top of the top) RM team game player, 2 things changed for observers: From not playing many rated 1v1 at the highest level (only around 2k) and not playing in many tournaments to reaching 2k3+ on the 1v1 ladder and winning tournaments as part of Suomi. Did you improve a lot or is it just that you did not do those things but already could have done before? It’s not that easy to express, but another good example would be Hearttt, who also was a good Black Forest team game player, but then played Arabia 1v1 and suddenly was in the top 5 of the ladder. He probably would have reached a high rating before too, just did not play 1v1.
I have always enjoyed playing team games more than 1v1’s. I had reached 2k on RM 1v1 few years ago mostly playing nomad. I didn’t play 1v1’s regularly for like 2 years until like July 2018 around the time when ECL started. It was pretty clear that I was going to play in some of the 1v1 stages so it felt like a duty to improve my 1v1 skills. I guess I had gained the skills before by playing lots of team games on a high level.
How would you describe your playstyle and how much has it changed during the last years?
At heart I’m a boomer. Late game has always been my favourite part of the game. But to get there I have had to improve my early game skills a lot. At one point all I did was some crazy forwards but problem was that I became too predictable. I have tried to mix my play style a bit to avoid that. I must say I can’t deny that I’m sometimes having fun doing some crazy forwards and rushes.
Do you stream? If yes, what is your stream link and how often do you stream?
At the moment streaming is not possible for me. I wouldn’t mind trying it if I had better internet.
Which city do you come from/live in? What do you like/dislike about it and where would you like to move to?
I have lived my whole life in Helsinki metropolitan area. I’m living close to a busy road and it makes me want to live in somewhere more peaceful place. Also living closer to nature would be nice. I just find living creatures more appealing for eyes than huge concrete walls and asphalt jungle.
I have not been to Finland before, what/where would you recommend to visit and at which time of the year?
If you are a city person there are unfortunately not tons of things to see in Finland. Our capital city Helsinki has few beautiful old buildings and couple of other tourist attractions. Since the city is relatively small, the best way to go around is by foot or a city bike.
However to truly get into the Finnish mindset you have to rent a summer cottage preferably near one of our thousands of lakes. Go to sauna and then watch a midnight sun on summer from a lake view after taking a refreshing swim in the lake.
If you decide to visit on autumn or winter I suggest you to go to Lapland. I don’t recommend visiting on summer unless you want to get eaten alive by mosquitos. Autumn there is really beautiful when trees leave their leaves. On winter you can see northern lights and do some winter activities. There will be a lot of tourists on winter though.
Favourite things:
a) What is your favourite food and drink?
It’s difficult to pick one favourite food. Even a simple food can taste amazing in a certain situation. I have done some fishing in the past. After trying whole day to catch the fish and you finally get home and start cooking a creamy fish soup out of it. Oh boy it tastes amazing.
Favourite drink has to be coffee. I need like three cups to start the day and few cups later afternoon. Beer after sauna is also a pretty good drink. Also sometimes I make homemade beer that only needs to fermentate 2 days.
Which foods from your home country/region and family background would you recommend?
Finland has lots of wild edibles that you can pick for free in the nature. My favourite berries are blueberry, lingonberry [see picture],
cranberry and raspberry.
I try to pick those as much as I can every year. Pies made out of blueberry and lingonberry are common desserts. We also have various wild mushrooms.
I mostly pick these:
But this is my favourite:
Its Finnish name is “lampaankääpä” and it tastes amazing when fried in butter with some spices.
As a drink I recommend a Finnish beer “sahti”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahti.
What can you cook well yourself and how often do you do it?
Very basic stuff. Almost everything I cook contains mushrooms in one way or another. I used to make mushroom omelette almost every day before. Now I mostly cook creamy mushroom pasta. Mushrooms work in a risotto or in a soup very well too.
What would you put on top of a pizza?
I rarely order same pizza twice. I always try to look for new tastes and combos. One of the best pizzas I have ever eaten had some fried mushrooms, parmesan cheese and air-dried ham on top of it.
b) What is your favourite colour? (Does not need to be one of the 8 AoE II colours)
Green.Places like these are incredibly pleasing to the eye.
c) What is your favourite animal? Why?
I have always wanted to see a brown bear in nature. There are couple of thousands of them living in Finland. Last summer I found some bear traces close to my summer cottage so there is definitely one living close by!
Probably a similar feeling to seeing fresh jaguar tracks. Depends on whether you are alone when finding them or not, though.
I read that there are flying squirrels in Finland. I would like to see some of those. Have you seen any?
Those are nearly impossible to see since they live during night.
d) What/where is your favourite place on Earth?
Sauna after doing something physical in wet and cold conditions.
e) What is your favourite song at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)?
If we had to show aliens one song from our planet it would be this masterpiece from my childhood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA52uNzx7Y4
f) What is your favourite movie at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)? Who is your favourite actor?
I barely watch movies nowadays. I’ve seen Lord of the Rings series couple of times. I remember Legolas aka Orlando Bloom being my favourite character when I was kid.
g) Do you have a favourite sports team? (football, basketball etc.)
Not really. I used to watch sports before. In the past I watched every ice hockey world champs, Suomi titanicing on football and some cycling races. Nowadays I might take a glance but I have lost interest in following regularly.
h) What are your favourite traits on a woman?
Naturally long hair.
What time do you usually go to sleep? What do you like doing before sleeping?
Between 11pm-1am. Ideally I would read some book to get better sleep. But in reality I end up reading forums on my phone most of the time.
Which countries have you visited?
Spain, Germany (I have been in real black forest - Schwarzwald), Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Canada, China, Thailand.
I would say “the real Black Forest”. As the AoK map is based exactly on that one, like Baltic, Mediterranean, Arabia and more. I actually did not realise that when I was younger, because I played AoE in German and there the map is called “Dunkler Wald”, which is an incorrect translation.
And where would you like to go to? Why?
I would like to go bikepacking one day to see places that you wouldn’t normally see on a holiday trip. I don’t know where and when but it’s one of those “maybe some day” things I want to do.
What are your hobbies beside AoE?
Cycling, especially mountain biking. I love the freedom and fresh air you get on a bike. Also few years ago my friend introduced me into mushroom picking and it quickly became one of my favourite things to do. Last year we tried to pick as many mushrooms as we could in 2 days and the result was this, about 70kgs of them!
Which languages do you speak/understand and which would you like to learn?
Finnish, English and Swedish. The very Finnish combo. Of course it would be great to know more languages but it takes a lot effort. If I had to choose one that I wanted to learn it would probably be Spanish.
Who would you like to meet once, who you have not met? One AoE player and one other person.
It would be nice to meet with Kellan aka [QuEnDi]True. He was an active figure in the DM community before and he helped me and many others to improve. The time he dedicated to coaching was incredible and he also did it for free. I hope he is doing great in life since his retirement from AoE.
Other person: I’m a fan of Noam Chomsky’s videos on Youtube. He brings up super important topics on his speeches. It’s very unlikely I’ll ever meet him though.
Do you have an AoE idol?
Probably not an idol but there are players who I appreciate. I remember back in WSVG Maldives finals on G3 Yo was ahead 2-0 and everyone expected him to pick Nomad as his home map. He didn’t pick it and was later asked why. He said that he didn’t want to win on a map where you can win just by having a “lucky” start or something like that. I had to respect him for saying that. He is also such a great TG player.
What is your favourite civilisation, map and unit?
Britons Warwolf trebuchet on Black Forest.
What is your favourite in-game sound?
The sound of getting resources. I love sharing the happiness with other players.
If Arabia did not exist, which map do you think everyone would be playing like people play Arabia (and not Serengeti etc., which are just very similar to Arabia)?
People already play a lot of other maps than Arabia, like Black Forest and Land Nomad.
Who is your favourite and least favourite 1v1 opponent?
In the past it was Mkd_Mandara aka Mkd_Dace. We used to play tons of Nomad against each other and our games were always a total shitfest. He never respected any rules and would start villager fighting before TC was up. He still plays and his playstyle is very inspirational. He barely uses any build orders even for Arabia.
Nowadays I prefer to play against players with low ping. I have played lots of games against Villese. I would consider him as one of my favourite 1v1 opponents.
Who is your favourite team mate?
a) For just playing
I guess TheMax. We usually plan the strategies for tournament games. I usually get some crazy ideas and TheMax is good at judging whether it’s useful or should be thrown into garbage bin. Also he has always been supportive when I have announced my TC-rush plans which is enough for me to make him a good teammate
.b) Also outside of the game
I want to mention Jupe here. We have known each other since 2012. Even though we are like a day and night we get along surprisingly well. We have had some ridiculous arguments where would sit on team speak until 4am. Remember to go to check his endless trying to get to 2k on his Twitch channel (https://www.twitch.tv/jupeeeeee).
c) Would you live in a a) 1-bedroom, b) 2-bedroom) apartment with him/her for a) 1 month, b) 1 year?
If I lived with Jupe I could get a decent income by returning his empty beer bottles back to store, Kappa.
How much do you get per bottle in Finland?
I think it’s like 10 c-40 c.
In the new expansions, what is your favourite new civilisation and unit?
Berbers are pretty fun. Even on water maps you can have fun blowing up enemies fleet with super fast demos. Aztecs Atlatl Imperial Skirmisher has to be my favourite unit on WK. A skirm that does 2 damage per shot to a Paladin!?
ECL is almost over. How do you feel about the tournament? Who will become second and are your expectations for your team fulfilled? Will you be disappointed if you become 3rd, 4th or 5th?
It is the most well-organized tournament I have ever played in. I have enjoyed it a lot so far. A bit pity that it doesn’t get that much hype. But now that we have tried fixed positions in other tournament it feels like this should be the last big tourney without those settings.
Our goal since the start was to get to the top 2. Early tournament didn’t go too well but winning both stages of East Asia gave us lots of hope. Now we just have to do well in last few stages and we still have a chance climb back top 2. I hope the final event will be great for any top 2 teams, viewers and organizers.
Make a list of the current top 10 1v1 players, both for RM and DM.
I don’t think this is a matter of opinion. I think everyone can see how past tournaments have gone and make conclusions based on those results. Also I don’t know what is happening in DM scene at the moment.
Are there any stories about the 2017 Nations Cup which you would like to share, which have not been told yet? How was it in China? What did surprise or shock you?
It was such an unique experience overall. So many things happened in such short period of time. Meeting with my teammates, flying the longest flight in my life, meeting with other players, playing in front of a live audience, etc. Food there was really good and I didn’t know eating chicken feet was actually a thing. The last day we went to visit the city of Fuzhou and people there asked if they could take photos of us on the street. They had probably never seen Western people before. Certainly a trip that I will remember the rest of my life.
If there would be a Nations Cup, Finland would probably be one of the most obvious teams: TheMax, Zuppi, Villese, you and Pike as top 5. But if one or even two of you could not make it, who would be the top 4?
Since we have grown together pretty well it would be difficult for anyone to replace one of us. There are some Finnish players that have potential to reach high level. It would be good for our team to have more players since we are now relying on 4 active players which makes absence of one of us impossible.
It would probably be on WK, which maps would you like to be included apart from Arabia, Nomad, Islands?
Black Forest, our beloved home map.
Where/how do you think a next Nations Cup should be organised? In the Escape Gaming studio in England? By Memb, by Nili, by Zak or by all of them together? I would like it to be in China again, but at the moment that does not seem so realistic without the Chinese sponsors.
Do you mean some kind of LAN event? If so, I hope it would be in Europe just because of the travelling distance if we got into the final LAN. Also possibly having a Chinese team in Europe would be awesome since their community has organized the previous Nations Cups.
Do you or your team still have contact to DreaIVIs? What is he doing?
I have no information about him.
Which 4 players would you like to see forming a team? (can include inactive players)
Lyx, Straydog, Vivi and Tim for an ultimate forward team.
In which tournaments would you like to participate? (maps, seeding method, player limitations, team size etc.)
Now that we have tried playing with fixed positions and no sling, I hope those settings will be implemented in all of the upcoming tournaments. Settings wise I prefer 4v4 tournaments the most but I understand the reasons why those can be difficult to organize. Also for the viewers 4v4 games can be tough to follow.
Also, I think we need a good old black forest tournament. BO1 every round with free hidden picks.
Why BO1? To have every game go 3 hours?
To save the players and viewers health.
You have participated in many tournaments recently. Now Suomi also participated in the Doubles Age 2v2 tournament. You did not advance past the group stage. How do you feel about this small tournament? I had no chance to follow it. In the past it would have been the tournament of the year with the participating players, but now it’s kind of just happening in the background, in between so many other tournaments.
It’s true that there are many tournaments going on at the moment of which I’m very happy about. It wasn’t the case before like you said. Couple of years back we would have long periods without a single tournament going on. These smaller tournaments provide an opportunity for bit more “relaxed” playing and maybe a test ground for unconventional strategies while still trying the best to win the games obviously. Although I would courage the organizers to be more open-minded with the settings and maps. This tournament wasn’t that creative with maps since all of them were basically from ECL.
What is a) the funniest, b) the saddest and c) the strangest moment in your life you experienced because of AoE?
- Meeting with other AoE persons has been lots of fun so far. Especially last Weljet (AoE Finnish community) LAN where we had sauna. It felt like a fulfillment of a meme since people knew about my previous sauna episode during a tournament set.
- It wasn’t truly sad but getting 2nd place in the previous Nations Cup has been probably the saddest moment so far. But the event was great overall.
- My dad said me one day completely out of blue that I had been fighting with stone age tools against fortifications and I was like “wtf, what are you talking about??”. Apparently someone in his workplace watches AoE tournaments and had seen me douching multiple players. My father had told him before that his son (me ) plays AoE. To say the least it was really difficult to explain that to my father who doesn’t know anything about Age of Empires.
That’s a tough question. It certainly doesn’t help to live in a country where cost of living is one of the highest in the world. Daily living at this latitude requires lots of resources. In general, I think we as humans haven’t done great job making the world better place for our next generations or other living organisms. It would sound hypocritical to answer anything on this question.
In AoE world: douche less.
Why not more?
Write a rap of 8 lines (or more) about something AoE-related, either in English or your native language
One day I was slinging
And I heard a songbird singing
Next thing you have to do is a douche
Or you will never drink any booze
Soon came the teal paladin
Enemy started to flee like a flying carpet Aladdin
Last chance they had was to get on a boat
But the spot was reserved for a headless goat
Choose without having any background information or what it should be about:
Chris or DauT? DauT
Tim or TheViper? TheViper
RiuT or F1Re? RiuT
Nili or Memb? Both do great things to the community.
Lumberjack or Farmer? Lumberjack
Knight or Cavalry Archer? Knight
1v1 or 4v4? 4v4
Feudal Age or Castle Age? Castle Age
Arena or Islands? Arena
Btw, this section could be much better if you said some word like “arabia” and then me or whoever had to say the first things that came to their mind. Just choosing one option leaves many things unexplained. Just my opinion though.
I can do that too, but it is a different thing.
Thank you a lot for the interview. It took some time, but finally it is here. Good luck with your last games in ECL.
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