PROject_Belgium
eC_Gurke
PouletMayo1
Nheltarion
MaSmOrRa
Chrazini
Novidor
harooooo
RoR_xTeRRoRx
Pierel le Hardi
Ceres30
naghma654
Clemensor
Freezing_Point
FeAge
Ruubenstock
Mouttie
Adico
Meandor
im the cookie
Welcome, True. Going with the current Death Match World Cup I thought about interviewing a few participants. I am personally no big fan of playing DM, as I enjoy the economy and technology side of the game a lot, but I have played it and watching DM tournaments/games can be quite exciting too. I know some names, tournament winners and sometimes look at the ladders, but I don’t really know the people. So now is a good time.
I am doing this interview very similar to the interviews I have done with RM players and casters before, but probably we will see a different point of view.
Would you share a photo of yourself?
How old are you and 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 add one thing from AoE 1 and one from 3 to add to AoE 2, what would it be?
I am 30 years old, and have been playing Age of Empires 2 since it came out in the Autumn of 1999. Before that I actually played AoE 1 (only single player) and did manage to play a bit of AoE 3. Adding one thing from AoE 1 seems tough, but I guess I would go with the unit called the Hoplite (if I recall that name correctly). Always thought it was a cool unit! From AoE3 I liked the Dutch banks, which could be a cool idea to add to AoE2, although they already did something similar for Portuguese.
I have played AoE 1, but long ago and only in German, so I don’t remember what the Hoplite is, so I just put a link to the Age of Empires Wiki, if someone wants to know about it: https://ageofempires.fandom.com/wiki/Hoplite_(Age_of_Empires).
For the upcoming AoE 2 Definitive Edition, what are your hopes? Did you play in the beta? Are there any special wishes and concern from DM players?
My hopes are that DM explodes in interest, of course. Deathmatch was extremely popular back on zone.com days, mostly within American players, due to its fast paced style. Hopefully it’ll be that case again if the game catches on!
Unfortunately I did not play in the beta; in fact, I was not even aware of DE in general until very recently.
Apart from hoping DM gains more interest, I think most DM players are just hoping the game can run as seamlessly as Voobly has managed to make AoE2 DM run on its platform. Playing DM on HD in comparison is just a laggy mess.
Why do you predominantly play DM? You have some RM experience, but it is obvious that you like DM better. What is it that makes you and some other players enjoy DM the most?
For the most part, my RM experience is limited to very short bursts of interest, usually after a long DM tournament has ended. I have always loved DM due to its wide range of possibilities right from the start: you are not confined to simply gathering food from sheep for the first couple of minutes in the game. The amount of strategies you can play or invent makes the game type exciting.
I have a different view and most players who play much RM probably have too, but I can totally understand the gathering food from a sheep example and that some people find it too slow. I remember back when AoFE was developed they tried doubling the starting villagers, some people wanted to start with medium resources as standard, but it did not last. So there are ways to make the game faster so you don’t have to play for half an hour to have a certain unit or technology available, but apart from some Feudal Age or Castle Age starts in a few tournaments not much has changed. What would you think if RM started with medium resources or you would have an RM tournament where some games start in Feudal or Castle Age or even Imperial Age (not post)? For the last one, something like double or triple tc maps could be good.
Can you tell something about your past tournament experience?
The only notable tournament experience I have began with War is Coming, in which I played with L_Clan. During that time I also managed to place 3rd in a tournament called “The Awakening” where Viper knocked me out on his way to taking 2nd. I’m hoping DMWC2 will give me a chance at revenge!
After that, there were several fairly large tournaments that I participated in, for example: The Uprising, Captains Mode: DM edition, The Legacy Cup 1, The Legacy Cup 2, and even a Michi DM tournament. However, the one I am probably most known for was DM World Cup 1, in which I managed to take 1st by finally ending Jidba’s 13 year reign of never losing a DM 1v1 tournament.
You have a top 3 seed in the DM World Cup, do you expect to become top 3 too or would you be disappointed if you won’t reach the semifinals? Predict a top 4.
Considering that I only came back to AoE2 roughly a month ago after taking a ~1.5 year break (which I did not plan on ever coming back from), I am not too sure of where I can end up. That being said, it’s really hard to predict a top 4, but I’ll give it a shot:
Viper
TheCode
Leash
Me / Nili / Rubenstock / Daywalker
Picking the 4th spot is just too much of a toss-up haha.
Despite everything I’ve said here, I know I am too competitive to be happy with taking a spot outside of the top 3. I’ll see if I can unrust enough in the next week or so!
How would you describe your playstyle and how much has it changed since you became an experienced player?
Originally I was one of the DM players that aimed to be a very fast player - hoping to overwhelm my opponents with just brute speed. Naturally that didn’t get me very far, and over time I had to develop better strategies and micromanagement. These days I find myself focusing on the reverse: it feels hard to play fast again, but I’m making progress on getting it back!
With which setup and at what place do you usually play? Would you add a photo of your gaming setup?
My “setup” consists of playing in a room that my girlfriend and I deemed “the office”. This consists of an old used desktop computer that still has its price tag of $125 on it, along with a free (used) keyboard. I did manage to upgrade my mouse to a Razer Abyssus V2 though; I finally broke the bank when my last dell mouse died shortly after DMWC1. All in all, I don’t really consider myself a gamer, AoE2 being the only game that I’ve ever taken seriously (or even really played).
Why did you choose the AoE nickname True?
When I first joined the QuEnDi team back in 2005 on zone.com, I chose QuEnDi_True__. I was and still am a big believer in the saying “stay true to yourself”. However in 2011 when I discovered voobly and came back to AoE2, I played under the nickname “klvowledge”. It was when I joined the L_Clan team that I was forced to abandon klvowledge, due to L_Clan_klvowledge being too long for voobly. Therefore, I brought back True!
Do or did you stream? What is your stream link, how often do you stream and what is special about your stream?
I have never streamed, and at the moment I don’t plan to. I would like to add though that I think there’s a place in DM for someone to start streaming consistently! Maybe it’s a small but untapped fanbase.
There was a DMer streaming for some time. I don’t remember his name now. Someone probably does, but he has stopped. The interest seems to have declined, but if DE is successful, I can imagine that more people stream DM too, since like with HD, some people will come back and casually play who already have a fanbase from other games.
Now more personal information:
Which city do you come from/live in? What do you like/dislike about it and where would you like to move to?
I am from Seattle, Washington, United States. I like it pretty much solely for the people that I know that live here. Other than that, it rains a lot and generally doesn’t seem that interesting to me.
If I felt more open to moving to a new place, I would probably look into San Francisco, or San Diego, California.
Side note - TheViper mentioned he will be visiting Seattle in the near future, hopefully we can meet up!
Favourite things:
a) What is your favourite food and drink?
I like almost all types of food, it’s pretty hard for me to choose! During the past year I’ve been eating a lot of Thai food, which tastes pretty amazing. On the other hand, it’s tempting to give the stereotypical american answer: a nice big New York strip steak - cooked medium rare!
Which foods from your home country/region and family background would you recommend?
Foods from my home country are basically a large blend of foods from other countries, haha. My family background is Czech, but none of my family really adheres to any of the traditions - including foods.
What can you cook well yourself and how often do you do it?
I can make pretty good pineapple-brown sugar glazed pork. Something a couple friends of mine and I sort of invented one drunk night many years ago. It’s pretty rare that I actually cook this, haha.
Other than that I cook a variety of simple things, mostly stir fry or slow-cooker style foods.
What would you put on top of a pizza?
Grilled chicken and barbeque sauce. hahaha
Do you really need the pizza then?
I guess you can probably add more toppings to it. It’s better than you’d think!
b) What is your favourite colour? (Does not need to be one of the 8 AoE II colours.)
Orange
c) What is your favourite animal?
Dog
d) What/where is your favourite place on Earth?
There’s a cabin I used to go to on a lake called Mason Lake a couple hours drive away from Seattle. It’s a really beautiful place, and I have a lot of great memories there. The family of an old friend of mine - who passed away a couple years ago - owns it. I hope to visit there again someday, at least one last time.
We were 20 years old in this picture, haha.
e) What is your favourite song at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)?
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon (the whole album) still is and may forever be my favorite!
f) What is your favourite movie at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)? Who is you favourite actor?
I recently watched Waking Life again, I really enjoy how thought-provoking that movie is. Would recommend it to anyone.
Of all time, I would go with The Prestige. You might find that to be a strange choice, but I always thought that was a great movie!
I can’t say I really have a favorite actor. But if I had to choose one, I would probably go with Jack Nicholson.
g) Do you have a favourite sports team? (football, basketball etc.)
Washington State University Cougars football (American football). Grew up watching them, and still do.
Which countries have you visited?
England, France, Italy.
And where would you like to go to? Why?
Czech Republic - family background and I hear it’s amazing.
England, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Austria - To go visit all you loons! Rob (TatoH) still owes me a beer!
I haven’t been to the Czech Republic, but I have had it recommended too, also because it is cheaper than going to Germany, Switzerland, Austria, etc., but still with beautiful mountains, temperate forests, interesting architecture and cuisine.
Which languages can you speak and which would you like to learn?
English… and a little bit of Spanish. I would like to learn several, namely Czech and Thai.
What are your hobbies beside AoE?
I like playing sports and hitting the gym. I used to be big into playing basketball, but these days I mostly just try to keep in shape!
Who would you like to meet once, who you have not met? One AoE player and one other person.
Picking an AoE player is tough - there are many I would like to meet! Wayne (QuEnDi_RaGE), Rubenstock, Orkut (TheCode), Leash, Cortical and PaladinZ jump to mind. I would like to meet pretty much anyone from QuEnDi team who I haven’t met already.
If I really had to choose one, I would probably go with Wayne.
For non-AoE I would like to meet Luigi Accardi. Being a mathematician myself, I find many of his works to be very inspiring.
I haven’t heard of him before. He doesn’t even have an English Wikipedia page, just a German one. Can you recommend a page about him, which I should link?
https://scholar.google.ru/citations?user=kHBI7P-eBOIC&hl=en
Could use this - a citation list of his works. I doubt very many people would find this interesting though.
Do you have an AoE idol?
Jidba is probably my AoE idol. For a guy to have such an iron mentality all while acting like he doesn’t really care always seemed shocking to me. Besides, it still seems unbelievable that he was able to remain the undefeated 1v1 tournament player for 13 years.
Do you know more about what he has been up to the last years? He has posted on AoEZone this year, but not played any games on Voobly since a long time and I wonder why.
I still talk to him from time to time - last I checked in with him, he finished a Masters in Architecture and was planning to work in that field. He told me he is uninterested in playing with the new expansions.
What is your favourite civilisation, map and unit?
Goths - GA - Teutonic Knight
What is your favourite in-game sound?
The victory sound!
Who is your favourite and least favourite 1v1 opponent?
Favorite: Leash. He always makes me work hard to win a game - if you lose an edge early, you’re going to lose vs him.
Least Favorite: [Frost] _9 . He really knows how to test my patience by camping it out. It’s good practice at least!
Who is your favourite team mate?
a) For just playing:
Wayne - We’ve teamed in every tournament for many years now.
b) Also outside of the game:
Jb (L3af) - For being kind of a small guy, he can probably out-drink any AoE player!
Would you live with him/her together in one apartment for a month or a year?
If you paid me enough.
In the new expansions, what is your favourite new civilisation and unit?
Slavs - Boyar. That civ is pretty fun, and the Boyar is amazing.
There are not many DM tournaments. It is understandable with less money and less viewers. Would you consider participating in more RM tournaments if you could? Would you for example join a C or D team in the upcoming Nations Cup?
DM had some great times, but it’s true that the past couple years have seen it decline a lot. That being said, I really have no interest in playing any RM. I don’t mean to put down RM too much - I just don’t have the patience for it.
If you had $50,000 to spend on AoE tournaments, what would you do? What kind of tournament or series would you create?
With $50,000 I would probably host yearly DM world cups for the next 4 years - first year let it be $5,000, then $10,000, $15,000, and finally a $20,000 in 2023.
Do you think that would make more people play DM regularly? Because nowadays there are even 2-player showmatches for $1000. And some RM players seem to do decently in the DM WC although they only play DM for tournaments and then when it is over, they switch to RM only again.
I have seen multiple top RM players say that they would be willing to play DM more regularly if it had more incentive. I don’t believe that they only play DM for tournaments; I think it’s more that they play whichever game style has more tournaments (with money incentives).
Which 4 players would you like to see forming a team? (can include inactive players)
Miguel, Feage, Dogao, Wrath - Reunite the L_Clan team! (I can see this happening.)
In case you followed it, which 8 players would you invite for Nili’s Apartment Cup 3?
Viper, Daywalker, TheCode, Leash, Jidba, Wayne, Tatoh, me. Let’s have a DM fest!
If you visit AoEZone and Voobly, is there something you really like or would like to have improved?
Voobly - Userpatch and the non-lag gameplay is just amazing. Plus being able to spectate games, along with easily viewing all the players and games in the lobby ordered by rating makes things really cool.
What is the funniest moment in your life you experienced because of AoE?
(Look at the mini-map.)
Another funny experience was that some AoE2 player found me one day on campus at the university I was attending. He stopped me and shook my hand, saying he was a fan of me for beating Jidba. A couple friends of mine who were standing next to me were surprised - they had no idea that I even played AoE2.
What would you do to make the world a better place?
Right now I am working on the mathematics of cancer cell motility. Basically this means understanding how cancer cells spread the way they do. It’s an important step towards solving the cancer problem, and I really hope to succeed in pushing this research area.
It sounds really interesting to me. Medicine and genetics-related topics are often interesting to me, but I could never do research in them myself. What you mention is definitely something I believe will make a lot of progress in the next ~10 years.
If you were not in a relationship, and could date anyone, who would it be?
Nadya (Lavie_Head). She’s my AoE 2 crush.
If she does not comment before, I will ask her in her upcoming interview.
Write a rap of 8 lines (or more) about something AoE-related, either in English or your native language.
I guess I quit AoE to put my life ahead of me
One point five years have gone, and the rust is strong
But I can get my skill back
I just hope it won’t take long
They call me the truest for more than just my name
I’m coming back to show you all how to play the DM game
So now I’m back, and this is my final phrase
Hope you’re there to witness a viper fall in just 9 more days
Add one more comment or question for me or someone else.
What would be a setting that you would like to see that blends both RM and DM?
I think it is more a question for the top players who really participate in tournaments, but I think having tournaments with both game modes is not bad. Also, as I started mentioning before, you could have a tournament where you for example play 5 games, 1 standard RM (Dark Age start), 1 Feudal Age start with medium resources, 1 Castle Age start with medium resources (maybe with double tc), 1 Imperial Age start with medium resources and double/triple tc and 1 classic DM. It could be interesting how the DM players deal with game 3 and 4.
Thank you so much for the interview, I really enjoyed it! Please keep doing all that you do for the community, Huehue, it’s much appreciated.
Thank you for doing this interview. I hope I can also promote DM a little bit, because, as I said, as a viewer and a casual player it is still something I think many people enjoy and it deserves more spotlight.
I am doing this interview very similar to the interviews I have done with RM players and casters before, but probably we will see a different point of view.
Would you share a photo of yourself?
How old are you and 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 add one thing from AoE 1 and one from 3 to add to AoE 2, what would it be?
I am 30 years old, and have been playing Age of Empires 2 since it came out in the Autumn of 1999. Before that I actually played AoE 1 (only single player) and did manage to play a bit of AoE 3. Adding one thing from AoE 1 seems tough, but I guess I would go with the unit called the Hoplite (if I recall that name correctly). Always thought it was a cool unit! From AoE3 I liked the Dutch banks, which could be a cool idea to add to AoE2, although they already did something similar for Portuguese.
I have played AoE 1, but long ago and only in German, so I don’t remember what the Hoplite is, so I just put a link to the Age of Empires Wiki, if someone wants to know about it: https://ageofempires.fandom.com/wiki/Hoplite_(Age_of_Empires).
For the upcoming AoE 2 Definitive Edition, what are your hopes? Did you play in the beta? Are there any special wishes and concern from DM players?
My hopes are that DM explodes in interest, of course. Deathmatch was extremely popular back on zone.com days, mostly within American players, due to its fast paced style. Hopefully it’ll be that case again if the game catches on!
Unfortunately I did not play in the beta; in fact, I was not even aware of DE in general until very recently.
Apart from hoping DM gains more interest, I think most DM players are just hoping the game can run as seamlessly as Voobly has managed to make AoE2 DM run on its platform. Playing DM on HD in comparison is just a laggy mess.
Why do you predominantly play DM? You have some RM experience, but it is obvious that you like DM better. What is it that makes you and some other players enjoy DM the most?
For the most part, my RM experience is limited to very short bursts of interest, usually after a long DM tournament has ended. I have always loved DM due to its wide range of possibilities right from the start: you are not confined to simply gathering food from sheep for the first couple of minutes in the game. The amount of strategies you can play or invent makes the game type exciting.
I have a different view and most players who play much RM probably have too, but I can totally understand the gathering food from a sheep example and that some people find it too slow. I remember back when AoFE was developed they tried doubling the starting villagers, some people wanted to start with medium resources as standard, but it did not last. So there are ways to make the game faster so you don’t have to play for half an hour to have a certain unit or technology available, but apart from some Feudal Age or Castle Age starts in a few tournaments not much has changed. What would you think if RM started with medium resources or you would have an RM tournament where some games start in Feudal or Castle Age or even Imperial Age (not post)? For the last one, something like double or triple tc maps could be good.
Can you tell something about your past tournament experience?
The only notable tournament experience I have began with War is Coming, in which I played with L_Clan. During that time I also managed to place 3rd in a tournament called “The Awakening” where Viper knocked me out on his way to taking 2nd. I’m hoping DMWC2 will give me a chance at revenge!
After that, there were several fairly large tournaments that I participated in, for example: The Uprising, Captains Mode: DM edition, The Legacy Cup 1, The Legacy Cup 2, and even a Michi DM tournament. However, the one I am probably most known for was DM World Cup 1, in which I managed to take 1st by finally ending Jidba’s 13 year reign of never losing a DM 1v1 tournament.
You have a top 3 seed in the DM World Cup, do you expect to become top 3 too or would you be disappointed if you won’t reach the semifinals? Predict a top 4.
Considering that I only came back to AoE2 roughly a month ago after taking a ~1.5 year break (which I did not plan on ever coming back from), I am not too sure of where I can end up. That being said, it’s really hard to predict a top 4, but I’ll give it a shot:
Viper
TheCode
Leash
Me / Nili / Rubenstock / Daywalker
Picking the 4th spot is just too much of a toss-up haha.
Despite everything I’ve said here, I know I am too competitive to be happy with taking a spot outside of the top 3. I’ll see if I can unrust enough in the next week or so!
How would you describe your playstyle and how much has it changed since you became an experienced player?
Originally I was one of the DM players that aimed to be a very fast player - hoping to overwhelm my opponents with just brute speed. Naturally that didn’t get me very far, and over time I had to develop better strategies and micromanagement. These days I find myself focusing on the reverse: it feels hard to play fast again, but I’m making progress on getting it back!
With which setup and at what place do you usually play? Would you add a photo of your gaming setup?
My “setup” consists of playing in a room that my girlfriend and I deemed “the office”. This consists of an old used desktop computer that still has its price tag of $125 on it, along with a free (used) keyboard. I did manage to upgrade my mouse to a Razer Abyssus V2 though; I finally broke the bank when my last dell mouse died shortly after DMWC1. All in all, I don’t really consider myself a gamer, AoE2 being the only game that I’ve ever taken seriously (or even really played).
Why did you choose the AoE nickname True?
When I first joined the QuEnDi team back in 2005 on zone.com, I chose QuEnDi_True__. I was and still am a big believer in the saying “stay true to yourself”. However in 2011 when I discovered voobly and came back to AoE2, I played under the nickname “klvowledge”. It was when I joined the L_Clan team that I was forced to abandon klvowledge, due to L_Clan_klvowledge being too long for voobly. Therefore, I brought back True!
Do or did you stream? What is your stream link, how often do you stream and what is special about your stream?
I have never streamed, and at the moment I don’t plan to. I would like to add though that I think there’s a place in DM for someone to start streaming consistently! Maybe it’s a small but untapped fanbase.
There was a DMer streaming for some time. I don’t remember his name now. Someone probably does, but he has stopped. The interest seems to have declined, but if DE is successful, I can imagine that more people stream DM too, since like with HD, some people will come back and casually play who already have a fanbase from other games.
Now more personal information:
Which city do you come from/live in? What do you like/dislike about it and where would you like to move to?
I am from Seattle, Washington, United States. I like it pretty much solely for the people that I know that live here. Other than that, it rains a lot and generally doesn’t seem that interesting to me.
If I felt more open to moving to a new place, I would probably look into San Francisco, or San Diego, California.
Side note - TheViper mentioned he will be visiting Seattle in the near future, hopefully we can meet up!
Favourite things:
a) What is your favourite food and drink?
I like almost all types of food, it’s pretty hard for me to choose! During the past year I’ve been eating a lot of Thai food, which tastes pretty amazing. On the other hand, it’s tempting to give the stereotypical american answer: a nice big New York strip steak - cooked medium rare!
Which foods from your home country/region and family background would you recommend?
Foods from my home country are basically a large blend of foods from other countries, haha. My family background is Czech, but none of my family really adheres to any of the traditions - including foods.
What can you cook well yourself and how often do you do it?
I can make pretty good pineapple-brown sugar glazed pork. Something a couple friends of mine and I sort of invented one drunk night many years ago. It’s pretty rare that I actually cook this, haha.
Other than that I cook a variety of simple things, mostly stir fry or slow-cooker style foods.
What would you put on top of a pizza?
Grilled chicken and barbeque sauce. hahaha
Do you really need the pizza then?
I guess you can probably add more toppings to it. It’s better than you’d think!
b) What is your favourite colour? (Does not need to be one of the 8 AoE II colours.)
Orange
c) What is your favourite animal?
Dog
d) What/where is your favourite place on Earth?
There’s a cabin I used to go to on a lake called Mason Lake a couple hours drive away from Seattle. It’s a really beautiful place, and I have a lot of great memories there. The family of an old friend of mine - who passed away a couple years ago - owns it. I hope to visit there again someday, at least one last time.
We were 20 years old in this picture, haha.
e) What is your favourite song at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)?
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon (the whole album) still is and may forever be my favorite!
f) What is your favourite movie at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)? Who is you favourite actor?
I recently watched Waking Life again, I really enjoy how thought-provoking that movie is. Would recommend it to anyone.
Of all time, I would go with The Prestige. You might find that to be a strange choice, but I always thought that was a great movie!
I can’t say I really have a favorite actor. But if I had to choose one, I would probably go with Jack Nicholson.
g) Do you have a favourite sports team? (football, basketball etc.)
Washington State University Cougars football (American football). Grew up watching them, and still do.
Which countries have you visited?
England, France, Italy.
And where would you like to go to? Why?
Czech Republic - family background and I hear it’s amazing.
England, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Austria - To go visit all you loons! Rob (TatoH) still owes me a beer!
I haven’t been to the Czech Republic, but I have had it recommended too, also because it is cheaper than going to Germany, Switzerland, Austria, etc., but still with beautiful mountains, temperate forests, interesting architecture and cuisine.
Which languages can you speak and which would you like to learn?
English… and a little bit of Spanish. I would like to learn several, namely Czech and Thai.
What are your hobbies beside AoE?
I like playing sports and hitting the gym. I used to be big into playing basketball, but these days I mostly just try to keep in shape!
Who would you like to meet once, who you have not met? One AoE player and one other person.
Picking an AoE player is tough - there are many I would like to meet! Wayne (QuEnDi_RaGE), Rubenstock, Orkut (TheCode), Leash, Cortical and PaladinZ jump to mind. I would like to meet pretty much anyone from QuEnDi team who I haven’t met already.
If I really had to choose one, I would probably go with Wayne.
For non-AoE I would like to meet Luigi Accardi. Being a mathematician myself, I find many of his works to be very inspiring.
I haven’t heard of him before. He doesn’t even have an English Wikipedia page, just a German one. Can you recommend a page about him, which I should link?
https://scholar.google.ru/citations?user=kHBI7P-eBOIC&hl=en
Could use this - a citation list of his works. I doubt very many people would find this interesting though.
Do you have an AoE idol?
Jidba is probably my AoE idol. For a guy to have such an iron mentality all while acting like he doesn’t really care always seemed shocking to me. Besides, it still seems unbelievable that he was able to remain the undefeated 1v1 tournament player for 13 years.
Do you know more about what he has been up to the last years? He has posted on AoEZone this year, but not played any games on Voobly since a long time and I wonder why.
I still talk to him from time to time - last I checked in with him, he finished a Masters in Architecture and was planning to work in that field. He told me he is uninterested in playing with the new expansions.
What is your favourite civilisation, map and unit?
Goths - GA - Teutonic Knight
What is your favourite in-game sound?
The victory sound!
Who is your favourite and least favourite 1v1 opponent?
Favorite: Leash. He always makes me work hard to win a game - if you lose an edge early, you’re going to lose vs him.
Least Favorite: [Frost] _9 . He really knows how to test my patience by camping it out. It’s good practice at least!
Who is your favourite team mate?
a) For just playing:
Wayne - We’ve teamed in every tournament for many years now.
b) Also outside of the game:
Jb (L3af) - For being kind of a small guy, he can probably out-drink any AoE player!
Would you live with him/her together in one apartment for a month or a year?
If you paid me enough.
In the new expansions, what is your favourite new civilisation and unit?
Slavs - Boyar. That civ is pretty fun, and the Boyar is amazing.
There are not many DM tournaments. It is understandable with less money and less viewers. Would you consider participating in more RM tournaments if you could? Would you for example join a C or D team in the upcoming Nations Cup?
DM had some great times, but it’s true that the past couple years have seen it decline a lot. That being said, I really have no interest in playing any RM. I don’t mean to put down RM too much - I just don’t have the patience for it.
If you had $50,000 to spend on AoE tournaments, what would you do? What kind of tournament or series would you create?
With $50,000 I would probably host yearly DM world cups for the next 4 years - first year let it be $5,000, then $10,000, $15,000, and finally a $20,000 in 2023.
Do you think that would make more people play DM regularly? Because nowadays there are even 2-player showmatches for $1000. And some RM players seem to do decently in the DM WC although they only play DM for tournaments and then when it is over, they switch to RM only again.
I have seen multiple top RM players say that they would be willing to play DM more regularly if it had more incentive. I don’t believe that they only play DM for tournaments; I think it’s more that they play whichever game style has more tournaments (with money incentives).
Which 4 players would you like to see forming a team? (can include inactive players)
Miguel, Feage, Dogao, Wrath - Reunite the L_Clan team! (I can see this happening.)
In case you followed it, which 8 players would you invite for Nili’s Apartment Cup 3?
Viper, Daywalker, TheCode, Leash, Jidba, Wayne, Tatoh, me. Let’s have a DM fest!
If you visit AoEZone and Voobly, is there something you really like or would like to have improved?
Voobly - Userpatch and the non-lag gameplay is just amazing. Plus being able to spectate games, along with easily viewing all the players and games in the lobby ordered by rating makes things really cool.
What is the funniest moment in your life you experienced because of AoE?
(Look at the mini-map.)
Another funny experience was that some AoE2 player found me one day on campus at the university I was attending. He stopped me and shook my hand, saying he was a fan of me for beating Jidba. A couple friends of mine who were standing next to me were surprised - they had no idea that I even played AoE2.
What would you do to make the world a better place?
Right now I am working on the mathematics of cancer cell motility. Basically this means understanding how cancer cells spread the way they do. It’s an important step towards solving the cancer problem, and I really hope to succeed in pushing this research area.
It sounds really interesting to me. Medicine and genetics-related topics are often interesting to me, but I could never do research in them myself. What you mention is definitely something I believe will make a lot of progress in the next ~10 years.
If you were not in a relationship, and could date anyone, who would it be?
Nadya (Lavie_Head). She’s my AoE 2 crush.
If she does not comment before, I will ask her in her upcoming interview.
Write a rap of 8 lines (or more) about something AoE-related, either in English or your native language.
I guess I quit AoE to put my life ahead of me
One point five years have gone, and the rust is strong
But I can get my skill back
I just hope it won’t take long
They call me the truest for more than just my name
I’m coming back to show you all how to play the DM game
So now I’m back, and this is my final phrase
Hope you’re there to witness a viper fall in just 9 more days
Add one more comment or question for me or someone else.
What would be a setting that you would like to see that blends both RM and DM?
I think it is more a question for the top players who really participate in tournaments, but I think having tournaments with both game modes is not bad. Also, as I started mentioning before, you could have a tournament where you for example play 5 games, 1 standard RM (Dark Age start), 1 Feudal Age start with medium resources, 1 Castle Age start with medium resources (maybe with double tc), 1 Imperial Age start with medium resources and double/triple tc and 1 classic DM. It could be interesting how the DM players deal with game 3 and 4.
Thank you so much for the interview, I really enjoyed it! Please keep doing all that you do for the community, Huehue, it’s much appreciated.
Thank you for doing this interview. I hope I can also promote DM a little bit, because, as I said, as a viewer and a casual player it is still something I think many people enjoy and it deserves more spotlight.
Also hope youll make it to Austria some day 
you could meet Nadya and I on the same day 11
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Lavie_Head
xdreamlegendx
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SalzZ_Vinchester 
GL.TaToH 
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[CiD]_Ciifuantes_ 
lceland 
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ImRamin_ 
MorTaL_SieGe_ 
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SalzZ_classicpro 
[TABD]Exaact 
