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Interview de Sonia, team O+

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Page 2: English version

To continue with our series of interview we started in November 2012, we interviewed Sonia, who played with UBINITED and just joined team O+. We talked about her 3rd place at ESWC, about her brief passage with the World champions and about her career in general.

Hi Sonia, thanks for the interview. You started to play Counter-Strike on 1.6 and then got famous on Source, thanks to the ENC, where your team ended up 2nd, behind France. It seems that you don't have any resentment towards French female players considering you've played the last World Cup for Reason Gaming with Sephi last November. What do you think about your route during this World Cup ? Are you satisfied with this 3rd place ?

Hello! First of all, I want to say that during the ENC we all had so much fun! My team and I had a very good relationship with some of the french players, thats why when my team decided to take an indefinite break I ended up playing with the Crystal.serv girls.

About the World Cup.. I went to the event to "surprise" everybody, to show the world what my team could do and how hard we've worked. We were a brand new team, and we knew we were far behind compared to most teams because most of us didn't even know each other before, so we had extra work to do. Am I satisfied with our 3rd place result? Yes and no. Of course I'm really happy to have ended 3rd, considering it was our first major event and how little time we were together as a team but it was definitely a good start. At the same time I believe we could have done much better.

We played really good during the groupstage, and I think we failed the matches when we needed to win the most. The match against Alternate was really tight and we didn't manage to close the last map, which ended in a loss. It's always hard to accept a loss in a semifinal with 16-14 as the score.

I think all the teams in the podium had a similar skill level, so anything could have happened. It's a shame that we never got to play against Ubinited, I was really looking forward to it, but we lost against Alternate. We made mistakes, they fought really hard and they won in the end. So, we had no choice other than to forget about our loss and focus on winning our last match for the 3rd place, and I'm really happy that we managed to win this match!

One of the French casters from VaKarM was astonished because of the level you showed during this event, we were all under the impression that you were far above your teammates. Have you felt stronger during the whole event as well ? Was it a usual performance for you or were you also impressed with the level you showed ?

During the event I was feeling really good, I was so motivated! But no, I wasn't feeling any stronger than my teammates. We were a team and I was just playing my game, but it seems that I was on fire! For example, I wasn't even aware that I was on the top of the scoreboard until the end of the match. I was really focused on the game, on the strats, etc. Was it usual for me? I didn't play any different from when I was playing at home, so I guess it is. At the same time yes, I was impressed after the LAN that everything went as good as I wanted it to be, but I worked really hard so I was more than impressed, I was proud to have helped my team the way I did.

 

Sonia lors de l'ESWC 2012
Ozstrik3r qui lead, ça peut donner ça ! (Crédit : HLTV.org)


Right after the ESWC, Reason Gaming disbanded, and we went to ask Sephi why, among other things. You decided to join the female World Champions, UBINITED. How did the girls approached you ? What was your reaction when the World Champions, who won the title 6 times in a row, asked you to join them ?

I know it's a pity to see the team disappear after our great performance at ESWC.. But sadly I had good reasons to do it--personal reasons that I can't talk about. But I'm an optimistic person and I rather remember the good times we've had rather than be sad about it!

About UBINITED, everything started while playing some mixes, it was really fun because after ESWC I just realized that I was actually able to play with them, even with high ping! I thought I would have higher ping, but it was playable! The whole NA scene was new for me so I was really excited to play with new people, and get to know another females in the scene. So as we got to know each other, the crazy idea of trying out with them came out, and I thought "how can it even be possible!". I took few days to think about it and afterwards I considered all the points I've decided that it was worth to give it a try.

The fact that a team like UBINITED wanted to play with me meant a lot. The bad thing was that it was going to be really hard to make it work, we all knew it. But there was a chance that it could work and I had nothing to lose, so I went for it.

Some experts of the global scene announced as soon as you joined the team that playing from Spain with an american team would be quite a hard challenge, especially because of ping and time difference. You announced Monday evening that you were leaving the team. How was your integration with the team ? Why did you stop before competing in a major event ? Above all, weren't you disappointed ? What will you remember from this short experience ?

It was definitely a hard challenge. Playing with 130ms at 4/5/6 am is not easy. I had to change my whole schedule, I was sleeping from 7/8 am to 3/4 pm, sometimes even later. Obviously it was affecting my life even more than I expected.

My integration in the team wasn't really good. During the time I've been with them I started to realize how different we are. It's always hard to join a team where 4 of them know each other for a long time and I was new. Also, the fact that I'm from a different continent and that english is not my first language didn't really help.. At the same time I was going through a rough time in my life and also in-game. I wasn't feeling comfortable and I couldn't be the player they needed. Once I've realized all of this I was sure that the situation wasn't going to get any better with them, so I decided to leave before any major event.

Yes, I was a bit disappointed, because I put in a lot of effort to make it work and yet it didn't. But we all knew the risks, and sadly we couldn't manage the situation. Anyway, I don't regret the decision to join UBINITED in the first place.

I'll definitely remember the experience the fact that I've played with a team from NA on nights, with 130ms.. it's an interesting story to tell for sure!

 


ESWC 2012 - Petite finale filles par RedacVaKarM

Your new team is O+, you'll be playing with aNi-, HellRose, julie and lillsan. Once more, this is an international team, with nothing less than 3 swedes, 1 Bulgarian and yourself, from Spain. Could you introduce your team ? How are your first games going ?

I'm really motivated about my new team! I feel the same way I was feeling when we first started with Reason Gaming.

I remember when CS:GO came out and we started playing mixes (meeting all the girls that came from 1.6, etc.) In one of those mixes I saw Lillsan in the team we were playing against, and after 5 minutes I thought "Woah this girl is amazing! I want her in my team!". Time only showed me how right I was, and now that I have the chance to be in a team with her I can only say that I'm truly a fan of her!

Julie is a really strong player as well. Day after day she keeps showing me what she's capable of, though I already noticed while we were at ESWC. I'm really happy that she's in my team and not an opponent anymore!

HellRose is our in game lead, she's also a good player. She has experience, a strong character, and what I like the most is that she'll tell you the truth and what she thinks no matter what. It's definitely good to have someone like her.

And last but not least aNi-! She's my ex-teammate from Reason Gaming, we've been good friends this whole time and I'm really happy to be in a team with her again. She's not only a very good player but she's definitely the key person of this team--the glue that keep us together. There would be no team without her.

I also want to say that we're keeping aNNa as our manager, she's part of the family and we're really happy that she wants to stay with us, we haven't said it officially yet, but you'll be able to read about it soon!

Our first games are going really well, the best thing is that we keep improving every day really fast, I'm more than satisfied of how everything is going.

This is a really young team but it seems that you have some potential, what are your goals at short-point ? mid-point ? What will your practice rhythm/schedule be ?

We have in mind the Copenhaguen Games tournament, we're going to practice really hard for it. aNi- and I are bringing them the rhythm we had from Reason Gaming, so we're going to work as hard as we did for ESWC. Hopefully we'll do as good as my old team or even better.

I'm already tired of all the team changes that's been going on recently, so hopefully I'll be able to have a stable team here that I've been looking for. That means that in the long run we'll always be fighting to be at the podium in all of the female tournaments we go to! Also, we will try to play as many "male" tournaments/leagues we can.

Our schedule is basically to practice at least 5 days a week 4/5 hours a day.

We talked a lot about the female scene, but it seems that you are following the male scene as well. What are your favourite teams ? Do you think that global hierarchy will evolve this year ?

One of my favourite teams at the moment is the ex-myDGB (3DMAX now) team. Guardian and .PhP remind me of the good old days, when I was learning about the game. When I saw .PhP stepping into Guardian's team I was really excited, I hope I'll get to see them do great things in the upcoming events.

It's very obvious that everybody is getting better, I'm sure we'll see much closer matches/tournaments soon.

Now to end up with, if you are okay with it, a technical question and a bonus question. Regarding the technical one, we will keep it simple, in France, we have ScreaM, in Spain, they have you, how do you manage to shot so many headshots ? What's your personal practising schedule ?

Hahaha, I sure didn't expect a question like this! I usually go to deathmatch everyday, at least 30 minutes, more if I have time, but I also go to aim deathmatch servers. That's pretty much it, I have no secret!

Regarding the bonus question, tell us about how you began playing Counter-Strike and how you've ended up playing competitively ?

I've ended up playing Counter-Strike because of my brothers, I grew up watching them play the old versions. I remember standing in the room behind them just watching and waiting until they stop so I could play a little.

Few years later I finally had a computer good enough to play, so I bought Counter-Strike: Source and I started playing for fun. After a while, I was getting bored of playing in public servers, so me and some friends decided to play a little more seriously. Then I realized how fun it was, and I just wanted to improve and win! I guess I'm a very competitive person!

Thank you Sonia for all these answers and good luck with O+.

Thank you very much for this awesome interview, and the great support vakarm is giving to all of us.
I also want to thank everybody who is supporting me and my team!!


 

 

 

You can also read our previous interviews of NiP|Fifflaren (English), VG|NiaK (French), VG|Ex6TenZ (English), imG|Ozstrik3r (English) or n!faculty.Sephi (English).  In a totally different style, you can listen to the surprise interview of Sébastien "KrL" Perez (French) about his homecoming to France.

Thanks to Sickness for the translation.

Page 2: English version
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