Hey Jordan! Thank you for taking time for this interview.

Hello Astinox, my absolute pleasure. Thank you very much for considering me for this interview.

You have been part of the scene for quiet a long time now, when and where did you play Age of Empires II online for the first time?

I remember I was around 9 years old when I first saw my older brother playing something on his computer. I was sneaking into his room, opening the door cautiously so he wouldn’t notice me. From there I was able to see Age of Empires II. He then showed it to me a little bit more in detail and I remember us playing together in a local LAN set-up 1v1 with two PCs. He always used Koreans and I always lost against those War Wagons 11.

How much did the community and esports scene change in that time?

You can’t compare these two eras. When I played online the firs time, it was during MSN zone. Roughly, two years after starting to playing online, MSN was shut-down (think 2016) and the landscape for playing online was brutal. We as players didn’t really have a place to go. We were worried that our time has come. Fortunately, there were great, dedicated people who provided solutions to the problems and offered clients which allowed online multiplayer.

I remember in the year around 2010, Viper and I tired to organize tournament. Within the community, you could speak of a good year if you had an overall prize money of around $2000 USD. Nowadays, we speak of maybe $300.000 USD? It is just insane.

I also remember that back in the days I loved to watch SC2 tournaments, especially the LAN events. I always dreamed to have something like that. That was just completely unheard of within the AOE scene. If you fast forward to the present, we have roughly 3-4 LAN events, yearly. It is just amazing how far the game has jumped in terms of e-sports. Just recently, we had by far the most successful, prestigious LAN event in the history of AOEII in London hosted by Red Bull.

I feel the community overall has been great throughout the last years. You can tell the people love AOEII so much.

You decided to leave age of empires for some time, lost your slot in leagues and tournaments cause of it. What made you come back at the end?

There are multiple factors playing into it.

A) The financial situation is always a big driver. If the financial situation is healthier, I am able to spend much more time on the game. Unfortunately, I am not able to fully cover my living with AOEII so there are always other activities I need to take care of. Currently, I am looking for a part-time job, so I can get a stable income and still fully commit to AOEII. On top of that, thanks to my lovely team Onimaru, I can commit as much as I do to AOEII.

B) I just love this game so much. The game is just by far the best game I have ever played. It is both super, super complicated and beautiful at the same time. Even after all those years I have spent on the game, almost 25 years, there are still couple of areas I can improve in. It is just crazy. C) I have also started a coaching program which I hope can give me more financial stability so that I can engage with the AOEII universe as long as possible.

Unfortunately you did not manage to qualify for Brazilian Dynasty this year. What went wrong? The level within the Top 25-30 is just so extremely close. It has never been as close as this. I also felt like I was not playing as sharp as I could. There are a lot of things going on in my private life which can cause some disruptions and have an impact on my performance. But that is getting better and better. Last week I lost my Warlords Qualifier vs Heartt, but I felt like I played the best I have in a long time. So that is promising for the future.

You managed to qualify for the next season of TTL Platinum League though. Compared to other events do you believe a league structure is important for the Age of Empires scene?

I specifically think that TTL with the league format provides opportunities to the players close to the Top 25 and that is extremely important. Money is in most cases the biggest driver for competition. With TTL, players outside of the Top 30 are capable to earn some money, prestige and more importantly, hope that they can eventually make it to the next level.

After Brazlian Dynasty and Warlords we'll have a 3vs3 league coming up. Are solo or team games more fun?

I love both of them. Throughout the recent times, we have mainly seen competitive 1v1 tournaments. So I am really looking forward to getting into some 3v3 action as well. 3v3 TGs are the best format for TGs as they are the most complex ones. If I had to choose one, I would say currently: Playing I prefer 3v3 on diverse maps, watching I prefer 1v1.

If you had to name your favourite event/tournament over the duration of all the years, which would it be?

That is a very tough one as I have attended so many great, great tournaments. It has to be a LAN tournament for sure. I would say Red Bull Wololo V: Enthrone. I had an amazing showing there, finishing 4th overall. It was also the first time the Red Bull series for AOEII was hosted in a castle. The atmosphere and overall services by Red Bull were absolutely astounding. Red Bull Wololo: Legacy was even better in terms of production and people attending, but I didn’t finish as high as I did in the aforementioned. Hence I pick Red Bull Wololo V: Enthrone

Thanks so much for answering these questions! If you have anything left to say, feel free to do so!

Thank you as well for interviewing me and your support toward the AOEII community. I wish you all the best and hopefully we can collaborate more in the future.