FPSChallenge Budapest LAN 2022 - Interview: warking (DENIED)

1. Hello warking, first of all I’d like to thank you for taking part in this interview. Could you introduce yourself to the people who don't know you?

Hey my name is Mark, I'm 27 from Czech Republic, I have been playing CoD4 since 2007 with some breaks. I've been always around and trying to help COD4 community to grow, I used to host daily cups, events for the community on platforms such as playzone, grunex, excello, toornament, cybergamer and so on. My latest focus was developing additional features to Promod Live 2.20 such as automatic overtime, scope fixes and more. I also help with some minor things on fpschallenge.eu.

2. Currently you are playing for team DENIED, could you tell us your story? How long has your team been playing together in this formation and how did you find each others?

Yes, I currently play for team DENIED. I joined them before Autumn League 2021 which we managed to win. DENIED has been always a team full of mixers, lot of players came in and out. I would say the core of the team is weave, s4rrzur and sam. The latest change is addition of supMEH instead of FAGARO. 

3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your team?

I would say our strength is in ability to replace each other roles and to adapt to anything. Me, sam and s4rrzur can play both ak and smg role and also play most of the spots on the maps so if anything doesn't work right, we can switch things up. 

4. You played on the last international COD4 LAN in Zagreb last time in April this year and your performance was really outstanding. You could surprised everyone and reached the third place on the competition. How did you felt on the last Zagreb LAN in April? How would you rate your performance?

I don't really see any weaknesses in our team, we managed to win 3 leagues in a row so that's not bad. 

5. We have seen some promising pictures from the Budapest LAN venue. How do you appreciate this esport bar? Are you waiting for you to be there?

The Budapest venue is not bad neither super good, its average place to have LAN at. 

6. What are your expectations about your team’s performance? What kind of final result would you be satisfied?

I think we see ourselves TOP3 for sure, 1st place wouldn't hurt also. Our last LAN performance in Zagreb was above expectations, everyone played very good. There's always a space for improvements tho.

7. More than 16 teams will participate in this LAN, what do you think about the teams?

There's more challenging teams than on the Zagreb LAN so it's gonna be nice experience for sure. 

8. How would you rate the Groups in general? What do you think especially about your own Group? (Group C)

All groups seems to be balanced, I would like to see one more team in our group to be satisfied but it is what it is.

9. Which teams you consider as the biggest threat (rival) for you?

Definitely Apes, they always manage to surprise and their mentality is strong thanks to cDe. +ULTRA are newly formed team but their performance has been good so far so definitely a team to be worried about. TBA (qLimAxzU's team) is gonna be pain the ass aswell imo, they have a line up full of old school LAN experienced players that might surprise. 

10. What's your predictions for TOP3 of this LAN event?

1. DENIED; 2. +ULTRA; 3. TBA (qLimAxzU's team) 

11. What do you think, which team will surprise the opponents? Who is your secret favorite, who is underestimated by the other teams, but you know they will perform really well?

I'd say qLimAxzU's team for the reason specified above. 

12. Thank you for taking part in this interview. Is there anything you'd like to add?

Thanks for having me, and let's hope for bright future of the COD4 scene! :)