Introducing NightMan

Posted by: -Radical-

In the last of the series of Features we introduce the Counter-Strike: Source player; Niklas "NightMan" Ruth. After the teams performance in Los Angeles coming to an end against Chicago Chimera in the 2nd round, its time for the team to prove themselves coming into the Second draft.

In the interview Niklas talks about how hard the team are practicing, preparing themselves for the next couple of weeks. With the team taking part in the SGL Heat tournament starting this week, with their first game being on Thursday. More news on this will be released nearer the time. This interview can be read below, enjoy!

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Hey NightMan could you please give a little about yourself

Hello my name is Niklas Ruth, I'm 21 years old, I live in Linköping Sweden and play for the Stockholm Magnetik Counter-Strike:Source team

What was gaming like for you in the early days, where did it all begin?

Well I guess it all started when I was really young, when I had a Nintendo, Sega Mega Drive, Playstation and all those consoles. I didn't really play computer games alot until I got my first PC that could handle Counter-Strike that was around beta 7.2 if I'm not mistaken thats when I started to play alot.

You started off your career playing the earlier versions of Counter-Strike, tell us a little about that and how you ended up moving over to playing Counter-Strike: Source?

I played a lot counter-strike before in different clans, then I got hooked in World of Warcraft, which I played that for a about 2 years or something. Then I got bored of it and went back to playing 1.6 again a Swedish team called Begrip where we didn't do so well. After a while we stopped playing and I started playing World of Warcraft again for a while then Giftig that played in Eyeballers was 2 players short and asked me if I wanted to play source. I had a chat with Red, and we decided we would give it a try and here we are now.

If you had the choice, would you rather be playing Counter-Strike 1.6 or Counter-Strike: Source with your current team Stockholm Magnetik and why?

In the beginning I would of chose 1.6 anytime, but now I'm not to sure anymore we have adjusted well to source now and I really like the game. Counter-Strike: Source has alot new things to learn, while in 1.6 I already knew everything

How did you get good at CS:Source after playing 1.6 for so long? Did you find it hard to change over from 1.6 or not and if so then what's the secret?

The only thing that was annoying was the flash bangs and the maps. The secret is play and play & then play some more, and you soon will get alot better.

Now moving on to the CGS, what are your thoughts about the whole setup of the CGS events in general?

Its really big, professional and really fun that E-Sports gets bigger and bigger. Just from looking at the way the World Finals was handled in Los Angeles, it gives gaming a whole new audience around the world. Gaming can only go up from here in regards to the CGS. In a few years time, I hope gaming will be classed as much as any other professional sport out there.

What does your family and friends think about your new job being a professional gamer?

My friends think its cool while they are working in a warehouse or something like that I'm home playing games and getting paid for it. And my family supports me in this and think it is nice that I can do something I love doing.

When you tell people you know about what you do for a living what is the general reaction from them?
They get happy and are supportive. They think it is fun, that I can live on doing what I love, some people gets surprised depends on who you tell I guess :P

Looking back at the CGS world finals in December, when Magnetik lost against Chicago have you as a team managed to fix what went wrong in Los Angeles?

I have no clue what went wrong all I can say is we didn't play our A game and we lost because of that, it happens hopefully it will never happened again.

Have you gained experience during season one so far?

Of course, the World Finals gave us the opportunity to play against teams from around the world, showing off their different styles of playing whether its being aggressive or defensive. It was also great to play from the Studio which was being broadcasted all around the world, which was kind of scary but amazing at the same time.

How are you and the team preparing for the 2nd Season draft?
We are playing 5 hours a day, 5 days a week at the moment and more if we are making new tactics or if we have officials games and even more before a lan.

Looking back at the last couple of months do you have any regrets?

No I have no regrets at all I had alot of fun playing in this team and being a part of cgs, and hopefully we will have more fun the months to come.

What are your thoughts about the CSS rules in the CGS, now with the overtime rules changing for the online region 1 qualifier where you have 1 round of start money on $800?

I think it will be fun some maps its harder for terrorist to break true defense but much easier on pistol rounds even tho its abit more random

That's it for now if you have any shoutouts please make them now
I would like to thank my family for being supportive and also my team for putting up with my crazy ideas. Also a huge thanks to HeatoN for giving us a chance to play in the CGS.