"I wish I was born in Germany"

Hello Lazar. You recently joined mTw, how does it feel to be part of this clan?

Lazar 'NightEnD' Silviu: It feels great. We are a happy team.

What about the pressure? Did anything change?

NightEnD: Well I don't feel any pressure yet, but yes, things changed. From now on I will try to play almost every day around nine hours. Till today I was playing only three or four days in a week and like five hours a day.

You are playing Warcraft on a high level for a long time. But now, when Warcraft seems to decline, you accomplished the breakthrough. Why exactly now?

NightEnD: Well, in the past I only had problems. When I reached Level 50 on ladder, like two and a half years ago, and I was in a good shape, I had to stop playing Warcraft for like six months. And then, after I started playing again, after some time I had to take a five or six months break again. Now I got like seven or eight months of activity or even a bit more. I never played much and that's why I probably had the breakthrough that late.

Which kind of problems? Did your internet connection play any role?

NightEnD: No, it is nothing about connection, money or anything like this. My connection is 100mb/s since like three years. The first six months of inactivity were because of the last exams from high school giving me the opportunity to go to university. The second break was because of some health problems of my father. So I had no time to play and no motivation.

Which goals do you have for the next couple of months?

NightEnD: My goals are now to stay in NGL with mTw and to qualify for the WC3L. My personal goals are to further improve and qualify for the NGL One, after they finish this season and I also want to participate at good tournaments and win them.

What do you think about the other team members? Have you already talked to them?

NightEnD: Yes, I was playing with them when I was not part of mTw. They are all very nice with me and they are all good players.

Where will you stand at the end of the next WC3L season?

NightEnD: In Top 4.

Many people only know you because of your recent victory against Grubby, although you showed good results over all. Do you think that you are underrated?

NightEnD: Well, I think no team gave me any credit to improve myself. I haven't participated at any offline tournament. It is kind of hard to reach a top level when you are from a country that doesn't support your game at all and when you got not even one good player to practice with.

You qualified for the European Regional Finals but were not allowed to participate at the event. Your comments about this issue?

NightEnD: What can I say? Blizzard didn't care at all! If you don't even care after a player played 600 games in two months and you give him only evasive answers you just can't do anything.

With whom do you train at the moment and how do you try to get better these days?

NightEnD: Well, I train with Leon, Eric, Hanf, Grubby, HoT, DeMusliM, ThomasG and so on. I try to play more and focus more on every aspect of the game. I try to improve my micro, my timing – simply everything.

What would you say are the most imbalanced aspects of the game and how would you change them?

NightEnD: That Blademaster is imbalanced, no matter if you play Human, Elf or Undead – BM stays imbalanced. And I would change it by start playing Starcraft 2. (laughs) Seriously now, I would balance that BM somehow. Level One Critical Strike is OK, but at level two or three it is way too much damage especially combined with +15 or even +20 extra damage, it just becomes a joke.

You are one of the only few known gamers from Romania, besides KingCrimson. How big is eSports in your country?

NightEnD: eSports is growing here, although it didn't grow like in other countries, just because the leagues here didn't invest in Warcraft. Also we had no national WCG qualification for four years or so. That's kind of crazy, since even India got WCG qualifications. In Romania FIFA, Counter-Strike and DotA are very popular. Warcraft is not that popular just because the leagues didn't care about Warcraft gamers.

So you can't qualify for the World Cyber Games at all?

NightEnD: I hope this year it will be possible. I talked to the one who is organizing the WCG qualifier here and he said the sponsors don't give him any money. But we will see if they give him money for a WCG qualifier in Warcraft. Apart from that they will send one CS team and one FIFA player.

Do you think that you would be one of the worlds best players if you would live in another country?

NightEnD: Yes, I definitely think so. I wish I was born in Germany – it is my favorite country from Europe because of many things. Because of the German people, because of your car industry, because you pay a lot of attention to your people and on your players, no matter which sport they do and what I know from my parents about your system – I can't compare it with Romanian one on every aspect, for example hospital, police, simply everything.

Thank you for the interview.