It’s no doubt that ALTERNATE aTTaX is one of the best Counter-Strike teams in the world right now, so I thought this was the proper time to ask some questions to one of the players – silver. The interview contains silver’s personal thoughts about the final against Mousesports, and how the future looks like for the team.

Hello, silver, kindly introduce yourself.

My name is Tim Hochgrebe, 22 years old, playing in ALTERNATE aTTaX and Team-Germany, living in Frankfurt

aTTaX recently won the ESL, in the final you played against mousesports. You have now had some time to think about it, so how does it feel?

Just great, we entered the season as a completly new team but always had this one goal infront of us winning EPS and beating mouz, and untill now, we have achieved everything we wanted. Lets see how eswc and cpl work out.

How did you prepare for the final, anything special?

No, we just had a bootcamp the last weekend before the finals but couldnt find any good opponents so it was a lot of aim_map and poker :)

aTTax is the only german team who is going to attend WSVG. In a way you will be representing your country, but how do you plan on winning?

We actually don't plan on winning because any team that is attending is a TopTeam, we just go there to mess with the best and do some damage. If we end up winning it would be awesome as you can imagine, but its not like we HAVE to win to not be dissapointed.

Which team or teams do you think will be your biggest challengers at the event, and why?

Catch, SK.swe, NiP, fnatic, mibr, they all have an Allstar-lineup and performed quite well in the past.

How does friends and family feel about your professional gaming?

Now that I'm finally bringing home some money they are starting to like it. My father is even checking our website from time to time. They weren't my biggest fans in the beginning though when i was 18 or something.

It looks like aTTax is ona roll and doing a great job so far, do you feel any pressure?

We felt it yea, to win EPS this season, because that was our main goal when we built up this team. But now that we did the job, we are just happy to go to eswc and Dallas and improve our teamplay and spirit, because thats what does tournaments always do.

Could you tell us about each aTTax player, how they are ingame and in "real life" ?

Moon - Really calm guy, analyses a lot and isnt the most outgoing person you will meet. Same ingame, rather defensive and flashing a lot ;)

Tixo - Our youngest guy is probably the best aimer in Germany right now, our sunnyboy, using a lot of makeup :D

ChefKoch - Our oldest guy, still just a funny crazy dude who is always talking and always has a smile left for anything. Always performs well when he feels pressure.

Kapio - A guy with a big big heart, seems quiet sometimes but he can turn out to be a beast. Really a great clutch-player.

Who in your opinion is the most overrated player in Germany and why?

mTw|roman.
First thing to say is that he is a really really really nice guy and i really like him, but he just hasn't performed as well on big events as he often does online vs rather bad teams. He is considered as a one-man-army but often hides himself in big matches. And he IS a great player, good aim and tacticalwise, he just isnt the big Superstar everyone is trying to make him.

How did you come up with the nickname silver?

It came from the comic hero SilverSurfer, shortened it to silver.

No, but I want one !

Name your favorite Counter-Strike team and player, and you can not choose any from attax!

ZeT - young gun, sick aim, nice guy
fr0d - A W P
vesslan - my alltime favorite
shaguar - alot of passion
gore - always playing well in big matches

Do you have any other interests besides counter-strike?

Sure, mainly in Sports like Ice Hockey (Peter Forsberg is my boy!!), Soccer and parties like most people in my age do.

No.

Your team has played well and perhaps suprised a lot of people with your performance lately, but what can you do to improve and take it to the next level?

Just play a lot of international events and constantly improve from em.

Germany is currently hosting the World Cup. Are you going to seen any games and do you normally follow football, if yes, which team do you think will win the 2006 world cup?

Yea I am going to Togo vs Korea match today, maybe not the biggest match of all time but thats the only game i got a ticket for :D

Could you explain how a normal day looks like for you?

Wake up at 9 am (thats when work starts).
Come in late to work and argue with my boss.
Chat and surf all day long at work, and then go home at 5 and eat some.
Start practice at 7 if its practice day.
Visit my friends, go outside or watch a movie.
Normally go to sleep at like 2 am.

I wish you and the rest of the attax players the best of luck for the future, but do you have anything to add ?

640 Large forever!