Jørgen "XeqtR" Johannessen is more widely known for his dominance in the european counter-strike scene a couple of years ago. He has since then retired from counter-strike competitively to focus more on other things in his life.

Since his departure from the counter-strike scene, the Norwegian player has been spending a lot of time on a different game, DotA! He claimed he enjoys playing it and has decided he would rather play DotA at a competitive level rather than a casual level.

After playing in the prestigious inhouse league, IHCS, Drayich offered him a spot on the Mousesports DotA team. He has signed up for all the tournaments and leagues that the team is participating in for now and claimed he will not be participating at ESWC as they already have a starting 5.

Mousesports DotA:

Kim 'Drayich' Larsson
Fabio 'blutgeiL' De Gaetani
Jonas 'Fragalot' Tesfay
Jesper 'Miracle-' Nyhlen
Amel 'PlaymatE' Barudzija
Björn 'Twisted' Alquist
Jørgen 'XeqtR' Johannessen

Interview with XeqtR:

How long have you been playing DotA, and where have you been playing?

My first taste of DotA was at WEG1 in Korea, and thats like ages ago. After that it was just with the other CS players living in the playervillage. When I got back home I started playing some random public games with friends and I did that while playing CS as my "main" game. After I quit CS I kept playing dota for fun, and have been doing so since. Nowadays i play mostly clan war's with Mouz or NiHL and IHCS, both are inhouse leagues wheree you play with ventrilo and more seriously than normal pickup games.

How did you get into IHCS? Are you vouched in IHCS1?

Yeah, I actually played some IHCS like last summer, but got unvouched because I wasnt very active back then. I wanted to play more serious games so I got vouched back in ihcs2 and after some time I got vouched in to IHCS1.

What made you decide to play DotA instead of counter strike?

Wasn't really a decision, its not like I quit playing CS for DotA, I just quit playing cs and decided to focus on other areas in my life. Playing games has always been a hobby of mine and always will, and DotA was the game I found to be the most interesting at the time when I stopped playing CS, and ive kept playing it with friends ever since my cs days were over.

Do you think you'll stick around and play DotA seriously for a while? Would you travel to LAN events to compete for it with mouz?

Time will tell, I dont think I'll be attending ESWC qualifier for Mouse since they already need 3 swedes to be able to compete for the swedish spots and they have 2 foreigners in their starting lineup, but ill surely play alot for the official games online, and i might come to Dreamhack and meet the guys if possible.

What kinds of things do you like about DotA? Do you think it can grow further as an e-sport?

What I like the most with DotA is the teamplay part of the game, I feel that individually I'm very capable as a player, but I got a lot to learn about moving around on the map and be more aware of whats going to happen. E-sport question I'm not ready to answer at this time, I think we'll just have to see how the game gets accepted @ ESWC first.

What kind of role do you play have you been playing on the team so far? Which heroes do you play the most?

Well i see myself as RICEBOY #1! I've really been playing everything from full support to carry. Last official game I played with them I played Sven, but I don't really care about what hero I play. Dray decides that in matches anyways, but in practises I try to get a hero I can farm some with :D

Have you played any official matches yet? What online leagues/tournaments will you be participating in?

Yeah, I've played some official games, can't remember what league or cup that was, so many of them. But im on the roster in all of our teams cups and leagues.

Thanks for the interview!

Mousesports