Few people in the Counter-Strike world could miss Mike "paradox" Stanowski. How could you? The young fragger was a big part of one of the longest running-lineups in CSS history: through verGe, Forbidden and then Pandemic, the five players were a team that had solid results both online and on LAN. This year at the Combine and Draft, Pandemic's years of hard work paid off, as four of the five members were drafted onto CGS franchises. In addition to paradox, Juan and nickn0it made it to 3DNY and Mustang found a new home with Dallas. I spoke with paradox recently about his rookie season, the World Final, and what he's been doing since.

Coming into this season's Draft and Combine, did you expect to get drafted at all, let alone by San Francisco?

paradox: It's kind of hard to say. I didn't really talk to anyone beforehand, besides the OptX, so I really didn't know what to think going into it. I think that I played pretty well. After the Combine, I thought that I had a pretty good shot with 3DNY, and after playing with San Francisco, I thought I had a decent chance with them as well. After Kat drafted Garett first, though, I really had no idea what to think; I was really nervous. I ended up having no idea what to expect, and I thought that, the way things were going, my chances were kind of low. I was a little bit surprised when I got drafted by San Francisco. After pugging with them a little bit, and that going pretty well, and then after talking with them, I knew that they were my best shot at getting drafted. But after Kat drafted Garett, it left both p0s and Pham in the pool, so I didn't know what was going to happen.

The team as a whole took a long time to come together and play to their potential. So, all things considered from both the regular season and the World Final, are you personally satisfied with how the team was able to get its act together in time to become an important part of the OptX run in the World Final?

paradox: Yeah, I mean, you can't really ask for a lot more. The way the regular season went, everything was sub par, in terms of our performance, and kind of the way the team wasn't coming together. So having us, as a group, being able to come together like that, and play well when it counted, was really key, and like I said, you can't really ask for more than that, with the amount of time that we had, and the group we had to deal, and the personalities and all that. We overcame a lot.

With your former teammates juan and nickn0it being drafted onto 3DNY, do you feel that your personal play this season would have been different if you had also joined them, rather than playing with the OptX?

paradox: I do think so, because playing with a couple of my old teammates, and also having juan as the in-game leader, someone who I've played with for over 3 years now, that would definitely have affected my play. I would have been a lot more comfortable. I think that he would have let me play the way that I had been to used to playing. But with San Francisco, I've had to adapt a new group of players, and a new style of leading. We've had to deal with having different in-game leaders as well. The team and I were honestly all over the place. I really had to find my place on the team, and it took time for me to know what I had to do to help the team win. So I think that yeah, it would have been different, but I was able to find my comfort zone on this team, and at a good time too. Coming into the World Final, I was able to really figure out what I needed to do.