Interview with Team Immunity's entry fragger, James

James 'james' Quinn first made his debut into the Counter-Strike scene in late 2010, where he began working up his aim and game sense to one day reach a top tier team. After starting off in the amateur division, he slowly worked his way up the ranks where in mid-2014 he was picked up by Team Immunity.

James is currently one of the best entry fraggers in the Australian scene, winning his first Australian major late this year and taking home the title of Cybergamer Premier League Champion. The Team Immunity CS:GO team is now back, bigger and better than ever already dominating the likes of Vox Eminor to hopefully reach the international stage in 2015.
I recently sat down with James to get his thoughts about some recent tournaments in Australia and the Australian scene.

 

Hi James, Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions about you and the CS scene in Australia!
Firstly, how are you?

James: My pleasure. I’m good thanks.

Could you introduce yourself and the team to the community for those who don't already know who you are?

James: I'm James 'james' Quinn and currently play for Team Immunity's CSGO Team. My team mates consist of Yam, SnypeR, Rickeh and Emagine. We've been together for almost 10 months now without any lineup changes and keen to get to the international stage in 2015.

 

When did you first begin playing Counter-Strike and how did you get into it?

James: I first started playing Counter Strike in early 2009, starting off with Counter Strike: Source. I used to watch my older brother play and in late 2010 I started playing competitively, competing in my first amateur league in 2011. From then on in I just kept at it and first played at the top level in CS:GO. I began to get noticed by a few players online and also on LAN and was fortunate enough to team up with Team Immunity in early 2014.

 

How did your team first come together and what is your role?

James: I've been playing with Rickeh for over a year now, and after a few lineup changes, Rickeh and myself decided to both leave our previous teams and ended up on the hunt for a fresh lineup to dominate with. SnypeR who was formally a VoxEminor player and had played in Katowice 2014, was a perfect addition to the team as he carried excellent in game leader skills from his international experience. Yam joined us due to him being part of Team Immunity's 1.6 team and travelled overseas numerous times to compete at an extremely high level. Emagine was an Australian Counter Strike Source champion for numerous years and seemed to fit well with all of us. Coming together seemed like the best idea as we all had the same passion for the game and wanted to dominate the scene.

My role in the team is Entry Fragger, so pretty much I'm the first person running into a bombsite and getting information for SnypeR our in-game leader.

 

You recently competed in the Cybergamer Australian Premier League (CGPL) coming out on top to take the crown and also beating the number one team in Australia, Vox Eminor. How did you feel winning your first Australian major and beating an undefeated Australian LAN team?

James: Winning my first ever Australian major event and being a part of Australia's number one organization is the best achievement I've had in my Counter Strike career to date. It was a great feeling being able to beat VoxEminor on LAN and we cannot wait for more to come in 2015.

 

How much practice did you and your team put in prior to the tournament to help triumph over the opposition?

James: We knew that we wanted to make a statement in CGPL and we made sure we were putting enough time and effort into our practice not only as a team but also individually. It's not always how much you practice but also what you practice. We made sure we were practicing our own game, what we wanted to do and how we wanted to control the game and it paid off.

 

Immunity also recently competed in the Australian masters and the FaceIT Oceanic tournament. What were your thoughts on these two recent events?

James: Both events were great for the Australian community! They were both able to get our scene recognized by an international audience and that’s always a great thing to have.
The Australian masters was a one off event where it gained publicity via HLTV and other forms of social media, which drove us to come out on top and show the international scene that we can compete on their level. We were however under practiced for the event and it showed as we came second overall.

As for FaceIT I think it's great for the Australian community to have more leagues popping up, especially one that’s recognized internationally. It puts our names and scene out to a wider range of spectators in which we wouldn't have before. We had over 20,000 people watching our final vs. Athletico on Twitch which has been the most spectators I've ever played in front of. Although we finished second, we were on break at that point and had to quickly field a stand in player as Yam was away on holiday. Just cannot wait to come back to 2015 at full strength.

 

How do you feel going into any upcoming tournaments or leagues as your team is already arguably the top team in Australia?

James: Personally I feel confident. We as a team have this unknown factor where any player in our team can just flick a switch and win us a game. With the likes of Yam, Rickeh and Emagine especially, I feel we are going to be stronger than ever in the up and coming events and anything under first place will be a disappointment for us.

 

For newer players looking to make a break into the competitive scene what advice would you give them

James: Breaking into the competitive scene is quite an easy thing. Most people at the younger tier level just find mates and start up their own team to not only play for fun but to also compete against other teams at their skill level in a 'league' like format. For breaking into the top level of Counter Strike the best advice I can give is get your name out there. Attend every LAN event you can, help out the community as much as possible and also make sure you respect and listen to the players who are trying to help you out. I personally think that the biggest problem in the Australian CS Community is that not many younger tier players feel the need to listen to top players and have minimal respect for them.

 

Once again I appreciate the time you have taken and wish you and Immunity the best of luck in the future! Any final shoutouts to your fans, sponsors or friends and where can we follow you?

James: No worries. Always willing to take time out to get our name out there and it's also a pleasure to be able to get the chance to have a chat with you. Having followed the international scene for some time now, Team Dignitas was always one of the teams I looked up to. A few shouts to my team mates Rickeh, SnypeR, Emagine and Yam, also our managers Sent1nel and Nitro and appreciate the support we have gotten from Intel. You can follow me @Jamesanthquinn or  www.facebook.com/TeamImmunity.