The truth about SpawN - Part 1*

- Written by chaOz (translated by bech)

As it became publically known a few weeks ago, SpawN decided to withdraw from Counter-Strike, leaving the Swedish scene with one less major profile. If you missed that news, it can be found here. SpawN himself has said that he will be back, but history has shown numerous examples of how hard that can be when the real life sets in. But naturally I hope that he'll return soon. Nevertheless, this was the motivation behind this series of articles, where SpawN and the teams he has played on will be in focus. To those of you who have been on the scene for a long time, many of these things will probably be a

pleasant revisit, and refresh your memory of the old players and teams. To those of you who are relatively new, it will be a glimpseof "the oldschool scene" - naturally mostly the Swedish, but where some Danish teams will be mentioned as well. It has been a pleasure diving into the old articles of this site, at Fragbite and at GotFrag, where a lot of forgotten treasures lie hidden. I hope this will be as much as an enjoyment to read as it was to write, and it will be filled with images and statements that were relevant at the time in question.

Facts

Name: Abdisamad Mohamed

Nickname: SpawN

Age: 22 (born 11th of November, 1985)

City: Stockholm (born in Mogadishu, Somalia)

Former teams: matrix, 2easy, mTw.se/team9, mTw.HLO, SK, NiP

Primary weapons: AK/Colt/AWP

Accomplishments:

1. CXG qualifier 2003

1. CPL Copenhagen 2003

1. WCG qualifier 2003

1. World Cyber Games 2003

1. CPL Dallas Winter 2003

1. This Year's Leaper 2003

1. Nollelva 2004

1. European Nations Cup 2004

1. MostValuablePlayer (GotFrag World Ranking) 2004

1. ClanBase Nations Cup 2004

Best AWP-player (Fragbite Swedish Ranking) 2004

Best pistol-player (Fragbite Swedish Ranking) 2005

1. CPL Dallas Summer 2005

1. CPL Dallas Winter 2005

Best Allround-player (Fragbite Swedish Ranking) 2006

1. ClanBase Nations Cup 2005

1. VSports AllStar 2006

1. European Nations Cup 2006

1. NGL-one 2006

1. KODE5 Finals 2006

1. SEC 2007

 

When it all began

The year was 2001, and in the southern part of  Stockholm - also known as Farsta (Fagersjö) - Abdisamad Mohamed lived with his father, his mother and his siblings. The family had moved to Sweden from the capitol of Somalia, Mogadishu, when Abdisamad was three years old and initially lived in Nybro, and later moved to Stockholm. Abdi was very active in his younger years, and played a great deal of soccer and basketball. Especially basketball with it's ghetto-american vibe was the preferred, and for a long period of time he had an ambition of becoming a professional basketball-player. Even at his younger age, Abdi had a winner's mentality in everything he put his mind to, and despite the rapid evolvement of the popularity of computers and gaming consoles, Abdi stuck to the physically active hobbies. In the summer of 2001 however, he accidentally broke his elbow in two places during a soccermatch, which put a sudden stop to his active lifestyle for a period of time. Regarding that period he said in a Fragbite interview:

citationstegn

I didn't go out much after that and the doctor told me to use a computer to train my fingers and get the blood to start circulating. That's when I came into contact with Counter-Strike.

citationstegn

SpawN - November 2004

In the summer of 2001 Counter-Strike had just gone from version 1.1 to 1.2, and the summer was barely over before 1.3 became the playing version. At the time in question, the Counter-Strike scene was taking it's first baby steps, but in Sweden - actually, in most of the world -  Ninjas in Pyjamas dominated:

Ninjas in Pyjamas

• Tommy 'Potti' Ingemarsson
• Erik 'MedioN' Engström
• Johan 'Hyb' Carlund
• Emil 'HeatoN' Christensen
• Jørgen 'XeqtR' Johannessen

The ninjas had just gone back to their old name, after a visit in  EYEballers (under the name of e9). After just three months EYE shut down their CS-department, and the team was gathered under the name of clan9 (in relation to it's sponsorship from the internetcafé café 9 - later the name was changed into the well-known team9). The two last mentioned players in the lineup were new in the lineup, as the team had had luck in recruiting HeatoN from  Nostradamus and XeqtR from  Spirit of Amiga. Potti was the most winning player of the team and to this day he's the only one who has four wins in a row at the CPL Summer events. A record that is still standing to this day, and wont be broken any time soon. Eventwise the CPL was, not surprising, among the biggest and most prestigious, and in 2001 it had, amongst others, events in  Amsterdam,  London and  Berlin, as a part of their European tour. Also the WCG had events at this time - though without scandinavian teams competing.

Abdi tried, as metioned earlyer, to recover from his accident, and even though the doctor recommended it, he wasn't the big computer gamer. Trying to rehearse the 10-finger-system wasn't exactly his style either. Regarding that time he told Meet Your Makers:

citationstegn

I was never the type to play games on the computer, but I was more into video games. Street Fighter was one of the ones I just loved to play. Either way I was forced to test out this amazing computer game my friend kept talking about. It resulted in me staying infront of the computer for several days just to play, and it was really fun! During that time I lived in Fagersjö, where both ScreaM and Dracula also stayed. ScreaM and I connected really well, and he helped me a lot to become good at the game.

citationstegn

SpawN - April 2007

The Counter-Strike player SpawN was born!

The early days

Months passed and the interest of playing more organized was ever rising. SpawN had at first joined the team  LemonRide (where a certain Christer 'fisker' Erikson also roamed), but later ended up with his Farsta-comrades Patrick 'ScreaM' Roth and Issa 'Dracula' Chebaro in  XiSM, where a certain Michael 'Ann-Ahl' Korduner also homed his skills. ScreaM - who at this time was regarded as one of the biggest talents on the Swedish scene - and Dracula in the meantime left the team rather quickly in favor for  rebel, but both ended up in  matrix on ScreaM's request. This was the beginning of 2002. SpawN was shortly after offered a spot on the team, and matrix would be his first real ambitious team.

matrix

• Patrick 'ScreaM' Roth
• Issa 'Dracula' Chebaro
• Abdisamad 'SpawN' Mohamed
• Thomas 'cyphoneR' Rundgren
• Stefan 'Legenden' Nordberg
• Anders 'Kulspruta' Hermansson
• Daniel 'bulletproof' Lewinski
• Conny 'Zad' Ryderholm

Unfortunately the team didn't last for more than a few months, before ScreaM and Dracula once again left their buddy. An offer from NiP in the spring of 2002 proved impossible to decline, where the two once again could see themselves teamed up with their old buddy; ahl. In NiP the fall of 2001 had been somewhat turbulent; the legendary NiP-lineup was torn apart, when XeqtR was asked to leave the team. After XiSM ahl ended up in  GameOnline, with whom he had played at the CPL London, which also took place in the fall of 2001. This was the last CPL-stop before the grand final in  Dallas, December 2001. NiP would naturally stop at nothing to this grand final, and ahl agreed to switch teams. Furthermore the team added  Johan 'vesslan' Ryman, so they now had a sixman-lineup. NiP ended up winning the final in Dallas, which was their greatest victory so far. Shortly after NiP's return to Sweden big changes occurred once again. vesslan was thrown out, MedioN withdrew from the scene, while Hyb went inactive. XeqtR - who had performed excellently with GoL in Dallas - was taken back and, as mentioned earlyer, ScreaM and Dracula joined as fifth and sixth in the lineup.

Ninjas in Pyjamas

• Tommy 'Potti' Ingemarsson
• Emil 'HeatoN' Christensen
• Michael 'ahl' Korduner
• Jørgen 'XeqtR' Johannessen
• Patrick 'ScreaM' Roth
• Issa 'Dracula' Chebaro

With the talented player ScreaM on board, NiP won two smaller tournaments in the spring of 2002, while SpawN continued to roam in matrix - although without as much success. The summer of 2002 was however hard on NiP, where the lack of sponsorships and no nordic qualifier for the CPL, forced the team had to split up. ahl went back to his friends at 2easy, while Potti, HeatoN and XeqtR were offered a spot on Schroet Kommandos Scandinavian team. ScreaM and Dracula chose to wait things out, despite of receiving the same offer from SK. In the same period  mortal Teamwork decided to join forces with a Swedish team, and thereby following the concept from their fellow organisation in their home country, SK. 2easy was brought under the wings of mTw and here ScreaM saw his chance to join the team, while Dracula retired. In matrix, SpawN had had enough and left the team with cyphoneR, and it didn't take long before SpawN and ScreaM was united once again. When  Christoffer 'brunk' Forsberg chose to leave mTw.se, it opened a spot that SpawN filled instantly. At this time SpawN had already achieved the status that ScreaM used to posses, as an extremely talented player, who only needed a little bit of experience. Obviously SpawN received a lot of offers after his breakup with matrix, but the choice landed on mTw.se (also known as mTw.nine after the fusion with team9). Regarding his choice SpawN briefly remarked to Fragbite:

citationstegn

I know all in mTw.se very good and I played them lots of times. So I kinda know how skilled they are :) I played with ScreaM in matrix before so I know him very gooood. That's why I choose mTw.se.

citationstegn

SpawN - November 2002

mTw.se/mTw.nine/team9

• Patrick 'ScreaM' Roth
• Abdisamad 'SpawN' Mohamed
• Michael 'ahl' Korduner
• Christer 'fisker' Eriksson
• Ardiel 'filur' Gonzalez

With mTw.nine, SpawN recieved his first experience at a CPL event, when the team in december 2002 went to Dallas, where strong teams (at the time) such as  SK.swe,  Team3D and eoLithic also attended. The team enlisted under the team9-tag, and achieved, in spite of the very short preparation-time, an impressive 4th place. But as we know it from numerous occasions, it didn't last long before changes once again were in sight.

SK - who had switched XeqtR with MedioN and fought themselves to a 3rd place at the same event in Dallas - could announce that the former NiP-star MedioN would retire, while  Marcus 'Bengan' Bengtsson was benched. With two players down, SK already knew who they wanted. fisker and ahl were each offered a seat, which became the start of the legendary Swedish team in SK. The three others players on the team were brunk, Potti and HeatoN. For team9 the loss of the two starplayers was the beginning of the end this time; ScreaM left the team shortly after, and the team9-owner  Jonas 'Admin' Hamidi chose to release the rest of the players. This was at the beginning of 2003. A few days later SpawN once again put on the matrix-jersey, who's lineup this time consisted of oldschool players.

matrix

• Patrick 'ScreaM' Roth
• Abdisamad 'SpawN' Mohamed
• Stefan 'Legenden' Nordberg
• Daniel 'bulletproof' Lewinski
• Thomas 'cyphoneR' Rundgren

The team recieved immediate succes with a victory at Nordic LAN, where the final was a crushing victory over  HiGhland Online with the score, 13 - 0. This was in January of 2003. Furthermore their spree was extended with a victory at the Swedish Champions Cup a few days later. Things slowly began to work, just as SpawN and ScreaM became standard inventory on the Swedish national team. Also in ClanBase EuroCup the team had success, but at the end of April 2003 there was yet again trouble stirring on the team. SpawN was not satisfied with the motivation amongst the players, and his overpowering wish to constantly improve himself individually and as a team, was not shared by all players on the team. Because of that the rolls were switched, when SpawN chose to leave ScreaM behind - a player who had tought him everything he knew, and as it would prove, would never be his teammate again.

Regarding the loss of his Farsta-comrade chose said the following to GotFrag:

citationstegn

Well we had many problems in Clan matrix, like some people didn't work out good with other etc. And i had some private problems too... only cyphoneR and SpawN has left matrix and Legenden is still in the team so its "ScreaM, bulletproof, Legenden" left of clan matrix.

citationstegn

ScreaM - May 2003

About the first years with his buddy ScreaM, SpawN told MYM:

citationstegn

He (red. ScreaM) actually deserves a lot of credit for where I am right now. So a big thanks goes out to him and the guys at Fagersjö for showing me the game.

citationstegn

SpawN - April 2007

SpawN seeking higher grounds

The offers naturally rolled in, as people heard the news of SpawN's departure from matrix. At the time in question SpawN was amongst the greatest talents in the world, but he was in no hurry. Since the beginning of his Counter-Strike career, he had a desire of playing with his older brother;  Abdiwahab 'MegatoN' Mohamed. MegatoN, in this period, played for  HiGhland Online, and when SpawN received the offer, he accepted in May of 2003.

HiGhland Online

• Abdiwahab 'MegatoN' Mohamed
• Abdisamad 'SpawN' Mohamed
• Magnus 'Magix' Berndtsson
• William 'SuI' Pont
• Jonas 'Goodfella' Virtanen
• Alexander 'Tiny' Olsson Sarr

SpawN hardly got to play one match for his new team, before the problems arose. In spite of good results, that included a Swedish Esport Leagues final, the team's unofficial captain, SuI had had enough. At the end of May 2003 he left the team due to internal problems within the team that couldn't be resolved. A critical moment, especially for SpawN, who had ambitions about going to both the CPL and the, back then, unknown ESWC. The team was however quick to find, test and hire SuI's replacement.  Daniel 'Hyper' Kuusisto was the new guy in the HLO-jersey, and was supposed to try and help the team achieve the success that they all hungered for. SpawN however had to look far for actual game-time in the coming period. The team chose to use Hyper as their 5th man due to his tactical skills, while SpawN played with matrix at the SEL. SpawN was although still a part of HLO.

In July of 2003 came big changes for HLO. The team joined forces with mTw, and became mTw.HLO. The lineup remained the same - therefore continuing with SpawN as 6th, which was mainly due to his connection with matrix in the SEL. First major event for mTw.HLO was the ESWC, where good performance in the groupstage was exchanged with great disappointment, when the team lost to an unknown French team. After that Hyper and Goodfella - because of internal problems in the wake of ESWC - decided to leave the team. It was attempted to salvage the bits and pieces by adding the former eoL-players,  Lars 'Naikon' Olaisen and  Hallvar 'knoxville' Dehli to the troup and at the same time using SpawN, but the team wasn't to be saved. In August of 2003, Magix was able to put a final halt for mTw.HLO with a statement regarding the teams demise.

The next article will be publish in a few days, and focus will be SpawN's time in SK.swe, where he went from talent to superstar in a few months. My thanks to Fragbite and GotFrag for the images, weenie for graphics, and bech for the translation.