SK Gaming

Infobox e-Sports Club

location = Germany
gm = Andreas Thorstensson
flagicon|GER Alexander Müller-Rodic
gmc = SWE
founded = 1997
country = GER
website = http://www.sk-gaming.com

SK Gaming is an e-Sports gaming team from Germany. It was founded in 1997 by seven gamers living in Oberhausen. SK Gaming fields teams in many different games and are particularly known for their success in "Counter-Strike" tournaments. SK is one of the founding members of the G7 Teams.

History

SK Gaming was formed in 1997 as a German "Quake" clan named Schroet Kommando by seven young people who all lived in the town of Oberhausen, among three brothers: Ralf "Griff" Reichert, Tim "Burke" Reichert and Benjamin "Kane" Reichert, supported by Musa "Kila" Celik, Kristof "Speed" Salwiczek, Carsten "Storch" Kramer and Sven "Ramses" Tümmers. [http://www.focus.de/panorama/reportage/reportage-die-killer-aus-dem-kinderzimmer_aid_206092.html Die Killer aus dem Kinderzimmer] , focus.de (German)] Initially, the clan was called Schroet Kommando; according to Ralf "Griff" Reichert, clan mate Celik (a.k.a. Kila) used to shout "Schrööt!" (literally meaning "shrapnel") when he took the double-barreled shotgun; they decided to incorporate this into their name and named their clan "Schroet Kommando" which translates into English as "Shrapnel Commando". This has been changed and the clan now refers to itself as "SK Gaming", stating that this is their name now, and not an abbreviation for the original name. [http://www.giga.de/features/storyarchiv/00102133_clans_esports_schroet/page_2.html Clans @ eSports: Schroet Kommando - Eine Erfolgsgeschichte] , giga.de (German)]

Initially, the house of the Reichert family was the SK headquarters. At first, Schroet Kommando played mainly Quake, Quake 2 and Quake 3 Arena. SK became one of the first clans to feature an all-female team . A major step forward towards professional gaming was the entry of Andreas "bds" Thorstensson in the early 2000s. He made SK the first clan to charge payment for premium services ("SK Insider", a virtual marketplace where paying members could download demos, mods and add-ons better and earlier than others, talk directly to SK gamers etc.), [http://cyberfight.org/offline/interviews/19152/ Interview with Andreas "bds" Thorstensson] ] SK became a Counter-Strike-oriented clan. Their major international successes came when they took the players of the successful Swedish Counter-Strike clan Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP for short) into their organization. The SK Counter-Strike team have won most of the major international tournaments at least once, and have been a dominant team in the Cyberathlete Professional League. Other SK Gaming teams are also notably successful in their respective games.

On February 1, 2003 SK Gaming became the first club in FPS gaming to contract their players when SK Sweden became contractually bound to the clan. [ [http://www.ukterrorist.com/news/sk_changes/ brunk leaves SK.Swe, SpawN joins for WCG] , ukterrorist.com] Having begun contracting their players, SK also set other precedents regarding contracts: on May 18, 2004 they were the first team to receive a fee for a player transfer after rivals Team NoA bought SK.swe player Ola "elemeNt" Moum out of his contract. [ [http://www.poerk.com/news/abloesesummen_im_esport_element_machts_vor-90.html Ablösesummen im eSport? ElemeNt macht's vor!] , poerk.com (German)]

At the beginning of the 2005 season, the Counter-Strike players decided not to renew their contracts and to re-form Ninjas in Pyjamas, because of the distribution of the prize money and disagreements with the management. [http://www.giga.de/show/esports/00121846_skswe_is_back/ SK.swe is back] , giga.de (German)] However, later some of the original players returned to the club in summer 2005.

The 2006 season brought no successes to the Counter-Strike team. Most notably, the team failed to qualify for the Electronic Sports World Cup, in which Sweden was represented by rivals fnatic and Ninjas in Pyjamas. The team did manage to qualify however for the KODE5 finals, now unsuccessful at beating their two rivals. At the KODE5 finals, they won two matches and lost to team MiBR in the group stages. They then lost to wNv in the single elimination round, placing 5th-8th overall. Success did come for the Quake 4 squad, as Swedish star player Johan "Toxic" Quick managed to win eight out of the ten major tournaments this year, including four out of five World Championships. Also the FIFA 06 squad had a successful year, the team managed to win the prestigious ESL Pro Series twice, and German player hero won the World Cyber Games championship.

Shortly before the release of the Sunwell Plateau in , SK Gaming gained partnership with Curse, one of the highest-ranked guilds at the time [http://www.sk-gaming.com/content/16318-SK_goes_World_of_Warcraft_PvE] . However, on October 1, 2008, their PvE team was dismissed due to lacking standards and difference in interests [http://www.sk-gaming.com/content/18588-SK_shifts_focus_to_esports_only] . On July 28, 2008, SK Gaming dismissed its Call of Duty 4 team. [http://www.sk-gaming.com/content/17955-SK_Gaming_parts_ways_with_Call_of_Duty_4]

SK has been dominating the 6.52e dota scene for 2008.

Business model

As of 2008, SK Gaming is organised as a so-called Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung. The owners of SK Gaming are Andreas "bds" Thorstensson and Alexander "TheSlash" Müller-Rodic, who both work full-time for the clan and are head of further 10 full-time professional SK members. A minority stake is still held by founder Ralf "Griff" Reichert. SK Gaming is sponsored by Intel and adidas, and also finances itself by the "SK Insider" zone on their own homepage, which costs $7 monthly to use and where members get preferential access to downloads and gaming servers. However, according to Rodic, 85% of the clan's funds comes from their sponsors. [http://www.tomshardware.com/de/Spieler-Firma-Clan-Grundung-Rechtsformen,testberichte-239953-9.html Spieler-Firma gründen: Das Unternehmen Clan] , tomshardware.com]

Current roster

"Counter-Strike"

* Jimmy 'Allen' Allen
* Kristoffer 'Tentpole' Nordlund
* Dennis 'walle' Wallenberg
* Markus 'zet' Sundström
* Robert 'RobbaN' Dahlström

"Counter-Strike" Female

* Billy "The Willy" Tug
* Alice 'ali' Lew
* Jane 'janeosaur' Wie
* Jennifer 'jso' So
* Lidia 'lidy' Poulin
* Christine 'potter' Chi
* Benita 'b^' Novshadian

"Warcraft III"

* June 'Lyn' Park
* Daniel 'Miou' Holthuis
* Seo Woo 'ReiGn' Kang
* Sung Sik 'ReMinD' Kim
* Seong Deok 'SoJu' Lee

"DotA Allstars"

* Jonathan "Loda" Berg (Team Captain)
* Joakim "Akke" Akterhall
* Tommy "toMpa" Andersson
* Mikael "hailo" Grinsvall
* Edvin "Kwom" Börjesson
* Erik "zoN-" Falk

"World of Warcraft"

European Team

* Stefan 'zeksy' Baudin (Team Captain)
* Michael 'Dosferra' Tofer
* Thomas 'Lomas' Lindmark
* Jonas 'Tarde' Jakobsson
* Erik 'daimx' Olofsson
* Liam 'Steinaz' Steinberg
* Ricky 'Rickt' Simon
* Andy 'Shandy' Douglass
* Callum 'Holtster' Holt
* Adam 'Hughesyur' Hughes
* Thomas 'Dongalong' Callf
* Andreas 'Zumrok' Östman
* Gokhan 'Laflamme' Akinturk

WCS - Western Connecticut Stars
*flagicon|BRA WCS | hazard "Raphael"
*flagicon|BRA WCS | gore "Tadeu"
*flagicon|BRA WCS | yoshi "Rodolfo"
*flagicon|BRA WCS | kotic "Aislan"
*flagicon|BRA WCS | crasher "Yago"
*flagicon|BRA Manager ' Leonardo Pupim

"FIFA"

* Daniel "hero" Schellhase
* Dennis "styla" Schellhase
* Mario "mario" Viska
* Mohamed "TornAdo" El-eter
* Daniel "eNnu" Ennulat
* Jannik "Era" Huber
* Joshua "Kr0ne" Begehr
* Alwyn "s1lence" Kotze

Notable alumni

* Tim "Burke" Reichert
* Benjamin "Kane" Reichert
* Musa "Kila" Celik

Notable achievements

SK has placed in the top 3 at the following major international tournaments:

"Counter-Strike"

* 1st WCG SEC 2007
* 1st CPL: Winter Championships 2005
* 1st CPL: Summer Championships 2005
* 2nd Electronic Sports World Cup 2005
* 2nd CPL: Summer Championships 2004
* 1st CPL: Winter Championships 2003
* 1st CPL: Copenhagen 2003
* 1st CPL: Summer Championships 2003
* 1st CPL: Cannes 2003
* 1st World Cyber Games 2003
* 3rd Electronic Sports World Cup 2003
* 1st CPL: Summer Championships 2002
* 3rd CPL: Winter Championships 2002

World Championships

* Cyberathlete Professional League (2002, 2003, 2005)
* World Cyber Games (2003)

Zonerank Rankings

* Top Ranking: 2nd (03-2008) [ [http://www.zonerank.com/demo/view_regular/1679 ZoneRank] ]
* Current Ranking: 2nd [ [http://www.zonerank.com/ ZoneRank] ]

Deathmatch

* 1st KODE5 Finals 2006 – Johan "Toxic" Quick ("Quake 4")
* 1st QuakeCon 2006 – Johan "Toxic" Quick ("Quake 4")
* 1st World Series of Video Games Intel Summer Championship 2006 – Johan "Toxic" Quick ("Quake 4")
* 2nd World Series of Video Games Sweden 2006 – Johan "Toxic" Quick ("Quake 4")
* 1st World Series of Video Games London 2006 – Johan "Toxic" Quick ("Quake 4")
* 1st DigitalLife 2006 ["DigitalLife 2006 Final Standings" – [http://www.ggl.com/news.php?NewsId=4095 GGL] ] – Johan "Toxic" Quick ("Quake 4")
* 1st World Cyber Games 2006 ["WCG 2006 Invitational Quake4 All Stars – Final Results" – [http://www.worldcybergames.com/5th/fun/news/news_view.asp?keyno=N06102010002 WCG] ] – Johan "Toxic" Quick ("Quake 4")
* 1st World Series of Video Games Finals 2006 – Johan "Toxic" Quick ("Quake 4")
* 2nd 2005 CPL World Tour: Istanbul – Benjamin "zyz" Bohrmann ("Painkiller")
* 1st 2005 CPL World Tour: Spain – Stephan "SteLam" Lammert ("Painkiller")
* 3rd 2005 CPL World Tour: Brazil – Benjamin "zyz" Bohrmann ("Painkiller")
* 3rd Electronic Sports World Cup 2005 – Fox ("Quake 3")
* 3rd 2005 CPL World Tour: Sweden – Benjamin "zyz" Bohrmann ("Painkiller")
* 3rd 2005 CPL World Tour: United Kingdom – Benjamin "zyz" Bohrmann ("Painkiller")
* 2nd CPL 2005 Winter – Johan "Toxic" Quick ("Quake 4")
* 3rd Cyberathlete Professional League: Summer 2004 – Stephan "SteLam" Lammert ("Painkiller")
* 1st Cyberathlete Professional League: Summer 2004 – Team ("Unreal Tournament 2004")
* 2nd Electronic Sports World Cup 2004 – Christian "GitzZz" Hoeck ("Unreal Tournament 2004")
* 1st Electronic Sports World Cup 2003 – Christian "GitzZz" Hoeck ("Unreal Tournament 2003")
* 3rd World Cyber Games 2001 – Stephan "SteLam" Lammert ("Quake 3")

World Championships

* KODE5 (2006, "Quake 4")
* World Cyber Games (2006, "Quake 4")
* World Series of Video Games (2006, "Quake 4")
* Electronic Sports World Cup (2003, "Unreal Tournament")

"Warcraft III"

* 2nd ESL Extreme Masters 2007 – flagicon|UKR Mykhaylo "HoT" Novopashyn
* 1st WCG SEC 2007 – flagicon|UKR Mykhaylo "HoT" Novopashyn
* 2nd World Series of Videogames, Finals 2006 – flagicon|KOR Jung Hee "Sweet" Chun
* 3rd World Cyber Games 2006 – flagicon|UKR Mykhaylo "HoT" Novopashyn
* 1st KODE5 2006- flagicon|RUS Andrey "Deadman" Sobolev
* 1st World Series of Videogames, China 2006 – flagicon|KOR Jung Hee "Sweet" Chun
* 1st World Series of Videogames, Sweden 2006 – flagicon|RUS Andrey "Deadman" Sobolev
* 2nd NGL One Season I 2006 – Team
* 3rd Warcraft 3 Champions League V 2006 – Team
* 1st EuroCup 2005 – flagicon|UKR Mykhaylo "HoT" Novopashyn
* 3rd CPL Summer 2005 – flagicon|SWE Björn "ElakeDuck" ödman
* 2nd Electronic Sports World Cup 2005 – flagicon|RUS Andrey "Deadman" Sobolev
* 3rd ACON5 2005 – flagicon|RUS Andrey "Deadman" Sobolev
* 3rd Warcraft 3 Champions League VII 2005 – Team
* 2nd World E-Sport Games I 2005 – flagicon|KOR Tae min "Zacard" Hwang
* 3rd Warcraft 3 Champions League VI 2004 – Team
* 2nd World Cyber Games 2004 – flagicon|KOR Tae min "Zacard" Hwang
* 2nd Electronic Sports World Cup 2004 – flagicon|SWE Fredrik "MaDFroG" Johansson
* 3rd Electronic Sports World Cup 2004 – flagicon|SWE Alborz "HeMaN" Haidarian
* 3rd ACON4 2004 – flagicon|KOR Jung Hee "Sweet" Chun
* 3rd Warcraft 3 Champions League V 2004 – Team
* 1st Blizzard Worldwide Invitational 2004 – flagicon|SWE Fredrik "MaDFroG" Johansson
* 3rd Cyber X Gaming 2004 – flagicon|BUL Zdravko "Insomnia" Georgiev
* 1st World Cyber Games 2003 – flagicon|BUL Zdravko "Insomnia" Georgiev
* 1st Euro Cyber Games 2003 – flagicon|FRA Antoine "FaTC" Zadri
* 2nd Euro Cyber Games 2003 – flagicon|BUL Georgi "Zeerax" Marinov
* 1st Electronic Sports World Cup 2003 – flagicon|SWE Alborz "HeMaN" Haidarian
* 2nd Electronic Sports World Cup 2003 – flagicon|SWE Fredrik "MaDFroG" Johansson
* 3rd Clikarena 2003 – flagicon|BUL Zdravko "Insomnia" Georgiev
* 2nd CPL Cannes 2003 – flagicon|BUL Zdravko "Insomnia" Georgiev
* 2nd CPL Oslo 2002 – flagicon|SWE Sven "Kovax" Running
* 3rd CPL Oslo 2002 – flagicon|SWE Fahad "DsCo" Hamid

World Championships

* KODE5 (2006)
* Blizzard Worldwide Invitational (2004)
* World Cyber Games (2003)
* Electronic Sports World Cup (2003)

"World of Warcraft"

* 1st world kill of Kalecgos
* 1st world kill of Brutallus
* 2nd world kill of Eredar Twins
* 1st world kill of Felmyst
* 1st world kill of M'uru
* 1st world kill of Kil'jaeden – "(final boss of .)"

External links

* [http://www.sk-gaming.com Official SK-Gaming Website]
* [http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_10810.html SK endorses NVidia]

References