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Curated by: Thooorin (540 videos)
Use code THORIN at http://gamersupps.gg/?afmc=THORIN for 10% off an order of GamerSupps' delicious energy formula. ► Join the Scrilluminati to get exclusive perks and support this channel: https://www.patreon.com/Thooorin ► Check out a previous CS Reflections here: https://youtu.be/9-iQBvvOPgo Joona "natu" Leppänen, former player for D-Sky and 69N-28E and now co-founder and Marketing Director of ENCE, is the star of the 435th Episode of 'Reflections'. This is episode one of two about natu's career. natu is a very old school player and began as a teenager playing in All-Stars in 2001. He attended the World Cyber Games for that year and won the bronze medal. Following a brief spell in Pro Gaming, a smaller Finnish team, he would form the team which became D-Sky (Destination Skyline) and they soon became one of Europe's very best. D-Sky attended smaller European competitions with good prize money and would secure top placings and rack up prize money. At the bigger competitions they were very competitive too. At CPL Summer 2004 they finished fourth place. At CPL Winter 2004 they were one of the top seeds but found themselves shockingly upset by an upstar compLexity. D-Sky often battled cArn and dsn's Gamers.nu and Begrip line-ups over that year and the results went both ways. After 2004 D-Sky was disbanded and natu joined rival Finnish organisation astralis. The team would fail to secure good results, despite having talented players. After that was a move abroad to 4kings, where natu received a top salary. With the team he would again be competitive at the big events and the best result was a fourth place finish at WSVG ISC 2006. While he had been in 4kings, lurppis and naSu had risen through the ranks and their hoorai team became 69N-28E and recruited him for 2007. After a fouth at the Samsung European Championship, the squad took over and peeled off a few events in a row. They won NGL-One SII Finals, beating the likes of f0rest's FNATIC and zonic's NoA there. They beat the best Eastern Europeans at ASUS Open Spring. Beating SK and mouz they secured WSVG Louisville. Ranked number one in the world, the team headed to ESWC but were halted in the quarter by FNATIC. Results spiralled down and the squad was never the same again. He was kicked after the summer. Playing in the German mTw, natu competed in a season of EPS Germany In 2008 natu competed in a mix of the second best Finnish players at most events. Making Crack Clan with a similar level in 2009 the crowning moment was a WCG Qualifier where his team shocked ruuit and contE to win the WCG finals berth. Both would be recruited anyway and the team made play-offs but were beaten by the eventual champions AGAiN. As the years went by natu's teams were less competitive and in CS:GO they were largely also rans but who could attend big events. Eventually he was playing for ENCE and after retiring would take up work there. In part one, natu discussed his entry into professional play, winning a bronze medal, travelling to the US, names like myssE and coali and his top finishes at the tournaments of the time. This interview was recorded on the 11th of August, 2024. ► Time-line of topics discussed: 00:00 Earliest days of CS 01:09 All-Stars 02:18 World Cyber Games 2001 08:17 Pro Gaming at CPL Oslo 2002 10:43 myssE 14:21 Praccing NiP 15:19 Individual stars 16:47 Destination Skyline 19:41 Cyber X Games 22:03 Rivalry with cArn and dsn's teams 24:08 Finns doing crazy things that sabotage themselves 26:41 Intel Cybersport Cup 28:30 astralis 30:38 Finns playing for fun online 33:37 Life situation at the time 36:33 coali 38:17 diGitaL 39:51 CPL Summer 2004 45:43 Social component 48:11 Invex Euro Cyber Cup 50:08 roster moves 52:26 CPL Winter 2004 54:14 End of D-sky and joining astralis Subscribe this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfeeUuW7edMxF3M_cyxGT8Q/join ► Check out bite-sized Thorin on my new clips channel: https://www.youtube.com/thorinclips ► Follow me on social media: https://twitter.com/Thorin https://facebook.com/Thooorin https://www.instagram.com/thooorinofficial/ ► My written content: https://iamesports.substack.com/ ► You can discuss this content at my Discord server: https://discord.gg/rDKxKfM ► This video was kindly supported by: Ahmed Hadjou Matt, Pugnatio, Rajcula Adam Tomlin Animosity Jensen Goh Tosh touken_ Special thanks go out to JerCkysMiNi0n. #natu #CPL #Thorin