CoD Champs Team Spotlight: Team Finland

Team Finland’s Roster

Mika ‘Eyedi’ Auranen

• Age: 21
• Location: Turku, Finland

Henrik ‘beakd’ Vainio

• Age: 22
• Location: Tampere, Finland

Aleksi ‘GefKid’ Viitala

• Age: 19
• Location: Turku, Finland

Joonas ‘Juunaz’ Salo

• Age: 22
• Location: Espoo, Finland

Most Notable Placements:

• Eyedi: 2x 5K Advanced Warfare wins, 2x 2K Advanced Warfare wins, 3rd-4th EU Regionals 2015
• beakd: 3rd-4th EU Regionals 2015
• GefKid: 2x 5k Advanced Warfare wins, 3x 2k Advanced Warfare wins, 3rd-4th EU Regionals 2015
• Juunaz: EGL6 Champions, 2x 5k Advanced Warfare wins, 2x 2k Advanced Warfare wins, 3rd-4th EU Regionals 2015

History:

Eyedi’s competitive CoD career started on Modern Warfare 2 when he was 16 years old on the site we all know and love, GameBattles.

beakd’s competitive gaming history originates on SOCOM II back in 2005, playing on GameBattles. He was introduced to Call of Duty through CoD4 and has been playing ever since.

GefKid was originally a Halo 3 player, but switched over to Call of Duty during Modern Warfare 2, playing on GameBattles at the age of 14.

Juunaz initially started with SOCOM 2 along with beakd, then moved over to CoD4 on PlayStation 3. He was competing from the get go due to his experience with SOCOM and it’s progressed from there.

What’s your favourite Call of Duty title?

Eyedi: “Modern Warfare 2 is my favourite as it was my first competitive CoD.”

beakd: “I have to give it to Advanced Warfare; the new movement style and the fact we have 4 gamemodes in a 5 game rotation is fantastic.”

GefKid: “I can’t decide between Black Ops 2 and Advanced Warfare; BO2 was really balanced which made it fun and ideal for competitive, but I really enjoy how fast paced AW is.”

Juunaz: “Black Ops 2 for me, hands down. It had the best weapon balances and gamemodes, plus even when I wasn’t competing League Play was still fun.”

What’s your favourite memory from competing at Call of Duty?

Eyedi: “Probably winning my first Finnish tournament on Modern Warfare 3. We were considered underdogs but still managed to win the entire event. Beating Orbit.Sweden to qualify for LA is up there too as each game was incredibly close.”

beakd: “Definitely securing our place in LA, nothing can compare.”

GefKid: “Winning my first ever GameBattles tournament on Black Ops 2 was exhilirating.”

Juunaz: “Winning my first 5k tournament and being rewarded for winning was fantastic.”

How have you seen the scene develop since you first started competing?

Eyedi: “When I first started competing, competitive CoD was very small and niche. There was only a few LANs and nobody really streamed or had a big fanbase compared to now with players like Nadeshot, Scump, Gotaga etc. There’s a lot more online tournaments too with actual prizes, it used to just be basic one day tournaments without any prizes.”

beakd: “Not long ago, competitive CoD was viewed as immature teenagers yelling at each other. Now it’s a lot more professional and players show each other respect which is a huge step to continuing our growth.”

GefKid: “As more and more players come into the scene, there’s no doubt it’ll continue to grow. It’s already grown so much since just a few years ago.”

Juunaz: “Developer support is a massive advantage to the game and no doubt will increase it’s growth. People used to just focus on Search and Destroy and not many people took respawn seriously, but now the situation is reversed.”

Any fun facts about yourself?

Eyedi: “Not really, I’m just a boring guy who represents his country playing Call of Duty!”

beakd: “I’m addicted to watching various TV shows and often rewatch the same ones. Currently I’m focused on The Big Bang Theory, Elementary, Suits and How To Get Away With Murder.”

GefKid: “I played hockey for 10 years, now I play CoD!”

Juunaz: “I’ve been in the Finnish military for the past 6 months.”

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You can catch Team Finland in action at the Call of Duty Championships in LA, March 27-30.