Vilpe Presents
Tell me who you are in your own words.
We are team VILPE playing CS:GO. VILPE is a company that develops and manufactures ventilation products and special roof accessories - in other words, a roof tile company. You can see the roof tiles in question on the roofs of most buildings, and they are part of ventilation. Ventilation keeps the air inside the home fresh and the mind refreshed.
VILPE’s head office is Mustasaari, located near the pearl of the west coast, i.e. Vaasa, where all products are designed and manufactured. Our team’s players also stay here. The team includes players ranging from warehouse workers to CEOs. About half of the manufactured products are sold, and our biggest export market is Russia, which is known to have a very dedicated CS culture. The entire group employs 130 people.
This is the first Kanaliiga season. Why did you want to join the Kanaliiga?
Our CEO got a tip from the Kanaliiga, and he raised the question about leaving. We got the team together quickly, and for example, having played CS for 18 years, the answer was a clear yes. Since training, the interest in the competitive pen has only grown.
How would you describe the skill level of your team?
The team has a lot of talented people from different areas, which makes this an even stronger team. Many of our players have been playing pen since they were young, but with slightly varying hours, and many of our team had not played together before. It has been very interesting to see how the playing styles of the team members have welded together and how different players have found different roles for themselves.
How are the roles distributed in your team?
Our team can be described as versatile in its own way. As the quarterback and tactical leader of the rounds, our team’s Vice-Captain Juha “Tiikoi” Tammisto works. Juha, Stefan ”SteX” Syring and Marko ”Pmaki” Blom are looking for openings or entry phrases from our team. Stefan is known for his gentle shotgun handling skills and his achievements with the Zeus remote control. The opponent should check every corner with economy laps. The other members of our team mostly focus on performing the basics, but really everyone can make big plays when needed. Interestingly, there is not one actual AWP player in our team, but Juha, Stefan, Marko, Lauri “Larmo” Salomaa and Ville “tas” Hellström might try their accuracy. The development of this position is still a bit of a work in progress, but on the other hand it also creates versatility in our team.
What do you think are your greatest strengths?
The work is done with a good spirit and humor, but still with a burning desire to succeed. When humor is involved in serious work, there is no extra pressure and personal chemistry is better.
VILPE’s games are streamed on Twitch. Why should you watch your team’s matches?
VILPE’s studio is professionally built and features pregame analysis, ingame analysts, commentary, player interviews and even a small VILPE product raffle. All this makes watching a more comprehensive experience and also helps viewers who are a bit more alienated from e-sports to get into the game. Through our own account, the deciding games and those times when two matches are played on the same night are streamed.
Vilpen Studio
What is the goal of this season?
Our game goal is to get to the second tier and weld the team’s body and skills to the level needed there. Outside of the game, our goal is above all to build our company culture and provide the highest quality and exciting entertainment possible.
Have you thought about further plans? Will you continue for the next season? Will there be player changes?
We will definitely join next season and new players are welcome. Whether there will be one or two teams is still a mystery.
How has esport corporate league activity been received in your company? Has it sparked interest, questions or other activity?
It has been well received and colleagues who are not into gaming themselves have been interested. I think it’s great that VILPE is on the crest of the growing e-sports trend and is ready to go into this kind of stuff. VILPE is also one of the gold level sponsors of Kanaliiga.
Our company has already heard, for example, that the children at home have been excited when mom watches e-sports and the company team’s performances on Twitch!