No one could have predicted the enormous growth of what only was a ‘clan’ created during a night back in 1997 near Cologne by the Reichert brothers and few college friends, they couldn’t either. At the beginning, it was just some students playing Quake without mouse, but then, six years later, it will become the most prestigious e-sport organization in the world. Schroet Kommando, later shortened SK Gaming, was born with the game by ID Software, but it was Counter-Strike that gave it its fame and made it a company led by the tumultuous Alexander "TheSlaSH" Müller. 

Schroet Kommando quickly distinguished itself from the other clans by recruiting teams on different games, including Counter-Strike, and by being one of the first to have a web-page. SK will begin on Valve’s game with local teams before going to the next level in 2002. Strengthened through their new sponsors, including intel, the organization will do their first strike on the scene by recruiting the legendary duo HeatoN - Potti, which won CPL Winter 2001 with the mythic tag Ninjas in Pyjamas.

We can count on SK and his Scandinavian team built around the Swedish duo from now on. The lineup will regularly evolve tournament after tournament recruiting some NiP or even trending players like Dark and of course XeqtR with whom Potti and HeatoN will keep their title at the CPL Summer 2002. If the community is now used to see the two capital letters trusting the big international event’s podiums, 2003 will mark the firm’s beginning on the worldwide scene.

If we know the french scene to be very inbred, - and let’s precise here we’re telling that we often see the same people into the best country’s teams - Sweden follows quite the same scheme. The beginning of 2003 will be the first example with the merging between SK and Team9, probably the two best structures at the time. Difficult to do better for SK Gaming which gets a late Christmas gift with this “All-Stars” team.

Potti & HeatoN at CPL Cannes

Each detail has been anticipated as far as the construction of the team is concerned. Andreas “bds” Thorstensson, SK Gaming’s Swedish co-director, in charge of the Scandinavian CS team, wanted his five players to live in the same city, which was in this case Stockholm. In mid-January, he proudly made official the new Swedish team, which would represent SK Gaming: Emil “HeatoN Christensen, Tommy “Potti” Ingemarsson, Christopher “brunk” Elfving, already in the previous team, and Christer “fisker” Eriksson and Michael “ahl” Korduner coming from Team9.

These players signed a contract, which gave them, for the first time in history, at least according to SK Gaming’s managers, a monthly salary.

For their first event, the teammates went to the French Riviera, and more precisely to Cannes, well known for its film festival and its jet set, which had been chosen as a stopover town for the CPL. It’s some good news for France, welcoming about forty teams, among which SK Gaming obviously, the brand new Team9 led by vesslan, the Mousesports with Roman R. or the *aAa* with Maarek.

From the first game to the Grand Final against their fellow Swedish players from Team9, HeatoN and his teammates won’t have any issue going through this low-level tournament. No team scored more than nine rounds against them, not even the French team. A clear victory without any problem. When they were asked their secret to succeed this easily, Potti answered “Kebab, eat a lot of Kebab”, proof of the confidence of the formation. 

However, after winning in Cannes, they will fall from grace in Toulouse, and the first and last ClikArena will be a bad memory. It’s firstly due to a blamable organization, and secondly, due to two defeats against eoLithic the Norwegian dream team: one in overtime in the semi-final, an other one in the lower bracket. SK Gaming left France full of regret with the bronze medal. The first internal issues appeared a month after the CPL in Cannes. SK players are able to strike strongly, but they lack tactical skills. During the ESWC qualification phase, their double defeat against, once again, eoL, has been the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

elemeNt

The team needs a real strategist to replace HeatoN and fisker who would rightly rather focus on their aim. They eventually pick a young Norwegian player who’s not even 16 yet. His name is Ola Moum, better known in the game under the name of elemeNt. He’s one of the most precocious legend of Counter-Strike. He’s both incredible individual skills and great management abilities thanks to his calm and his superior vision of the game. In spite of his concurrence with his eldest XegtR, another Norwegian legend, they played together and shared their own expertise with each other. During the Clikarena, it’s in fact elemeNt and his team who eliminated SK.

Thanks to his silver medals at the CPL Winter 2002 and the Clikarena, elemeNt’s face is already known to all. He’s even sometimes said to be the world’s best player. Due to administrative issues inside the eoLithic structure, SK Gaming offered to the prodigy a six-month paid contract which he couldn’t refuse.

SK Gaming, which didn’t want to expel one of its players decided to follow the example of the Americans from Team3D, by continuing with 6 players in the team. The more the merrier. They wanted to have an extra player who could replace any of the others, so that the training sessions could be improved, they could have more opinions concerning the strategies, and the team would be more powerful whatever the context. The young player replaces Christoffer “brunk” Elfying who becomes the team’s sixth player.

Due to eoL collapse, SK can participate to the very first ESWC. Potti and his teammates end up in France for the third time of the year, but this time to Poitiers’ Futuroscope.  The ESWC is one of the most important major, with $ 100,000 at stake, and the world’s best teams answered the call. Once again SK Gaming’s players show why they deserve their seed#1 by conceding on average 4 rounds on each map during the two group phases. The quarterfinal against the surprising Bizounours and HaRts isn’t very challenging, and SK plays the semifinal against zEx’s American players who just ruled out 4Kings.

The six-players team will use its joker, even if it raises legitimate questions. Indeed, at the beginning of this now known semifinal, SK decides to set elemeNt aside for the benefit of the sniper brunk. Why did they change at this moment? According to them it’s due to the map, Train, in which the long corridors made it more sniper-oriented. Moreover, the Norwegian had apparently not played on the map since he’s joined the team.

They are immediately punished, and Volcano, shaGuar, sunman and their teammates destroy the harmless Swedish players. After this, SK Gaming not willing to do the same error twice decided that even if he’ll still linked to the structure, brunk will never officially play with the team.

elemeNt, fisker, HeatoN, ahl, brunk, Potti, bds

One week later, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, SK Gaming is in Dallas for the CPL Summer 2003. HeatoN and Potti, title-holders are determined to keep their crown. HeatoN and Potti are ready to become, once and for all, Counter Strike legends, and no one will be able to stop SK’s well-oiled machine. With SK’s post-ESWC 2003’s team, only an exploit could destabilize them.

Neither Team9, the ESWC winners, nor Team3D, champions at the CPL Winter 2002 will be good enough for them. One by one, they all ended up helplessly conceding victory to SK. $ 60,000 had rarely been won so easily in Counter Strike’s history. 

However, SK Gaming will have to play without elemeNt for the next two events, which may make their situation rather complicated. At the World Cyber Games, foreign players are not allowed to take part in a national delegation, and the CPL Copenhagen is scheduled at the same time as exams. At these two important events, SK will have to rely on someone else. Even if many will have thought that brunk was the man for the job, SK will eventually choose SpawN, a player with a nefarious reputation. 

The Legend SpawN like you never saw him before

His real name is Abdisamad Mohamed, he’s Swedish and is known for having played with team Matrix, and with Team9 at the CPL Winter 2002. He wasn’t yet the Counter Strike legend he would become, and in spite of the calm temperament which characterizes him, the idea of playing with the World’s best team made him nervous, so nervous that his first trainings went wrong. Later on, Potti will say in an interview that, at the time SpawN arrived, brunk was a better player. However, SK trusted him and confirmed he would participate at the WCG.

Even though elemeNt wasn’t there, SK players quickly eliminated their few opponents and got their ticket for the world’s final in South Korea. The WCG are certainly a major event, considering the number of team participating, and the cash prize, but the competition level is lower than at the CPL or even at the ESWC. Potti and his mates will fully benefit from it, and will eat alive the modest Russian, Canadian, and Romanian teams. However, the great final is a different kettle of fish.

Their last step from the title is Team 3D, their NA rivals. They outmatched their bracket too. It’s a rematch from the CPL 2003 semi-final, won by the swedes. If Dust2 seems easy for SK, the Americans seem more comfortable on Train. Historically, this is a strong map for American teams. So that they lead at halftime. Now on CT side, SK will stand as a wall, stopping every attempt (but one) from Team 3D. SK wins the map on the edge (13/11) and the WCG 2003 with  $40.000.

A month before CPL Winter, the grand finale for 2003, SK decided to be explosive, not so far from their home, in Copenhagen, Danemark. A stop for CPL Europe stand there and they are awaited with cautiousness. It’s hard to find new superlatives to describe the route of the best team in the world. The warmup was fun, SpawN will even play against his brother MegatoN, who will have no chance.

They will beat their compatriots from Gamepoint in the grand final. Just like NiP in 2012/2013, people will begin to count how many maps in a row SK will take. The counter will pass 30 maps, impressive.

In the meantime, SpawN became a legend. The one who was nervous to play with such people became a monster, to such an extent that SK will offer him a place in the team. The Norwegian elemeNt will stay in the team but SK releases brunk and will to continue with a six-men roster. SpawN will wear SK’s shirt at Dallas for CPL Winter 2003 in which they’ll have, obviously, the #1 seed.

CPL Winter 2003 Grand final

On the contrary, Team 3D, the other favourite will completely collapse to leave the tournament at the 16th position. SK for its part, dominates, humiliates, destroys. On the winner bracket finals, they decide to remove SpawN to play with their “classic” lineup considered more at ease on Inferno. If the ESWC 2003’s demons could have come back, they will not. Far from it. HeatoN and his teammates beats shaGuar, method and bsl’s NoA and reach the grand finals.

NoA will wreck Mousesports to everyone’s surprise to get their revenge against SK, this time for the title. SpawN enters the lineup to replace ahl forming a brand new version of SK we’ve never seen before. Innovations sometimes does good and NoA will be too weak. SK wins the CPL Winter 2003 to finish one of the best years of the organisation’s history.

It’s quite rare to see such a dominant team in Counter-Strike’s history. With a win streak of more than 40 maps including three majors, the 2003 SK will always be one of the most performant lineups the game. Thirteen years before FalleN’s Brasilians.

elemeNt, HeatoN, Potti, ahl, SpawN, fisker - SK 2003

This overwhelming domination - which is quite the same as NiP’s at the beginning of CS:GO - will be harmful at some point and will lead the team to a downward spiral. At the beginning of 2004, the young elemeNt gets bored and school seems to catch him up. The one who was seen as the golden boy of 2003 doesn’t play CS that much. He doesn’t want to hear about tactics or strategy anymore. He’ll even tell during an interview that his screams during the CPL Winter were “fake” because the victory was too predictable.
Still in contract till the end of 2004, elemeNt will decide to leave the ship at everyone’s surprise. Even his teammates won’t be able to understand his move. This strange decision puts an end to the wonderful ‘03 SK era. Potti and HeatoN won’t give up the SK tag and will keep on playing with ahl SpawN and fisker. They’ll struggle to reach any international podium and will even be overran by their compatriots EYEBallers during the CPL Summer finals. The SK men will be the shadow of themselves and will decide to stop the massacre. A last scandal linking the organization, the players and their salary will strike the final blow and finally splits the team.

Shroet Kommando will wait again for their new heroes.

 SK 2003

SK.swe The Lastest Hits par Kaotix

Source : SK-Gaming.com, vossey.com, Gotfrag.com, Liquipedia

Translation by Stonz, illy and LaSardine