Article by Benjamin "Hoodini" Hodder


STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Berlin Allianz Dead or Alive 4 Women’s player Livia “Liefje” Teernstra was destined to be a professional gamer. As a child she learned her ABC’s from Stickybear on the old Apple 2. From there she went on to master games like King’s Quest and Hero’s Quest. Her first taste of FPS games came in the early 90’s when she played Wolfenstein 3D and Duke Nukem on a 386 machine.

Liefje’s passion for gaming escalated further when her brother brought home a demo copy of Unreal Tournament. From that point on she was inseparable from the computer.

“I was about 13 at the time and my computer wasn’t good enough to run the game,” explained Teernstra, “so I would sneak out of bed at 3:00 AM just to keep playing. I was hooked.”

Liefje’s dedication to gaming eventually crossed over to her personal life when she met her ex boyfriend in-game on a Rocket Arena server. She credits him for introducing her to competitive gaming.

In 2003 Liefje traveled to Paris to watch her boyfriend compete at ESWC. While at the event, Liefje caught the eye of gaming team “Girlz of Destruction.” Over the next two years Liefje made a commitment to improving her game and subsequently captured multiple titles both online and on LAN and earned her way into the Unreal Tournament clan DimensionX. During that time she managed to make a name for herself as a talented gamer and was subsequently invited to attend E3 in 2005 with the Girlz of Destruction.

At E3, Liefje made progress with the team and cemented herself as one of the more skilled players. In November of 2005, Girlz of Destruction sent Liefje and a handful of other gamers to Sweden to compete in the first Quake 4 1v1 and 2v2 tournaments at Dreamhack Winter.

“This was my first stint with Quake as I had always been an Unreal player, but the other girls came from Quake 3 backgrounds and were able to teach me a lot,” said Teernstra.

After Dreamhack Liefje never went back home. Her recent success in gaming brought her to new heights that let her travel the world and shoot gaming promotions. In the process Liefje elected to move into a highly publicized “gaming house” in Sweden and live with several other Girlz of Destruction.

People would fly from all over the world to hang out at the gaming house. With a nice big guest room and an unimaginable internet connection there was a steady influx of gamers to practice with.

“The house I think worked out incredibly well. We got so much positive feedback from people who have stayed there, some even requesting that we please do another one,” stated Teernstra.

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In August of 2007, Liefje attended Quakecon to do some coverage work for several gaming outlets including Pro Gam3r, an eSports related magazine. Following the event, Liefje had a casual conversation with fellow FPS enthusiast and CGS resident commentator Paul “ReDeYe” Chaloner. It was there that Liefje was introduced to the idea of playing Dead of Alive 4 in the CGS.

“I love to compete and I thought I really had nothing to lose with giving this game a go,” explained Teernstra.

Although Liefje’s gaming career was primarily focused on PC based FPS games, her experience competing against the world’s top FPS players for the past two years gave her enough confidence to tryout for CGS. Less than 24 hours after her lengthy chat with ReDeYe, Liefje purchased an Xbox 360, a copy of DOA4 and began her training.

On September 20th Liefje arrived in Birmingham, United Kingdom to compete in CGS’s European DOA4 Women’s qualifier. Although the talent pool wasn’t as deep as Liefje would have liked to face, she managed to earn a spot onto the Allianz, CGS’s Berlin team.

Teernstra noted, “I couldn't ask for a better team and I’m so happy with how the draft turned out, I wouldn't change a thing. While some have criticized me, it's nice to be the underdog and be able to prove to people that I can switch games and not totally suck.”

Liefje’s first opportunity to prove herself occurred on September 24th during CGS’s European Championship match. Facing off against Stockholm’s Breton "MISS" Sophie, -- a more experienced DOA player and champion in her own right -- Liefje was able to win two rounds, but ultimately lost the game.

From a results oriented perspective, Liefje’s performance against MISS can be considered a success. In just over a month Liefje had gained enough skill to put up a pair of rounds against an internationally respected player, and although she did not win her game during the European Championship, her efforts were enough to support the team’s overall Championship victory.

To paraphrase the old war adage, sometimes it’s not about winning the battle, as long as you win the war.

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With the European Championship over, Liefje has set her sites on the bigger picture: winning CGS’ World Final in December. Sitting in front of the TV with the Xbox on, curtains drawn and phone off, Liefje has been practicing relentlessly.

Prior to the European draft, Berlin Allianz General Manager Jonas "bsl" Alsaker Vikan stated that he planned “to lock [his DOA4] girl up with an Xbox for two months. No pain, no gain.” Vikan has stayed true to his word by placing Liefje on a tight schedule that has her receiving training from world class player Niklas “Skatan Milla” Lagerborg.

While the majority of CGS’s other GMs have elected to use their team’s male DOA player to train the female, Vikan has decided to use an outside resource to free up more training time for both players. Liefje enjoys training with Skatan Milla because of her friendship with him, his close proximity, and the fact that he “knows her character well.”

Despite not regularly practicing with her male counterpart Rudolf "THE_TACTICAL" Fischer, Liefje describes him as “a great guy to have on the team” and noted that she is “really looking forward to watching his matches at the World Final in a couple of weeks.”

So who is Liefje’s biggest threat at the World Final? With so many talented gamers in attendance Liefje has assured me that she won’t be underestimating any opponent and believes that each and every one of them will be tough in their own way.

With CGS’s gamers spread out all across the globe, Liefje hasn’t logged very many practice hours with the lot due to the restraints of lag during online play. Despite this, she has made a conscious effort to play against a wide array of opponents in order to become more situationally aware in-game.

“It's the same as if I were practicing for a Quake or Unreal Tournament. Sure it's good to have your practice partners but it's also good to play with other people to see different types of play styles,” explained Teernstra.

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With the World Final taking place in LA, Liefje can’t wait to head to California to game with some of the best players from around the globe.

“I guess what I’m most excited about though is just the tournament in general. The whole adrenaline that you get when you compete and the feeling if you win is indescribable,” said Teernstra.

Away from the controller Liefje loves to visit Venice Beach, one of her favorite places in the States. Last time she visited she got an unreal tournament tattoo; will it be DOA4 this time around? We’ll have to wait and see...



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