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EIZO is an enthusiastic sponsor of many of the worlds' leading eSports teams and tournaments.

Meet some of the personalities in the world of eSports in these profiles.

Silviu-Alexandru Lazar

His journey has been a long one, it has never been easy but one that NightEnD perseveres endlessly on every day. Silviu-Alexandru Lazar has been one of the Romania's biggest celebrities when it comes to electronic Sports; being featured regularly in magazines, websites and even making it to national television last year. Embarking on an eSports adventure earlier in the days of WarCraft 3: The Frozen Throne, he played a race in the game that was not known for winning all that much. "Even though Undead was the worst race by far, I had a fantastic time during WarCraft 3 because I did enjoy that game so much. Actually for me it wasn't just a 'game' it was a sport, even though it wasn't as competitive as StarCraft 2," says Silviu.

Silviu is probably one of the older programmers striving to make a mark, definitely one of the hardest working gamers even till date, keeping a healthy balance between his eSport life and his social life which feels are both important to an individual, "I wake up when I want and sleep whenever I feel really tired, I don't observe a strict regime when it comes to that, I do however train for about 8 hours a day and take 2-3 hour break in between. I also like to socialize by going out with my friends, bowling, tennis, swimming, I like the occasional Coffee with my friends as well. I enjoy visiting the park as well and before I go to bed I always do different kind of exercises such as an abs workout or just training on the cycle, I like to eat as healthy as possible," says Silviu.

NightenD at DreamHack EIZO Open: Bucharest 2012

NightenD at DreamHack EIZO Open: Bucharest 2012

Many have said that playing computer games can be bad for the posture, bad for the body. Silviu admits that by just eating healthy and working towards a better lifestyle, one could even invest more hours in a day, "I don't have a diet, I only eat healthy foods and actively indulge in my hobbies like swimming, playing football, tennis, table tennis & bowling. I am in general a very active person and I hate to just sit and do nothing"

Silviu continues by talking about the right mental state and the right gear, "I think it's very important to have the best gear because of the benefit it gives you while playing, a professional mouse, keyboard gives you much more than the average peripherals out there," continues Silviu, "Before I had a couple of other monitors before I got the EIZO FORIS FS2333 and I think it's better, why? Because I feel my eyes are less tired and not red after sitting and practicing for 8 hours in front of my PC. Also the colors are very beautiful and the time response is just perfect, the colors are very natural and wonderful, this is what I always wanted from a TV or a PC monitor and my FS2333 does it in style."

At a public relations event in South Africa, March 2013
At a public relations event in South Africa, March 2013

Silviu, who began his early foray into gaming at the age of 15 after quitting football, feels that eSports has given him an opportunity that no career would have given him otherwise, "For me it's an amazing opportunity, I get to do what I love and I get to travel and see so many new countries all over the globe, I think I've seen about 20 countries in my travels so far," says Silviu. He recently traveled on a promotional tour funded by the government of South Africa that included visiting schools in which eSport clubs were present, and talking to several young students about a career in eSports.

Silviu's first big LAN tournament was in 2011 when he finished top 4 at DreamHack Winter, an amazing feat given the fact that the event is considered to be one of the most prestigious events on the eSport calendar. Prior to that his only real major success was online in the TeamLiquid Star League. "Last year I had only one decent result which was a second place finish at IESF in Korea. In the tournaments that I was feeling confident I lost to Stephano (DreamHack Valencia) and Nerchio (DreamHack Bucharest) purely down to imbalance," says Silviu.

Despite the age difference between his rivals Silviu has an Iron resolve when it comes to competing at tournaments, "I have only one goal and that is to win, that's really my only resolve, anything less is not good," says Silviu when asked about his goals as a gamer at 25.

The last six months or so have not been the best of times for StarCraft 2, with a loss of viewers and with titles such as Dota 2 and League of Legends taking the first and second positions as the most viewed games on popular streaming platform - Twitch.TV. Many have attributed it to the domination of a single race and the lack of patches to balance the racial imbalance, "I think the scene is pretty but definitely it has to grow more and I think it will as long as one race does not dominate for a year and we have constant balance patches," feels Silviu.

NightenD being interviewed at DreamHack EIZO Open: Bucharest 2012

NightenD being interviewed at DreamHack EIZO Open: Bucharest 2012

Silviu has been a part of Fnatic for almost 2 years now, not an uncommon sighting in the StarCraft 2 scene but definitely something that has gone a long way. "I cannot comment on my time spent in Praetoriani because that was a different story but Fnatic is clearly way more professional than other teams that I've been a part of, from point A to point Z everything is way better in Fnatic and that solves the mystery!" says Silviu.

Silviu has also stepped up and moved towards an almost team captain role. After the departure of Yoan "ToD" Merlo, the squad needed a figurehead. Silviu has been an inspiration and a practice partner for his team mates. With the renewed focus from Fnatic into Europe and their move away from South Korea, NightEnD along with Harstem, SaSe and Naama are now the bearers of the Orange and Black. They are also joined by MiniRaser, Zanster and Pink from Fnatic's Academy program.

Silviu remains confident for the future, with the recent balance changes in the Protoss versus Zerg match up and a pledge from Blizzard to work with the community and listen to the fans, Silviu remains positive, "My favorite matchup is definitely Protoss versus Zerg now, because after almost one year of domination by the Zerg it's finally balanced and they are now beatable in that match up," feels Silviu.

While Silviu has yet to taste that Gold place finish in a StarCraft 2 tournament, he feels that it is possible. The year 2013 brings an entire calendar worth of events for him to dominate. He looks forward to DreamHack Open Stockholm which is to be held on the 26th and 27th of April. "I think WCS Europe last year was the best tournament I ever attended because it was organized by Blizzard and all the DreamHacks were also really good," says Silviu.

The upcoming DreamHack event can easily be called a 'stacked event' with a plethora of star players attending it. Despite that, Silviu remains confident for the event and his future. "If you truly believe in yourself then you can. I have seen so many players who wanted to become professionals but I felt like they did not believe in themselves completely. A lot of these players were very confident but time proved they were not so they quit,"

It is this same confidence that might take Silviu to great heights, for a player whose best memory from WarCraft 3 was beating Grubby (who was then one of the best players in the world) in a nation's war. After all it is how much we believe in ourselves that matters.

Gear used
Mouse: SteelSeries Ikari Optical
Mousepad: SteelSeries QCK+ Fnatic Edition
Keyboard: SteelSeries 6gv2 Red Switches
Headset: SteelSeries Luxury in-Ear Pro
Monitor: EIZO FORIS FS2333

Official Monitor of DreamHack Open 2013 and NASL Season 5

FORIS FS2333

FORIS FS2333 Fnatic reviews FORIS FS2333

The 2012 flagship model co-developed with Fnatic. Fast response time of 3.4 ms. Brings out the details in dark areas like no other gaming monitor.