King of Catan

Behind the Hexes - Winters (THinK)

Brace yourself, Winters is coming and with him the first edition of Behind the Hexes. In this series we will introduce you to some faces in King of Catan and you will experience new unexpected insights of your favourite catan pro players that you wouldn’t have imagined.

IGN: Winters (THinK)

Real Name: Timotheus

Age: 29

Home/Country: Heidelberg, Germany

Catan player since: 1999 (online since 2020)

Most notable achievements

  • PL Season 6 Champion
  • Catan Cup’s 3rd season champion
  • Catan Championship 1st Div. season 1
  • “The Settlers Series” participant
  • Catan Championship C&K 1st season finalist

Winters is the newest German “wunderkind” to make a name for himself by winning the premier league Season 6. He is a versatile and active player, in the last KoC seasons he has been several times on top of the ranking boards of Base and Cities & Knights. Though he never made it to a KoC season final so far. With only one year of online Catan pro gaming experience, he can be counted toward the “Corona generation” with many new great Catan players. He is the perfect role model for new Catan players, who want to become a star in the scene in a short time.

Why are you called Winters (THinK)? What is the story behind that?

When I was younger I thought about a name for my online profile in Steam and came up with the legendary figure Major Richard “Dick” Winters, which is from the series “Band of Brothers”.

THinK is a new addition because I couldn’t name myself Winters in colonist I used my initials (THK) and someone just called me “THINK”. I found that being a nice title for a Catan player. Don’t trust anyone who tells you this game is ALL about the dice…

Did you tell your relatives and friends about your PL win? How did they react?

Only my wife. She did not understand how this is such a big win and due to my constant playing she is not very happy about Catan anyway.

How did you hear about KoC and when and why did you join?

First I watched videos from Dylighted, then from Treeckosaurus and being on a Catan discord channel, where I can play better players at whatever time I want to or can play sounded good and much fun to me. That was back in Winter 2020 when everyone had too much time concerning the Corona crisis. I joined and met the ‘right’ people who gave me a warm welcome and introduction to the server. (Pretty much all the German guys like Starshine who was the first and then Shinuslaw, who also told me that I can be part of the PL after winning the first bigger event.)

Who is your favorite KoC player?

Depends on what game mode we play and if I should count people in who are inactive like Kaytwenty for example (I do not know him very well as I only played him once I think, but his stats alone are crazily good).

Of the active players in KoC base game I vote for coolkp, TrashPanda and Kwijebo.

And for Cities & Knights (although there is no PL established yet) I think you can say trissie is playing on another level than anyone else – and then there is maybe Austin.

Who is the player you are most scared of in KoC?

In the base game I am not scared for anyone 😊, but I think Vrej is a player you should never underestimate because of his potential to make the impossible work, even out of the worst position.

For C&K it is trissie because he makes no mistakes and always plays the perfect game.. and secondly Rayman200! He is pretty unknown not to C&K players but to the Catan scene because he couldn’t get any tournament wins so far, but a really good player which I find hard to play against – he is always trying to collude with others to prevent one from winning and has really good insights into what is happening at the moment on the board and who is in the best position.

Are you part of a clan or do you have a sponsor?

For TSS my sponsor was colere and my logo was designed by Loaf. Apart from that I have no sponsors, so feel free to contact me. 😊

What is your favourite resource and why?

I don’t have a particularly favourite resource. I think the combination is more important (although people mostly say it is wheat and ore)

Do you play a road game or do you play ore wheat sheep? What do you need for which gameplan?

I think generally I like ows (as the casters pointed out during the placements in the PL final 😊) – but it depends on the board and the position you place. For a port game I like sheep the most

What do you think THinK is the most annoying joke you must endure in your games?

Maybe if people make fun of my name and use it as a pun 😊 I’m joking.

How do you prepare for the next premier league season and what are your expectations?

Preparation is not a thing that is happening so far in the Catan world – at least not for me. I wasn’t even sure if I’m playing because I am really busy at the moment with work and family etc. But I think it is always helpful to play some games and come up with new ideas and strategies. Although I didn’t formulate them too much I think I came up with some ideas how I can win games on an uncommon way (if that makes sense).

What is your advice for Catan novices?

Always try to play the best game possible, not going for a player because he is well known or something. (I don’t wanna get blocked just because I won the PL once *haha*) And I found it really helpful to watch all the content on youtube etc. – there are so many videos where you can learn from which spots to pick at the start and how to improve your gameplay, how to use your resources correctly and so on.

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