I want to start with thanking all of you who are writing cheerful comments, try to help us with how to improve our team and being involved and follow what we do. It’s a pleasure having you guys with me on this eSports-journey and I really wish the best for all of you!
I’ve read all of your comments here on the blog, Facebook and Twitter and tried to summarize them as good as possible. The questions that I can’t or don’t know how to answer is left out but hopefully most of it is here.
What do you think went wrong in the tournament?
It’s most likely a combination of a lot of things. First of all I think we were quite bad at finding and knowing our game plan, how we should’ve played to win the game. In some games we found ourselves just farming on all lanes waiting for something to happen instead of seeing that we should buy a mekansm on Bristle for example and then force fights. Instead what maybe happened was that we kept on farming and they started to pick people off which made us lose our timing in the game. I haven’t taken the time to look through the last replays against Fnatic yet but my thoughts after just playing the game was that their Bounty pick was quite smart against us since all we wanted to do in the first game (we picked Drow, Tidehunter, Dazzle, Mirana and ET) was to force fights and get towers but they constantly splitpushed us since they scouted us with Bounty all the time.
Will you try some new tactics?
We always try new things when we practice but we just need to find out what’s good and bad for us to play as a team.
What do you think about the comeback gold?
I think it’s a bit too much. There were a lot of games where you see a team securing a bigger and bigger lead throughout a period or 20-30 minutes that later on is taken away in a single fight.
Do you all go out together after the games?
We usually go out and eat together but it’s different from times to times.
What do you think about the new hero that will be released?
It’s fun that they add more new heroes, I just hope that it’s somewhat balanced. Hard to say when I haven’t been able to try it yet.
Are you going to stream now after TI?
The plan is to start to stream frequently later this autumn. I’m moving in early October so I will most likely start after that.
What is the plan for winning next years TI?
My plan is to keep practicing and try to improve as much as possible.
What are your thoughts about the first EG game in the group stage?
After watching the replay I felt we were ahead a lot in the early- and mid game but they kept on splitpushing that made us being unable to force a teamfight and push their base. Even though Loda didn’t have free farm in the beginning he still got a fairly early Radiance on Lone Druid and Bulldog was super farmed on Brood (because they couldn’t stay in their own jungle, it was also the reason why they focused so much on Loda’s lane because they couldn’t be anywhere else). We made some mistakes when we bought back and died again when we pushed their base which gave them an opening to just go mid and take our throne. Luckily for us we managed to force them back though! 🙂
Why doesn’t s4 play Invoker and Loda heroes like AM, Morphling or Lycan?
In s4’s case it’s mostly because we have felt that it doesn’t really suit our play style when he plays Invoker. I’ve read multiple times that “s4 can’t play Invoker” and things like that but I am confident that if we would want to frequently pick it he would be as good as anyone else. In Loda’s case we have picked heroes like AM and Lycan before but we had most success with other heroes when we practiced recently. We didn’t pick Drow in the tournament just because everyone else did it or something like that – we picked it because we had practiced a lot with it and felt confident playing it.
How are your thoughts about playing in more or less tournaments?
It’s very hard to say what is the best but I think we will try to at least participate in more online tournaments just to get more serious games to play and practice on. Traveling is a bit different though (like going to USA) because you miss out on a lot of days because of flights and jetlag.
What do you think about the “exit interviews” like the one you did with Maelk?
I didn’t mind doing it and I think it’s quite interesting for the viewers to get some insight from a team that just lost as well.
How is your game going (Bubble Pop Heroes) and can you make a living out of it?
It’s been ok :D. I don’t make any money out of it but it’s just fun to have made a game. I will do a competition in it with one of my team shirts as a prize (among some other things) but I will announce that here on the blog later!
Do you think about quitting Dota? Why or why not?
Not really. Of course I think about pros and cons with playing but I will continue to do it as long as it’s possible to make a living out from it and as long as I enjoy it. There will be a time when I want to prioritize something else and that is probably when I will stop playing.
Do you think having a partner is distracting or bad in any ways when you want to play at your fullest potential?
For me it’s quite the opposite. I feel it helps me in a lot of ways to be able to talk and share things with my girlfriend and it works out very good since she is interested and invested in gaming/esports as well.
What do you think about the recent patch?
It’s very good, almost perfect. You can play a lot of different play styles and there aren’t many heroes that you feel is too good. Obviously there are some things that could be changed, for example making Iron Talon a bit worse, Mirana aghs is a bit too strong and things like that but overall it has been very good!
The first game vs EG in the group stage when you all died in the bottom lane and they rushed mid to finish the game – what was your thoughts and atmosphere in the team? What did you say?
All of us pretty much thought we lost.. 😀 But we always try to find ways to win the game so the first thing we talked about was if Loda could splitpush and get their throne faster (you can see that he tp’s top after the lost fight) but we saw quite fast that it wasn’t possible. So we just tried to defend the base as good as possible, taking out Drow first which was their main DPS and in the end it made us win the game. The atmosphere was good, like I said we just tried to find ways to win. After we won I jumped up onto Bulldog and hugging him :D.
Do you feel it is hard to leave the “roots” from TI3 where you used a lot of split push and adapt into other strategies?
Not really. We have always played a lot of different strategies but I guess the main reson why we haven’t had as much success recently is that we haven’t been able to understand how to play each game properly and find ways to win them together.
If Alliance would just disappear – what would you do?
I would probably keep on playing and tried to get another team. If that wouldn’t work out I would probably try to stream a bit more to see if I like it and if not that I would go back and work as a full time programmer. I would most likely play other games and compete in them if only just for fun like Street Fighter V or Battlerite (the new Bloodline Champions) when that is out. I love to compete so I will always do that in one way or another – casually for fun or competitively.
Do you think it would be better to just stick to your own play style and meta instead of trying to “copy” others? You tried to play Phoenix/Void like OG without success for example.
If you want to stay on top you always have to adapt what others are playing and keep on improving/changing things. That is what is so good and fun with Dota, that there isn’t only one strategy that is superior to the best but instead different lineups and play styles that are good against each other. Regarding the Phoenix we actually won a lot of scrims before we headed into the Manila Major (I think it was that tournament) with it together with heroes like DK and Lone Druid but after we lost 6 official games straight with Phoenix we kind of lot confidence with it. One of the biggest problems with that was that we faced OG the first 2 games when we picked Phoenix and they really know how to counter it. Cr1t played ES the first game and just stunned or silenced me when I was using Sun ray and the second game they picked Nyx to counter Phoenix Sun ray with the carapace. We would most likely have been more successful with it against other teams but we choose to play it against them which was a mistake.
What do you think of SEA region in Dota2?
I like it! The Manila Major was one of the best events ever and the players from SEA are so nice as well. We hang out with some of the Fnatic players when we were there (Mushi, Ohaiyo and 343) and they are all really fun and cool persons. It’s fun to get to know other players a bit more but sometimes I’m a bit too shy to talk to everyone that I want to talk to :D.
When you guys lost I just stared into the screen feeling very lost and sad. How did you guys feel when you were eliminated?
At first I was very sad and disappointed. You know that your run is over and the dream you had of winning is gone and there is nothing you can do about it. The feeling stayed for a couple of hours but after that I tried to be happy for what I’ve achieved instead of sad what I couldn’t achieve. In the end of the day I am happy to be able to say I am playing in one of the best teams in the world and to be able to participate and experience all the events, the Majors and TI’s that I have been to and am going to attend in the future.
Is there any chance we will see your Chen or Akkecopter in the future?
Chen – for sure! Gyrocopter not so likely unless they buff his first spell again. When you play him as a support you need to be able to rely on spell damage but after it was nerfed he is not as half as good as support anymore.
What do you think about Chen/Ench overall?
They are viable but it really depends on the lineup and what you face. Both heroes can fall of extremely fast and if they don’t achieve much in the first 10-15 minutes you most likely have lost the game :D.
As I wrote in one of the answers, I will soon announce a competition where you can win one of my old team shirts (wrong size so can’t wear it). You can win it by playing a mobile game I have done with a couple of friends so if you want to start practicing you can download it on App Store and Google Play here! 🙂 The scores that are loaded into the UI is a bit bugged sometimes so don’t be surprised if you don’t see any once in a while ^^. Anyways, will write more about this tomorrow!
Remember that you can subscribe with your email so you get a notification every time I write a blog post by pressing a button on the top of the right panel! 🙂
Cheers,
Akke
