GosuGamers asks SK|Link about his team, his personal experiences and his thoughts about the MOBA games. You can't miss this one if you're a Link fan and/or follower!
For the ones that lived in a fishbowl during the last months, SK-Gaming decided to enter the Dota world once again by hiring monkey to their ranks. Link, does the former SK's success gives you an extra pressure? Is it a burden or more like a motivation?
SK|Link: SK-gaming definitely have a legendary status from the past. I am a fairly young player and was merely a little kid at the time of SK-gaming (swe). I remember one of my first big matches was against the old SK. At the time I was playing for BTB (replay). With that being said it does not feel like a burden at all. We have teamed up with a great organisation that truly believes in us, and that is very motivational!
Monkey was born from the ashes of nevo and NE. However, this squad seems much better than both of them together. Why's that? What changed from that weak nevo at TI to the mighty monkey at ESWC?
SK|Link: I met the nevoboys at TI and we had a good time together. Kragx from NE was about to travel to Korea to study and Balsam had already joined the military of Denmark. NE would have to endure some serious roster changes if we wanted to stay in business. When we came home, nevo approached me and CalculuS. It felt very natural. I guess roster changes can go in either direction. For us it went the right way.What was the key to release your potential?
SK|Link: I believe to be a winning team you need at least three things: you need to love your team and your teammates and have a good time when you play and when you do not play. Secondly you need to practice often! Thirdly you need confidence, you need to have that winning attitude or else you will not prevail even with the best strategies since you will be scared to play your own game. I felt like we had a breaktrough after we beat Na`Vi in a straight up BO2 match online 2-0 (replays here) and secured our attendance in Kiev. After that matchup we always dare to play our own game even versus the best teams.
Both AngeL and you are renowned hard-carry players that are now bouncing between that role and the solo. How do you guys deal with it when most players have a defined, static role?
SK|Link: It is true that we are both able to play the hard-carry role but we are also both able to play a solo role. We mostly draft without thinking too much of who plays what and go for the strongest choice in terms of heroes since we, as a team, are pretty much able to play anything. For example, if our solo-hero is a Windrunner it is more likely I grab it than if it would have been an Enigma.
SK was invited to DreamHack Winter along with Fnatic, BX3 and Team Shakira (former Virus). What are your feelings about the return of the event and the teams featured?
SK|Link: Personally I have never been to DreamHack so it is going to be a whole new experience for me and I cannot wait! Secondly it is our first lan event as SK-gaming which is also going to be exciting! I feel like there could have been a couple extra invited teams such as EBIN and now 4GL but at the time of the invites it was hard to invite more teams than they did. I feel we are going to see some really strong teams coming out of the qualifier.The Defense is the first big Dota 2 Online event, inviting teams from all the corners of the world. Some teams are not that known while some never joined a real international competition. What teams are you looking forward to play against? Why?
SK|Link: I am really looking forward to play against Problem??? as well as MYM.sg from our group. Problem??? obviously because they are the danes! MYM.sg out of curiousity. Hopefully a good host will not be a problem for the DotA 2 servers.Among the invited teams is EBIN, a former HoN team that managed to stomp SGC in their first game. What can you tell us about them? Will Dota 2 gather all the MOBAs/DotA clones?
SK|Link: I have played aginst WehSing and Rexi a lot, and together with Rexi as well. They play differently than players normally do in DotA but that does not have to be a disadantage.I cannot wait to see what happens when teams from other MOBA games that have been around for a while face off against DotA players - whether they will adapt their style to that of the DotA players or vice versa. I think we will probably take a little bit from them and they will take a little bit from us. It can be one of those things that changes the meta-game completely. DreamHack is going to be so interesting!
What should we think about the teams that come from HoN/LoL/etc? The community thinks about them as inferiors because they believe that their games are not as good as Dota. Is that a correct affirmation?
SK|Link: Personally I do not feel like the other MOBA games are as good as DotA is in terms of balance. But then again HoN and DotA are very similar to each other and I do not think it takes a lot of time to adapt to one or the other, perhaps a few weeks. I do not see them as inferior at all, and I will watch and learn their tricks for myself! (muhehe)Give us your prediction about The Defense's first group stage.
SK|Link: I did not really take an interest in the other groups yet since we do not have to worry about them right now. I think top 3 of our group is going to be: SK, MYM.sg and Problem???.You guys decided to move to Dota 2 full-time. What are the differences between Dota 2 and DotA? Is Dota 2 already better than DotA?
SK|Link: As MiSeRy- stated in an earlier interview: "DotA 1 is better than Dota 2 right now. It's more complete." I partly agree with him. DotA 2 is still in beta-mode and obviously the game is not completed yet. Still, I cannot stop loving the engine, graphics and the ease-of-use functions. We simply love it so much that we cannot stop playing it and we made the decision to focus only on DotA 2. I don't think that we would practice enough DotA to be a real threat when DotA 2 is just one click away.
Teams like Na´Vi and EHOME play both games (EG may follow their steps), how hard is that? Does it disrupt the team's potential to divide your time between them?
SK|Link: We did it for a while as well. If you are attending a DotA tournament in two weeks, you are going to play DotA for two weeks. If it is a Dota 2 tournament, you are going to play Dota 2. I dont believe that it's too hard to manage practice-wise but it's hard to draft properly with the hero-pool being different for each game.What are the roles and your thoughts about your team-mates?
SK|Link: Ryze is our support player and I see his face every day since we are roommates. miGGel plays the solo mid/utility hero together with CalculuS. AngeL and I swap around on solo/hard-carry as you mentioned above. eatenfish watches from behind and really helps out with the drafting/dewarding/warding process with his little black book! I love everyone of them though we are all different. Somehow we fit together and always have fun!
You're the only player that streams, writes a blog and has a facebook/twitter page, making yourself quite a public figure. Why's that? How do you deal with it?
SK|Link: I had my inspiration from the SC2 streams that I used to watch a lot like a year ago. Ever since then I have always wanted to make a living off streaming. Streaming turned into a Facebook page, which turned into a Twitter, which turned into a blog. It all came naturally since I was serious about it. In the beginning it was a little odd to have that many fans and followers but I am getting used to it and I have a good time with everyone every day! I really love doing what I currently do.
You were part of several good teams but never part of a serious top team. Is this what you expected? Does it worth all the training and travels?
SK|Link: I have tried for a long time to get into a serious top clan but I never really had the timing or luck that it takes before now. It is definitely worth all the years of practice and gaming! Traveling is something that is fairly new to me.Some personal favorites: who's your DotA idol and what's your favorite team through time?
SK|Link: I have always been a little Burning fanboy but have not watched him a lot since he left EHOME. One day hopefully I will be able to carry as well as he does! My favorite team through time is MYM, they are Danish and I really enjoy playing with and against them the few times I have done it!The year is finishing, what are SK's goals before it ends? Do you have an extra "personal goal"?
SK|Link: SK's goal is to win as many games as we possibly can. It is a very big goal but I do not like to jinx it and therefore I will say no more! My personal goal is to reach one thousand viewers average before the end of the year (here's his channel).I'm afraid to lose the point. Thanks for your time Link, any shoutouts?
SK|Link: Shoutout to SK-gaming as well as our sponsors. Shoutout to all the readers, followers and fans of my pages. Normally it is the interviewer that thanks the player for the interview but in this case I will also like to shoutout you! You made me reflect on a lot of important things and I had a good time answering all your questions, thank you.GosuGamers will keep you updated with SK's and Link's moves. You can know when Link is streaming by looking in our live stream tab (below our search system).
Links
Facebook - Link's Facebook page
own3d.tv - Link's stream
Twitter - Link's Twitter
