miGGel: "Winning a tournament was just a matter of time and practice"

It has been one week since SK and dd decided to not continue their collaboration. Negotiations about contracts with better conditions for the Danes did not pass, as "it is currently hard to see where Dota 2 is going". These were the words of SK player manager Min-Sik 'reis' Ko, said in the official statement issued on sk-gaming. Together with dd. captain Mikkel 'miGGel' Berg we take a look back and talk about the status of Dota 2 as an eSport, as well as the future of dd.

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Mikkel there is probably no doubt that you represented SK well and your performances are not the actual reason for the split up. Do you still feel particularly satisfied that you achived a tournament win (D2E) after the departure?
It was really great winning a tournament after adding MaNia- to our roster and having no sponsorship. It had nothing to do with satisfaction, I always knew we would be able to to pull it off, it was just a matter of time and practice. You are right about SK-gaming, it was not because of our results that we parted ways - it was an agreement made by both parties.

When reading the player manager's statement, it seems to me that SK is very sceptical about the success of Dota 2 as an eSport, which appears to be the main reason we are looking for. Is that assumption correct?
They want to see how Dota 2 is going to develop in the future, like most other organisations, before investing big money into the game. I believe it will become a big game in the eSports scene, but it's still in beta phase, which means the game is not out yet.

Not to add fuel to the fire now, but the presentation of Dota 2 in the eSport scene could have been better. The tournaments at ESWC and Dreamhack, which you both attended, took the role of a lesser recognized sidekicks behind SC2 and CS 1.6. Now ESL, one of the biggest labels in the business, announced that Dota 2 would not get an EPS, but rely on LoL to be their representative in the genre instead.

I'm aware that I'm excluding a lot of positive developments in the Dota 2 scene here (freaks4U with The Defense and jD, or Cyberarena and the D2SC, plus Dota 2 even being at ESWC and DH), but it is safe to say that we are miles away from SC2 at the moment.

Do you share the pessimism and how do you feel Dota 2 performs as a mainstream eSport title?
I really believe Dota 2 can compete at the highest level in Esport, but as you said it still has a long way to go. We are taking one step at a time, and hopefully the game will be a huge success. The game being in beta stage, and its popularity steadily growing everyday; with tournaments popping up all the time now, I think we are going in the right direction.


Do you personally feel disappointed about the negative result of the negotiations?
Of course we were really excited to play under the SK tag, but now we have to focus on the future.



So let's look at what is currently there in Dota 2. Our current poll asks whether there are too many Dota 2 tournaments around. As an active participant, how do you feel about it?
Sometimes yes we have to do a lot of rescheduling, since there are so many tournaments going on at the same time, this is impossible to avoid. I like to play competitive games; they are a lot harder than scrims where you try some new tactics and item builds and right now in Dota 2, there are so many very good teams.

How well do you find the organization of all these tournaments? Do you have a pleasent time playing all these competitive matches?
I think premier league is really badly organised, they do not seem to care about teams having other tournaments and have terrible communication with other organisations, which ends up in a really bad mess. Other tournaments hold up very well in my opinion.

Lets get on with the latest results of yours. You are currently ranked 4th, won two thirds of all your matches so far. The only thing that you are missing is a championship title in a LAN tournament. Is everything going as planned for you, or are there some aspects about your performances that you would criticize?
Yeah, we are still missing a win in a big LAN tournament. I have only won 2 minor ones so far, which took place in Denmark: One with Tep and the other one with MeT in DotA. We are still lacking a lot from my point of view, but we are getting closer, and as a new team we need to find out the best play-style for us. You win some, and you lose some - but that's what practice is for. We tend to get too passive in early-game and just farm.

Currently above you reside two teams from countries whose role in DotA was far from dominating (referring to the Gosu rankings) in the past. Tthat being aL from Australia and Fire from the US. What do you think of the strong US scene that is currently evolving, especially considering that teams from there were mostly looked down upon by the "superior Europeans". Were the lag and spike complaints really the key issue in DotA and now with better servers they start their victory march, or is this just a trend?
They have always been good, but it's a fact that China were the kings of DotA. US have always had some really good players, they just had a hard time sticking together, so instead they were forming new teams every now and then. It is really nice to see them doing good and I hope they will stay together now, since there are so many good teams in Dota 2 at the moment. I don't know if it was the lag/spike issue which caused problems, maybe it did - maybe didn't. The great thing about Dota 2 right now is that different teams are dominating one week at a time. I think that will keep on going, until all the heroes are out and people finally figure out the game!

So you think until the game is complete, the ranking will change quickly and the currently trending teams are in high danger of getting replaced?
Yes, I do believe that the top placements will keep changing, while heroes are being added - with so many teams out there.

Do you admire any team or player in the scene for their/his playstyle or abilities right now? A person/team where you say, 'This is what we need to be on top!'
That's a really hard one to answer, but my all time favourite player was Mr.Admiration. The team I will look at is the old LGD, who had huge success with their imba roaming ("ench + venge") which allowed them to gain such a huge lead early game.

The early phase of the game seems to be a point you are emphasizing here. Are there any concrete plans on how you want to achieve that? Will anybody in your team switch roles, or will you try to mix it up when drafting for instance?
Yes, I really want to improve our early game, but we will not switch any roles on the team, they are fine as it is right now and we will practice it in scrims. I cannot reveal yet what we will do, but we will definitely do something to improve ourselves.

As I've read yesterday you have a special fan. When reading an interview with aL|Musica he wrote about you, 'He's a very insightful player who is knowledgeable of what's going on and he controls the game well with his hero.' In your current team everybody shares an even amount of time in the spotlight and the team is the star. How do you feel when being mentioned particularly in such a positive light?
I am very honored really and didn't know he was thinking so highly me. I found out when I first read the interview and figured you would ask me about it but its nice to get noticed. (*smile*)

When you are asked to name your biggest strengths as a DotA player, would you list the aspects he mentioned as well, or do you find other qualities to be more accurate (if yes which ones)?
My strongest quality is map awareness I would say, else I think he hit it pretty well (*smile*). There are always different opinions of how people look at you.

If you were to return the favour, what qualities would you attribute to him?
First I would say that it's really cool that he took his name from an anime, I love watching anime myself. He plays a really solid carry with a smart way of playing, a great bonus to his team that is playing so well at the moment.

How will you spend the next weeks as a team. Will you get enough time to train?
The next week we will not practice at all, only if we can get Pusher-Street to help us. Ryze went on vacation for one week in Norway skiing, but we never know if he trolled us or not (*smile*).

Lastly when Dota 2 is a more commonly accepted game in eSports, are you inclined to work with SK again, or will you try to find somebody different?
We are open to all possibilities and we are indeed looking for a new sponsorship, so contact our manager about it!

Its been great having you Mikkel and the last part of the interview for your shoutouts is well earned. Please go ahead.
SHOUTOUT to “ventrilo banden”, my school mates, of course to my DillerDaller.LINK, DanskDreng.MaNia-,DeeDee.Ryze, DingoDyret.AngeL, DoubleD.MystresS, ex-teammates and all the other players I talk to. Of course a special shout-out to our fans for supporting us, we shall do our best.