Tobi and syndereN shoutcasting at DH. Credits to joinDOTA.
The prestigious e-Sports German organization mTw will take DreamHack's Dota 2 champion, WHB, under his wing from now on.
A few moments after the official announcement, mTw's captain syndereN agreed to sit down and answer some questions about the sponsorship and his team. Here's the interview:
Alright synd, let's start from the beginning of this team. You guys came as underdogs through the BYOC qualifier at DreamHack and managed to win the event, defeating big sponsored teams like SK and Fnatic on your way. How was that possible?
mTw.syndereN: the same way any other team would win the event: through training, we improved our synergy and mindset about the game, and we designed a style of play and practiced it a lot against various teams, especially against Fnatic whose practice sessions we are very grateful for!You guys took a while before announcing your sponsorship. There were rumors that different organizations wanted to take you with them. Are those rumors true? Why did you choose mTw as your home?
mTw.syndereN: mTw contacted us the day after our return from DreamHack, and from then and onwards, we worked with determination on cooperating with mTw. It came naturally, they are very professional about their sponsorship. It's a team with a nice history, and this of course helped validate them as a solid choice for sponsorship.As for other sponsors, a few other people contacted us, but it was of little relevance in comparison to mTw. We actually talked about it at DreamHack - we hoped that the PR from the tournament would open the eyes of mTw, and it did! Everything just went as we wanted it to! :)
mTw is one of the most respected organizations in e-Sports, house of one of the most legendary CS teams, with heavy-weight CS:S and SC2 teams at the moment. Do you feel any extra pressure on your shoulders?
mTw.syndereN: It's a mix between pressure and potential. As I said in the official mTw statement, for me personally as a Dane, there's a big legacy from the mTw CS squad to live up to. Representing this organization really gives us lots of potential and a great incitament to give it all we've got.Do you consider winning DreamHack and being part of mTw's team the biggest achievement in your career? Why?
mTw.syndereN: Yes, I definitely do. To me, it was a fantastic experience playing in those finals, and overall the entire tournament was a thrill. It was a nice display of fair play from all of the contestants, and there were very few issues in relation to the LAN experience.It was also a big achivement for me personally because I played my best DotA / Dota 2 so far in that tournament; I really felt on top of my game. Signing with mTw is huge, as said, this is the organisation I would like to play for the most, so it's truly a fantastic achievement that it has happened!
Tell us your thoughts about your team-mates and what's their role in the team.
mTw.syndereN: here they are:
pepp3: The silent assassin. He usually takes on a role of semi/hard-carry. Grunt: master of mechanics. He usually takes on a utility/semi-carry role. He used the nickname "SeaBadger" at DreamHack. Matrim: Mr. Mobility. He plays the role of primary support. Kuronity: The pervert. He plays secondary, more team-fight oriented supports.Statement from pepp3 about syndereN: he fits perfect for our team as the ingame leader. We (former DIPS) have never been really organized, but with him in charge we don't do too much crazy stuff! He's an awesome guy in both real life and online.
You passed from the typical support player you were known to a solid solo player, now renown for your aggressive NS. What are the reasons behind that radical change?
mTw.syndereN: Supporting was not what I was best at, but it was the role I had to fill in my previous teams. I see myself as more of a utility / gank / semi-carry player, and this is what I have come to play in this team. That is probably also the reason I feel like I'm playing my best ever--I am playing a role I am not only personally more comfortable with, but also a role in which I feel I contribute more to the team in general.
What's the difference between your team and the others? What makes mTw unique?
mTw.syndereN: I think we have a rather unique playstyle and mentality not only in relation to how we play the actual games, but also how we look at Dota 2 as a game of the community.In addition, we're probably the only team switching between English and Swedish in our communication all the time. I can speak some decent Swedish with the others, but when the explanations have to be really thorough and detailed, we have to use English instead to keep me on track, heh :).
Dota 2 is making quite an impact in the gaming world, bringing a lot of big European organizations to the game with a lot of European events. The Chinese scene is a totally different case tho, they do not interact with the game at all (EHOME is the only exception). Why's that?
mTw.syndereN: That's a tough question to answer while not being a part of the Chinese community, but I guess the best way of looking at it is thinking of what happened in the Starcraft series. The scene will gradually switch, but there is still a core of professional SC players who stick to the original with the established scene in Korea. I expect Dota 2 in China to follow the same pattern.What can we expect from this mTw team? What are your objectives?
mTw.syndereN: You can first of all expect lots of interaction with the community. Secondly, you can expect us to improve our game from DreamHack. While we are happy with the victory and it's a great accomplishment, we are not blind to the fact that there is improvement to be done. There are lots of challenges ahead, and other teams will practice hard. We'll try to out-do them.Thanks for your time synd and good luck in this new phase. Any shoutouts?
mTw.syndereN: A big shoutout to mTw for their cooperation, to mTw sponsors Sennheiser, Kaspersky, XMG and Roccat. Of course also a massive shoutout to the community and our supporters! We are currently constructing a lot of community interaction. Facebook fanpages on which you can follow us are already up (check below), and we will be introducing mTw player streams on Own3d.tv in the very near future. If you're a mTw fan, join their IRC channel (#mTw.dota2) and like their FB pages (Matrim, Kuronity, Grunt, syndereN, pepp3 and mTw). mTw will not attend D2SC because of passport issues but you will be able to see them fighting in The Defense. GosuGamers will keep you updated with mTw's activity.
Links
mymTw - Team's announcement.
YouTube - WHB tribute by Randall