Heroes of Newerth: n0tail: "Empire is the biggest threat!"

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NEWS

By Mario 'Kolapz' Mađer

Nov 19, 2010 19:54

In another exclusive interview, SK Gaming talks to Johan 'n0tail' Sundstein of fnatic about the upcoming Steelseries HoN Masters @ DreamHack Winter 2010.

With DreamHack Winter 2010 and it's Heroes of Newerth tournament, the Steelseries HoN Masters, just a week away, SK Gaming sat down with

Johan 'n0tail' Sundstein of

fnatic to talk about the tournament, how it feels to be the firm favorite to win such an event, as well as a myriad of other topics.

Hello n0tail! fnatic has been incredibly dominant lately, winning every tournament you participated in the last 2 months, including ESL ICS September & October, UNGL HoN #3 and most recently, the fnatic PLAY tournament. What is the secret behind your success and why do you think your competitors struggle to overcome you?

"First of all - we have a solid roster, that helps a lot because we all have certain roles and we all know how to fullfil them. And of course, we have all been practicing together for quite some time now, which gives us the upper hand versus newer teams, although I still think our individual skill is generally higher than other teams."

With that track record, you are firm favorites to be crowned the DreamHack Winter 2010 champions. Being favorites surely puts extra pressure on you guys to perform, would you call it a positive or negative pressure?

"We will see how it is. For my part A LOT of viewers might affect my gameplay, so if they expect us to win not many people would watch, maybe? Overall I don’t think it will have an impact, though pressure rarely has a positive effect."

With DreamHack being just a week away, have you intensified your training schedule, will you be attending a bootcamp like fnatic did last year alongside the old KD Gaming line-up?

"Yes, we're going to a remote place in nowhere-ville (also known as

Henrik 'Freshpro' Hansen's hut) and hopefully get at least some training squeezed in."

The competition will be a lot tougher than last year, as KD Gaming, Empire Gaming, Druidz Qpad, TS Gaming, TCM Gaming and Team Wahlin are all expected to make an appeareance. Who do you think could underperform, who do you think could overperform and who do you feel is your biggest competition for the title?

"I definetly think

Empire Gaming could overperform as they have been at LANs together before. Rest of the teams have had a solid roster and I don’t think we can expect anything extraordinary from them. Since Empire have attended LANs before together I also consider them the biggest threat."

It has been announced that the Digital Youth Awards will take place at the GameFEST in Singapore instead of DreamHack, as it was originally planned. This means you will not have to play against Evil Geniuses, amongst others. Are you disappointed that you cannot test your skills on even ground against them or rather relieved because you'll have an easier time in the tournament?

"I’m in it for the games, so of course I am disappointed that we won’t be meeting our nemesis ;) But truth be told, I would love to have met some of the high tier US players such as

Jae Hyung 'Chu' Park. Another time!"

The Gosugamers.net Steelseries HoN World Cup is in it's semi-finals stage where you're expecting the new KD Gaming. fnatic has been dominant so far, losing just one round in the play-offs to iMpUniTy, do you feel confident going into the match-up?

"Very confident, especially since we will be doing it from a LAN. I feel confident going up against them, as long as the equipment works and we don’t have to play with 10 fps at Freshpro’s place :D"

The other semi-final pair is the American classic between Evil Geniuses and SK Gaming, who do you think will come on top and who'd you rather face in the winners bracket finals?

"I would prefer for

SK Gaming to win, but I don’t expect that. I consider

Evil Geniuses to be the best or 2nd best team in the world, but that doesn’t mean I want to face them online. Server issues are really on my TOP 3 list of wrist slitting agonies."

At 17 years of age, you are one of the youngest professional HoN players at the moment. Do you think that's necessarily an advantage or a disadvantage, considering that reaction time and quick decision making plays a huge role in a match?

"I think it´s an advantage, although being young brings prejudice opinions. I don’t think I will grow old and slow in the next 5 years or anything but for now I’m just riding the wave and having fun."

You are considered to be one of the most dominant solo mid lane players. What do you think is the difference between a good solo mid and a great solo mid player? Which player do you fear the most when you have to play against them in the mid lane?

"Middle lane is a very interesting part of the game. A lot of nice ward-spots that can help you keep dominating the middle guy if you took the upper hand, but it is at the same time one of the most hazardous lanes, if not the most. You need to think of a lot of factors if you want to completely work your middle lane flawlessly where I see a lot of people struggling to simple just control the creeps and lasthitting.

I respect and enjoy playing against chu because he has a lot more experience and is a very good mid player, guess you could say I ‘’fear’’ him the most :D"

Thanks for the interview! Any last words, shoutouts, etc.?

"First of all I would like to thank our sponsors: MSI, SteelSeries, BigFoot Networks, Ugame and SLAPPA for giving me the opportunity to call myself a PRO GAMER ! And a final shoutout to NoVa_’s mother for having introduced to me an awesome pasta-like-dish that I ate yesterday."

Stay tuned to SK-Gaming.com for much more coverage of DreamHack Winter 2010 and the Digital Youth Awards Singapore!