Maelk: 'There's more to Dota than just The International'

Name: Jacob Toft-Andersen
Alias: Maelk
Date of birth: June 18
Hometown: Odense
Role: Management
Previous Team: MYM
Favorite Items: Dagon, Ethereal Blade
One thing to change in the next patch: Give Axe additional strength gain
Favorite Heroes:
 

Maelk, first up thank you for agreeing to this interview. Dreamhack is approaching. How excited are you, considering you are not going to play?

I am very excited. Something I have missed in going to events is talking to people, mingling if you will, because you're focused in a different kind of way as a player. This year's competition is the best that Dreamhack has ever seen too, so being able to watch from the sidelines should prove to be a treat!

Definitely! What makes it so great this time around is the fierce competition, most of which have actually good LAN experience. Can you actually pick a favorite for this tournament? Or does the patch maybe even reset a few things?

My personal favorites are the obvious choices too. I think both Na'Vi and Alliance are going in as top contenders. A weakspot of Alliance could be the fact that everyone is looking at them right now, but they have proven time and time again that they think outside the box and aren't easy to predict. With the recent patch, I expect a lot of entertaining picks coming out from the teams. At LANs, a trend of its own always seems to rise and I can't wait to see what it will be this time around.

Would you dare to predict what could be seen as the flavor of the tournament?

Puh, it's a toss up really. I think there's a lot of great heroes right now. Judging by teams playstyles lately, a good guess would be Ancient Apparition, Bloodseeker, Treant Protector, Razor and personally I'd like to throw in a Priestess of the Moon and Centaur Warchief too. The latter two being wishful thinking.

Well, you could always just tell your team to pick them up. Speaking of which, how is the practice going? They have been together since the West Qualifiers for TI3, right?

They were suppose to, but a few of our players has been back at their homes to deal with some personal stuff too, so it hasn't been as intense of a bootcamp as I could have wished for. Not qualifying for The International was a huge blow to the team and I'm proud of them keeping their composure and wanting to power through and make a good showing for Dreamhack.

Was it hard to lift your team's and maybe your own spirit after being eliminated from the qualifier? Especially in regards to the groupstage matches, which were very convincing.

In all honesty, this was something the team did - and had to do - on their own. I am of the conviction that there's more to Dota than just The International, and as such I hoped they could see past their disappointment. All the comforting and soothening words in the world can't help, if your one goal has just been made impossible, so the players themselves needed to find their inner motivation and desire to continue playing. On a personal level, I'm just saddened by the fact that I don't get to share the experience with the guys the way I had hoped to. The tournament itself is great, definitely, but the experience of being there and enjoying a trip like that together is even bigger.

You have a valid point there and your team certainly seems to have found said motivation. Coming back to Dreamhack, Ayesee has been nominated as the main caster - replacing TobiWan. What is your take on that?

I think Ayesee is a great addition to the casters at Dreamhack. He's professional to the core, has the best voice in the industry and is probably the most dedicated personality in the game right now. Tobi, however, has been the Voice of Dota 2 for so long and I love the passion and excitement he brings to the game, so not seeing him live in Sweden is a loss to everyone. If I could choose, I would have had them both there so that all matches could be casted on location infront of audiences.

Maelk with EG at DreamHack Winter 2012 -- They finished 2nd

Last time around, Dreamhack had a panel and will have one now as well: From a viewer's perspective, what do you think can the organizers do to improve the production value?

I would like to see some pre- and post-match live interviews with the players. On top of that, showing the teams in action to see the intensity of the teams' communication during the games. Cutting to them or showing them in halfscreen before, during or after important fights would be extremely cool. This is something we never get to see, and I feel this is an important component in making e-sports exciting and humanizing the players to something else than their ingame-character.

That would definitely improve things, yes. And having been there last time around as a player, what do you think could they improve to accomodate even better to the players' needs? Was there something you'd say was missing?

I would like the Grand Finals to be scheduled better and for the stage to actually have a valid way for the players within the teams to communicate. Other than that, Dreamhack is doing an exceptional job aided by Twitch.tv's Player Lounge. This will be my 9th Dreamhack I think, and I remember the first ones as a dreadful experience to go to as a competitive player, so to see how far we've come and actually experience it myself is a huge treat to me.

Your 9th Dreamhack, that is quite something. Looking back in your career, what things stand out the most? A certain LAN, a certain player, a certain team, a certain moment?

Being at The International is obviously the biggest experience a player can wish for, but other than that I wouldn't be without any of it all. Each and every event, team, player and moment has helped forge me into the person I am today and has given me experiences to last a lifetime. From sleeping in freezing cars at Dreamhack, to seeing 13abyknight clog a toilet with vomit at ESWC or being deported from Kazakhstan going to OSPL as some of the less desirable experiences to winning back-to-back Dreamhacks, enjoying the company of friends all over the world and meeting so many amazing personalities as some of the best. It's not the game itself that stands out to me, it's everything around it.

That is quite a road you had and the people certainly make it more entertaining. You yourself have experienced the progress of both DotA/Dota 2 and eSports in general. As generic as this might sound, but how far do you think can Dota 2 and eSports go in - let's say the next five years. How much can they develop and grow?

I was sceptical prior to Valve's engagement, but after having seen how they and Riot have made the industry as a whole treat e-sports as a legitimate part of the game, it has made me a believer. With Twitch.tv and more and more major sponsors involvement over the past few years, the growth has been almost explosive and it doesn't seem to stop just yet, so five years down the road I expect every professional team and player to be able to easily make a living off of the game and rather than playing out important leagues online, it will all be LAN-based with huge TV-productions.

Aside from The International, I think it's fair to say that the Chinese have been the most impressive so far in terms of these TV production-like tournaments. How realistic is it to see more and more West-East tournaments with teams travelling abroad?

It's going to be an integral part of how the competitive scene will evolve. Western teams can no longer afford sticking to their online-tournaments and the occassional LAN-event if they want to be regarded as some of the best. On the other hand, I think the Chinese scene has started to gain a lot of respect for what the rest of the world can actually bring in terms of competition and events, and as such they will definitely be looking to participate in the Western LAN-events, much like we see the Koreans do in SC2.

People have already speculated that with the new Dreamhack prize pool, it might attract Chinese players - maybe this winter. Anyway, coming back to you, you've transitioned from a player to a manager. You've mentioned a possible retirement at TI2, but how long have you been thinking about becoming a manager?

Being behind the scenes and assuming a position in management has been something I have wanted to do for a long time. Not only limited to Dota 2, but rather e-sports as a whole. I never felt the need to rush into it though, which might have been why I continued playing for as long as I did. The timing simply wasn't right, and I didn't want to stop playing only to do nothing for a while, so it all had to come together, which it now has. Going into it, I thought it would feel weird and depressing no longer getting to play, but now that it's all said and done I couldn't be happier. I am at a great place in my life and I love what I do.

Would you like to stick full-time to eSports if you get the money and opportunity to?

I am actually working full-time for Evil Geniuses and very happy in doing so. I got some fantastic colleagues.

Happy to hear that. Anyway, if it hadn't been for DotA/Dota2 and eSports in general, what would Jacob Toft-Andersen be doing now?

I would be a journalist. I am still aspirering to finish my Masters of Arts in Journalism.

EG/Dota, studying - is there much time left for another hobby? Is there even something you'd like to do/try out?

Luckily my hobby is my job, and when I'm not working I take the time out to appease my hunger for seeing and experiencing the world. Other than that, my only other real passions are listening to music and eating culinary wonders, both of which are easily combined with my job.

A good note to end the interview on. Once again, thank you for agreeing to this interview, do you have any shoutouts?

My warmest shoutout to Evil Geniuses and all the sponsors that makes our jobs possible including Raidcall, Monster Energy, Kingston HyperX, Razer & Astro. They made my dreams come true as a player and now as a colleague!