Universe: 'No team can be underestimated'

Universe, thank you for accepting this interview. Dreamhack is only a few days away. How excited are you?

Pretty excited, it's nice to go back to Sweden again!
 

How is your team preparing for this event? Has there been some sort of bootcamp?

We didn't really have time to bootcamp pre-Dreamhack, but we are going to be bootcamping for TI3.
 

Can you tell us about that bootcamp,whether it is going to be somewhere special and how long it's going to last?

We'll be bootcamping in Vancouver and it will be for about a month.
 

Anyway, as you mentioned, you will be returning to Dreamhack. How did you perceive the atmosphere last time around?

Last time the atmosphere was pretty cool, it was really interesting being around so many games at once.  I expect this time to be just as nice.

During Dreamhack Winter, Sneyking told me that it was hard to concentrate properly because there was a lot of screaming going on. Others have also complained about too much noise disrupting the communication. How was it from your point of view?

Personally noise is a bit of an issue during Dreamhack.  During The International, you're in a booth so noise isnt that big of a factor.  I dont mind it either way though because all teams have to deal with it anyways.
 

That is true. Anyhow, you are in a group with VP, TCM and uebelst. How do you expect the group to play out? 

VP and us are the favorites in the group, but no teams can be underestimated.  We'll take each match one at a time and hope for the best.

Assuming you will advance, how far do you think your team can go? Who would you rate as the favorite of the tournament?

I think we are capable of going very deep into the tournament. As far as favorites go I would say either Na'Vi or Alliance, with the slight edge given to Na'Vi.
 

That seems to be the most popular opinion amongs the players I have asked. Why do you personally rate Na'Vi higher, and why do you think do others rate them higher even though Alliance has the better track record as of late?

From their recent games, I enjoy watching their playstyle and I think Dendi controls the game from the mid lane very well. Any team is beatable right now but I feel Navi has a good grasp of the meta-game at the moment.


Speaking of which: The new patch certainly had a big impact as now almost every hero in the pool has been picked competitively. Is Dreamhack going to be a big fest of unusualy line-ups or do you think teams will resort back to more conservative and safe line-ups?

I think we'll see some surprise picks come out during all stages of Dreamhack. There are many changes that have been overlooked and teams will definitely take advantage of them.
 

Let's hope so, it's quite entertaining so far! Anyway, Dreamhack will assemble the best of the west, who are you looking forward meeting in person?

I'm looking forward to meeting my team and EG the most. I'm also very excited to meet the legendary ixmike.
 

Most people will I assume. Anyway, we've talked about the meta game and the new patch. Now, Team Dignitas has been known to be rather innovative and heroes like Warlock, Gyro and Spectre are one of the heroes your team made popular. How does your team come up with new line-ups?

We usually just talk about picks, and most of the time our unusual line-ups just come out of the blue. If we think a hero can work in a certain situation we aren't afraid to pick it even if it seems a bit unorthodox or crazy.
 

So not every line-up/pick has actually been practiced properly beforehand?

Sometimes it has, sometimes it hasn't.

Makes sense. Let's talk about you personally: When you played for EG, you occupied the role of the support but when you joined Quantic and now Dignitas you became an offlaner - with great success. Which role do you personally prefer?

Back on EG, I played support because that's what the team required me to play at the time. I enjoy playing both roles equally but I think offlaning suits me better because I'm more of a solo player.

The role seems to suit indeed. Anyway, what do you do aside from Dota, what other hobbies do you have and pursue?

I'm currently in school, and I like playing racquet sports like badminton and tennis.
 

Have you played them competitively? And when will you be graduating?

I used to be the captain of my high school tennis team and I will be graduating in a year time.
 

Do you know yet if you want to stick to eSports/Dota2 or if you'll pursue something else once you graduated?

I'm not sure yet, I suppose it depends on how much the scene grows by that time.
 

What do your parents think about you being a professional gamer? Do they support you?

They're a bit more supportive now than they used to be.
 

That's great then. Let's say the scene doesn't develope as you want it to, what other career path would you like to follow?

Either something in psychology or comp science.
 

Exciting! Coming back to Dota, the NA scene is growing and the American Dota League is the first NA only tournament with such a big prizepool. Do you think the NA scene will ever be as big as the European one?

I think it's a step in the right direction, but I'm not sure the fanbase will ever be comparable to Europe.
 

That's probably right. Anyway, Dreamhack is only a few days away, last time Aui_2000 told me he had a 30 hour trip, how long is it going to be for you?

I think for me the trip is around 20 hours, but we'll be staying in a hotel in London for around 10 hours.
 

Oh okay. Well, I wish you a good trip then. Thank you Universe for agreeing to this interview, do you have any shoutouts?

Shoutout to my team, and all our sponsors: Alienware, Intel, SCAN, Mad Catz, QPAD, Twitch, Kingston, Multiplay, Creative, Western Digital and iiyama, make sure to follow me on twitter @Universedota.