ElakeDuck recently joined fnatic, and everybody talks about what great shape he is in. Many of the players at the Swedish World Cyber Games qualifier said he looked incredibly strong. His new clanmate Anty even said he might be in the best shape he's ever been. The Swedish Orc player says that he does not think so, but that he is at least as good as he was in Korea taking part in World Esports Festival 2006. At his peak or not, ElakeDuck is one of the hottest players, with the clan swap and the fact that he is ranked fourth in the Northrend professional ladder.
- I think the new ladder is awesome, much better practice then the normal one and the fact that it ends with an offline tournament makes it really great, he says.
Got 10 offers - fnatic was the best
When asked on why he accepted fnatic's offer, he said that it was simply the best team that had asked him. All in all he received about ten clan offers. With Rotterdam already in fnatic, will ElakeDuck fit in the main lineup? To that question Duck said no comment, but said the following:
-He is a very good player. His latest results are amazing and I think a lot of people will overrate him because of it. He is definitely up there but has quite a bit until he reaches Grubby's level in my opinion. I guess he has "taken over" in the sence that he might be the hottest thing in dutch esports right now but grubby is unquestionable as the best player.
PERSONAL
Name: Björn Ödman
Age: 20
Location: Karlskrona, Sweden
Race: Orc
Clan: fnatic
IRL FAVOURITES
Food: I eat everything, although there was an awesome resturant in China that only served dishes made from ducks so at least that's my favorite resturant.
Music: Green Day
Movie: Shawshank Redemption
Book: No real favourite, but I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction
WC3 FAVOURITES
Hero: Blade Master
Unit: Wyvern
Map: Maelstrom
League: WC3L
Site: -
Player: Zacard
- I'm not fully up to date on the WC3L situation but I understand it's very close and they will probably make it to the playoffs and once there everything can happen, says a very positive Duck. When asked on if he thought that any team could reach the top where SK-Gaming, MeetYourMakers, 4Kings and World Elite are the moment, he mentions his new team fnatic, but also Mousesports, ONE-Gaming and Clan Go.
4 hours of WarCraft, 4 hours of poker
When ElakeDuck was removed from SK-Gaming it was because of him spending too little time on the game. He got more into poker, and his WarCraft gaming was dropping. Being clanless for a while, and people started to wonder if he would get back to the state he was in before. Now, ElakeDuck plays WarCraft for about four hours a day, and poker just the same. And he seems to have found a nice combination of the two.
- I'm also working out a couple times per week and doing all the other normal stuff, says ElakeDuck.
What do you make most money on - poker or WC3? And what do you enjoy the most?
- Poker by far... I enjoy WarCraft most because of the competition but poker is of course enjoyable in a much different way because of the money, explains ElakeDuck. During our interview Duck was playing four tables at the same time. He said, joking, that it was tough to answer my questions that fast even with a speed scroll.
"Media exposure for gaming in Sweden is so rare"
Only a couple of weeks before joining fnatic, ElakeDuck won the Swedish World Cyber Games. Hosted at Playz in Stockholm, Duck had a great time. The event was covered by Swedish television, something that Björn only found positive.
- Media exposeure for gaming in Sweden is so rare desipte how good we are so it was cool, says Duck. During the Grand Final played on stage, one of the camera guys came up real close.
- I don't get bothered by the fact that there are cameras but this guy was really up in my face with it and he moved around a lot during the games, he mentions as the only irritating thing.
The Grand Final he was up against the Night Elf player GLaiVe. In three set of games, ElakeDuck came out as the victor. Before the match, ElakeDuck was a bit angry because of the map system. GLaiVe was seeded higher and got to remove a map.
- He got to remove a map instead of me making the maps we play Meadows, Turtle and Terenas which is like the worst maps I could possibly get, he says. He also points out that he didn't play very well in any of the games, but that GLaiVe took some bad fights in the first and third game.
- The second game was horrible from my part while he played well.
The Nordic representatives in WarCraft 3 are ElakeDuck, Ciara, Creolophus and SeiN. ElakeDuck says that it looks strong but that he never heard of SeiN but that he is sure SeiN is a legend or one in the making.
ElakeDuck says he looks forward into going to Italy. He feels that he should be able to advance from his group.
- Paladyn and Yarchick are good players but I should advance unless I fuck up. If he reaches the playoffs he says it all depends on the brackets on how far he can go.
No Duck in the upcoming WC3L match
So when will we be able to see Duck playing under the fnatic tag? In WC3L he is not allowed to play until Playday 10, but as the regular NGL-One Season 2 blasts off we will for sure see the Swedish Orc player in action. And also, perhaps in the next World ESports Festival event, which is according to ElakeDuck it's coming up soon but he can't say for sure. ElakeDuck ended fourth last season (WEG3), and was a great experience for Duck.
- For some people I guess it sucks because they can't commit a whole month or more to a tournament but I thought it was great because it gave me a chance to experience Korea for a longer period of time, he says.
Your national team mate SaSe said in an interview that he loves China. What do you feel about the country in the east, hosting WarCraft 3 tournaments monthly, it seems?
- I have mixed feeling about China, it's a great country to visit and the passion people have for WarCraft there is amazing. The sad part is how miserable a lot of people seem to be there, I was only there a short while but i saw alot of sad things, such as people living in boxes. Houses in complete ruin and poor old bagladies swarming a Counter-Strike player because he gave one of them some money. They seriously wouldn't get off him until we got on the bus.
ElakeDuck has plans on get up his grades up to par to apply for another school, but right now he says he does not feel like it. He enjoys the current situation. But what drives a Duck?
- What made me come back to WarCraft was that I kinda missed going to events around the world. The game itself hasn't been fun for a long long time but it's different you know. I might play an RPG once in awhile because it's fun. But I play WarCraft because I like the competition and the satisfaction of doing something really well, it's fun too but not "playground" fun if you know what I mean.
About balance and the whining
The WarCraft 3 playground is as balanced as it can get, says Duck.
- Balance has never been very good in WarCraft 3, but I suppose it's the closest its been to alright. That being said even though I whine once in a while doesn't mean I think Blizzard does a bad job, says Duck. He further adds that it's hard to balance this game because it has so many more factors than other games.
ElakeDuck has been known for whining quite a lot and being bad mannered, but he says that he stopped most of it now.
- I dont really whine a lot these days and it's mostly good natured when I do so. Besides that I dont see whining as a horrible crime anyway. In my opinion there are many good players who have more bad manners than me but might be it in a way that attracts less attention.
Duck is of course a part of the successful National Swedish team, who has won European Nations Cup three times in a row. We asked Duck about the success, but why no Swede has won anything in individual tournaments for a very long time.
- I think winning something like WCG or ESWC is a lot harder than it used to be because at least to me it feels like the community is getting more and more top players every day. We won three times in a row because although we don't have anyone as good as Grubby or Deadman it takes a team to win ENC and we are obviously the best European team, he says.
But why is it so?
- We have a lot of players because of good internet and many computers and it being cold and dark a lot. A lot of players usually means more good players. And succes usually means more succes for example the Swedish scene was really active with a lot of big players when I was getting started wich might have inspired me to try harder, had it been completely dead - who knows.
Will the Duckling stand up against the mighty Asians in October? And will the change in joining the fnatics make him more hungry? Or is the flop mightier than the horde?
