LAN|Kev interviewed

Kevin "kev" Stegeman ex-EnRo player and now member of LAN the German team consisting of mainly ex diamondZ players was interviewed by GosuGamers. Read some thoughts about the German scene, ESWC and team spirit.

Hey Kevin, thanks for sharing some of your time. First of all how are you doing?

-"Hey Philipp, I am fine. A little busy with hard work but it is OK - and like always an annoying girlfriend who wants me to stop playing DotA! :D"

Nice to hear that. Let's go straight to the point: The Roster of LAN is full with the best Germans, so a little bit like diamondZ was before, and now with winning the first German KotH you prove that you can play together well. But there are also guys who weeks ago said things like "going inactive", "never playing together again" and so on. So how come, that Kebap and you are playing together, and moods is back? How is the team spirit?

-"We all know a lot of players had problems with Kebap but the fact is that he is one of the best German players and just needs a leader like moods to calm him down and ease the temper. I enjoy playing with Kebap lately and the teamspirit is like in the old wicked team - awesome (who the hell is moods and why is he playing such a great necrolyte lol - German insider, sorry).

I'm really happy to see moods back in competitive DotA. After dmZ had huge problems like the ones you already mentioned (inactive players, bad lineups). Kebap tried to convince moods and to return and after some time of begging, he did. But for starters we all agreed that we will TRY it. After playing some scrims, winning KotH and of course a good Teamspirit right now, we start to focus on competitive DotA again!"

So, basically your good teamspirit is based on success? Do you think it might change if you experiment with playstyles and maybe lose some more games? What do you think about the disbanding uproar happening lately? Is it because teams are more "put together" than "friends"?

-"We already had some "fail games" or lost a scrim but our team spirit is really nice and I like to talk with my mates about the game after we lost. I think that one of the most important things in Dota is talking friendly about what went wrong. But we are a new team, although we know each other we never played with this line-up before. So we are still testing strategies and checking out our heroes and play style.

I think Dota, for most guys, is more than a game. I can talk a bit for the German scene, we always are in our vent channel talking and maybe it is more than "friends", more like a family. And as we all know, you always have some arguments in families. Maybe that's why you see lots of disbanding Dota teams."

After gamesCOM, I remember you guys of dmZ, even after losing hard, being the team celebrating most.

-"So true! As i said, we meet like every day in vent talking about private things and Dota of course, but the truth is we are friends and we like to meet each other at LANs and just having fun. That's the main point for us and it should be for all Dota players."


Luckily (or not) we cannot disband family. You mentioned testing line-ups and play styles. What direction are you heading to? Gank orientated, the pusher way?

-"We tested a lot of "gank-games" and will start to play some push strategies, but it always depends on the opponents. Still the gank style is the hardest way to win but we try out best to show a good DotA show!"

Arya, eQuinox, hex0r, Stryyke and Kev at gamesCOM '09

Lately LaginHed, your German rivals got a contract with unique.eSports, when will we see you with a known Clantag?

-"Soon, I hope. :D Our focus is ESWC right now and we would like to go with a nice sponsor and management."

About ESWC, it surely is a great chance for DotA; do you think the scene is serious enough for ESWC? What other goals do you want to achieve?

-"I think the Asian scene is serious enough for ESWC and more, but the European scene has the chance to prove that they are ready. We would like to go to ESWC first of all and provide you guys with a good German show."

Okay, thanks for sharing your thoughts, now is the time for shoutouts, got any?

-"Sure, I've got lots of shoutouts. First of all; GG-users, HI ALL! Stop flame plX :D and to all German homies and kuroky- who supports us a lot :)
And of course shoutout to you, Philipp."