Synderen talks DotA and ESWC

GosuGamers managed to sit down with syndereN from Online Kingdom to do an interview. Predictions were made, teams were talked about and Vigoss being mentioned. So waste no time and start reading the interview!

Hey there syndereN! Thanks for taking the time to do this interview, could you go ahead and give a quick introduction of yourself.
-"Hi, I am syndereN from team Online Kingdom - you may know me from my games or from shoutcasting, I do both, and enjoy it a lot."

So Online Kingdom has been confirmed to be attending ESWC. What would be Online Kingdom's lineup?
-"We are going with myself, XoYnoZnU (Swe), Fire (Ger), Black^ (Ger) and KuroKy (Ger)."

Do you think OK will fair better with Black^ and Kuroky in the lineup or do you think the normal OK lineup would do better?
-"It's always hard to say, a lot of factors are in play - especially on LAN. With all the time for practice either team would have been good, but now we're working with this, and I'm confident that if we keep practicing, we will be very well prepared and strong for this tournament. If I had to choose, though, I'd say that the lineup we're practicing with is probably stronger, but that's just my
opinion."

Interesting answer. Most teams would be preparing special strategies for ESWC. So with you being the drafter, do you have any special strategies planned?
-"I am actually not doing the drafting of our games at the moment, XoYnoZnU is sitting in the blue/pink chair. But it's not one person drafting anyway, it's a team effort, and we're trying to get what is best for the team to win the game. Whether or not the strategies will turn out "special" or "secret" is up to the viewers to decide, we will just try to get what is best to win the game at hand at ESWC."

Oh. Why the sudden change with XoYnoZnU at the helm of the ship now?
-"I don't know really. I think it was just a chain of events like me being a little busy and absent during some picking phases in some scrims in a row so he picked, and then it just continued that way. But as said, it's never one guy doing it regardless, it's a team effort, so who sits in the chair is not that important as long as everyone gets heard, which is the case."

Alright, so lets talk a bit on BabyKnight, what are your thoughts on Babyknight going with MYM. Will he make a difference to the team?
-"I know Babyknight, he's a very good player, and the fact that he makes the roster fully Danish for the event might give them an advantage. Seeing how good a player Lacoste is does not make it a huge boost, but might give them a little edge, we'll see."

I guess we will have to keep an eye on MYM to see how they will fair with a full Danish lineup. Moving on, how do you feel about all the teams attending?
-"I think it's great to see so many different countries represented. I know there are a lot of fans who would like to see more Asian teams, but the trip from anywhere in Asia to France and back is extremely expensive (I read that a one-way ticket from Vietnam to France was like 700$). Thus, only well-sponsored teams (and of course the winners of the qualifications) will really be able to go there. Anyway, looking forward to meeting a lot of different known personalities from different countries in the scene, I think it'll be a hell of an experience!"

Sounds like you are going on a holiday! How about the Asian teams? What are your thoughts on them?
-"I'm not that much into the Asian scene, but I'm really glad to see that 2 (maybe 3, I heard something about StarsBoba perhaps being able to go if a spot is opened up based on missing sponsorship) teams are attending. As said, it's just great to see so many countries represented, and it's inevitable that we'll see some different styles played when North America, South America, Europe and Asia are represented! EHOME and MUFC are some really big Asian teams which will surely be hard to take down, but we'll be analyzing them well and try to find our opening to beat them!"

Hmmm, I think there are more than three Asian teams attending. I think you missed out AEON.
-"Oh, yes, of course - sorry. I didn't think of them as they were auto-invited, I only had the qualifiers in mind. So yeah 3, perhaps 4 teams, I think that's really great considering the effort it is to travel all that way. I hope everyone arrives and is well so we can have a great tournament. What was said for the other teams goes for AEON as well!"


Since we are on the topic of teams, name five teams that have high chance of winning based on recent results, either from LAN or online tournaments.
-"Puh, I think that's hard. It's a LAN event and a lot of things can happen with so many good teams in the pool. I'd rather not guess on that as I'll end up getting myMYM-prediction-roll'd."

That is pretty true. How about a guess on which team will win ESWC?
-"Time will tell" said the wizard as he wandered back to his tower in the woods."

Who's the wizard in this case?
-"Vigoss!"

Yay Vigoss! Moving on. Which teams do you think the fans should keep an eye out for, perhaps a dark horse?
-"Well, all of them, honestly. A lot of things can happen, there's bound to be an upset or two at least with so many teams playing. So watch as many games as you can and support your favorite teams! If I had to mention one they should keep an eye on it would be Eyes on U. Oh wow. What cheap pun right there."

*Laughs* A cheap pun indeed. So what are the expectations for Online Kingdom?
-"We're going to Paris to win, and we'll do whatever we can to reach that goal. I'm expecting us to reach far if we make things work out, and I really believe that they're going to. Practice makes perfect, and we're trying to improve our game every day to get it that bit closer to perfection, hopefully it'll turn out that all of the practice hasn't been in vain when we kick some ass in Paris!"

Hope you do kick some ass. Any shoutouts or last words before we end the interview?
-"Shoutout to my team, everyone supporting us, and to all the streamers and shoutcasters out there bringing the game.

To our opponents: Beware - we are OK, you are not even decent!"

Oh, another pun. *Laughs* Thanks a lot for taking the time to do this interview. All the best for OK at ESWC.
-"No problem and thank you."