6 questions to Loda: 'have to start taking ALL tournaments seriously'

Following the hottest sponsorship deal of the last days, we asked the string-puller of CLG's new Dota 2 team, Jonathan 'Loda' Berg, six questions covering how the team evolved, what is currently there and what needs to improve in the future.



Eventually It was only a matter of time, but when it comes to finding an organization, one could call you late bloomers. Be it Reason, dignitas, WW, or itsGoSu, many found their new home faster than you, despite not neccessarily playing better. What factors caused this arguable delay?

- Well the reason for the delay of picking up, or rather getting picked up by a sponsor is just that we wanted to wait for a deal that was good enough. Salary plus full support from the organisation. Not only financially, but also for just being there, cheering us on, helping us move on from rough games and such. CLG approached us a couple of weeks ago and ever since then, we've been trying to work out a good deal and every detail coming with it.

Over the last months, you've compiled a Swedish all-star lineup around you. Pajkatt and Miracle in particular left other teams to play with you. Was that a natural process, or did you fight hard to get them?

- Haha well, it started with the vision to build a really strong Dota 2 team. A team where everyone shares the same goal and would do anything to reach it. I tried out a variety of people and came down to Miracle, Pinoy, Akke and myself in early January, leaving the last undecided. Pajkatt noticed us playing and probably just felt drawn to it. We've played together before, at least me Miracle and Pajkatt, so it probably just felt natural for him. He spoke to me shortly later about a possible slot in the team and after we made some things clear, we were happy to add him. Im a fun guy to play with and tend to make people share my visions. My faithful servants just couldnt say no!

You mention long-term goals in your latest blog entry. What are your personal goals for your Dota career, as well as your team's goals? Was the CLG signing a big milestone in your plans?

- Well of course its important for us to get a good sponsor that supports us, so sure you could call it a milestone (*smiles*). My personal goals are to win some big LANs, to make a name out there in Dota 2 and to cement a stable position in the top three and one day hopefully be on top. To be honest there are a lot of teams out there at the moment that just aren't that good, but still win. Sure we've been unstable, but we are still ranked first in Premier League and we did reach the playoffs in the Gamereplays tournament. Those two are the most important leagues cash-wise so I think we are already doing well. But we are very far from where we want to be as a team, the team play needs to get better and we need to adjust to each others styles. Strategies will come with time; I see us getting stronger.

Do you and the team have any further plans in the coming months? Anything regards to a practice house, team building or anything like that? How does your training situation look like? How much do you guys play together?

- Haha well we practice as much as possible at the moment, almost every day from 18:00 - 00:00! Well we try to at least (*smiles*). We haven't been planning a practice house, yet(!), but we will probably try to meet up somewhere and hang out. Also I guess we'll have to start taking ALL tournaments seriously (*smiles*), I mean we represent someone else as well now.

When it comes to your game, do you have any practical examples of where you need to get better at? Where in the players' styles do you feel it's hard to adjust to?

- Well for example we need to take a step back and just chill in some games. Games where we take bad fights, even if we all know its gonna be bad, we still go in. Its more about everyone getting confident in themselves, learn how to respond to each other flawlessly on a lane. Its a team game and you kinda need to let everybody get as much space as he needs!

Do you have any last words, or a topic you wish to bring up before we end this?

- My last words would be a shoutout to all our sponsors, all our fans, all the people that are helping us with the site, or scheduling games et cetera.