Congratulations on signing with an organisation, what made you decide that Next Evolution was the one?
-"Ever since we got in touch with Next Evolution. ESC, they have been very professional and ambitious about their project, and shown great interest in us. Rick and IMaG, who we have worked with the most, have mind sets and goals which correspond perfectly to ours. They are down-to-earth yet still very professional, and their view on E-Sports and mentalities are admirable."
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We will be attending both European and Asian LAN events.”-"Yes. LAN support was our main priority in our search for a reliable sponsor, and we have found that in Next Evolution. In cooperation with them, we will be attending both European and Asian LAN events. As said, it is a very ambitious project, and in cooperation with them we will do whatever we can to provide good results not only in the European, but also the intercontinental scene. It is important for us to emphasise this both to the community and to the tournament organisers. The community can count on our attendance in the upcoming events, and therefore we would be very grateful to any LAN invitations we get from the tournament administrations."
Sounds like a very solid step forward. Is there any chance for attendance at the coming ASUS in August, which seems to be the closest officially announced LAN?
-"If no personal reasons prevent us from attending the ASUS LAN, I see no reason why we should not attend it. Also, we plan to attend either WDC or SMM, if not both, should we be invited to participate. We will see how everything works out!"
What are the future plans right now? To attend as much as possible with good results?
-"Yes, that is pretty much it. We will step up on our practice to prepare ourselves for all of the major upcoming online and offline events, of which we will attend any we are able to. Also, in the near future, we will be setting up live player streams on our team's home page, www.next-evo.com, for the fan base to watch. In addition to this, Next Evolution are currently working on organising a LAN event in the spring of 2012. Any updates will be made official both on the home page, and also on our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/nextevolution.esc - we encourage our fans to like the page and follow the home page actively. There will be contests running both on Facebook and our home page. For instance, there's a raffle on the Facebook page going on right now: by June 15th, one random person who has liked our page (team members excluded) will win 100€ in cash. Also, we kindly ask the community to be a little patient with the home page; it was opened very recently, and is currently in its development. However, you can clearly see where we're headed at!"
This LAN event you speak of might take place when DotA 2 is out, how will they adjust to that?
-"The current idea of our team, and that also of the organisation, is that we will follow the development. If DotA 2 becomes the huge success it has set out to, we as a team will move on to DotA 2. In that case, the LAN event should most definitely feature DotA 2. It's quite far out in the future, though, so let us see exactly what happens with DotA 2 first!"
Ofcourse, would be awkward to host a DotA event if everyone switched to DotA 2. And the other way around. So you guys intend to stay around for a long time, huh?
-"Yeah! As said, everything looks really good. The team and the management of Next Evolution are on the same page, and they are working really hard on expanding quickly, and it is paying off. With such high professionalism and ambition, I see no reason not to be excited and ambitious about taking this into a long-term cooperation!"
Glad to hear, the scene needs stable presence. How is it the team itself working out now? Any problems or obstacles?
-"That is another reason why I am very excited about everything right now. Our all-Danish roster gets along really nicely, both offline and online. Having good spirit in the team is key to being able to provide top-notch performances, and we work great together. Also, we are already planning a long bootcamp in July to get some serious practice done, and to improve the team spirit even further. As such, the only obstacle we have to overcome is basically the game itself, and that is the ideal situation; when there is nothing else to overcome than the game itself, it is much easier to focus on practice!"
You've previously been in international teams, do you like it better now when everyone is from Denmark?
-"It gives some clear advantages. For one, the short geographical distance makes organising bootcamping a lot easier. When everyone can speak their mother tongue, it makes communication and strategic discussion much more fluent and efficient. I have never been in an international team with e.g. an American, but living in the same time zone is another obvious advantage. Also, being from the same country, you simply have some things in common - it makes things run smoother, and, in my opinion, it brings the team closer overall compared to international teams."
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To reach the top, you must challenge yourself”-"The same as for every other game or sport, I guess: love for the game, dedication, talent, and the will to compete. Some people love playing the game casually, and play thousands of games without reaching a competitive level, simply because they are not interested in it. To reach the top, you must challenge yourself and your team by playing against equal or better opponents as much as possible. On top of all of this comes the luck/timing factor - finding the right people at the right time to put together a team that works, getting vouched in the right leagues because you have been acknowledged by a known player, getting a chance to prove your worth in qualifiers, etc. etc."
An interesting mix of attributes, which fits the complex game that is DotA - the everchanging game. What is your take on the current version and metagame?
-"I like it a lot, I feel like it is one of the most versatile versions we have had for a long time, if not ever. There are loads of possibilities in terms of play style, picks, overall strategy, item choices, you name it. DotA has been through versions in which ganking was the thing to do, turtle versions, and while I wouldn't say that pushing is "the thing to do" in this version, it is certainly much more viable to do. It feels like the current version of DotA is a mix of all three - it is about finding the correct balance between pushing, ganking, and farming. Great!"
Would you agree with ArtStyle that there is not really such thing is "outpick"?
-"I always considered it a very bold statement, and I disagree. DotA, being such a massively strategic game, will have better and worse strategies. The heroes synergise with each other, and have strengths and weaknesses against the opponents' strategies. I believe that ArtStyle's point is that you can pick various strategies and win, and that any lineup has the potential to win if played correctly. With this, I agree. However, if he means, literally, that outpick doesn't exist, I'm looking very much forward to seeing Na`Vi winning game after game with all-random bans and picks :D."
He probably said it as a comment against people jumping to conclusions too quickly which team has the better picks before the game even started, I'd say.
-"Yes, and people do indeed jump to conclusions too quickly, or without sufficient knowledge of strategic depth. No game is lost already when the picks are done, but one team can have a major advantage after the picks and bans. In that sense, to me, "outpick" does indeed exist, but an outpick never wins the game alone, the play has to follow."
Do you like making new strategies up and try them out? Or do you prefer solid balanced strategies?
-"Both. It is crucial to be able to play the "solid balanced strategies" on a proper level, and I enjoy playing these when everything really comes together. However, it is also very important to think outside the box - the way shifts (no pun intended) appear in the DotA scene is when one team or the other sees new possibilities within the map. There are many heroes who are picked with a low frequency, but this does not make them irrelevant. In some games, a certain unusual hero can really make a huge difference if it counters the enemy lineup and if the team has practiced it. On top of this comes the so-called "pocket strategies" which involve five specific heroes that you pick to play them in a particular way. Pocket strategies will usually include at least 2 unusual heroes - else the likeliness of getting the lineup is very low."
We all enjoy watching a good pocket strategy. Apart from playing the game, you also do the occasional shoutcast. If you only may choose one of them, which would you pick?
-"They're both entertaining hobbies, and I love them both, but playing with my team has the highest priority. I have been offered to shoutcast a lot of games in different tournaments, but I have rejected casting massively simply because I cannot promise to commit to casting loads of games over a long period without somehow sacrificing my team or real life activities, and thereby stressing myself by having too many things to attend to. If you love my shoutcasts, worry not, though. I will be casting games now and then, preferably important finals or matches between top tier teams. Also, if tournament administrators are interested in picking me up for some LAN event shoucast coverage, I will not reject it. There is a big difference between removing a few days from my calendar to dedicate totally to shoutcasting and casting actively over a longer period. Who knows, I might even be shoutcasting from LAN events in which my team competes when we're not playing. We'll see!"
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Celebrate with the team when they win, and keep believing in them when they lose”-"I really like the dedication, size and activity of the community, and I am a fan of some fun trolling myself, so I really don't mind that aspect either :). What I could miss, though, is for the community to have more faith in the team they support. They should understand that every player, and every team, can - and will - have bad games. Celebrate with the team when they win, and keep believing in them when they lose, just like the teams do themselves. We're just as human as you are, and dedicated support really matters and assists us in pushing ourselves further!"
What is your take on the Client Wars going on now?
-"It's a difficult question to answer. Each of the vastness of clients provides with its own possibilities and advantages, and this is great from the individual user's point of view - you have lots of options, and the competition between the clients will force them all to improve. However, from an overall community point of view, the users are being scattered rather than gathered, and this could counterwork a common development. I guess I'll stay neutral as to whether or not the current development is good or bad - it's hard to say."
Is there any platform you prefer?
-"Of the four clients I have used - Darer, DotAlicious, Garena and RGC - I feel like all of them work nicely inside the game. As I said, each platform has its advantages. I can't really name a favourite in that sense; as long as the games run smoothly, I'm happy."
Is there any team in Europe that like playing against especially much?
-"I like playing against a lot of teams, and I especially like the uniqueness of every team's style. However, if I had to pick one, I guess it'd be Na`Vi. Both our practice and official games against them have taught us a lot, and I really enjoy the challenge of playing against their early-mid pushing expertise. I admire their style."
Yes, they bring lots of dynamics to DotA. What would you say is the biggest miscalculation of situations you have had? If you remember any.
-"The two biggest mistakes that come to mind right now were both against NE.Pentia. The first one was engaging with our CM/Shaker/Storm lane against them, miscalculating the situation and getting all three of us killed, setting us back majorly in that game. The other, more recent one, was the laning of the stealth assassin we did against them. Disastrous mistake that put us in a terrible position in the game which we were unable to recover from. We have worked on this strategic aspect and got a clearer understanding of our own strengths as a team and how we should lane. This should hopefully protect us from making mistakes as these ones again :)."
Too much pressure in the clash of the Danish DotA clans resulting in mistakes, most likely.
-"While it is true that there is some sort of "pride" at stake when we play against NE, I wouldn't blame our mistakes on a "Clash of the Danes". These are the most crucial mistakes I remember, and it is a coincidence that they both had to happen against NE. Or perhaps these ones are particularly clear to me because they were in "Danish Pride" matches, heh."
I guess it's time to round it up, I can't think of more questions. But what tag will you be using now? Next-Evo would be amusing as I seem to recall you being in a previous team tagging EVO.
-"Hehe, yeah, I thought about that funny coincidence as well myself, too :). We'll be known as nevo\nickname from now on at IRC and nevo.nickname ingame, so there could be some memories popping up for people!"
Looking forward to see nevo in action. Thanks for your time, any final words or shoutouts?
-"We're looking foward to bringing it! A big shoutout to nevo\Rick and nevo\IMaG for their cooperation this far, and to Flow4v for introducing us to the organisation. Thanks to the Next Evolution. ESC sponsors Blue Elph, Enuzi clothing, Uvixo and Monster Energy Drink, and our partners HostYM, FragRadio and PixaWeb. Finally, don't forget to follow us on our IRC channels #nevo.dota and #NextEvolution, as well as our home page and Facebook page. Thank you!"
Links
Next Evolution - Official site
GosuGamers - Announcement
Facebook - Next Evolution. ESC Facebook page
