Lasse 'NoobG' Jacobsen, Trademark eSports' carry player who had a pivotal role in their triumph at the recent DreamHoN Winter 2012!
Hello, Lasse! Since it seems that quite a bit of people are unfamiliar with your past in the competitive scene, could you please describe how you started out, which teams you were part of in the past and finally, how you became a member of Trademark eSports?
Lasse 'NoobG' Jacobsen: Hi! I started out in matchmaking and used my acquaintances from there to form some low-mid tier teams. After spending some time playing smaller tournaments I ended up in [fpbs] where I slowly began making a more significant mark in the competitive scene, although not as a carry (my true calling).
Following [fpbs] I joined [sGty] which I had to leave because I couldn't attend DreamHoN Summer. I believe it was 'Mynuts' that took initiative and wanted to form a team for the DreamHoN Winter qualifiers, and with some roster changes along the way we ended up with what we have now and a sponsorship with Trademark eSports.
How do you think this DreamHack compares to the ones in the past? Seems like the public consensus is that this one is the best one so far. Do you agree with that statement? What stood out to you as the positives and the negatives?
Having never been to DreamHack before this event I'd still confidently declare this one the best. I have nothing bad to say about the event as a whole other than the quality of our computers during the finals. Slightly off-topic but I have to say thanks to S2 Games for the amazing parties they hosted when we weren't playing!
How was it to finally meet your teammates and opponents in person? Is there anyone who's personality surprised you and was nothing like you expected them to be?
I was actually very surprised at how nice people are in person compared to online. I don't think I can name a single person where this didn't hold true.
You started strong in the first day of competition, with two pretty straightforward wins against Q sQuad and vTi.Dynasty. Talk us a bit through those games. Were you confident going into those matches that you'll get a good start? How did you feel after the wins?
We did really well against Q sQuad in scrims during our bootcamp so we were extremely confident we were going to take them out once the group stages began - we played well and it tipped in our favor.
I had never heard of vTi.Dynasty before this tournament and for that reason I was pretty convinced we would take them out. They did put up a fight and we did discuss internally in our team that they were actually pretty good.
Second day, however, didn't start as planned as you drew the game against Thai underdogs Team MRR. Did you become complacent after the first win over them or is the 2nd game that they won all due to them playing strong? Did this result worry you at all?
Haha, not to discredit Team MRR or anything, but if there was a game where we choked it was DEFINITELY that one. I don't think I can recall playing that bad in a tournament game in the past 6 months. They did play better than I expected them to, though.
In the other group there was a little bit of controversy as some people thought that compLexity Gaming threw their game against Orange eSports on purpose in order to eliminate Gary Johnson 2012 from the tournament. Did you watch this game? How do you feel about that statement?
I didn't watch that game, but I have a really hard time believing compLexity would purposely throw a game in that situation. Orange is just a good team and they could've just as easily taken a game off of us (as they almost did in the semi-finals).
Going into the semi-finals you were to play against Orange, who produced some very good performances in the group stage. Talk us through about your feelings before and during that game, how it played out, etc.
I think the second game of that series was the most fun/interesting game I've played competitively in a while. This is mainly due to the setup we got to play but also because they were so much better than we expected them to be.
Our early game was incredibly shaky and I was secretly preparing myself to play a 3rd match because a 15 min concede was in store; we pulled our shit together and by the 20 minute mark I was actually pretty convinced we were going to win that game simply due to our hero line-up and the fact that Tremble is a bad carry.
HUGE WP to ORGE though, they've improved by A LOT. I'll definitely be worried about facing them in future tournaments!
In the finals you were about to meet compLexity, who many considered to be the favorite to take the title. Insania seemed, however, to be extremely confident in your victory in his pre-finals interviews, although he did admit later on that it was a show for the fans. How confident were you personally that you could overcome the odds on favorites? Was there anything in particular that worried you going into the match?
Aydin BM! Nah, I was actually pretty worried about meeting compLexity. They are so insanely good at teamfighting that you pretty much HAVE to win early game to stand a chance against them.
In the first match of the series compLexity allowed you to pick up Wildsoul for 'zai' and Silhouette for yourself, arguably your best two heroes. Did this give you a confidence boost? This proved crucial in the match as compLexity had trouble dealing with zai in solo top lane which in turn gave you space in the bottom lane to do as you please, do you agree?
You're obviously going to be playing better on heroes you play a lot, and implied hereto is obviously a confidence boost when you get to play said heroes.
I largely attribute our success in bottom lane to Mynuts' lanepulling and us getting lucky a few times with double archer. There was no way for Moonmeander on Tempest to do better than he did when the lane never came back to him. Once I hit my Ghost Marchers he was done for :)
For the second game the players and staff moved to the DreamArena Extreme. Did you and your team use this delay in order to talk over strategies going into the 2nd game or did you just relax for a little bit? How was it to play in front of a crowd of 1100 people?
I think the overall consensus was to just play heroes we were comfortable with and do our best. We were mostly just happy to have the psychological edge of being up one game :)
I'm not the most outgoing person IRL so I was actually expecting to be very nervous in front of a crowd as big as it was. Strangely enough I wasn't even remotely nervous and where I sometimes get 'shaky' online I didn't even flinch on the stage.
From a drafting perspective it seemed like the tables turned in game 2 as compLexity got all "their" heroes such as Ophelia, Succubus, Bubbles, Dark Lady. However, you were still able to win all of the lanes, as well as your keeper having a greater impact than Ophelia did. How did this happen?
Even though their heroes were in their comfort zone I'm convinced our laning potential was greater than theirs; Silhouette versus Bubbles is a given, Aluna and Moraxus is extremely strong and Plague Rider is excellent for reducing your opponents farm without dying too much. Combine this with excellent play and you're on your way :)
Haxxeren's Dark Lady gave you some trouble in the mid-game. Seeing this you guys started focusing on making defensive items like Shrunken Head, Stormspirit and Void Talisman which turned out to be game changers. I assume this was a conscious strategic decision on your part?
Haxxeren is always something to be looked out for ;) The items you mentioned are pretty standard when facing heavy initiation - it was definitely a conscious decision. We knew what we needed to build in order to win the game.
What was going through your mind after the concede went through and you knew you won the DreamHoN Winter 2012 title? What will you spend the money on?
Hard to say... an extremely intense feeling of relief? I was pretty overwhelmed though. I got up to cheer and it took me a good 15 seconds to realize I was still wearing headphones around my neck :D I'll probably buy a minifridge!
Many have voiced their opinion that you were the MVP player of the grand finals, if not the entire tournament also. How does it feel to get that kind of recognition? Who do you think was the MVP? Is there anyone that you think "choked" or played better than you expected?
Haha, I was actually not entirely convinced I wouldn't choke before I went (shoutout to Kyle), so to do as good as I did was definitely good for my ego.
If I have to choose an MVP outside my own team I'm no doubt gonna go with Slickz; that guy is insane.
I think compLexity as a whole choked a little bit; I don't mean to discredit them, but I never felt like they reached the potential they demonstrated in recent tournaments. On the other hand, the foreign teams exceeded the level of play I thought they were at, kudos!
During DreamHoN, Team Dignitas casually expressed interest in signing a HoN team and the reactions about the HoN tournament from the prominent eSport figures were very positive. Do you think this means we'll see a surge in interest for HoN as an eSport in the near future or will it remain where it is?
The only direction HoN has been going for the past months has been forward. Following the success of this event I don't see any reason why this trend shouldn't continue. Go HoN! :D
Let's talk a little bit about HonTour! Your team has performed marvelously in the qualifier and is about to play in the finals against Gary Johnson later today. Did you expect to reach the finals when you entered the qualifier and what do you think of the format in place? What are your expectations of the Diamond league and what are your goals in it?
Thanks for the compliments! We actually had a bit of a sketchy period (not a lot of playing and bad play when we finally did) leading up to our important matches, so I'm actually a little bit surprised we managed to do as well as we did.
I'm not sure if I liked the qualifier format too much. The amount of waiting to play teams that stood no chance against us was a bit over the top. This is obviously a non-issue now that we're finally placed, so I'm expecting a more enjoyable experience once the cycles begin.
We hope to do well in Diamond League and I don't see why we wouldn't. We've never been better as a team and our results will hopefully reflect that :)
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview, Lasse. Anything you'd like to add or any shoutouts?
Thank you for having me! Shoutout to John and the rest of Trademark eSports and many thanks to Razer and Raidcall!
