Team Liquid caught up with Jonathan "Loda" Berg after his recent Dreamhack win and asked him about life, Dota and everything in between.

TL: You've been back in your home of Sweden for a few months now. How is your life different now from how it was in Singapore? Is there anything you miss about Singapore?

A: Hmm… well, the weather is certainly different... :D I live alone as well (well actually my gf just came to stay with me for a while). But I mean, aside from the people I can hang out with etc. it's not that different to be honest. Most of my time is spent playing anyway. ^^.


TL: How have you had to adapt your play, moving from Zenith to No Tidehunter? You were known to take a bit of a backseat during the draft in Zenith.

Loda: Hmmm… well there has been some ways I've had to adapt I guess. Switching from 3rd back to 1st is sometimes weird. But I mean I've played hard carry since the beginning of time so, in a few months my carry will be flawless. Haha, backseat as a drafter... The reason for that was actually more of an inside joke than anything else. But sure I do get a lot more to say in nth than in Zenith.


TL: What's it like playing with your long time friend Akke again? What is your friendship like outside of Dota?

Loda: It feels great, to be honest. I mean we know each other very well within the game as well as outside the game. It makes the games feel easier, somehow. Outside of Dota we are great friends. We've known each other since school so I count him as one of my closest friends.


TL: How and why did you and Akke end up joining No Tidehunter?

Loda: It kinda started during TI2. I was approached by different people and even had a small talk with an organisation about my future. But at that point I didn't want to think about that and just wanted to focus on the tournament. But quite quickly after TI2 I started to plan out my future team, and after watching a ton of games and speaking to a crazy amount of different pro players I ended up with my eyes on nth, and especially the Swedes. They then spoke very highly of Envy, and that was it.


TL: You went up against Maelk in the finals, a player with which you and Akke have had an extended history with at DreamHack. What was that like?

Loda: Haha, it felt fun to be honest. It really made me want to win! I went into this tournament being very confident, and I think I showed Maelk that in some ways, it helps when you know all these small mind games going on between players :D


TL: You either played as Sven or played against him in most of your games. What are your thoughts on this hero's sudden popularity?

Loda: Haha, well actually I wanted to become the guy that showed everyone how OP Sven is after the patch. But then I didn't have a team at the time, so the Chinese did it before me.

Anyway, I always loved the hero. He is quite manly and after the recent buffs he felt like a clear carry hero to me. It doesnt surprise me that he is so popular. After all, teams tend to pick heroes that other teams do well with. He doesn't feel obviously broken to me though. If anything, someone should take a look at Magnus.


TL: If you look back on the time when you had just began playing DotA, could you have imagined that you would continue playing it for this long? Is your passion still the same?

Loda: Haha, well that's hard to say, but in some ways, yes. I remember that back in the day I knew some gamers that were quite old, like 26 and still being pro. And I knew they invested a lot of time not expecting to get much back, and did it just because they loved it. I told myself I could do the same thing. My passion gets rekindled every now and then, that's what keeps me going.


TL: What do you think about the Chinese viewing No Tidehunter as "Loda + 4"?

Loda: Really they do? ^^ Well I think it's just because I'm quite famous in china, and my team mates are not at all, except for Akke of course! But we are a team, and you can only win as a team, not by solo skill. And the rest of the guys are insanely skilled either way, so… :D


TL: With 'Loda' being derived from Lord of the Rings (LordOfDolAmroth), how excited are you for The Hobbit movie?

Loda: Isn't that obvious? I'm EXTREMELY psyched about this movie. It will most likely be awesome and it will make christmas into what it's really about; Hobbits, trolls, elves etc! Actually, since I have a history in the LOTR world they asked me to cast for one of the roles, but I had insane training for TI2 at that point so I couldn't do it.

TL: To wrap up, is there anything you would like to say to your fans?

Loda: A big shoutout to all my fans out there, whether they are in China or in Brazil. I love u all! A big shoutout to my team for being awesome. Also, a shoutout to my gf for loving me no matter what. Oh, I also have to remind you all to follow @Lodaberg and like Loda on Facebook.

TL: Thanks for your time!

A week before Dreamhack, there was a lot of discussion about the balance between Radiant and Dire. In episode three of MAAD, we learned how pulling the neutral camps to the mid lane can break the game. So, I went to the DH stream hoping to collect some statistics and add more elements to the discussion, but Dreamhack did one better: the winner of a cointoss between the teams would decide sides and order of picks. The winner could choose if he wanted to decide the side (choosing either Dire or Radiant) or the order of picks (choosing either first or second pick). The loser gets whatever the winner didn't want. This changes everything. Teams now have to decide in the beginning what fits their plans better instead of following the old Radiant & First Pick vs Dire & Second Pick procedure.

Anyway, here is what happened -



The groupstage saw a crazy 8-16 in favor of the Dire, mostly because of the bo1 format. However, once the tournament got into the quarter finals, the numbers show a near perfect equilibrium between Radiant and Dire: 4-4 in the quarterfinals, 2-2 in the semi-finals and 1-2 on the finals. In many matches teams went straight to the Radiant mid lane neutral camps to place wards and deny the pull.

In terms of picks, the groupstage saw a close 11-13 in favor of the second-pick. Dark Seer was the hero most often first-picked in the tournament, but his winrate was only a measely 28% (5-13). Other popular first-pick heroes like Templar Assassin (6-10) and Batrider (4-6) stayed below the 50% winrate mark as well. Magnus (11-2) and Bounty Hunter (13-5) had the best numbers among the heroes with the most first-picks in the tournament. Heroes like Undying (10-2) and Chaos Knight (7-3) also had strong winrates, while Sven (9-14) and Rubick (9-13) accompanied Batrider and Templar Assassin to the below-50%-winrate mark.

Curiosities:
- Magnus and Undying had a perfect 100% winrate when played on the Dire side (6 games each).
- Bounty Hunter was picked twice as much for the Radiant (12 times, with 67% winrate) as for the Dire (6 times, with 83% winrate)
- Dark Seer had a 10% winrate when played for the Radiant (1-9), while Dire winrate was 44% (4-5). Sven had a 26% winrate while playing for the Radiant (4-15), and his winrate for the Dire was 56% (5-4).

In terms of the Fantasy League, there were no surprises. Team Mathismight won the global league for the third time in a row. At first he wasn't in first place, but, scoring 664 points, he skyrocketed from 7th to 1st with Na'Vi's elimination in the quarter finals. Basically, he didn't have any Na'Vi players in his roster. In the TL Dota Fantasy League, Affinity won first place with 554 points.