General Discussion - Page 637

Good evening s4, how are you doing a day like this?

I'm feeling well, I'm a bit exhausted from scrimming all day vs mTw in preparations for DreamHack Summer, but it was a couple of good matches and some good practice for us. Shoutout to syndereN.

For those who aren't entirely familiar with you, could you describe yourself in short? How and when did you get into contact with DotA? What are you spending your time on besides DotA?

I've played HoN for a few years whilst waiting for the Dota 2-beta. I started with Dota 2 in january when I played a bit with Team Empire. The chemistry with the other players in the team wasn't really there though, so I moved on and started a clan with CalculuS and Balsam, which today is known as TTB.

Your team TTB has during the past weeks showed up as a larger and larger dot on the radar for the elite teams. You've showed excellent performances in numerous competitions but first and foremost you managed to go all the way in joinDOTA Masters VIII after convincing victories over teams like coL, Quantic and Darer. How did it feel to win? Was this your big breakthrough as a team or have you always known that you've been capable of being able to beat any team on any given day?

We've been practicing every day for a month with our lineup and it feels nice to know that all that training hasn't been a waste of time. Winning joinDOTA Masters VIII was big for us since there weren't all that many in the scene who knew about us before that victory. What many people think is that Darer underestimated us, but we had played them just the day before in a BO3 in a different tournament. We were simply better and it feels good to know that without being too arrogant.

Shortly thereafter you received an invite to the DreamHack Dota 2 tournament after M5 and Wolves both had to cancel their participation. How did it feel to know that you had a secured spot in the tournament and thereby didn't have to go through the BYOC qualifier? How much do you think your victory in joinDOTA Masters affected their decision to invite you?

It's always nice to get invited to a tournament like DreamHack, but we were going there anyway and were prepared to play the qualifier in order to reach the real tournament and there wasn't a single doubt in our minds that we would manage do so, but it's always a good feeling to receive an invite!

Could you describe your team a little? Who are the players, what are their roles and how would you describe your playing style?

Absolutely.

Calculus is from Denmark and he's our drafter and semi-carry player, he's really good with heroes such as Storm Spirit and Queen of Pain, heroes that are extremely good at kiting the opponents. He has a lot of experience when it comes to competitive DotA just like all the other top danish players. He's a fun dude to be around irl and he is totally in love with his cap.


Balsam is also a dane and he's playing our hardcarry and in some games utility, depending on our lineup. He's the team captain together with Calculus and they're doing the big decisions ingame and within the team. Balsam is a health-nut who likes to be out running, even when we are at bootcamp *smiles*.


Link is yet another dane in the team and he's playing everything from utility to hardcarry, but he's our "sixth". Not really an official member of the team but he's our go-to guy if we need a stand-in, which we did for DreamHack when neNo couldn't attend. He's also one of those health-nuts that's into running and that sort of stuff. Beside that, he's in love with apples and eats at least ten a day!


henrydickenson is from England but lives in Stockholm since a few years back and he's our hard-support / ganker player. Calculus likes to give him Shadow Demon or Maiden in 99% of our games. He's the guy that gets everyone into a good mood when the team atmosphere is a bit down. He's also a great chef but he sleeps way too much on the bootcamp *laughs*.


Our playing style is hard to explain. We don't like to follow the meta game the way that most teams do. For instance, Enigma is incredibly popular to pick very early right now, but we much rather play against it than picking it. This is just one of many examples. The metagame is changing rather quickly and when it does we're ready to adjust our playing style against it so that teams never know what to expect against us. Even if we pick some heroes more than others, they will not know how we will play them.

How did you end up in the team from the start? Was it always clear to you that these were the guys you were going to play with?

It's a long story that dates back all the way to 2003 Warcraft III DotA when me and Balsam started to play pubs together. Ten years later when I quit HoN, me and Balsam had been talking for a while about creating a team together, so eventually we decided to create TTB.

How does your preparations look pre-DreamHack? I heard that you have been bootcamping for a few days, how has that worked out for you? How important is it with bootcamps in a game like Dota 2?

We've had a nice atmosphere on the bootcamp where we are training hard but also having fun. We've been playing some PCW's in Counter-Strike (henrydickenson is terrible and likes to shoot his teammates because we're "spooking him") and are also playing a lot of TrackMania together, a lot of Dota 2 pubs and of course scrimming vs mTw, Na`Vi and Infused to get some practice in, which is nice. Calculus, Balsam, me, link and henry have known each other in one way or the other for many, many years, so we're all friends and are having fun together, which is the most important thing for us.

On DreamHack you'll be playing with the former Quantic-player LINK instead of neNo. How will this affect your play? What is the difference between them? Are your playing style going to be more carry-focused now?

We will change nothing. Our strong suit is that everyone can play all roles on a high level. CalculuS and me will shift between doing the semi-support role, playing heroes such as Chen and Earthshaker while Link will be playing what he's good at. At first it was meant for Link to play the semi-support role that neNo is doing, but we decided to use his qualities instead of putting him in a role that he's not used to (his support sven made henry cry blood).

The groups to DH went live a couple of days ago. You were drawn into Group A together with swedish Keita, european mousesports and ArtStyles team Darer. What do you have to say about your opponents? Which team will be the toughest one to play? How big is your chances to advance to the playoffs?

We haven't played that many scrims or official matches against mouz so we think they'll be our hardest opponent. We are quite familiar with Keita and Darer and we know their weaknesses and strengths, as well as knowing how to make their strengths backfiring on themselves, which is nice. I think we have a big chance of moving on from the groupstage. There's no question about that we have to do it in order to become recognized by the community as a legitimate topteam, which is something that we really want.

Which teams do you think will reach the podium?

Honestly I think we got a good chance to reach a high place finish, but only time can be the judge of that. Without us ranked I think this is how it's gonna go:

1. Na`Vi: The only ones that can beat this team when they really care is teams from Asia, and no one from Asia is going to DH, unfortunately.

2. CLG; CLG are strong. Pajkatt is a good leader for his team and I think they'll be second only to Na`Vi since they have a playing style which doesn't allow people to come back in games when they've lost their lanes.

3. Darer/mouz/mTw; All of these teams have their own playing style which is a bit different from most. Unfortunately for them it's no super impressive strategies so therefore it's easy to counter it while you are in the game. They're not like Na`Vi who's coming into a game with a strat and you sit there like a question mark.

What does the future hold for TTB? What's going on post-DreamHack? Which leagues and tournaments will you be participating in?

We just got invited to The Defense 2 and we're gonna play that after DreamHack. We are looking forward to finding a sponsor after DreamHack since we've had a lot of offers but said no to everyone since we don't want to take that decision until after the event. We are not gonna rush into anything just to get DreamHack paid. We planned to pay for it ourselves anyway. We're in the scene for the long-term and we'll get to the top and hopefully we'll be at The International 3 in 2013.

What is your opinion on the current meta-game? Does the new heroes Phantom Assassin, Gyrocopter and Chaos Knight have any future in competitive Dota? Which hero/heroes do you think are overrated and underrated, respectively?

The current meta is focusing heavily on having control of the enemies jungle while you are defending your own. That's how you get the most farm out of the map I'd say. I've played all three new heroes in WC3 DotA and I'd say that Chaos Knight is probably the one who's going to explode in the scene just because it's so strong during the laning phase early in the game. Phantom Assassin and Gyrocopter will only be seen during public games.

Which hero is, according to you, the most fun to play in a random pubstomp game? Which hero is an absolute horror to play against?

My favorite hero in public is the +250 gold (random hero), that way u can dominate players on the lane with that little extra item. The worst hero to play against is Ursa by far, solo roshan 7 minutes into the game and requires 0 skill. *sadface*

Then I'll have to thank you for your time and wish you the best of luck on DreamHack and beyond. The last word is yours!

Thank you so much for the chance to do this interview. Shoutout to Fragbite for starting with Dota 2. Shoutout to the whole TTB team and our manager DrunKin who's doing a terrific job!