Интервью с Limmp: жизнь мидера, отношения с Nikobaby, вредные привычки, футбольная карьера и «шмотки» в Доте

There are only a few days left until the OMEGA League Grand Finals, and, of course, the tension, as well as the quality of the game, are increasing in proportion. But while some teams show a consistently weak or strong game, Alliance is in a fever: they confidently destroyed Virtus.pro, and then lost to the guys from 5men. Tomorrow, on the evening of September 2, they will have a decisive match against Vikin.gg in the playoffs. It is almost impossible to predict the outcome with certainty, and the team's midlaner Linus "Limmp" Blomdin admits the instability of his team. Nevertheless, he is confident that good results lie ahead. Arseny Kuzminsky talked to Linus about playing on the center lane, his relationship with Niko, the choice of heroes, teammates' bad habits, and cancelled football career.

First of all Linus, how are you doing, how's the quarantine? How are you feeling yourself now?

Mostly it's been good. We just came back from a two-week bootcamp, and, to be honest, I actually liked playing away more than from home, so my feelings are mixed. The quarantine is both good and bad, but overall I like to be on the road or in the bootcamp more because I'm way more focused that way.

At the bootcamp it was nice. Good to meet everyone, yet unfortunately FNG couldn't come, but we'll meet him in the next one, I think. I was glad to meet up and play with each other in real life. The bootcamp was also in Sweden, just in another city, in Gothenburg, while I live in Stockholm.

How do you feel the current tournament going on?

It's a bit shaky for sure. We definitely would have hoped for a bit better results, but it's all good. We're confident we're going to pull through.

I wanted to ask you about that unexpected defeat to 5men. What happened?

We made a lot of mistakes and we weren't really ready for their Arc Warden + Venge strat. I'm not going to take anything away from them, they played well with that strategy.

Let's talk about the team. The Alliance is associated with the word "family", so how’s the communication going?

It's definitely a friendly family, and it's also a job. Sometimes we need time away from each other, but at the same time, when we talk, we're friends, you know, it's not like ‘only business’. With Alliance, it's definitely more of a family vibe. But there's also a lot of business indeed, our bosses take care of us and we can talk freely about what we need or what we think they should do better or whatever. And they always try to do whatever they can to help us.

How can you describe FNG, the newcomer?

Calm, funny. He's a smart and calm guy in Dota for sure. He brought some decision making in the early and late game, like crucial smoke gangs, or just good information on how a certain game should be played. Now we’re smarter about general game plans.

Were there any language barriers between him and you guys?

No, no, he’s good. I mean, he speaks a bit funny sometimes, but it does not feel different, there are no issues, we understand each other.

The community can often notice how you, being a mid lane, tear your veins to give space to Nikobaby, and then he comes out and wins. Tell us about your relationship in and out of the game.

We communicate quite well in the game of what we need. And normally it's just I'm going to try to make space in the early stages of the game so he can farm. Our relationships are good! [chuckles]

Who's doing the calls?

Normally, we know what we need to do in the early game, but, of course, we talk with each other and he says where he wants to farm. I'm going to go to the other side of the map to make space there. So we pull the enemies there or whatever, but making calls it's more Niko than me. In the early game, I might do some calls, but mostly it's Niko, I would say.

When the time to pick your hero comes, what happens in your Teamspeak? Like, do you say "I want this one" to your captain?

It depends. It's s4 who chooses in the end, it all depends on how the draft is going. If I really feel a hero will suit here, I'm going to suggest it. And, depending on how I feel, I might not say so strongly about it or, counter wise, tell it with all my heart. But it's Gustav who decides what to pick. So even if I suggest someone, he might take something else, and I think that's the best.

You have a huge pool of heroes, which are quite unusual for the current meta. Why do you choose them exactly?

I don't know if I've played on any unusuals recently. I like spell casting heroes. I'm not a big fan of, you know, carries — Templar Assassin is a bit different, — I just don't like these micro heroes. I'm more about spell casting, like Puck, Pugna, QoP.

Can you name your favorite mid heroes?

Right now, Tiny... I like Puck because it's fun, but it's not the best right now. And Windrunner. I just like playing them. I play, Tiny, Templar Assassin, Windrunner, Batrider. I think they are pretty balanced, but it's mostly that I like to play them, I mean, it's my playstyle.

What about Tiny's recent 10 movespeed nerf?

I don't like it for 300. Still, his movement might have been too good on support timing because he runs around with boots too fast. So I think it has been a good change.

s4: "Captains must take responsibility"

Meta heroes or favourite heroes?

Both for sure. I think you need to pick heroes that are good right now, and you can't just stick to what you want to play, but at the same time, you play better if you're comfortable with the hero. So you have to balance it a bit: pick for the player, but also pick heroes that are good right now.

Recent stats show that you, on average, do more assists in the game than Topson, Qojqva, and even VP's No[o]ne, but you also do fewer skills. Why is this happening?

I don't know. I guess I'm not trying to steal kills. I leave them to Nikobaby. [laughs]

Before Alliance, you've also played for Complexity, three times. And this is your second time being an Alliance player. Why did you return to the American team?

God, I don't know. [chuckles] I've had good and bad relationships with the players. I just went back and forth. Then I went to play in NiP with Handsken, then back to Complexity with him. When the shuffle comes, you look at your options and then you basically take whatever is the strongest team, and I thought that was the strongest team. 

The same thing happened with Alliance?

Yeah. Basically. We formed this team with Fata, 33, Nikobaby, and Handsken the summer after the TI. We tried to get an org and we talked with Alliance and another one and since we had good relationships with Alliance, the decision was made.

Speaking about the TI. What's your Battle Pass level?

Not so high. I only bought a hundred levels, so I have 147. I don't really care about items in-game and stuff like this. I think it's fun to have the Battle Pass so I can get levels when I play pubs, but I think it's unnecessary. Even though I can afford it, it's not worth it. I can spend it on something else.

On what, for example?

A beer [laughs]. Anything, literally anything else than spending it on in-game stuff. Gaben has enough money.

I wanted to ask what Persona or Arcana was your favorite this year, but it seems you don't care.

I haven't even seen them. I saw the plush Pudge in my game yesterday, and every time he hooked, he made some kind of like circle sound and it was pretty annoying. So I'm not going to say Pudge definitely.

Valve said that they don't know when TI would happen, as well as the DPC. What do you think they should do?

It depends on what system they will have. I think the one that they suggested was pretty bad: a lot of playing over a long period of time and there wasn't a lot of money. I think it was just very dragged out, a league for two months, as I recall. They need to figure out a good system for online tournaments because I don't think we're going to be able to play LANs for a while. Are they going to start a DPC online and then add DPC points to whatever teams have right now for TI10? It's just, they have to figure this out and I'm not sure how it should be done, but I would like it to start ASAP, whenever. It's hard to answer this. I want it to start fast, but also want a good system. So I don't want it to get rushed.

If you could go back in time and give advice to yourself at eight years old, what would you say?

Don't start playing the computer. There are two sides to this pro-gaming lifestyle: I like it and it's cool, but at the same time, I wish I did something else with my time all these years. Today I'm fine with it, it's cool, and I'm still passionate about playing, but if I could go back to that age, maybe I would advise myself to pursue my foot soccer career or something like this, something else than sitting in front of the PC, because I spent so much time during these ages when I should have been a kid, you know. But I was allowed to spend time in front of the PC. Except for career-wise, I would just tell myself to be confident and don't give a f**k about what anyone else thinks about me. That's all.

Since we're talking about your childhood, what do your relatives think of your career as a Dota player?

My mom has been very supportive and my stepdad as well. But in the beginning, of course, they were not happy about me playing too much computer, but then they saw I was serious and started earning some money. Ever since then, they've been very supportive.

You said, a soccer player?

Yeah. I got lazier, played World of Warcraft, started missing practices, and eventually, quit. The computer took over.

Can you tell us the worst habit of your teammate, anyone?

Something that's very annoying for me is Handsken chewing gums. He had a bad habit which he replaced with chewing gum and now he does it all the time. I hate it when people chew with the mouth open and it's even worse when you do it in the microphone. And he chews gums all the time and sometimes the noise comes through to the mic and it's very annoying. Other..? I'm not sure. Me and Niko rage too much. These are bad habits for sure.

So you're not a calm player?

Yeah. I try to be, I can be, sometimes it goes day to day, sometimes I get super frustrated. I can be pretty centered and calm, but normally I'm not too calm. I'm working on it.

Who is the player who can calm you down? Is it Gustav?

Probably. I don't think anyone really calms anyone down in-game. It's hard to tell someone to calm down, you can make it worse. Like, "chill" — "f**king no, shut up" [laughs]. Gustav is normally calm, and hearing him talk about the game is probably the best thing.

Thank you, Linus! It was a nice chat!

Thank you too! And thanks to anyone and everyone who supports us, even through our rough times as well. Appreciate it.

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