Interview with Solen and Apemother of Monomaniac Esports

Hello Solen and thanks for agreeing to do this interview with us. You and your team suddenly burst onto the scene a few weeks ago, and now you're in the qualifiers for the International. Tell us about what it's been like being on this amazing ride?

The last couple of weeks have been amazing. Not only have we performed really well when it really mattered, we've also received enough attention to get an invite to the International qualifiers. We're all really surprised, but really excited as well. It means that people are putting faith in us, and we hope that we can perform and not let the fans that are cheering for us down!

Could you tell us a bit about how your team was formed and how you came to sign MMC?

Me, Apemother and eskillz have been playing together for a while now, but we've never really had the right connection, or been satisfied with how our team's have been performing, growing and communicating. When we heard that Team Property was trying to form a team led by Steffstyle and Frigoleet, who we've known from their former teams as a great support duo, it was the obvious choice for us to approach them for a possible merge. The merge was succesful, and since then it's been a rollercoaster.

We started thinking about organisation when we saw that we were guaranteed playoffs for the Golden Esports League, which has a LAN final in Sweden, and since we're not really rich we wanted to get some support for it. At that time, we were not really a known team outside the t2-team community, so we figured our best opportunity would be with mmc, where Andre, the CEO, is a really good friend of mine, and for sure a guy I know I can trust, so we're helping each other out in that sense.

How did you meet up with Apemother and eskillz originally?

I met eskillz through a pub I think, and he and Apemother were friends at that time. I started playing with them a lot and we simply made a great connection from the get go.

How long ago was this?

I don't recall exactly how long ago this was, but it must've been around the summer of last year.

There was recently talk about the "oversaturation" of Dota 2, where the top teams compete in as many tournaments as possible since their living still depends on their winnings to a pretty large extent. Is this troublesome for the amateur community, where even winning a small cup doesn't contribute much to the team due to the small payout?

I feel the competitive state of Dota right now is amazing. There's loads of tournaments, for the pro teams and for the semi pro teams. There are loads of cups like Gigabyte Cup, Steelseries Cup and a lot of others. The only problem I feel, is that a lot of the "pro" tournaments are 100% invite based. A good example of this problem is, that I personally feel that we've been a really strong team for a while, we just haven't had a good chance to prove ourselves in a big tournament until Fragbite and ESL came along, where we got through with the qualifier spots that were available. I feel many big tournaments could benefit from this. Don't we all want to a tleast have the opportunity of a cinderella story?

Do you follow the formula Valve utilizes for the CS:GO majors? 4 250k USD majors a year with several regional qualifiers to ensure that every scene is represented. I personally prefer this format since it seems to make the scene more independent of this one gigantic major tournament a year that rules over the rest of the community, but how do you as a competitor view TI in comparison to the CS:GO majors?

I can't say that I do, but it sounds really interesting. I do however prefer the big tournament in The International. For a Dota player like myself, just attending The International would be a dream come true, you wouldn't have this feeling if there were several of these throughout the year. You could say that it's like playing the Champions League in football, and if there were several Champions League tournaments every year in football, it wouldn't really be that interesting compared to the huge amount of attention it gets now.

How would you describe your team's playstyle and what do you think makes a good Dota team?

I think our playstyle is very teamfight and pickoff oriented. We usually play a lot of "timing" based heroes, and low cooldown good teamfighters. Timing based heroes examples could be Chen, Dragon Knight, Blink heroes etc. Low cooldown good teamfighters is Sand King (amazing stun), Centaur, Nyx Assassin. The problem with this strategy has been our weak laning stage, which Rox.Kis seemed to be really good at punishing, and also with our timing based heroes. It was really easy to punish us before we reached our timing, this is definitely something we've worked on, and I think you'll see a lot of exciting stuff from us in the future!

Do you feel like your skill level has been long enough at the level you're currently displaying to say that you're not just riding on a "wave", so to speak?

Our skill level has definitely been like this for a while. However, I think what you have to look at, is the unexpectancy factor. I think we had an advantage going into many of our games, because not many teams knew us, so we had the element of surprise at our side. What's going to happen now is that it's most likely going to stabilize for a bit, and then it is up to ourselves if we can prove that we are as strong as we believe we are, and keep our momentum going. Consistency is the most important factor in defining a team's strength, and we're building a lot towards that exact factor.

Have you guys discussed what you'll do if your current success is the peak for you as a group?

We haven't discussed that at all. We all know our potential, beating a world class team like Fnatic 2-0, even with whatever factors were involved with that victory, it shows that we definitely have the potential to cause upsets. And if you have the potential to cause upsets, the only difference between that and consistent results is good practice, dedication, motivation and simply talking a lot together about DotA. Be it strategies, how to improve communication, teamplay or even small things like mechanics.

With the rest of the EU qualifiers being revealed, it's safe to say that you are looking at a tough path to Seattle. What teams concern you the most?

There's definitely a lot of good teams, and it's true that every single match can go either way for us. But the scariest team for us is definitely Team Dog and Relax. Not necessarily because they are the strongest teams, but because they are the only teams we haven't faced. We are confident against most of the other teams, because we have a pretty good feeling of what to expect, and if we play at our best we have a really good shot.

How do you study and prepare for a team you are less familiar with, like Relax? Do you already have some system in place or are you figuring it out as you go along for the qualifier?

We usually just watch a lot of replays of the team, and try to find common denominators in their draft and playstyle and figure out what heroes that we play are strong against their specific style. We will most likely be having a couple days of bootcamp, with the main focus on studying opponents before the qualifier.

Final thing, anybody you want to thank or give shoutouts to? Friends, family, sponsors, fans?

Shoutout to my team for being amazing and making it enjoyable to play the game. Shoutout to friends and family for supporting me so much!

Interview with Apemother:

Hello Apemother and thank you for talking to us. Right off the bat, I have to ask, how does one come by such an amazing nickname?

Greetings, and it's my pleasure! Hmm, well my nickname hasn't always been Apemother.. It started off with "mamman" which translates to "the mother", which in turn I hijacked off a friend. When I started playing Heroes of Newerth I renamed myself "Apa" which translates to "Monkey". Later on, when I swapped to Dota 2, I kinda fused the two together and it became "Apemother". My friends always thought "Monkey" was a fitting nickname for me, I'm a very energetic person, some would call me hyperactive.

If we talk about Joel Larsson for a bit, who are you when you aren't playing Dota 2?

Well where do i start... I'm a 23 year old dude from Sweden, who currently resides in the capital city, Stockholm. I'm originally from the island Gotland which lies in the middle of the Baltic sea, for some renowned as "Hawaii of Sweden". A very desolate place during winter.

I studied to become a chef, and I've worked as a chef for almost 5 years now, but I had to make some changes to be able to play Dota 2 competetively (since most practice hours are during evenings). I also didn't really like the work itself, and I think I've never had any passion for cooking. I'm currently working full time over at a warehouse. I pack, send and organize tiling tools. Basic stuff. One of my favourite things is Game of Thrones, I enjoy reading and watching it! I love Asian cuisine!! During my spare time (if I ever have any) I enjoy going to the gym, hanging out with friends and watching movies.

How seriously did you take HoN? Did you ever compete in the title?

I played HoN on a very casual level, but some would say I'm still renowned as the "Best Devourer (Pudge) EU"! And no I did never compete in HoN.

Is that the kind of heroes you'd like to play more in Dota, or is it all about the teamfight controllers like Invoker now?

I think heroes like Mirana and Invoker function very similarly to Devourer, in the sense that they share the High-risk, High-reward playstyle. I'm drawn to this playstyle because it's so rewarding hitting that monster hook/arrow/sunstrike.

Are there any particular pro players you feel embody that playstyle (HoN or Dota) that you look up to?

I've always looked up to Dendi and I think he's the god of this playstyle.

Does this mean you love Blink Daggers as much as he does?

I guess I do, but I don't think I've got the same amount of balls as he does.

Tell us about the first time when you realized that you might be able to compete with players of Dendi's caliber?

I think the very first time I thought we could compete with top tier teams, was when we actually beat TI-caliber teams in scrims(practice) for the first time, around 2 months ago.

You've also garnered quite a bit of praise, not just from the community but also from pro players. What's that like and have any of them reached out to you with advice and mentoring? (Are you Bulba's next discovery?)

Yeah I was really surprised. I really thought that it was all a big joke and everyone was making fun of me. I didn't and still don't think I did anything special to receive praise of that caliber. But I guess I can be wrong about that, but it still feels kind of surrealistic. I mean I've always been looking up to these guys, they are my idols, and all of a sudden they are praising me? It's weird man, but it feels incredibly good!

You know, Arteezy told me the same thing when I interviewed him during the early days. He said it felt like much of the attention was "in jest". Does it make it easier to accept having seen other young players come out of nowhere to achieve such heights of success in such a short time span?

I guess, but in the end I think it will always feel surreal when you get praised by your idols and the community. At least for the first time, it just feels like it's too good to be true. I dunno man.

Being a relatively new player in the scene, it feels like many teams that make a splash often do so off the backs of aggressive plays and individual performances. Do you think this is true in the case of MMC?

I think one of the main things is that you are an "unknown team" and that factors in heavily. People don't really know your playstyle and what hero pool you use. Therefore as an underdog you can have a big advantage, and I definitely think that was part of our success thus far. I guess individual performances and aggressive plays brought that little extra umf, but I think what it comes down to is team effort. The teamwork and communication is the key. I love heroes like Mirana and Invoker because they are playmakers, but I really think my individual plays are nothing compared to the teamplays.

When did you meet the rest of your team?

About 9 months ago I met Eskillz and Solen in a mix team we were practicing with. I thought "Man these guys are cool", and we worked really well together. We had the same goals and ambitions. Later on we completed our roster when the current Team Property disbanded, and we got the chance to pick up Frigoleet and Steffstyle. After we picked up frigo and steff, things really took off.

If we could speak hypothetically here and say you'd pull of the impossible and win TI4. It's safe to say that this year's prize pool will exceed that of last year's. Would you still continue playing Dota 2 in that case, or would it all end in a blaze of glory for you as you hold the Aegis only to never show yourself again in-game?

I definitely would continue playing Dota 2. Gaming has always been my biggest passion since I was about 12 years old, so I don't think I'm ever going to stop gaming. If we win TI4, it means I'm most likely going to be able to do what I love, for a living, which is a dream come true!!!

Final words or shoutouts?

I'm very grateful for this opportunity, and I'd like to give a big thank you to everyone who has supported me and pushed me!! Also big shoutout to my bigger brother Aron who has been by my side all along and my parents!