The 16-year old support player for Team EG Ludwig "Zai" Wåhlberg opened up to onGamers about his transition from HoN to DOTA 2, how age is not a reflection of ability nor a limit on how much a player can contribute, as well as discussing his team's recent 3rd place at the StarLadder IX LAN Finals.
Zai(far right) at SL Finals IX - Image from OnGamers
Zai was part of the EG team that took third place at the recent
StarLadder IX LAN Finals last weekend in Kiev, winning $26,000 for their
efforts. The team had looked in shape to reach the grand finals, but
after losing to Team DK in the upper-bracket, a loss to Empire saw them
unable to seek revenge on the Chinese team.
Going down to the loser bracket finals, you battled Team Empire for a
chance to rematch DK once again. Unfortunately for you, off the back of
a draft that fell flat in the first game, you weren't able to close the
series out after winning the second game, and were eliminated in 3rd
place. Your captain seemed to take the loss in a very personal manner,
blaming himself for the defeat. Was the rest of the team as shook as PPD
seemed to be when you were out?
I think we were all a bit disappointed, as we didn’t consider the series against Empire resulting in a loss. We had already set our sights on DK and were very excited to get to play them again, but as you said, unfortunately we didn’t quite reach that far and got knocked out. As we had hoped for so much more, we were all quite emotional after the finish and I don’t think Peter was the only one feeling displeased.
With your performance at SLXI, a TI4 invite for your team feels all but secured. Has the LAN in Kiev made you confident going in to the event, seeing as you now know who the obvious favorites for the title are, and knowing that you managed to finish 3rd at one of the absolutely most stacked international tournaments in Dota history?
It definitely boosted our confidence. Personally I didn’t realize we were so capable in our play, but after performing at Starladder going into a tournament with similar competition will feel more natural and comfortable. Although much can change until TI4 and being complacent and confident in the performance you had at a previous LAN will only hurt you. But the experience and the things we learned from Starladder will be invaluable for us if we play TI4.
I think we were all a bit disappointed, as we didn’t consider the series against Empire resulting in a loss. We had already set our sights on DK and were very excited to get to play them again, but as you said, unfortunately we didn’t quite reach that far and got knocked out. As we had hoped for so much more, we were all quite emotional after the finish and I don’t think Peter was the only one feeling displeased.
With your performance at SLXI, a TI4 invite for your team feels all but secured. Has the LAN in Kiev made you confident going in to the event, seeing as you now know who the obvious favorites for the title are, and knowing that you managed to finish 3rd at one of the absolutely most stacked international tournaments in Dota history?
It definitely boosted our confidence. Personally I didn’t realize we were so capable in our play, but after performing at Starladder going into a tournament with similar competition will feel more natural and comfortable. Although much can change until TI4 and being complacent and confident in the performance you had at a previous LAN will only hurt you. But the experience and the things we learned from Starladder will be invaluable for us if we play TI4.
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