'I felt left out' - NiP.Era talks about his year and Lajons

Adrian 'Era' Kryeziu has been a long-term member of Fnatic's Dota 2 squad and despite not winning big tournaments, the team established itself at the top of the scene. The team however fell apart following a poor perfomance at Ti4, but more importantly after a lot of drama prior. The star carry player Era had been feeling sick prior to the event and even had to leave the designated bootcamp. He was replaced by Xcalibur and the team felt confident in performing with the young Swede, but Era was not ready to give up his spot, while Valve was also unwilling to change their invite which was directed towards Adrian himself. Era did end up travelling to and competing at TI4, but the team did not last long.

Now Era is part of the first Ninjas in Pyjamas Dota 2 roster and has participated in the i-League LAN finals, while already headed straight towards the StarLadder LAN finals.

Disclaimer: This interview was conducted by Sovann 'Skim' Kim on Sunday, 11th January.

Hey man, how's it going?

Good morning, I just woke up (laughs).

Same here actually. Like 20 mins ago.

Haha, where are you from anyway? Do you live in Europe?

Yeah I live in Germany. And where exactly in Sweden do you live?

I live in Gothenburg. There's been a lot of heavy winds. Yesterday we had like rank 3 type of winds and people had to stay inside and stuff. In Sweden of all places! It's not really cold though, 2°-3°. How is it in Germany?

Quite sunny actually, I guess it's about 9-10°.

Oh wow, I haven't seen the sun in about 2-3 months. It's always grey.

True, but it's a cool country. The people are nice and all of them speak English, can't say that about Germany.

Haha yeah and you dub every movie as well, that's really boring!

True, we are weird like that! I prefer watching them in English though. Anyway, how was i-League?

I-League was good, the tournament itself was a bit different from your usual LAN event. We were playing at imbaTV's offices, this huge flat, so there was no crowd, which is what I'm used to when playing at LANs. So this was different, as you basically played in an empty room in which they recorded.

At first you'd play with your opponents directly in front of you. The Chinese however don't play with headsets on, so you could all hear one another. Of course we speak Swedish in-game, but still they could hear key words such as Rosh, Smoke or something. Luckily, they changed it on the second day after Vici Gaming complained about it. Iceiceice was quite mad, because the teams were actually listening to what the others were saying, rather than focusing on their own strat.

So on the second day, the setup was split and the teams were playing on the other ends of the office, so everything was perfectly fine then.

China as a country is not too guest friendly I'd say though. The area where we lived didn't really offer a lot of stuff to do or see. Sure, we had like a shopping mall nearby and McDonald's and stuff, but that was it basically.

How about the people you met then?

We had this guide, Monzun. His English was okay, it wasn't good but he'd understand you and help translate. The rest of the people in China apparently don't speak English at all. They all look at you like you're some weirdo that's stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time (laughs).

Same here. When I was in Shanghai, and I do look a little bit Chinese, everybody assumed I spoke Chinese, but no one could help me out when I talked English.

Yeah, and even though you obviously don't speak Chinese, they still continue to talk Chinese to you and you're all like "Please, I can't understand you" (laughs). But yeah, the LAN overall was a bit stretched, originally it was scheduled for like nine days and with only a few matches there would've been a downtime of about four days or something. But that is something they are looking to improve upon for the next season.

Was there at least something scheduled for you, like press stuff, or was it more like "Oh you played one match, now you're done for the day"?

Yeah that's basically it. You wouldn't do any media stuff, maybe before the games or when you won a match. Well, we didn't win any games, so we were just there.

"I never had such a hard time playing pubs as in China"

What would you guys do then in your free time? Did you go to any cybercafe?

Yeah, we went to this cybercafe in the area, which is apparently one of the better brands in China, WYWK. It's still not like Inferno Online back in Sweden.

To be fair, you are pretty spoiled with that one!

Haha, yeah I suppose we are. But the thing in China I disliked the most was that they don't care too much about the hygiene. They'd smoke anywhere and didn't care where, so they'd smoke inside the cybercafe. While they did have designated smoking and non-smoking areas, they didn't separate them, because the door that was supposed to divide them was wide open, so it didn't matter where you were sitting. The computers were okay, but these Perfect World servers.... It took us so long to get a hold of this. I have a gmail account, but of course Google, Facebook and Twitter are blocked, so I had to purchase a VPN to access my mails. It just took a lot of time, the Internet was laggy, but yeah I guess at least we got a hold of Dota. But oh man, let me tell you. I never had such a hard time playing pubs in Dota as in China.

Oh really? Yeah I heard that Chinese are pretty tryhard in pubs.

The way I saw it was: The enemy team is trying to win TI5 and my team was just this random stack somebody formed to have fun. Juggernaut insta-pick and a Doom to counter it. Every single game.

Oh boy. How was your overall time in China then, it was your first time after all?



Yeah I was at Beijing airport before, but that's nothing to brag about. It was okay. I wouldn't necessarily go to Shanghai for a vacation, but there are some things I'd want to see for sure. If I have like a day layover at Shanghai airport, I'd go explore the city, but it's not really my type of country. The company was nice though, obviously the first time meeting up with the team, so that was really nice.

How were the other teams? Was there anyone you were looking forward to meet?

Well, I met most of the players already. The Chinese don't really care too much about you anyway. I did meet MVP again, they speak English after all, so it was nice meeting them again.







So you guys announced your sponsorship with Ninjas in Pyjamas on your first day. How did you guys end up with them? Did you approach them or did they approach you?

It was sort of coming from both ways. In the beginning, we were thinking stuff like "How cool would it be to be the first NiP.Dota 2 team", because we are Swedes and it would be beneficial for us in so many ways. So we approached them about two months ago, not really when we were doing our best, more like right before we did. We asked them if they had any interest in Dota 2 at all and they responded nicely, saying they were looking for a full Swedish team and we would be the perfect match for them. After that we kept scrimming, everything went well, we qualified for StarLadder, came in second in i-League qualifiers and did fairly okay in the BOCE tournament. NiP checked out our perfomance and results and came to us and said they'd give us a try. After many talks with them and other sponsors, we ended up being the first Ninjas in Pyjamas in Dota.

So were there other serious talks with different sponsors or was it always going to be NiP?

I mean, obviously you'd check out the other offers and see "Okay, this sponsor gives us this much salary and takes this sort of cut", but even if NiP had offered us substantially less, it would still be more intriguing to go to NiP, rather than any other sponsor, just because it is a Swedish brand and we are a Swedish team. We can grow together in so many ways, so we all wanted NiP over anyone else from the get-go.

Makes sense. You can now ride on the NiP bus to Dreamhack!

Haha, yeah maybe we even get our own bus. But yeah it is these small things that NiP does for its players that is really cool.

Yeah you also have your own chocolate!

Yeah exactly. My Steam picture is a picture of the chocolate bar.

Have you tasted it yet?

Actually I have not. I may have to call my manager to get a box of those.

You should put that in your contract, a weekly supply of chocolate bars.

We have chips as well!

Wow. Guess I'm coming to Sweden more often. So, StarLadder is around the corner. Have you had time to prepare yet with travelling and all?

For starters, the main problem with i-League for us was the short preparation time. It was very short notice and during the Christmas break, so we couldn't really prepare for the LAN. We tried maximizing everything in China, asking if we could leave early as we dropped out early. We could only travel back on the 7th however and got back home three days ago. But nobody wants to scrim on the day you get back home, so we started scrimming two days ago. The good thing about i-League however was that we got to talk a lot about what went wrong, instead of just saying "the draft sucked". We talked a lot more about how we want to play the game and a few strategies. So we prepared a lot more for [StarLadder]. Even though we only have been scrimming for two days so far, it feels a lot better. We will continue playing today and tomorrow and try to give it our best shot for StarLadder.

"We want to prove that we are deserving of the name NiP"

So you'd say despite the poor performance and results the i-League LAN experience was valuable?

Yeah of course, I mean it was our first LAN together as a team. The only thing I'm disappointed about is that we got last place and I don't think we were the worst team there. These kind of things are arguable of course. At the same time though I'm still proud that we were the only ones to take a game off of LGD-Gaming.

That's true. Back to StarLadder: Not to be disrespectful to the other teams, but with a lot of names dropping out, the competition doesn't seem as fierce as it could've been. What kind of expectations do you have for this tournament, it being your second LAN event as a team?

My expectations are going to be a bit higher than i-League. As you said, the bigger names are not attending, at the same time though there are a lot of strong teams still, like Hellraisers. Obviously we want to prove that we are deserving of the name NiP and that we got the sponsorship because we are actually good at this game. So we want to prove ourselves. At the same time, I'm not trying to put too much pressure on the team. As far as I see it, we've been a team for about 7 weeks, so you can't ask for too much, yet you still want things to happen fast. That's just how it works.

I think we should be able to get into top 3. That's going to be our first goal and obviously if we achieve that, we will aim for the win.

Sounds reasonable. Who do you think is going to be the biggest threat then, outside of iG maybe?

I'm not sure about iG, they didn't seem too strong at i-League. Every team is great though and Hellraisers are looking really strong, Empire as well. Empire is probably the hardest competition there, but you never know. Every team that is going to be there deserves it.







This is not your first time in Kiev obviously, both you and Apemother have been to previous StarLadders. How has your Kiev experience been thus far?

I've been to StarLadder like 4-5 times already. The whole way it is set up is very unique as the event is held at a cybercafe with a stage. A lot of PCs around, so you can always get a hold of one. The place and the stage are just generally really nice, there are couches to watch the games from and you can order drinks and meals. It's one of the better LANs in terms of how the tournament is held. The hotel is really close as well. You're not really moving outside of the area you're in, but that makes it really comfortable. It's not a big LAN anyway, only a few days. So you play the games and then you go to this local restaurant called Mr.Cat where you know every team is going to be at. You have a nice chat, drink a couple of beers and just talk. It's really nice and comfy at StarLadder.

Last time you were at StarLadder was with Fnatic, which brings me to the next topic: You had a rough year, but let's start from the beginning: When did you first experience anxiety?

The very first time I noticed it was when we were supposed to fly out for the D2L LAN finals in Las Vegas. Four or days before we were supposed to fly out I got really sick. Of course at that time I didn't know it was anxiety. I just knew I was feeling horrible. I got more scared because I didn't know what was going on. So due to that I had to skip the whole thing, which obviously I felt terrible about, but I didn't know what else to do. After that, I started looking for help from therapists and that's when I first found out that it was anxiety that I had come across.

And when did you first tell your teammates and your organization about it?

I don't know exactly when, but it was basically right after the D2L LAN finals. Like, right before the event I just felt really sick and only knew that I couldn't go, but after I talked to the therapists, I told my teammates right away.

As for my orgnization, what was there to tell, no matter if I'm sick or if I have anxiety, it still hurts the team. It was a really awkward time, because I felt really bad for my team, but at the same time I didn't want to give up what I had been fighting for the whole year, you know?

"It felt as if they stabbed me in the back"

How did your teammates handle the situation?

I obviously can't speak from their point of view, only from mine. It seemed as if everyone just wanted me to be fine, and focus on getting healthy first, Dota second. But then this whole Xcalibur thing happened and I felt left out. That was the first time when I actually felt like they didn't care about me at all. Like, these were the people that I was supposed to call lifelong friends, but it just felt as if they stabbed me in the back with that whole thing. So it's hard for me to say how they handled it, but H4nn1 for example was very considerate of me and always asked me how I was doing and stuff like that. But when I had to fly back home from our bootcamp, because I was doing really bad, they just straight up came with this Xcalibur thing, and instead of trying to support or help me with this situation, they just somewhat made it worse with the pressure of this situation.

When did they inform you that they were planning on going to TI4 with Xcalibur?

Right after he arrived at the bootcamp and that's when I got upset.

Yeah I can understand that. So then there was this whole issue with Valve and Fnatic and the published E-Mails - how did you perceive all of this? Tell me your point of view.

Valve had already make sure to contact me before all this drama went public. And the way Valve handles TI is that they invite the players and not the team. Even if I had allowed Xcalibur to go with Fnatic, Valve would not have allowed it. Knowing that, I wanted to pressure it a bit more. I basically had to force myself into TI because my team thought they would do better with Xcalibur, or that I would get sick. From my point of view, Fnatic just wanted to make themselves look better than the whole situation actually went down. I didn't agree with things they said. I just wanted to be at TI and prove that I earned my place at TI which I fought a whole year for.

Valve just wanted to help me and asked if there was a person or even a group that could go with me to make me feel more comfortable and that they would help me out. So they basically sent my whole family with me there, as well as my best friend and my girlfriend.

So how was it for you at TI?

I felt good at the event. The problem usually wasn't being at the event, it was getting me to the event. It's some sort of separation anxiety, I'm not sure exactly if it's the change of country, I don't know exactly what it is, but travelling to an event is like a rollercoaster ride for me.

So flying out with your family made it a lot easier for you?



Yeah definitely. I mean the big issue was me flying alone, as I was the sole Swede in Fnatic.

How was it at i-League then, since you travelled with all of your Swedish teammates?

Oh I haven't felt any anxiety at all since Ti4. I'm feeling really, really good right now.

That's good to hear. How much time did you need after TI4 to reset?

I needed like three or four weeks definitely. First of all just a break from Dota, because it was a very messed up year for me. So I just needed some time to clear my head out and evaluate if Dota is still the thing I want to do or if I should go back to school. But I still came to the conclusion that winning TI is my dream, so I'm striving towards winning TI and won't give up before then. So that's where the whole Lajons project came up.

Last question on this whole issue: How is your relationship with the former Fnatic members right now?



I don't really know actually. I talk to H4nn1 and Fly from time to time, but I think everyone is cool. If I was to meet any of them on LAN, I don't think they would be mean to me or vice versa, but I suppose it feels a bit awkward and tense. I feel like there are things left unsaid, that they wanted to say things that they didn't.

You have found a new family though in Lajons. How did that roster get together?

First of all I started the Lajons project with my old HeroesofNewerth teammate Mynuts, who is currently playing for Alliance. That's where the name comes from, as we played for an organization called Lions in HoN. So now we made Lions, but with a few different letters in a more Swedish sounding name.

The first Lajons line-up was me, mynuts, Fittske, Reelo and jonassomfan. It was close to our old HoN setup that we had. It didn't work out nearly as well as it did back then I guess (laughs). People had not been playing Dota for as long as I have. Some needed a bit more time to adapt. One of them actually had like 4k MMR and only played like 500 games - that doesn't really work, you have to put some time into it.

Jonas was one of the guys I realized had lots of talent and I knew this guy was going to be a beast. So we stuck together and Jonas' old teammates, Handsken and Sealkid, played with Coast before and then Coast split up and Jonas suggested we should try out with these two and see what happens. They however were with Apemother at the time and it just happened. We tried it out and won like 50-60 scrims in a row without losing a single game. We all knew this is what we have to do and what we're going to stick with.

Was it always the intention to acquire a full Swedish line-up or did it just fall into place?

Initially, I wanted to have a full Swedish line-up. It seemed a bit impossible after our first failed attempt and we thought: "Okay, maybe having a foreigner wouldn't be too bad." But then it just ended up like this and it's perfect. We're five Swedes and all really good friends already. It was a bit lucky I suppose.







Well, sometimes you need a bit of luck. How much do you guys practice on a weekly basis?

We usually play 5-6 hours together for six days a week, with a day off - which day that is that doesn't really matter. Weekends don't really exist in Dota, right? (laughs) But yeah, we try to play as much as possible, because we actually have two people in school that are currently in their exam phase, but they should be done pretty soon. They want to jump off onto the NiP train though.

So yeah, 5-6 hours a day for scrims, six days a week, then a bit of pubs as well, so roughly eight hours a day I suppose.

Sounds like a solid schedule. What do you do outside of Dota? You mentioned something about going back to school before - so I assume you quit for Dota?

Yeah, but this was some time ago, roughly a year and a half ago. It's called gymnasium in Sweden and I was in the 2nd grade when I jumped off. As for hobbies, I do like sports a lot. I'm not this kind of gym-type person, I rather play football, ping-pong and tennis. I love music, I listen to a lot of different genres, I play the guitar and my girlfriend plays bass, so we got some things going there.

Have you considered getting a band?

That's a future dream actually. With Dota going on for me and her being busy working that's a lot of things clashing. I would like to have band five years from now.

Would you also name it Lajons?

Probably not (laughs).

It's a cool name though. Although a lot of people mispronounce it. I've heard Le Johns, Little Johns and worse.

Haha, no you just pronounce it as Lions.

So, do you follow any other eSports, maybe CS:GO?

Yeah I actually do watch a bit of CS from time to time. Aside from that not really.

Did you know any NiP players before you joined?

Yeah I met a few of them before, attended the same after-parties etc. I'm not really sure if they would remember me but I for sure remember them.

Aren't they super famous in Sweden anyway? Counter Strike is pretty big after all in Sweden.

It was bigger before I suppose. But yeah, NiP, as an organization, and the Counter Strike players are the most famous eSports people in Sweden you could say.

You can take them off the throne with TI5 coming up! So there was this community question where people wanted to know about your family name, as it's not a Swedish one. Where is it from and how do you pronounce it?

My dad is from Kosovo, so that's where its from. I'm uncertain about the Albanian way to pronounce it, but the way I pronounce it is "Kri-es-io", simple. You pronounce it the way it is spelled, except for the "u" at the end you say "o".

That's actually really simple, looks more complicated than that.

Yeah trust me, I played football when I was young and they called me everything from Crazy You to Crazy Who and stuff. (laughs)

Okay, that is actually quite creative.

Yeah it is for sure haha. But yeah, I'm half Albanian from my dad's side.

Have you been to Kosovo?

I've only been there twice, which is something I regret somewhat. It's very different there, it's two different worlds. They don't play on PCs, they live and stand with their families and they grow their own food and stuff like that. It's very very different. I knew the language when I was younger - according to my father at least (laughs). My dad was in the military and he travelled a lot when I was young, so he was gone for a good part of my childhood and that's how I forgot the language. I still understand a lot, but I would not feel comfortable speaking Albanian.

I know the feeling haha. Well Era, it was a pleasure talking to you, thanks once again for joining me in this interview - do you have any shoutouts?

Shoutout to my team, I'm proud of you guys! Let's aim for the top! Shoutout to all my fans and the people standing behind my back even through the tough times. Love you all and thank you so much.

Follow and support Era on Twitter @EraDota.

NiP pictures from Ninjas in Pyjamas

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