Sovann “Skim” Kim, DotaBlast’s liaison at ESL One Frankfurt, had a chat with Per Anders Olsson “Pajkatt” Lille, shortly after Alliance’s elimination from the tournament. Pajkatt talked about the ESL One format, Alliance’s strats, The International, his expectations from the Majors, and the importance of friendship between team members.

Skim: How are you feeling?

Pajkatt: Despite the loss I’m feeling okay. I’m a bit disappointed, but we managed to play as a team and I’m happy with that.

Skim: I think looking at your recent performances, at DreamHack Summer for example, you guys have stepped it up a lot – do you think this momentum could help your team stay together?

Pajkatt: I don’t know, we’ll see. I’m going to take a vacation now, I haven’t taken a vacation in… I don’t even know how long. I’ll take a month break from Dota. It’s hard to tell.

Skim: Back to this tournament, ESL One runs a single elimination event, in contrast to most double elimination events – how do you like this format?

Pajkatt: I actually think single elimination is quite nice. What sucks is that we were the first team to play and thus the first team to get eliminated. Other than that it’s quite nice, you win one game and then you’re top four, you win another and suddenly you’re in the finals.

Skim: What are your thoughts on the seeding bracket?

Pajkatt: I don’t care too much about it, to be honest. Like, I don’t care if they have seeding matches or not, it’s just the way they did it which was bad. We played right there with the casters and we couldn’t hear anything, it was super loud. The arrangement was just awful. I’m fine with the idea of having seeding matches, though.

Skim: In your last game here, you played offlane Queen of Pain with Bulldog on the midlane, on Magnus. Why is it that you switched roles, is it because one prefers a certain hero over the other?

Pajkatt: It’s a strat that we’ve run a couple times. Their (editor’s note: Virtus Pro’s) picks against it were a lot better than what we’re used to playing against, though. The Silencer last pick screwed us over. But we practiced this. The idea is to have an offlane QoP and then having an Enigma denying your creep. You’re going to get some stuff, you’re going to get level regardless, at least level 2. I also buy a lot of regen. QoP at level 2 is pretty strong at fighting their Supports with Shadow Strike. And if you can’t do anything on your offlane, you can rotate to mid and kill the guy there – and this is kind of what I did. I don’t like playing Magnus that much, Bulldog is okay with it and I don’t mind playing offlane, we practiced it so it was okay.

Skim: There was a certain scenario where you were pretty close to killing the opposing Earthshaker and it would’ve been first blood – you didn’t however go for it. Do you think it would’ve been worth it committing for it?

Pajkatt: If it had been any other hero than Silencer then maybe, yeah. But in this case, I don’t think it’s worth it. He’s going to get Intelligence for free and it’s also the uncertainty of actually getting the kill. The gain would not have been high enough, it’s not like I would’ve won the lane from it.

Skim: What do you expect from the Majors system?

Pajkatt: I think it’s going to be good, I hope it alleviates some pressure from players, because TI screws with teams a lot. It is one big tournament and if you don’t qualify, your last year has been a waste. TI may be good for Valve, because it looks good to have one huge tournament, but for the players it’s better to have more TI-like tournaments, because if you don’t make it into one, at least you can still qualify for the other.

Skim: There’s also the concern of smaller tournaments dying out, however. DreamHack Summer for example already saw a lot of tier 1 teams not participating. Do you think trademark tournaments such as DH could not have a proper Dota 2 tournament?

Pajkatt: I’m hoping that smaller tournaments could up their game a bit, but at the same time we don’t need so many small tournaments. It creates pressure on tournaments to come through for players to attend their events. I think it’s good to put pressure on tournament organizers.

Skim: Let’s talk about your personal career. You’ve pretty much played everything at this point, even tried your hand at in-game leading a bit – what’s your favorite role, is it the mid-role?

Pajkatt: I only did a bit of in-game leading though, but that’s true, I’ve played a little bit of everything. I like playing mid Carries, like what I played the previous patch with Sniper and Troll. I like to have the game revolve around me. I like playing Storm and SF. I like some Carry heroes, but when I get to pick I play mid.

Skim: You’re a veteran in the scene, been around for a long time and been in many teams. What past team do you think had the most potential?

Pajkatt: Probably Mouz/Team Dog. I think we were a really good team, our shot at TI was a bit unfortunate. If we had won one more game we would’ve been top 8, we might have even stayed together. I think the team had a lot of potential, but sh*t happens.

Skim: Do you miss playing with Misery?

Pajkatt: Yes and no. He’s a fun guy to hang out with and we had a lot of fun when we were living in China. I consider him a friend and a good player, but it’s good to make new experiences and meet new people.

Skim: Do you think it’s important to be friends with your teammates, even though now it’s more of a job?

Pajkatt: I think it’s pretty important to be friends. I can see it working if you have five individuals that are professional enough, but I think the scene is too young for that. Everyone in the scene is really passionate about the game, which means that you need to get along with people, you kind of need to be friends with them. Otherwise, there will be trust issues.

Skim: We’ve talked about you having played in plenty of teams. If you had to pick an all-star team out of former team members, who would they be?

Pajkatt: That’s a tough question. I guess Puppey and Akke would be in it, but I really can’t say.

Skim: How’s playing with Mad like? Do you guys communicate in English all the time or just key phrases?

Pajkatt: We all talk in English. On rare occasions we speak Swedish, outside the game sometimes, but in-game usually English. We’re so used to speaking English, I lived abroad for a year, I talk English to my girlfriend, so it’s not that hard.

Skim: How good is your Chinese still?

Pajkatt: I remember a little bit, I can understand a little bit. But I’m not good anymore. I know some phrases still, but it’s not that good anymore. My pronunciation is still good I think, though.

Skim: Who was the best at Chinese out of LGD.int?

Pajkatt: It was me.

Skim: It was you? Well, we know Misery didn’t learn any Chinese. 😉 Thank you for the interview!