After a very successful event at Star Ladder Star Series Season 11 with a third place finish, the DotA 2 players of NiP are now back from Kiev, Ukraine and with the team being back the introduction of the players continues. Next up is our off / solo lane player Jonas ”jonassomfan” Lindholm,



Tell us more about yourself, how did you start off your gaming career?

My name is Jonas ”jonassomfan” Lindholm, i’m 22 years old from Täby but currently resided in Borås. I’m a big fan of computer games and console games overall and it’s been a big part of my life. I’ve always been playing all sorts of games starting off with the classic Gameboy color and PlayStation 1 which later transitioned into computer games. My first competitive game was Counter-Strike 1.6 where I was semi competitive and competed in several tournaments with my team. I also played some casual Warcraft 3 DotA, World of Warcraft, Tibia and other games on the side. It was ultimately my Counter-Strike buddies that later really brought me into the MOBA scene and Heroes of Newerth. I really enjoyed the game and as always when I’m enjoying something I want to give it my all and become best at it. About 3 months ago or so I made the transition over to DotA 2.

How did you come up with your interesting name, Jonassomfan?

It was sort of my smurf name when I used to play CS. I used it whenever I played public games because for some unknown reason I thought I was too cool to use my real nickname in public games haha, and it just carried over to MOBA.

What is your previous experience before you joined ventures with Ninjas in Pyjamas?

Initially me, Era, Mynuts, Reelo and Fittske created a DotA team, but it didn’t really work out the way we wanted it to. So after some time we decided to give up on that idea. Me and Era however stuck together and had some time where we tried other options and players but we never really found anything interesting. In the end I came back to play with my former HoN teammates Handsken and Sealkid and brought Era with me while Handsken and Sealkid brought Apemother. Before getting into the DotA scene I spend some time playing Counter-Strike 1.6 for about 4-5 years and later Heroes of Newerth for about 3 years as mentioned before. In Heroes of Newerth i played in teams such as the first Lions esportclub together with players like Mynuts, S4, Skyzoe and Fittske, Another Lions esportclub team together with Handsken and Sealkid which later became Bad Monkey Gaming and one of the more successful teams in Heroes of Newerths history.

Jonassomfan in Bad Monkey Gamers, image from HoNtour.

What’s the difference between Heroes of Newerth and DotA 2 when you play them competitively?

The biggest difference is the amount of competitive teams. DotA 2 is much bigger and have many more teams that you are available to scrim. The amount of dota tournaments and especially LAN events compared to HoN are tremendous. There is of course a hero difference between the games as well.

Which is your favorite game between Heroes of Newerth and DotA 2?

I really liked that Heroes of Newerth gameplay was so fast and smooth compared to DotA 2. But overall I like DotA 2 more, and to be honest I even have troubles watching HoN now.

Do you still play Heroes of Newerth?

I do not still play Heroes of Newerth.

What is your role in the team?

In Dota terms I play the 3rd position role, which in other terms means the off- or solo lane player.

Whats the tasks of a solo lane player?

There is clearly many ways of playing the solo lane. Killing your opponent, out farming them or just to try and get as much as you can while not dying if your lane is hard. There is of course a big difference between a 1v1 matchup and a 1v2 or 1v3 lane. But for me personally the most important thing is to always be as efficient as possible. There are always things you can do, even if you’re up against 3 players and you’re solo you have to be creative. It could be simple things as just go to the jungle, helping your team get runes, stacking camps or just keep an extra eye on the minimap to give your team fast information about who’s missing and what’s happening.

What are your expectations of the team?

My expectation of the team is to always strive to get better and improve as a unit in any possible way. I think all in our team can agree on that our team goal is to reach the International 5.

Follow Jonassomfan on Twitter!