Akke retires from Sk.Dota

[SvN]

After being more and more inactive lately, Akke has confirmed that he will leave SK.DotA to focus on his studies.

Playing at the top together with the best requires a lot spare time and regular training. Entering more and more tournaments and leagues it comes close to a full-time job to play DotA at a professional level. That's why Akke took a break from his studies for a half year.

During that time he traveled a lot with SK.DotA to participate in several big offline tournaments and the team became more successful than ever.

Before he perhaps vanishes completely from the competitive scene we caught up with Akke for a last interview, some final questions relating to the current situation of the team and his plans for the future.

Interview with Akke:
Last year I started university but decided to make a break and wait a year to chill and play DotA and just have fun, travel (which we did to Russia, France and USA) and then start to study again.

I have been trying to keep up both but it's hard to study that much that I have to do and still be in a top team like SK, so I have taken the decision to step down and let someone else take my place. We all will be still very good friends so we will see what happens in the future if my studies fail .

SK Gaming: Why did you quit the team excactly at this point, is it also connected with the fact that SK is struggling a lot at the moment?

Akke:
No no, not at all!


SK Gaming: Since when have you been studying?

Akke:
I have been studying at university since this August, this is also the reason for me being more and more inactive lately.


SK Gaming: With you leaving there seems to be a big hole left in the team, are there any plans on how to fill it up?

Akke:
I have talked to Loda and I know that he is looking for someone to fill my place, and I'm sure he will find a good replacement.

Snow has played with us quite much recently so maybe it will be him. I don't know. It's up to the team to decide. As mentioned before I haven't been online that much the past weeks so I don't know what will happen. But Snow impressed me a lot in the long run so I would be glad to see him take my spot.

SK Gaming: You and Loda have known each other for quite a while - you even attended school together. Do you think that additionally after Bogdan's leave this might affect him and the rest of the team in some way?

Akke:
I don't think Loda has any problems with it. We still keep in contact. I'm at our ventrilo, talking with them and chatting at mIRC, so there won't be that much of a difference. All the other guys in SK are cool as well so I don't think there will be any problem.


SK Gaming: SK is mostly known for perfect team play and less for the individual skill of the single players. You think so many changes lately will setback the team?

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Akke:
Hopefully all will play up to a better individual level as well, that's never bad. But with the new version coming to be official, and hopefully more gangs with it as well I think SK will do just fine, there is still a nice team play.


SK Gaming: What do you personally think about the decision to add to SK only Swedish players? Don't you think the team misses some great potential/players from other nations? Teams like MYM and mouz who are currently really successful also can live with the language barrier so this shouldn't be such a big problem.

Akke:
Of course it could work, as you say, for many other teams it works perfect so sure it's possible. But one thing with SK has always been that we have been a bunch of friends. But as I said before, a mix from different countries sure is possible.


SK Gaming: But it seems that exactly this is not possible, otherwise no one would let go of amazing players like Minitito and ARS-ART?

Akke:
Well, four Swedes and one foreign is a bit different than maybe three Danes and two Germans. If there are more than one you kinda remember to speak english =).


SK Gaming: To study comes along with periods of being really busy and lots of free time. Will you be still available as a substitute for SK or do you plan to completely vanish from the competitive scene?

Akke:
I guess time will tell that, right now I feel eased that I only have the school to focus on. SK is one of the top teams, and of course you want to be on top with them but therefore you need to be able to perform at your best. Without having that on my mind I can focus more on school.

But as you say, there are some periods when I don't have much work, but I think they will try to get a solid team instead of having so many players switching around. Maybe I will do as Bogdan and join a team that ain't that high up in the scene, but right now I think I'm just gonna chill, play when I want to and just for fun but not in a serious clan.


SK Gaming: But a comeback is not impossible from the current point of view?

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Akke:
Well I'll see what happens in school. If school fails I might come back. But as I feel now, then it won't be DotA.

There are a lot of others games that I feel more motivated to play at the moment. Maybe I'll come back after Starcraft 2 is out, Loda and me have great plans! And that includes moving to Korea etc. =D Nah but honestly, we'll see what happens, time will tell!


SK Gaming: With implementing the new map into all big tournaments, what makes you think SK will do better than they are doing currently? What exactly is the advantage for them if the map changes?

Akke:
Well of course the map won't come and there will be a magic word and *poof* SK will dominate. But I think they will be more motivated, with Dreamhack coming up they will practise a lot and hopefully come up with good results. I think Loda will make some good and funny strats as well, so I'm looking forward to see what happens.


SK Gaming: Concerning the recent strats it often looked like SK got out-picked or had some strange things in mind the majority couldn't really follow. What are the reasons to pick for example Weaver over and over again if you already made more than once the experience that this pick might not work like expected?

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Akke:
Well there is always a thought behind the picks. Often it tends to result in that we pick something what is funny to play, or something that not all the others do. The Weaver combo can be reaaaally good if it goes as it should.

You can always look at our game at ESWC. There we used our push strat with Visage, Necrolyte, Tidehunter, Vengeful Spirit and Terrorblade. That game went devastatingly bad early on, I think they were leading with something like 1-11 in the beginning. People who was behind us stood and all thought we were gonna lose, but as the game went on we started to win more and more fights. It wasn't our gameplay that made us win, it was our strat. We played horribly in the early game but still managed to win because of the strategies.

The point is, the strats that you might see us failing with could also be really good, it needs to be tried out. Like this we also found our push strat.


SK Gaming: But teams like MYM and mouz don't even waste a thought about something like this could not be entertaining enough and usually pick what works the most over and over again. Lastly, it's always the result which remains in the memories not the combos so shouldn't there be some change in the future?

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Akke:
I think we have achieved a lot in our career. Sometimes there are periods when the teams don't do as well as they have done before. But of course, you are right. In the end it's the result people will remember. But the team and myself we also will remember the time we played with each other. I don't play for anyone else, I play for myself and for my team.

Of course you want to do well for the organisation, but you also have to enjoy what you do. To keep up the motivation you need to have fun while playing. Sure we don't pick any hero only because it's fun, it's not fun to play and loose, but it's fun to have your own play style.


SK Gaming: Last but not least, tell us what you think about the two new heroes?

Akke:
Windrunner is cool, but I only think that because of the appearance. Reminds me of some old custom game I played a lot. =D For admiral, I have only heard he is imba. Just played him once in a -ardm game, so I didn't really notice much.


SK Gaming: Any last wishes for the future or shout outs?

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Akke:
Would like to wish all of the SK teams the best luck in the future. It has been a great experience, so much fun meeting everyone in the crew; Merusame, Alex, Carmac and the people from the other teams as well! I also want to thank SK as an organisation, they have been great to us and I hope I will be able to come back someday, in whatever game that might be. ; )


SK Gaming: Thank you very much for your time and your answers, good luck in the future with your studies and all the best!

Akke:
Cheers!

[2easy4boboho]

wihii..
my fave #2 uda retired ..
tp tuh pindah tim ato tinggal in . .

[blinkVSspetsnaz]

Gut luck akke.

[Saladin]

Dengan Demikian Hancurlah SK
hagahaga

[selam_jaya]

bogdan pergi aja dah terkapar, apalagi ditambah akke
gg dah sk yg skrg

[ramtamtam]

hm.... kacau nih tambah, tim2 eropa gonta ganti pemain melulu
slahser nya MYM juga, nga cocok dikit langsung cabut
nga kayak fnatic, cielaa.....

[whitezhark]

thanks alot

[NdRuw]

Sk.. GG sudah..

Sk. Loda... klo tanpa team yang solid.. tetep aja sulit menang =p

lol

[-flamingHEART-]

Iya nih SK mau nya apa! Pertama pemain fav gw yg di kick! si drayich! skrg akke ma bogdan! Zzzz.. loda2.. ganteng2 **** kau! hahahaha

[selam_jaya]

drayich bukan di kick deh perasaan
satu team dengan 2 karakter leader ga baik
si loda berdiskusi dgn drayich mengenai sapa yang sebaiknya memimpin SK, salah satu diantara mereka
drayich ngalah dan memutuskan utk keluar dari SK
*cmiiw

[FirstBloodZz]

feeling gw Sk bakal bubar neh lama2 dan Loda di invite team besar hahaha

[GrandMasterSexay]

Penggantinya mungkin A.Nystrand^SNOW aka snow-
SFnya mayan ni orang....tapi kan beda role...akke support dia carry waahahhaa

[selam_jaya]

sk ga mungkin bubar :x
itu perusahaan esports gede kyk mym dan fnatic ga mungkin bubar kecuali bangkrut ;D

perlu penambahan pemain aja dan gw liat sudah ada
A. Nystrand ^ SNOW
dia sering dipakai akhir2 ini pada CW dengan tim tim besar
watch this replay vs Rush3D (6.56 map) : here (nevermore) and here (broodmother)
liat deh maennya bagus dia mungkin di proyeksikan sebagai carrynya SK ;D

[SvN]

SK udah masuk SNOW
notbad lah maen nya
sama kalo perlu invite tuh si AIDAR
puck nya hampir setara puck nya tito

[selam_jaya]

aidar udah di pick dts sebagai pengganti go[blin]