The Lighter Side of Liquid – Dota 2’s Perennial Sweethearts Go Off-Topic
| Tags: Dota 2
| Author The Old One
Members of Team Liquid talk about many things that aren’t Dota, and some things that are.
If you love Dota, you have no doubt heard of Team Liquid. The TI7-winning clan currently consists of the quintet of Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen, Michael “m1CKe” Vu, Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg, Samuel “Boxi” Svahn, and Aydin “iNSaNiA” Sarkohi. All of them were present at TI11’s virtual Press Meet, where they answered some questions they’re not usually asked on such platforms. If you ever wanted to know more about your favorite Liquid players, this one’s for you.
Off-Duty Activities
What do you guys like to do when you're not playing Dota? Is there anything you do to wind down?
zai: Wind down? We play other games.
m1CKe: Meet new people.
iNSaNiA: I feel like it’s pretty simple. It’s Dota Auto Chess in the corner (points at MATUMBAMAN), it’s… some Warcraft III games, I don’t know (indicating zai), uhh Lost Ark (points at m1CKe), probably Auto Chess too (pointing at self), and then… *inaudible*
Boxi: Whatever flavor of the month game I can sink my time into.
zai: We had a lot of winding down when we’re losing tournaments, and uhh… we got into Survival Chaos which is a Warcraft III game… A lot of time went into that game this year. A lot of winding down.
MATUMBAMAN: Definitely used a lot of events to play that game.
If you guys could be any character in any movie, series, or anime, what would you be?
iNSaNiA: I’ve been watching a lot of Naruto recently, so I’d probably be Kakashi.
MATUMBAMAN: I’ve always been a pretty huge Lord of the Rings fan so I would be Aragorn, son of Arathorn!
Boxi: If Matu was Aragorn I will be Gwendolyn.
iNSaNiA: What the f…?
Boxi: Who is Gwendolyn? Gwendolyn is somebody… the girl from Game of Thrones!
iNSaNiA: Do you mean Galadriel?
MATUMBAMAN: That’s not a Lord of the Rings character, my friend!
Boxi: Either the elf girl, or the blond girl. Probably the elf girl.
MATUMBAMAN: Eowyn and Arwen! Arwen is the elf, Eowyn is the human.
iNSaNiA: Does he mean Galadriel? I think he means Galadriel.
Boxi: No no not Galadriel.
MATUMBAMAN: He’s talking about the two girls that I have a crush on.
iNSaNiA: Oh the human… Eowyn.
Boxi: Gwendolyn.
MATUMBAMAN: She married Eomer.
zai: Good answers.
iNSaNiA and MATUMBAMAN: *laughing* Gwendolyn!
iNSaNiA: I was like, he definitely means Galadriel.
Boxi: I’m bad with names, sorry!
Do you guys like to travel? Is there a favorite vacation destination for each of you?
Boxi: I love to travel home. That’s my favorite destination.
MATUMBAMAN: I’m with you, Boxi.
If you guys didn't become Dota players and could choose any career you wanted, what would you do?
iNSaNiA: I’d work at McDonald’s. I’d probably be a McDonald’s worker or a cleaner.
Boxi: I’d hire you.
MATUMBAMAN: I would unironically be a sea captain.
zai: That’s a cool one… I’d be a sea pirate. I’d f*** your boat up.
Off-Beat Dota Questions
Who are your favorite casters for your own games?
iNSaNiA: I really like Cap and Blitz. I think… ODPixel is the most hype caster. I really enjoy his cast with Fogged. Really really good. Out of the up and coming ones I was really impressed with Ares and Danog; I think they did a really good job in the LCQ. Looking forward to seeing more of them.
If each of you could stand in for any team in TI history, which would you play for/with?
MATUMBAMAN: I would love to play with the old OG… with Johan — N0tail, *inaudible* Ceb, JerAx, Topson, ana. I would stand in for any of them just to get a chance to play with them one time *laughs.*
zai: I would like to stand-in for TI4 Newbee and smash *inaudible.*
If you were put into a Squid Game situation and had to play a hero to perfection, what would you pick?
iNSaNiA: I haven’t seen the show so I have no idea what this means… What’s your best Hero I guess is the question.
MATUMBAMAN: I would take Lifestealer. It’s simple. If you have to play it to perfection you can never take Lone Druid. If you pick Lifestealer, you have a chance of making it perfect.
m1CKe: I think I’ll take Enigma for spice.
iNSaNiA: Sounds good… I feel like I’ll take Nature’s Prophet and TP to a corner and go “Bye!”
Team Liquid are scheduled to play Team Aster on October 29, and if you miss any of the action you'll be able to catch the recap of that match, and the rest of the series at Finals Weekend, right here on ESTNN.