Polly: "We can [take on] the best"

Former H2k squad that lately went under the name .no won Assembly Winter in February, but then failed to qualify for EMS One Katowice. In April they did manage to attend Copenhagen Games where they got knocked out by dignitas in the round of 16.

After that the team lost support from the organization and also lost their MVP from the triumphant Finnish event earlier in the year, Adrian "hoyland" Johansen, who became inactive.

Stepping in was 19-year-old Håvard "rain" Nyygard who previously played for partyastronauts, but the fresh blood didn't help the Norwegian team as they once again failed to qualify for the next big event, DreamHack Summer, due to a loss to AliGon in the 1/4 final of the qualifier.

Nevertheless, DreamHack ended up extending them an invite to attend the event and in the meantime they found support from a new organization called London Conspiracy, so here we are today discussing the team's expectations and plans with the squad's leader Pål "Polly" Kammen.

Polly's team got a last minute invite to DreamHack Summer 2014

How have you prepared for DreamHack Summer; do you feel ready for the event? Have you only practiced online or also bootcamped? How do you plan on spending the remaining time before the event kicks off?

Polly: As some of us have regular jobs, it is hard for us to find time for bootcamps outside holidays, so we have used our time getting some good practice online. We've tried to get more variation into our playstyle, as we were a very entryfrag dependant team, we have tried to get more set strats into our game. We feel we have been improving a lot lately, and are beginning to feel ready for the event, so we'll just continue playing as much as possible these last days before it all takes off!

Do you believe the lengthy break from LAN competition since Copenhagen Games will affect the results at DreamHack in any way, or does playing official matches online make up for it? You guys haven't played much online recently, but will you try to take advantage of the big teams doing so and try to counteract their playstyle based on what you may have seen?

Polly: I don't think the break from LANs will have much to say for the outcome of the tournament, but I think teams really look forward to competing again, so maybe we'll see some new and fresh stuff.

As for officials online, I don't think we have a very big advantage from not having played in a while, and most teams know each other's playstyles pretty well from pracc anyways. Of course we have watched a lot of the best teams' online matches, and that might have given us a bit more information about them than they have about us, but I don't think it will make much of a difference. When we know who we are grouped with, we'll probably take a closer look at those teams to be prepared the best possible way.

Who do you think will be the toughest opponents for you at DreamHack? Any potential dark horses who have seemed particularly strong lately that you think might surpass everyone’s expectations in Jönköping? Anyone who might disappoint?

Polly: The toughest opponent for us I think will be ex-LGB, as their playstyle is a pain to play against! And of course the other top teams will be hard, but we don't really fear anyone. We know we can give every team a run for their money when we're hitting our shots and get things going, so we're just really looking forward to getting the oppurtunity to show ourselves again.

Calling out a dark horse in these tournaments is really hard, as I feel almost everyone can beat eachother, but NiP, Virtus and Titan will surely be up there, and I think fnatic will do well as they are on home turf and have done well at DreamHack previously.

Player	Age	Rating
Markus "maak" Karlsen	19	0.97
Ruben "RUBINO" Villarroel	20	0.95
Pål "Polly" Kammen	23	0.95
Bjoern "Skurk" Maaren	21	0.94
Håvard "rain" Nyygard	19	0.80

What do you make of your chances at DreamHack? What would be a realistic goal for your team, and what would you be ok settling at? Is there any extra pressure for you to perform well at this particular event considering your new organization stepping in just now?

Polly: Our first goal is getting out of groups, and I think that's a realistic goal aswell. As I said we feel we can compete with the best regularly, so we're really hoping we get to show that at this event.

As for extra pressure we don't have any pressure from London Conspiracy to get this or that far into the tournament, the only pressure we have is the one we've put on ourselves to perform well and show LC they have made the right choice picking us up.

Was your 9-16th place at Copenhagen Games after a loss to dignitas a realistic placement at the time considering form and all the top teams in attendance, or did perhaps the single elimination format hinder your chances to advance further?

Polly: Considering the opponent, Dignitas, it was fairly expected, as they are one of few teams we feel uncomfortable playing. Of course a lower bracket would give us a chance to proceed further, and I think we would have given the chance. So I hope CPH change their setup next year, as it is a really awesome event, and I really enjoyed it last year with temp.no when we got pretty far through the lower bracket.

You recently lost hoyland, who was your star player at the title winning campaign at Assembly earlier in the year, replacing him with rain. How does the new player fit into the team, will he fulfill the same role as hoyland did or was there an overhaul in the roles within the team since the change? We saw rain show some star potential in the EMS One qualifiers earlier in the year, what is his ceiling in your opinion, how good can he become?

Polly: Rain has taken over some of hoylands roles in the team, but we have also changed a lot after we changed players. Rain has the same level of skill as hoyland, and has brought us to a new level teamplay wise.

Rain is getting better with every praccday as he gains more experience and gets more accustomed to playing against the best. As for how good he can get, no one knows, with his ability and potential he can go as far as he wants. And outside the game we have a REALLY good connection, and that's the most important part, so we are just really enjoying playing and hanging out with each other.

What are the expectations from you guys and from the new organization about the future after DH Summer? What are the main goals for the second half of 2014? Will we see you playing more online leagues, attend every LAN event?

Polly: We really feel no pressure at all from the management of London Conspiracy, but of course we want to perfrom as good as we can, to make them proud of us and to help them get their brand out there. We are really looking forward to continuing our partnership with London Conspiracy, and we are certain it will be a very long and healthy partnership.

We have planned and discussed some events and online stuff, but nothing set in stone yet. But I can assure you that you will see a lot from us in the months to come.

London Conspiracy have been placed into what might be the hardest group, B, alongside Virtus.pro, fnatic and SK Gaming, and they will be in action on day one of DreamHack, which is Saturday, June 14th.

We will continue interviewing all confirmed attendees until the event starts, and next you can expect Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas' thoughts about Virtus.pro's preparation and more.