After winnng ESWC Masters and DreamHack Summer, SK Gaming looked like the team to beat in 6.52. After ESWC Grand Finals, that picture has changed though, as the once so dominant Swedes had lost two games and crashed out even before the playoffs started.

	Bogdan, not good enough for SK.DotA

"Bogdan isn't a player that suits as good in 52e, that's one of the things that makes DotA so difficult. At this point you need pretty much to be able to farm/gang, lane and communicate. If you are too weak in one of those, you can't really play without dragging your team down", Loda said when asked for a deeper explanation.

Bogdan's replacement will be the local Swedish talent Erik 'zoN-' Falk, who is most known for his role in Gvision. The young Swede is not a direct replacement, but Loda told us that the team has high hopes in him.

"We added zoN- because we believe that he will grow really much playing with us, so he is more of an investment for now. But of course you'll see him play", Loda revealed.

"zoN- will play a carry/semi-carry part, atleast that is where I want him. Kwom is a really good farmer, but I'd rather have him at heroes that can concentrate better on ganging and moving around the map. So it's not impossible you'll see zoN- as SF or something like it."

The young Swede shouldn't have high hopes about seeing playtime in important matches though, as he is still in a learning phase. Loda wouldn't rule out the opportunity of using zoN- as a super-sub in certain games, but told us that he still sees the current roster as the best.

"Our best lineup is Me, Akke, Kwom, Hailo and Tompa. zoN- will have to wait while, but he will get there."

Though the team has been going through a high amount of player changes in the last couple of months, he doesn't feel the team has become less competitive.

"Well of course it has had some kind of impact on the games, but it's not like we were in distress or anything."

At the same time, he noted that the team has been taking several big tournaments down, most noteworthy being DreamHack Summer and ESWC Masters in Paris.

"We've won a couple of tournaments so we have still been able to deliver" he said about the changes, and once again added that he feels completely confident in his all-Swedish lineup, "We've tried many different players and it just makes me more sure of that a full swedish team will walk the walk".

SK Gaming at Asus Spring 08. Since then, Ars-Art (2nd from the right) and Bogdan (1st from the right) have left the team. Loda blames the new version for the unstable roster.

In other news, Minitito is also getting the boot from SK.DotA. The Croatian hasn't seen much playtime in the last couple of weeks, and is cited to leave the team due to the language barrier.

This leaves SK.DotA with the following lineup:

• Jonathan 'Loda' Berg (Leader)
• Joakim 'Akke' Akterhall
• Tommy 'toMpa' Andersson
• Mikael 'Hailo' Grinsvall
• Edwin 'KwoM' Börjesson
• Erik 'zoN-' Falk (Substitute)

Link: SK Gaming