Denmark’s fan favourite Sylvester ‘Link’ Hoelgaard is well known for his great performance, in MonkeyBussiness/Quantic Gaming/SK Gaming. Link has won numerous tournaments. His achievements including a second place place title for The Defense.

JW : ” Both you and CalculuS eventually joined up with the rest of MonkeyBusiness. Following a series of good performances, you guys were sponsored by SK. Could you describe your emotions then? ”

LINK: ” Nordic Esports had to split up at the same time. Kragx was going to Korea to study and Balsam had to join the army for 4 months. I was very happy being able to continue my competitive career that fast after NE had to split, and on top of that with some of the best Danish players there is. We had a lot of different ways to view and play the game but eventually we agreed on certain aspects of the game and it lead to some very strong gameplay. We joined up with SK, which turned out to be rather disappointing, but we were happy at first. ”

JW : ” SK participated in ESWC with the lineup of Link, CalculuS, Angel, miGGel, Ryze. After a close game against Na’Vi, it was unfortunate that you guys did not make it to the finals despite having the perfect first day. How did you take the events as you narrowly missed out on the finals of one of the biggest LAN tournament? ”

LINK : ” We were really disappointed and felt like it was a poorly organized event. Even the semifinals were best-of-one and single elimination. Afterwards we were not motivated to fight for the third place vs. Fnatic and lost that game as well. Apart from that we had a good time as we always did well on LAN with Monkey-Business/SK. ”

JW : ” It was not long before CalculuS was replaced by Mania. What were your thoughts, and how did you deal with losing one of your closest friend from the team? ”

LINK : ” The team was kind of in a slump and people felt like something had to be done. I was sad about losing a close friend from the team, but it also showed instant good results with MaNia. It seemed like people had found their fighting spirit once again and to be honest that felt really good at that time after being down for a while. When I think back to that point now, I do not really regret going along with the decision. At the same time I feel like I’ve learned a lesson from it. If there is problems within a team it never comes down to one player, and replacing one player and doing nothing else will only postpone the problem. Had I been wiser at that time, then I would have done it differently for sure. ”

JW : ” After losing SK’s sponsorship, Quantic decided to pick you guys up. Quantic was a team that truly challenged for the top spot, narrowly losing out to Na’Vi in The Defense finals 2 games to 3. How would you describe the entire journey to the finals? ”

LINK : ” Just like with SK, Quantic worked for a while, which was while we were playing in The Defense. Everyone was giving it everything and it was a blast to play the entire tournament almost claiming first place. The finals versus Na’Vi was one of the most exciting series of games I have ever played. ”

JW : ” We wish you all the best with your future endeavours. Any shoutouts? ”

LINK : ” Shoutout to TTB, s4, HenryDick, Balsam, CalculuS as well as his two roommates Rasmus and Emil. Shoutout to Ryze for being a good friend and a awesome twitterer! (@RyzeDota). Shoutout to 7ckingmad for being 7ckingCalm/kind/sweet/downtoearth/anythingbutmad. Shoutout to my fans and friends in #linkdota mIRC quakenet as well as those who do not idle there. ”

Full Interview