zai Reveals Team Liquid’s Drafting Success

The Team Liquid offlaner sheds light on the team’s unconventional drafting process

Team Liquid have been dominating the competitive Dota 2 scene this year with two regional league victories and impressive performances at the Lima Major 2023 and DreamLeague S19. In a post-match interview, offlaner Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg disclosed how he and Coach William “Blitz” Lee devise the team’s drafting process, which gives them an extra edge. Both of them contribute their own ideas to come up with the best strategy for the team. 

zai Opens Up On Team Liquid Drafting With Blitz 

In the post-match interview after Team Liquid's commanding 2-0 victory over Shopify in group stage 2 of the DreamLeague S19, presenter Jorien “Sheever” van der asked zai about a conversation she had with Coach William “Blitz” Lee at the Lima Major. Sheever highlighted that Blitz handles initial bans while zai works on first picks, and the two work together to formulate strategies for the opposition's players.

zai demonstrated how this process works by referring to a specific example from the series against Shopify Rebellion.

“I mean we discuss our plans together. That’s usually the first step in preparing for a team. We look at what they have done before, we look at the openers and what we think they are going to do. For example today, we knew they (Shopify Rebellion) were going to first pick Doom and probably Invoker on the 8th if we go with Lesh so that was kind of in our plans already.”

Zai emphasized the significance of considering all angles during the drafting process and mentioned that he and Blitz are consistently improving their drafting techniques.

“I think he focuses a lot on bans making sure we tick all the boxes and we don’t miss any heroes that we should be playing against and that we also protect our own heroes. It’s a good synergy. It’s working pretty well and I think we are getting better at it.”

While it’s true that Liquid follow a special drafting technique, but zai specified that he has been a member of several teams where multiple players have shared their ideas and worked together on the draft.

“At the same time, for most of the teams I have been a part of, the drafting process is usually a shared kind of thing. I think you always try to form some understanding and things to build towards. And a lot of the ideas and stuff that you have developed over time as a team. So, maybe the way we work is special to us but I am sure people have similar relationships with coaches and similar players who are drafting in general.”

zai has had to become increasingly involved in the drafting process since Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen' left the team last year.