Interview with Freedom Isn't Free's captain, Aikman

Before Guy Aikman started his interview, he had a few things to say:
"I am Guy Aikman. And I see a whole army of my countrymen, here in defiance of tyranny! You have come to fight as free men. And free man you are! What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?"
"17 teams against 1?" - I shouted. "No! We will run - and live!"
"Yes!" Guy shouted back. "Fight and you may die. Run and you will live at least awhile. And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never take our freedom!"

To which I replied, "dude, it's just a game?"

This should already give you a preview of how serious Freedom Isn't Free are.  A men on the quest for Freedom.  Guy Aikman tells us more in this interview.

Player profile
Name: Guy Aikman
Age: 18
Current Team: Freedom Isn't Free
Headset: Plantronics Something, cost me $20 on sale.
Keyboard: Genius Something, cost me $10
Mouse: ROCCAT Kova [+]
Essential tournament food:  All-American Hamburgers

G’day Guy, mind introducing yourself to the Canberra DOTA2 scene?          
 Just your average University of Canberra student, I started playing Dota back around 2009-2010 with the same people who are now on my team. These were small 2v2 and the like, where Sange and Yasha was built on -everyone-, Agi Heros were dominant, and Pugna's Life drain was unstoppable. We soon learned that we had been playing the game wrong, despite how fun it was. Now we play properly, and it turns out that in a 5v5, quite a few Heroes are much better than in a 2v2 (Undying and Wisp, for example).

Are you able to introduce your team mates as well and their roles in the team? 
On the team we have Liberty (Rory), our dedicated Weaver picker and likely #1 or #2 slot. Stars and Stripes (Michael) is our complaint-bot, generally playing #3 or #5. Freedom (Danny) brings the Korean Dota 'skill' to our team, often filing in for #2 or #5. Uncle Sam (Nathan) is our handy-man, doing all the stuff that I don't want to do, playing #4 and #5. Bald Eagle (Guy) is me, 'He who does not buy wards' (quoted Stars and Stripes), playing in at #1 or #4. Keep in mind these are generalisations, as most of us can play any role that is required, though we tend to stick to our strengths.

BOOM! Freedom Isn't Free is here!

How long have you played together with your current team?
We have played small amounts of Dota together since 2010, but it wasn't until Dota 2 was released that we started playing seriously, and it was mostly myself, Stars and Stripes, and Liberty who would play together, as the other two weren't in our college. Eventually, we managed to get Uncle Sam into the mix, and only lacked one more. (Un)fortunately, we had to settle with Freedom as our fifth, meaning we've only been playing as a full 5 team for a few weeks now.

You seem to have an agenda with a team name such as Freedom Isn't Free, can you go more into detail about this?
Truth be told, it's fairly simple: If you won't throw in your buck o' five, who will? It is our ultimate goal to bring democracy and freedom to the world (if you have oil, that is), and so we take to the battlegrounds of Dota in order to fight for it. The valiant sacrifice of five willing patriots is necessary for a peaceful world dominated by the red, white, and blue (but only American Red White and Blue, that is.)

Basically those who think differently, will get crushed on the day we can assume?
While we can assure you we will be 100% victorious in the very long run, we must say this: if FIF falls to those of different ideals, it is by our choice alone to retreat. We have to give the opposition some chance, in the interest of good sportsmanship.  After all, what good is democracy without foes to crush?

How about the interstate teams coming to compete in this tournament?  Do you feel they share your ideals and will you give them a lesson if not?
Like the answer above, we understand that we often have to give other competitors a fair go. It is our job to bring freedom, but freedom costs a buck o' five. In that regard, take note: The Ancient is stained with the blood of Patriots.

What's that you hear? Oh, the sound of Freedom!

Back to our own local scene in Canberra, is there any teams that you’re familiar with and respect?
Unfortunately, we can't say we have met any of the teams in the tournament, but we are excited that so many teams have come together for the event.

Is there anything that we can look forward to with your participation in the tournament?
Well, for the event, Liberty will be taking on role of captain of picks, so you can expect some downright amazing and/or horrible picks. Other than that, I'd say to expect equally amazing and/or terrible plays, too.

Will we see you in future Canberra DOTA2 tournaments?
Certainly. As a team, we are quite eager to see more Dota tournaments around Canberra.

Guy, thank you for your time, is there anything further that you’d like to add or any shoutouts?
First of all, thanks to everyone organising and running the event. Also shouting out to the sponsors and other teams, and in general everyone involved in this tournament.

Also a quick shout out to Chris Hann. You could have been [FIF] Freedom, man. You could have been [FIF] Freedom...

You could have had this Chris Hann!