[Sammelthread] DotA 2
- Ersteller Leandros
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Z
Zybba
Guest
Mich zwar auch nicht, aber PL IM NEUEN META!!!
Ich denke schon, dass Progames sich wieder ein wenig wandeln werden.
Der Held wirkt für mich extrem stark.
In Pubs sieht man ihn kaum. Was der Bauer nicht bei den Pros sieht, frisst er nicht... ^^
Fexzz
BIOS-Overclocker(in)
Ich muss auch mal wieder anfangen, mehr competitive Dota 2 zu gucken. War vor 'nem Jahr mal echt drin, aber dann irgendwie rausgekommen weil keine Leute gekannt im RL die da auch Interesse haben etc. So zum TI gucken gemeinsam ist sicher lustig, werd ganz neidisch wenn ich das bei euch hier lese
Z
Zybba
Guest
Soll ich schriftliche Interviews hier rein setzen, wenn ich die finde?
Meist lese ich die eh selbst.
Gosugamers.net Interview mit DKPhobos vom Team Asus.Polar:
Meist lese ich die eh selbst.
Gosugamers.net Interview mit DKPhobos vom Team Asus.Polar:
Hey Phobos, thanks for joining us in this interview. The Asia Championships are going on, are you following it closely? Are there any surprises for you so far?
Hi, not really. I just watch occasionally when Na`VI are playing so I can't talk about suprises at the moment.
Ah okay - who's your favorite for the overall tournament?
At the moment it's probably Na'Vi, Team Secret and Vici Gaming.
Your team sadly didn't qualify for the event. In general, you guys have had a lot of ups and downs so far. What do you think is the issue?
Well, we played around 8 or 9 games on the last day of D2L and 4 hours aftwards we should have gone to the airport. After finishing our matches in Las Vegas for D2L Season 5 we had really bad tickets and my trip home took somewhere between 40-45 hours. And 8-10 hours after getting home we had to play the DAC qualifiers...
Yeah that was definitely a hectic time - are you sorta happy that you guys don't play in DAC and have a bit more time off?
[Laughs] Kinda yes. But we really wanted to go.
Oh yeah for sure. Coming back to you, you only returned to the competitive scene a few months ago - you worked with Na'Vi before that, what did you do for Na'Vi?
I was hired as a programmer and developed Read - Natus Vincere Website and some other stuff for them.
Oh cool! Do you still do it or are you only focused on pro gaming at the moment?
Unfortunately I have no time for programming at the moment.
How much time do you spend playing/practicing Dota 2 per day?
We practice somewhere between 2-8 hours a day.
Why did you decide to come back to professional Dota? When did you decide to do so?
I decided to come back to the competitive scene in March 2014 so i have time to train for The International. Why? Because it's something I've wanted to try and I wanted to see how it would go.
And how did NVMI come together? Whose idea was it?
The idea was devised by Goblak and myself. We wanted to play together so we started searching for players to complete the roster. We found Illidan for the carry role and brought in two young talents Lil and Afoninje for the support and mid roles.
Shortly after you guys came together, you also won the GameShow League LAN finals against Na'Vi - did you expect to do so well so soon?
No, we didn't expect this at all. It was really huge morale boost for for the team.
Sadly though, Goblak left the team and joined Na'Vi - how did you handle this? And did you immediately think of fng as a replacement?
Well, fng was the only one variant who could save us. Thank god he agreed!
Did you immediately accept him as a captain?
Yes!
Coming back to you, you were playing both offlane and midlane, primarily midlane now. Which role do you prefer?
Well I really don't care. I like to play different roles, so one day it could be mid, another it could be the offlane. Or both!
Do you think you play differently on each role or would you say you play the same?
Sure, I play differently. I find it very helpful to understand how each core hero works.
What are your favorite heroes? Is there maybe a hero you want to play more often but can't because he doesn't work in the current meta?
My favourite heroes are spread between the two roles. At the moment I really like Ember Spirit, Zeus, Centaur Warrunner, Brewmaster, Puck and Batrider. I really like Timbersaw but unfortunately he doesn't work in the current meta.
True, sadly. You and Dendi have been friends for a long time, do you think you two could ever play in a team together?
I hope so. [smiles]
The Western scene has just seen a few roster changes, but the CIS teams haven't changed yet. Do you think that changes will still come? Will Asus.Polar stick together?
At the moment I couldn't say. We will see after DAC.
Okay, let's hope everything stays the same, as a lot of CIS teams are doing really well - what do you think of Hellraisers?
With Hellraisers I don't think they have really strong players in the team, but they combine well as a team and have very good strategies.
And Power Rangers? They didn't perform too well yesterday.
I think they play well against SNG (CIS) teams because they are prepared for our strategies and gameplay. But against the other teams... You can see by their results.
Anyway, you guys have played in a lot of tournaments lately. Some say there are too many tournaments going on. Do you agree? Would you prefer playing less officials?
Yes, it is very difficult to play so many games, we are tired. Sometimes you can play up to 5-8 games against one team in a week. It isn't interesting at all. And you have no time to prepare for the games.
Yeah it really is a bad situation... Anyway, you guys are changing your name to Asus.Polar - let's be honest here, do you miss the name NVMI?
Yes, I liked NVMI. Goblak proposed the name when we formed the team. The full name Nam Vezet - Mi Igraem (Нам везет - мы играем) means 'We are lucky - we are playing'. Something like that.
Nice. So, how long do you think you could play competitively? You said before that you wanted to play in TI5 - will a bad performance there mean that you quit?
No, I want to play for a minimum of 2-3 years. [smiles]
Good! Thank you for the interview man, any shoutouts?
Thank you too! Thanks to all who support us, we will try to do our best!
Hi, not really. I just watch occasionally when Na`VI are playing so I can't talk about suprises at the moment.
Ah okay - who's your favorite for the overall tournament?
At the moment it's probably Na'Vi, Team Secret and Vici Gaming.
Your team sadly didn't qualify for the event. In general, you guys have had a lot of ups and downs so far. What do you think is the issue?
Well, we played around 8 or 9 games on the last day of D2L and 4 hours aftwards we should have gone to the airport. After finishing our matches in Las Vegas for D2L Season 5 we had really bad tickets and my trip home took somewhere between 40-45 hours. And 8-10 hours after getting home we had to play the DAC qualifiers...
Yeah that was definitely a hectic time - are you sorta happy that you guys don't play in DAC and have a bit more time off?
[Laughs] Kinda yes. But we really wanted to go.
Oh yeah for sure. Coming back to you, you only returned to the competitive scene a few months ago - you worked with Na'Vi before that, what did you do for Na'Vi?
I was hired as a programmer and developed Read - Natus Vincere Website and some other stuff for them.
Oh cool! Do you still do it or are you only focused on pro gaming at the moment?
Unfortunately I have no time for programming at the moment.
How much time do you spend playing/practicing Dota 2 per day?
We practice somewhere between 2-8 hours a day.
Why did you decide to come back to professional Dota? When did you decide to do so?
I decided to come back to the competitive scene in March 2014 so i have time to train for The International. Why? Because it's something I've wanted to try and I wanted to see how it would go.
And how did NVMI come together? Whose idea was it?
The idea was devised by Goblak and myself. We wanted to play together so we started searching for players to complete the roster. We found Illidan for the carry role and brought in two young talents Lil and Afoninje for the support and mid roles.
Shortly after you guys came together, you also won the GameShow League LAN finals against Na'Vi - did you expect to do so well so soon?
No, we didn't expect this at all. It was really huge morale boost for for the team.
Sadly though, Goblak left the team and joined Na'Vi - how did you handle this? And did you immediately think of fng as a replacement?
Well, fng was the only one variant who could save us. Thank god he agreed!
Did you immediately accept him as a captain?
Yes!
Coming back to you, you were playing both offlane and midlane, primarily midlane now. Which role do you prefer?
Well I really don't care. I like to play different roles, so one day it could be mid, another it could be the offlane. Or both!
Do you think you play differently on each role or would you say you play the same?
Sure, I play differently. I find it very helpful to understand how each core hero works.
What are your favorite heroes? Is there maybe a hero you want to play more often but can't because he doesn't work in the current meta?
My favourite heroes are spread between the two roles. At the moment I really like Ember Spirit, Zeus, Centaur Warrunner, Brewmaster, Puck and Batrider. I really like Timbersaw but unfortunately he doesn't work in the current meta.
True, sadly. You and Dendi have been friends for a long time, do you think you two could ever play in a team together?
I hope so. [smiles]
The Western scene has just seen a few roster changes, but the CIS teams haven't changed yet. Do you think that changes will still come? Will Asus.Polar stick together?
At the moment I couldn't say. We will see after DAC.
Okay, let's hope everything stays the same, as a lot of CIS teams are doing really well - what do you think of Hellraisers?
With Hellraisers I don't think they have really strong players in the team, but they combine well as a team and have very good strategies.
And Power Rangers? They didn't perform too well yesterday.
I think they play well against SNG (CIS) teams because they are prepared for our strategies and gameplay. But against the other teams... You can see by their results.
Anyway, you guys have played in a lot of tournaments lately. Some say there are too many tournaments going on. Do you agree? Would you prefer playing less officials?
Yes, it is very difficult to play so many games, we are tired. Sometimes you can play up to 5-8 games against one team in a week. It isn't interesting at all. And you have no time to prepare for the games.
Yeah it really is a bad situation... Anyway, you guys are changing your name to Asus.Polar - let's be honest here, do you miss the name NVMI?
Yes, I liked NVMI. Goblak proposed the name when we formed the team. The full name Nam Vezet - Mi Igraem (Нам везет - мы играем) means 'We are lucky - we are playing'. Something like that.
Nice. So, how long do you think you could play competitively? You said before that you wanted to play in TI5 - will a bad performance there mean that you quit?
No, I want to play for a minimum of 2-3 years. [smiles]
Good! Thank you for the interview man, any shoutouts?
Thank you too! Thanks to all who support us, we will try to do our best!
Bei mir sind es auch nur 2 im RL, der Rest TS Bekanntschaften... Mein direkter Freundeskreis ist leider nicht nerdig genug/spielt kein Dota.
Z
Zybba
Guest
Leider ist bisher PL immer noch nicht im Meta angekommen. 
Da muss wohl erst mal einer vormachen, was er damit kann...
Funn1k hat NaVi verlassen.
Da muss wohl erst mal einer vormachen, was er damit kann...
Funn1k hat NaVi verlassen.
Z
Zybba
Guest
Genug Zeit zum Üben hatten sie doch!Naja so alt ist das Update nun noch nicht. Das dauert ein bisschen bis ein Team die Eier hat den zu picken
SnugglezNRW
Software-Overclocker(in)
PL ist eigentlich ein sehr starker carry, das wissen die Pro Clans auch.
Aber die wissen auch das PL sehr leicht zu countern ist. ich bin mir nicht sicher ob PL daher bei einigen Anklang findet.
Speziell glaube ich das es für NaVi und deren Spielstiel bessere Carrys gibt.
Aber die wissen auch das PL sehr leicht zu countern ist. ich bin mir nicht sicher ob PL daher bei einigen Anklang findet.
Speziell glaube ich das es für NaVi und deren Spielstiel bessere Carrys gibt.
Z
Zybba
Guest
Naja, viele Helden können im Grunde leicht gekontert werden. Es kommt halt immer auf die Teamkomposition an.
IceIceIce hat z.B. gesagt, er würde gerne PL auf der Offlane spielen.
Klar, ob und wie das dann funktioniert, ist die Frage...
Mit NaVi gebe ich dir Recht.
Die sollen lieber die Finger von so was lassen... xD
IceIceIce hat z.B. gesagt, er würde gerne PL auf der Offlane spielen.
Klar, ob und wie das dann funktioniert, ist die Frage...
Mit NaVi gebe ich dir Recht.
Die sollen lieber die Finger von so was lassen... xD
SnugglezNRW
Software-Overclocker(in)
PL Offlane halte ich für fragwürdig.
PL braucht eher farm als exp. Mit der Lance kann er vielleicht ein paar Lasthits setzen, das wars dann aber auch schon.
Zudem ist PL auf der Offlane dem vermutlich gegnerischen Carry auf der Lane keine Gefahr, wodurch die Supporter schon sehr früh mehr Druck aufbauen können.
Ich weis nicht...
und zu Navi...
manchmal habe ich das Gefühl die sollten am besten mit 5 Supportern spielen / bzw 4 Support + irgend n Schwachsinn für Dendi
PL braucht eher farm als exp. Mit der Lance kann er vielleicht ein paar Lasthits setzen, das wars dann aber auch schon.
Zudem ist PL auf der Offlane dem vermutlich gegnerischen Carry auf der Lane keine Gefahr, wodurch die Supporter schon sehr früh mehr Druck aufbauen können.
Ich weis nicht...
und zu Navi...
manchmal habe ich das Gefühl die sollten am besten mit 5 Supportern spielen / bzw 4 Support + irgend n Schwachsinn für Dendi
Z
Zybba
Guest
Jo, denke ich auch.
Aber ich will den nu mal in nem offiziellen Match sehen!
Scheißegal wo... Meinetwegen Position 5.
Mal schauen, wenn NaVi dazu bekommen und ob das was bringt...
Ironischerweise war ja die letzten Wochen die Xwurst am besten.
Aber ich will den nu mal in nem offiziellen Match sehen!
Scheißegal wo... Meinetwegen Position 5.
Mal schauen, wenn NaVi dazu bekommen und ob das was bringt...
Ironischerweise war ja die letzten Wochen die Xwurst am besten.
Z
Zybba
Guest
Ups...
Anscheinend kommt PL erst diese Woche wieder in CM. Ich hatte das vollkommen verpeilt.
Ein Artikel dazu:
DotA 2 Features: The Phantom Lancers are back | GosuGamers
Anscheinend kommt PL erst diese Woche wieder in CM. Ich hatte das vollkommen verpeilt.
Ein Artikel dazu:
DotA 2 Features: The Phantom Lancers are back | GosuGamers
Z
Zybba
Guest
Xcalibur Interview:
ArsZeeqq Interview (Vega Squadron Captain)
Would you mind introducing yourself before we start?
Hi, my name is Steve Ye, I’m a 17-year old chinese kid that’s grown up in Sweden. My in-game handle is XCalibur and I began playing Dota 2 after the second iteration of The International.
If we look a little closer on when you got involved in the professional scene, it is obvious that we first look at when you became the stand-in for fnatic during the summer of 2014. The story goes that they simply reach out to you due to topping the european MMR leaderboard and take you to The Summit. Was this all that was to your recruitment, and had you had any ambitions to compete earlier before they reached out?
I had always wanted to compete in Dota even before fnatic reached out to me, but I’d never really taken it beyond local tournaments until then. The difference between playing with fnatic and with friends was also massive, even though we always played captain’s mode and picked heroes with a plan in mind we always ended up playing it like a pub game more than anything else. Given that, I found it very hard to actually break out into the higher tier of competitive Dota, and it wasn’t really until Johan “BigDaddyn0tail” Sundstein got me in to fnatic that I got to experience playing against Tier 1 teams.
Playing against such good opponents, and then also simply playing with a real team for the first time taught me so much, they viewed the game so differently and really played off eachother to try and win. It was the first real time it felt as if I played with an actual team in Dota.
What was the environment like when you first joined? Many eyes were already glaring at you given that you’d be playing with one of the most popular rosters around. Did this ever put you off or make you nervous?
I never actually felt that much pressure. Mostly because I thought I was only going to fill in for Adrian “Era” Kryzeiu when we travelled to The Summit, and therefore I just wanted to see how well I could perform against really good players. But of course a part of me wanted to win it as well, but in all honesty the only part about it I felt slightly nervous about was that it was my first time playing at a LAN. Those jitters disappeared instantly after the game versus DK though.
Like you mentioned, your debut on LAN was an epic victory against DK at The Summit. Did the weight of just that performance actually sink in to begin with?
I think it’s the best feeling I’ve ever felt to be honest, and I was in a state of shock afterwards. There’s a video out there after we won where BigDaddy and Trixi went nuts and started hugging eachother, but I think I was honestly happier than both of them but I just couldn’t express it due to the shock. I legitimately couldn’t comprehend that we’d managed to actually beat a team like DK, it took a lot of time to digest fully.
Even though your journey at The Summit didn’t go much further than the groupstage, were you all happy with your performance?
It was disappointing since our start to the tournament went so well. We were extremely pleased with our performance in the groupstage, but I think our run really could’ve gone much better if DK hadn’t chosen to play us in the upper bracket as we had to play EG in the loser’s bracket following that series.
Your own play was very often centered around Tinker and Meepo, and was often seen as a “one trick pony” type of player. How do you view this assertion of yourself as a player?
I played those heroes the most because those were the heroes we had the easiest time winning with. I know how to play others as well, but since we played competitively we would always go for a favored strategy that would let us win, so the rest of the team shaped our play around me.
Tinker and Meepo are considered two of the most mechanically demanding characters in the game. Was this why you enjoyed playing them?
I don’t think you could say that necessarily, I think it was more that I saw a ton of potential in them. When I played them I felt like I made a ton of mistakes yet I was still able to perform on them. So it pushed me to play them more and try and perfect my own playstyle on them.
When it became clear that Era would be playing together with fnatic at The International 4, how did you react?
I didn’t really have a reaction as I felt Era deserved it since I’d only played with fnatic during the time after the invites had gone out anyway. Of course I wished I could’ve played at TI, but I never felt “cheated” out of it as Era really did deserve to play.
Do you think fnatic would’ve performed better if you had been part of the TI-roster?
I’d like to think so. That’s not to say that I think I’m a better player than Era, but more that I had spent a month playing with the team prior to TI and we’d started to develop a specific playstyle tailored to us at that point in time, which combined with the fact that Era hadn’t played together with them for close to a month and was the main cause for the team not performing well.
Era’s the way more experienced player however in comparison to me, so I think if all the problems weren’t present they would’ve gone far.
With that, your journey in fnatic ended. Would you call it a bitter ending given the situation that predicated it?
Absolutely not, I could’ve only dreamt of having a summer as amazing as last year’s. Before any of these things were set in motion I was expecting to be sitting at home playing pubs all summer, and even after fnatic contacted me I thought they’d only want me to play for them at The Summit, but they brought me along to all of their tournaments during the summer months which was amazing.
After the massive western shuffle took place, you initially appeared on the first iteration of Team Tinker. Your time in the team seemed to be cut very short however, what was this due to?
I really wanted to keep on competing but the rest of the team weren’t all too sold on having me be part of the fold and eventually there was only SingSing that wanted to keep on playing with me, which is something I am extremely thankful for. But since the majority of the team thought they could perform better with someone else in my stead I was replaced, which actually really brought me down. I lost almost all of my motivation which lead to me taking a rather long break from Dota, which I really regret now looking back.
Were you personally convinced that the idea behind a superteam like Team Tinker initially was could work well in practice?
I enjoyed the thought behind it and also respected every single player involved in the initiative. Unfortunately it really didn’t pan out to be all that great in the end.
Did you keep in touch with pro-players following your time with fnatic and Team Tinker and did you actively attempt to keep playing Dota professionally?
I still keep in touch with pros, but it’s mostly the fnatic guys and the ones who approached me at events. But we don’t talk about joining teams or anything like that, it’s mostly Dota-talk.
At the moment of writing this your last professional team was MeePwn’d, who are currently continuing without you. Has this detered you from continuing try and continue playing professionally?
I am going to keep trying to make Dota 2 my chosen career-path and I’m hoping I can join another team as soon as possible, though right now the market seems a bit scarce. I’ll keep playing as much as I possibly can so I can show a strong performance whenever I return to the competitive scene. The pause I took after being benched from Team Tinker also affected my performance in MeePwn’d and I really didn’t perform up to the level that’s expected of a pro. I’ve learnt my lesson and will keep on practicing so when the day comes and I play in a team, I’ll be in peak form.
Any final words?
Thank you for the interview. I would also like to thank all my fans who have always supported me, it means so much that people even remember me and I feel extremely motivated once again, and won’t disappoint when I return.
Hi, my name is Steve Ye, I’m a 17-year old chinese kid that’s grown up in Sweden. My in-game handle is XCalibur and I began playing Dota 2 after the second iteration of The International.
If we look a little closer on when you got involved in the professional scene, it is obvious that we first look at when you became the stand-in for fnatic during the summer of 2014. The story goes that they simply reach out to you due to topping the european MMR leaderboard and take you to The Summit. Was this all that was to your recruitment, and had you had any ambitions to compete earlier before they reached out?
I had always wanted to compete in Dota even before fnatic reached out to me, but I’d never really taken it beyond local tournaments until then. The difference between playing with fnatic and with friends was also massive, even though we always played captain’s mode and picked heroes with a plan in mind we always ended up playing it like a pub game more than anything else. Given that, I found it very hard to actually break out into the higher tier of competitive Dota, and it wasn’t really until Johan “BigDaddyn0tail” Sundstein got me in to fnatic that I got to experience playing against Tier 1 teams.
Playing against such good opponents, and then also simply playing with a real team for the first time taught me so much, they viewed the game so differently and really played off eachother to try and win. It was the first real time it felt as if I played with an actual team in Dota.
What was the environment like when you first joined? Many eyes were already glaring at you given that you’d be playing with one of the most popular rosters around. Did this ever put you off or make you nervous?
I never actually felt that much pressure. Mostly because I thought I was only going to fill in for Adrian “Era” Kryzeiu when we travelled to The Summit, and therefore I just wanted to see how well I could perform against really good players. But of course a part of me wanted to win it as well, but in all honesty the only part about it I felt slightly nervous about was that it was my first time playing at a LAN. Those jitters disappeared instantly after the game versus DK though.
Like you mentioned, your debut on LAN was an epic victory against DK at The Summit. Did the weight of just that performance actually sink in to begin with?
I think it’s the best feeling I’ve ever felt to be honest, and I was in a state of shock afterwards. There’s a video out there after we won where BigDaddy and Trixi went nuts and started hugging eachother, but I think I was honestly happier than both of them but I just couldn’t express it due to the shock. I legitimately couldn’t comprehend that we’d managed to actually beat a team like DK, it took a lot of time to digest fully.
Even though your journey at The Summit didn’t go much further than the groupstage, were you all happy with your performance?
It was disappointing since our start to the tournament went so well. We were extremely pleased with our performance in the groupstage, but I think our run really could’ve gone much better if DK hadn’t chosen to play us in the upper bracket as we had to play EG in the loser’s bracket following that series.
Your own play was very often centered around Tinker and Meepo, and was often seen as a “one trick pony” type of player. How do you view this assertion of yourself as a player?
I played those heroes the most because those were the heroes we had the easiest time winning with. I know how to play others as well, but since we played competitively we would always go for a favored strategy that would let us win, so the rest of the team shaped our play around me.
Tinker and Meepo are considered two of the most mechanically demanding characters in the game. Was this why you enjoyed playing them?
I don’t think you could say that necessarily, I think it was more that I saw a ton of potential in them. When I played them I felt like I made a ton of mistakes yet I was still able to perform on them. So it pushed me to play them more and try and perfect my own playstyle on them.
When it became clear that Era would be playing together with fnatic at The International 4, how did you react?
I didn’t really have a reaction as I felt Era deserved it since I’d only played with fnatic during the time after the invites had gone out anyway. Of course I wished I could’ve played at TI, but I never felt “cheated” out of it as Era really did deserve to play.
Do you think fnatic would’ve performed better if you had been part of the TI-roster?
I’d like to think so. That’s not to say that I think I’m a better player than Era, but more that I had spent a month playing with the team prior to TI and we’d started to develop a specific playstyle tailored to us at that point in time, which combined with the fact that Era hadn’t played together with them for close to a month and was the main cause for the team not performing well.
Era’s the way more experienced player however in comparison to me, so I think if all the problems weren’t present they would’ve gone far.
With that, your journey in fnatic ended. Would you call it a bitter ending given the situation that predicated it?
Absolutely not, I could’ve only dreamt of having a summer as amazing as last year’s. Before any of these things were set in motion I was expecting to be sitting at home playing pubs all summer, and even after fnatic contacted me I thought they’d only want me to play for them at The Summit, but they brought me along to all of their tournaments during the summer months which was amazing.
After the massive western shuffle took place, you initially appeared on the first iteration of Team Tinker. Your time in the team seemed to be cut very short however, what was this due to?
I really wanted to keep on competing but the rest of the team weren’t all too sold on having me be part of the fold and eventually there was only SingSing that wanted to keep on playing with me, which is something I am extremely thankful for. But since the majority of the team thought they could perform better with someone else in my stead I was replaced, which actually really brought me down. I lost almost all of my motivation which lead to me taking a rather long break from Dota, which I really regret now looking back.
Were you personally convinced that the idea behind a superteam like Team Tinker initially was could work well in practice?
I enjoyed the thought behind it and also respected every single player involved in the initiative. Unfortunately it really didn’t pan out to be all that great in the end.
Did you keep in touch with pro-players following your time with fnatic and Team Tinker and did you actively attempt to keep playing Dota professionally?
I still keep in touch with pros, but it’s mostly the fnatic guys and the ones who approached me at events. But we don’t talk about joining teams or anything like that, it’s mostly Dota-talk.
At the moment of writing this your last professional team was MeePwn’d, who are currently continuing without you. Has this detered you from continuing try and continue playing professionally?
I am going to keep trying to make Dota 2 my chosen career-path and I’m hoping I can join another team as soon as possible, though right now the market seems a bit scarce. I’ll keep playing as much as I possibly can so I can show a strong performance whenever I return to the competitive scene. The pause I took after being benched from Team Tinker also affected my performance in MeePwn’d and I really didn’t perform up to the level that’s expected of a pro. I’ve learnt my lesson and will keep on practicing so when the day comes and I play in a team, I’ll be in peak form.
Any final words?
Thank you for the interview. I would also like to thank all my fans who have always supported me, it means so much that people even remember me and I feel extremely motivated once again, and won’t disappoint when I return.
ArsZeeqq Interview (Vega Squadron Captain)
Thanks very much for taking the time to talk with us! Please tell us a little about yourself and what stirred your interest in playing DOTA 2 professionally.
My name is Arseniy Usov, I’m from Ulianovsk, Russia and I play the captain/support role in Vega Squadron. I’ve been in touch with Dota2 since an early age. When I came home from classes, I would go play some dota allstars matches on local bnet servers. Ever since then, I’ve never stopped playing.
You’ve already won three online tournaments this year, including your victory over HellRaisers for the Gigabyte Challenge #12. On top of that, you’ve taken games away from NIP – one of the most successful rising European teams. Do you believe your win over HellRaisers came down to your drafts? Or were there specific plays you felt vital to your success?
I think that we were a bit lucky with our drafts and our plays against HellRaisers. After the first game, I understood which heroes I should pick/ban and everything became easier. I’m not saying that HR are bad, but it was a strangely smooth win.
I don’t think that there is a "special" Vega play-style. What we drafted was pretty typical for us, but... it went well. About NIP...ehm, this game decided nothing actually, both teams played poorly to be honest. We shouldn’t consider this match too much. I want to say that our roster change is the reason behind our success.
In regards to your roster change what brought you guys together? I saw that you referred to no[o]ne as the UA Sumail in your game against Alliance.
We played with 9pashaebashu and CeMaTheSlayeR for a long time. No[o]ne came from USH team (with DotaStalk and Androidp) which I played with for a month and TpoH came after he left M5.
About No[o]ne, yes he is some kind of Ukrainian Sumail. He is very young and ambitious and of course he is a very talented dota player. Actually, I found him through a Russian team named TEAM-ASC from the SLTV Pro Series, which I played for as a stand-in. I was very excited by his plays.
Why do you think your recent match against Alliance wasn't as successful? Did it come down to drafting or certain decisions in the match?
Our match against Alliance wasn’t successful only because everyone became very tired from a very tight match schedule this week. Plus, that was bo2 and bo3 with ONE team. If we lose something, we try to fix our issues with drafts/any plays, but there were no time for this.
With the ESL One qualifiers you may be matched up against some established teams. You may very well be expecting some long series to play. What will your team do to cope with a long series and keep your momentum?
Oh, that’s a very hard question though. We are trying to train some new stuff compared to the meta (it’s all about juggernaut, axe, etc), nothing else. We think that our old strategies and our new stuff will help us to win against any other enemy team.
Overall, you're a quite a new team and you've had a lot of success so far. Why do you think you've had such immediate success in this patch? What about the current patch/meta do you believe works with your play style?
I think that we are all very experienced players in dota2, except No[o]ne – he is the new guy. Dota is all about serious intentions with dota. When we played in Ahead Gaming, we played just for having fun, laughed in all official games and stuff. But now we are professionals, I think we are committing ourselves like talented and professional players and this is our success. There is nothing about meta/play style/players and so on, just serious doto.
Your team appears to be very focused on using teamwork to pick off your opponent and gain an advantage through a lot of activity on the map. It seems like this has been crucial to your success, but also has the potential to fall apart sometimes. How does your team adjust if you can't take the opponent by surprise?
I think that our style to make some pressure or activity on the map is comparable to many CIS teams, so there are no surprises. But I think that there are no benefits in this play style because of the patch. If you kill someone about 10 times, you’re getting nothing, but when you die after getting this huge streak while "actively diving" or applying "map pressure" it becomes a big problem. It’s actually hard to adjust our plays – I don’t know what to say about this.
What would you like to see change or comeback in the current meta?
Now that Phantom lancer is in captain’s mode, I want him to be a bit better for competitive games. I’m playing him successfully in matchmaking, but it’s not enough. Actually, I'd like to remove axe and barathrum from cm mode, they are really annoying! My team can't really play against SB, it’s hard to understand this hero. About axe? 10sec cd "anti-bkb disable"? Need I say more? I’m always aiming to ban this hero during a draft.
It seems like CIS teams have been doing very well in the current patch. What about this patch do you think empowers CIS dota?
I think that there are no really EARLY strats in this patch and no ULTRA LATE strats. Mid game was born for CIS doto. Kill, Kill, Aegis, Fight, Kill, Kill, Aegis to high ground. Heroes like Troll Warlord, Juggernaut, Shadow Fiend, and Sniper are great for this.
Besides ESL One, what other tournaments does your team have its eyes on? What can we expect to see from Vega for the rest of the year?
We are playing SLTV Starseries, Weplay Tournament, DotaPit, and joinDota Masters division 2. We are going to participle in the qualifiers for The Summit also.
Are there are any last words you would like to say to current and new Vega fans?
I just want to say hello to our fans, hope you’ll be proud of our Doto! Shout-outs to our sponsor's: G2A and Alexey, they are doing soooo much for us. And I wanna say "zdarova" to my team and friends (apathy, ved, fru, chib) and my girlfriend Nastia!
My name is Arseniy Usov, I’m from Ulianovsk, Russia and I play the captain/support role in Vega Squadron. I’ve been in touch with Dota2 since an early age. When I came home from classes, I would go play some dota allstars matches on local bnet servers. Ever since then, I’ve never stopped playing.
You’ve already won three online tournaments this year, including your victory over HellRaisers for the Gigabyte Challenge #12. On top of that, you’ve taken games away from NIP – one of the most successful rising European teams. Do you believe your win over HellRaisers came down to your drafts? Or were there specific plays you felt vital to your success?
I think that we were a bit lucky with our drafts and our plays against HellRaisers. After the first game, I understood which heroes I should pick/ban and everything became easier. I’m not saying that HR are bad, but it was a strangely smooth win.
I don’t think that there is a "special" Vega play-style. What we drafted was pretty typical for us, but... it went well. About NIP...ehm, this game decided nothing actually, both teams played poorly to be honest. We shouldn’t consider this match too much. I want to say that our roster change is the reason behind our success.
In regards to your roster change what brought you guys together? I saw that you referred to no[o]ne as the UA Sumail in your game against Alliance.
We played with 9pashaebashu and CeMaTheSlayeR for a long time. No[o]ne came from USH team (with DotaStalk and Androidp) which I played with for a month and TpoH came after he left M5.
About No[o]ne, yes he is some kind of Ukrainian Sumail. He is very young and ambitious and of course he is a very talented dota player. Actually, I found him through a Russian team named TEAM-ASC from the SLTV Pro Series, which I played for as a stand-in. I was very excited by his plays.
Why do you think your recent match against Alliance wasn't as successful? Did it come down to drafting or certain decisions in the match?
Our match against Alliance wasn’t successful only because everyone became very tired from a very tight match schedule this week. Plus, that was bo2 and bo3 with ONE team. If we lose something, we try to fix our issues with drafts/any plays, but there were no time for this.
With the ESL One qualifiers you may be matched up against some established teams. You may very well be expecting some long series to play. What will your team do to cope with a long series and keep your momentum?
Oh, that’s a very hard question though. We are trying to train some new stuff compared to the meta (it’s all about juggernaut, axe, etc), nothing else. We think that our old strategies and our new stuff will help us to win against any other enemy team.
Overall, you're a quite a new team and you've had a lot of success so far. Why do you think you've had such immediate success in this patch? What about the current patch/meta do you believe works with your play style?
I think that we are all very experienced players in dota2, except No[o]ne – he is the new guy. Dota is all about serious intentions with dota. When we played in Ahead Gaming, we played just for having fun, laughed in all official games and stuff. But now we are professionals, I think we are committing ourselves like talented and professional players and this is our success. There is nothing about meta/play style/players and so on, just serious doto.
Your team appears to be very focused on using teamwork to pick off your opponent and gain an advantage through a lot of activity on the map. It seems like this has been crucial to your success, but also has the potential to fall apart sometimes. How does your team adjust if you can't take the opponent by surprise?
I think that our style to make some pressure or activity on the map is comparable to many CIS teams, so there are no surprises. But I think that there are no benefits in this play style because of the patch. If you kill someone about 10 times, you’re getting nothing, but when you die after getting this huge streak while "actively diving" or applying "map pressure" it becomes a big problem. It’s actually hard to adjust our plays – I don’t know what to say about this.
What would you like to see change or comeback in the current meta?
Now that Phantom lancer is in captain’s mode, I want him to be a bit better for competitive games. I’m playing him successfully in matchmaking, but it’s not enough. Actually, I'd like to remove axe and barathrum from cm mode, they are really annoying! My team can't really play against SB, it’s hard to understand this hero. About axe? 10sec cd "anti-bkb disable"? Need I say more? I’m always aiming to ban this hero during a draft.
It seems like CIS teams have been doing very well in the current patch. What about this patch do you think empowers CIS dota?
I think that there are no really EARLY strats in this patch and no ULTRA LATE strats. Mid game was born for CIS doto. Kill, Kill, Aegis, Fight, Kill, Kill, Aegis to high ground. Heroes like Troll Warlord, Juggernaut, Shadow Fiend, and Sniper are great for this.
Besides ESL One, what other tournaments does your team have its eyes on? What can we expect to see from Vega for the rest of the year?
We are playing SLTV Starseries, Weplay Tournament, DotaPit, and joinDota Masters division 2. We are going to participle in the qualifiers for The Summit also.
Are there are any last words you would like to say to current and new Vega fans?
I just want to say hello to our fans, hope you’ll be proud of our Doto! Shout-outs to our sponsor's: G2A and Alexey, they are doing soooo much for us. And I wanna say "zdarova" to my team and friends (apathy, ved, fru, chib) and my girlfriend Nastia!
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EHOME's new Malaysian squad just kicked off three days ago, and they are already hard at practice together. GosuGamers reached out to them during a break between scrims to hear more from the new team.
The recent creation of EHOME's Malaysian squad disturbed the waters in South East Asia, with the appearance of a Malaysian dream team leaving the SEA scene yet in another state of flux. Starring four long-time veterans of the Dota 2 scene and one of the brightest talents in Malaysia, EHOME look set to make their mark in the South East Asian scene under the command of Yee Fung 'Mushi' Chai. GosuGamers reached out to EHOME during a break in their scrims to conduct a short interview with them.
The interview was conducted by a GosuGamers associate on the ground with them in Malaysia on 3 March 2015. The questions were specifically directed at players for most of the interview, and we have thus organised the questions corresponding to the players.
Hi guys, thank you for giving GosuGamers this interview. To begin, I'd like to ask some questions that could be answered by any of you. What do you think of the Korean scene: are they strong enough to compete internationally?
Ohaiyo: I think the Korean scene has impressed all of us. Within a short span of time, they have caught up with the rest of the world and they have shown tremendous improvements over the last few months. I think they will continue improving from here on out. Right now, they have the capability to place top 8 in every major tournament.
Who do you think are your strongest rivals in SEA at the moment (many people would think it is Rave) ?
Kecik Imba: I think 5eva is the strongest team in SEA right now. Their capability to play a much wider hero pool is a big threat to many teams and they are most likely to pull off an upset when they face teams outside of SEA.
Yee Fung 'Mushi' Chai
Hi Mushi, you spent a year in DK, so the next few questions will be related to then. Your playstyle in DK changed a lot over the year - from a carry-centric role you changed to a playmaking role - did you enjoy that change?
I think that all professional players should be able to play all roles. The DK team is a team made of veterans in the game and all of them can play all the roles in the game and therefore, we switched our roles around often to confuse our opponents. I really enjoy playing multiple roles and I really enjoyed learning from these frequent swaps. I think it improved me as a player.
What kind of role do you foresee yourself playing in this new Malaysian team?
Many are trying to speculate what our roles will be. Unfortunately, I will not be disclosing our roles for now. Watch out for our first official game.
You stepped away from the captain role in DK, will you be the captain of this new squad?
I was merely the drafter for team DK but I was never the captain. I will be the captain for EHOME Malaysia.
How has your experience living and playing in China changed your attitude towards winning and playing Dota?
In DK, I won a lot of championship that I could not previously win. I believe I found a higher respect for our profession as a pro gamer. I'm not saying that my hunger for winning has gone down but I will not be very angry if we don't win. It is a learning process after all.
If you had the chance again, would you drop everything and go back to play with that DK team?
DK is a great team. Since everyone in DK has their own team now I think there is no need to drop everything to reform the team. As long as they are comfortable with their own team.
Could you explain more to us about the impact of 71 - why is he so respected and revered by the players he has coached?
71 is a very calm and collected man and he would spend a lot of time explaining strategies and analysis with the players. He watched every single one of our games as a person from outside the game and sometimes could see stuff that we could not. Mikasa is also a very good coach in that respect.
Is this why you chose to join the EHOME brand so as to work with him again?
I respect and trust him a lot. Prior to DAC, 71 and the management approached me to reform EHOME and I think it is a good move for my future.
Why did you choose to return to SEA after moving to China again?
Ohaiyo: We had some communication issues in China. Although Mushi and I can speak Chinese fluently, the accent is different and at the end of the day, it is still more comfortable to talk among Malaysians. Besides that, we also have a different way of perceiving the game and with our Chinese teammates. Our styles are different too. Therefore, we decided to return to Malaysia.
Did the higher chances of receiving an invite to TI5 play a role in your decision to return to SEA?
I cannot deny that it is an advantage but even if Valve decide to put us in the qualifier, we are okay with it. If we can't beat all the teams in the qualifier to secure our spot in the TI5, we will just end up disappointing our fans and the viewers in the main event.
The team’s formation has left many people voicing out their unhappiness with you - they see you as someone who destroys teams to fulfil his goals. Do you have any response to this?
EHOME's decision to invest in the South East Asian scene is a blessing, especially when the scene is going through tough times. As for my fans, my true fans will always support me no matter where I go. Kecik will also receive even more exposure in EHOME and also a stable salary. I think it is a good move for his future. Considering that we are playing under EHOME and it is a Chinese brand, I will try my best to build up the team so that the Chinese fans will be proud of us.
I believe that I am a very strict and bad tempered player. If I am selfish, Ohaiyo and Kyxy will not want to team with me again. I think that roster changes are normal to form the best team and every competitive teams will have to go through it one way or another. If the departure of a single player can destroy a team, I wouldn't say the bond of the remaining four players are that strong. Take a look at our Chinese friends for example, you rarely see them disband because one of their players leave. They stay together to find a replacement for the departed player.
In addition to this, many people believe that you were the one who caused Titan to break apart. However, I believe Xtinct had left the squad first - could you please explain what happened?
Actually even when I was in DK, BurNing and LaNm have already decided to retire. At the same time, I was also some personal issues and when my former Orange teammates asked me to return, I jumped on the opportunity straight away. As to why the team decided not to continue with Titan and go on without a sponsor wasn't handled by me. After all, I was not in the team and I do not know the interaction between the team and Titan's management.
In regards to the removal of Xtinct from Team Malaysia, it was done after a discussion with everybody. We came to an agreement that something has happened that affected the chemistry between Net and Xtinct support duo and they are not playing as well together. This is strictly the chemistry between them and I still think they are very strong individual players. They are doing very well in their current teams.
The SEA scene was slowly beginning to find some stability without a powerhouse team, but the emergence of EHOME has changed this situation. Do you think you have enough competition in the current SEA?
South East Asia has a lot of potential teams. I cannot say that we will dominate the scene for sure but we are not aiming just to be the best in SEA, but a force to be reckon with in the international scene.
Do you think you would have gotten an invite to the largest tournament in SEA - Major All Stars - if you had made your announcement sooner?
It is our loss that we have missed the event but there is nothing to be disappointed about because there are a lot more tournaments coming up. We intend to join as many as possible.
What do you think of your former teammates in EHOME?
ddc - Ohaiyo: He is kinda hearted and has a nice singing voice. He is mostly quiet.
Inflame - Mushi: He is the most noisy guy in the team. I laugh every time he says “Lao zi zhe pan fei le” (I'm useless in this game)
Zyf - Ohaiyo: He has the highest potential I believe but he loses his cool often. If he can overcome that, he will be scarily good.
Any ideas who will be joining the squad now that you and Ohaiyo have left?
I honestly do not know. The Chinese shuffle is the biggest one in the world and also the messiest.
Chong Xin 'Ohaiyo' Khoo
How does it feel to relocate with Mushi like this - from Malaysia to China and now back to Malaysia?
I don't have any particular feelings about it. I feel very good about our current team and I learned a tremendous amount in China.
Did you experience living and playing in China change your thoughts towards the game?
Definitely, I realized that the trust between teammates are very crucial for the team and it is hard to beat others if we do not trust each other 100%. My opinion about the role 1,2,3 also changed and role swaps are very important. As an offlane player, I could sometimes go solo mid to create confusion. This would make it tougher for our opponents to adapt.
At TI3 and TI4 you had a very stable roster with both Orange and Titan - does the recent roster instability affect you and your gameplay?
Roster stability is also very important. For example, in EHOME, we practiced a lot but since we are new and unstable, I started playing worse and worse. One's action will affect everybody else in the team in terms of creating space and initiating fights. If the chemistry is good between teammates, you can perform regardless of what you play.
Kang Yang 'KyXy' Lee
Many people are surprised that you would choose to team up with Mushi again after multiple disbandments. Why did you choose to join this project?
I think he is a very experienced player and we have been teammates for a very long time. I know his style very well and we also have no problems communication wise. I feel very comfortable and confident to team up with him.
Why did you not join Mushi and Ohaiyo in moving to China?
Initially, they wanted me as the fifth player before they brought in Zyf. After much discussion, 71 thinks that Zyf is a much better suit for the new team and therefore, I stayed in Malaysia.
Some observers believe you will be moving to support, is this true?
It's a secret!
Fadil 'Kecik Imba' Bin Mohd Raziff
Invasion was doing well before you left them to join EHOME - does your decision to leave affect them immensely?
I think they are doing quite well at the moment. They recruited dabeliuteef (former G-Guard player) to replace me and they have a real carry player now. They did not have a strong carry player when I was in the team.
You played mid for Invasion, and now you will be competing with Mushi for the mid position - do you think you are a better mid player than him?
Of course not. Mushi is a veteran solo mid player. He was my mentor and has taught me a lot on the role.
Being regarded as one of the best up and coming player in the SEA region, can you talk about your dream and aspirations for your Dota career and for the team?
It is probably similar to all other competitive Dota 2 players. I want to win The International and I will do my best in every single game.
How well do you think you will fit into the team? Do you feel that there could be some language barriers between you and the rest?
I was actually uncomfortable the first time but I expressed my problems to Mushi and the team adjusted and now, they give commands in English. Things are going good now.
Johnny 'JohNny' Lee
Could you explain why you left Mineski despite doing well with them in the two months there?
Coming from a Chinese speaking upbringing, my English was not very good to begin with. When I went to the Philippines, I was forced to speak English and while we could communicate decently, it wasn't great. It is still best if I speak Chinese. I could get my idea across much faster.
You are one of the Malaysian players who have a lot of international experience: which place did you enjoy living in the most - Malaysia, Philippines, or China?
Malaysia for sure. As I said before, my English isn't very good and in Malaysia, I can speak Chinese. Of course I could also play in China but I prefer the Malaysian lifestyle over the Chinese. They have a big focus to only recruit great veteran players and the chances are very slim for me to be included in the shuffle. There are a lot of good unnamed Chinese players out there.
With your experiences playing in multiple countries, which do you think is the best for professional players?
Every country has its advantages but going overseas definitely gives you more focus because you are forced into training hard as long as you can overcome the communication issues. You have no peers overseas to distract you.
The recent creation of EHOME's Malaysian squad disturbed the waters in South East Asia, with the appearance of a Malaysian dream team leaving the SEA scene yet in another state of flux. Starring four long-time veterans of the Dota 2 scene and one of the brightest talents in Malaysia, EHOME look set to make their mark in the South East Asian scene under the command of Yee Fung 'Mushi' Chai. GosuGamers reached out to EHOME during a break in their scrims to conduct a short interview with them.
The interview was conducted by a GosuGamers associate on the ground with them in Malaysia on 3 March 2015. The questions were specifically directed at players for most of the interview, and we have thus organised the questions corresponding to the players.
Hi guys, thank you for giving GosuGamers this interview. To begin, I'd like to ask some questions that could be answered by any of you. What do you think of the Korean scene: are they strong enough to compete internationally?
Ohaiyo: I think the Korean scene has impressed all of us. Within a short span of time, they have caught up with the rest of the world and they have shown tremendous improvements over the last few months. I think they will continue improving from here on out. Right now, they have the capability to place top 8 in every major tournament.
Who do you think are your strongest rivals in SEA at the moment (many people would think it is Rave) ?
Kecik Imba: I think 5eva is the strongest team in SEA right now. Their capability to play a much wider hero pool is a big threat to many teams and they are most likely to pull off an upset when they face teams outside of SEA.
Yee Fung 'Mushi' Chai
Hi Mushi, you spent a year in DK, so the next few questions will be related to then. Your playstyle in DK changed a lot over the year - from a carry-centric role you changed to a playmaking role - did you enjoy that change?
I think that all professional players should be able to play all roles. The DK team is a team made of veterans in the game and all of them can play all the roles in the game and therefore, we switched our roles around often to confuse our opponents. I really enjoy playing multiple roles and I really enjoyed learning from these frequent swaps. I think it improved me as a player.
What kind of role do you foresee yourself playing in this new Malaysian team?
Many are trying to speculate what our roles will be. Unfortunately, I will not be disclosing our roles for now. Watch out for our first official game.
You stepped away from the captain role in DK, will you be the captain of this new squad?
I was merely the drafter for team DK but I was never the captain. I will be the captain for EHOME Malaysia.
How has your experience living and playing in China changed your attitude towards winning and playing Dota?
In DK, I won a lot of championship that I could not previously win. I believe I found a higher respect for our profession as a pro gamer. I'm not saying that my hunger for winning has gone down but I will not be very angry if we don't win. It is a learning process after all.
If you had the chance again, would you drop everything and go back to play with that DK team?
DK is a great team. Since everyone in DK has their own team now I think there is no need to drop everything to reform the team. As long as they are comfortable with their own team.
Could you explain more to us about the impact of 71 - why is he so respected and revered by the players he has coached?
71 is a very calm and collected man and he would spend a lot of time explaining strategies and analysis with the players. He watched every single one of our games as a person from outside the game and sometimes could see stuff that we could not. Mikasa is also a very good coach in that respect.
Is this why you chose to join the EHOME brand so as to work with him again?
I respect and trust him a lot. Prior to DAC, 71 and the management approached me to reform EHOME and I think it is a good move for my future.
Why did you choose to return to SEA after moving to China again?
Ohaiyo: We had some communication issues in China. Although Mushi and I can speak Chinese fluently, the accent is different and at the end of the day, it is still more comfortable to talk among Malaysians. Besides that, we also have a different way of perceiving the game and with our Chinese teammates. Our styles are different too. Therefore, we decided to return to Malaysia.
Did the higher chances of receiving an invite to TI5 play a role in your decision to return to SEA?
I cannot deny that it is an advantage but even if Valve decide to put us in the qualifier, we are okay with it. If we can't beat all the teams in the qualifier to secure our spot in the TI5, we will just end up disappointing our fans and the viewers in the main event.
The team’s formation has left many people voicing out their unhappiness with you - they see you as someone who destroys teams to fulfil his goals. Do you have any response to this?
EHOME's decision to invest in the South East Asian scene is a blessing, especially when the scene is going through tough times. As for my fans, my true fans will always support me no matter where I go. Kecik will also receive even more exposure in EHOME and also a stable salary. I think it is a good move for his future. Considering that we are playing under EHOME and it is a Chinese brand, I will try my best to build up the team so that the Chinese fans will be proud of us.
I believe that I am a very strict and bad tempered player. If I am selfish, Ohaiyo and Kyxy will not want to team with me again. I think that roster changes are normal to form the best team and every competitive teams will have to go through it one way or another. If the departure of a single player can destroy a team, I wouldn't say the bond of the remaining four players are that strong. Take a look at our Chinese friends for example, you rarely see them disband because one of their players leave. They stay together to find a replacement for the departed player.
In addition to this, many people believe that you were the one who caused Titan to break apart. However, I believe Xtinct had left the squad first - could you please explain what happened?
Actually even when I was in DK, BurNing and LaNm have already decided to retire. At the same time, I was also some personal issues and when my former Orange teammates asked me to return, I jumped on the opportunity straight away. As to why the team decided not to continue with Titan and go on without a sponsor wasn't handled by me. After all, I was not in the team and I do not know the interaction between the team and Titan's management.
In regards to the removal of Xtinct from Team Malaysia, it was done after a discussion with everybody. We came to an agreement that something has happened that affected the chemistry between Net and Xtinct support duo and they are not playing as well together. This is strictly the chemistry between them and I still think they are very strong individual players. They are doing very well in their current teams.
The SEA scene was slowly beginning to find some stability without a powerhouse team, but the emergence of EHOME has changed this situation. Do you think you have enough competition in the current SEA?
South East Asia has a lot of potential teams. I cannot say that we will dominate the scene for sure but we are not aiming just to be the best in SEA, but a force to be reckon with in the international scene.
Do you think you would have gotten an invite to the largest tournament in SEA - Major All Stars - if you had made your announcement sooner?
It is our loss that we have missed the event but there is nothing to be disappointed about because there are a lot more tournaments coming up. We intend to join as many as possible.
What do you think of your former teammates in EHOME?
ddc - Ohaiyo: He is kinda hearted and has a nice singing voice. He is mostly quiet.
Inflame - Mushi: He is the most noisy guy in the team. I laugh every time he says “Lao zi zhe pan fei le” (I'm useless in this game)
Zyf - Ohaiyo: He has the highest potential I believe but he loses his cool often. If he can overcome that, he will be scarily good.
Any ideas who will be joining the squad now that you and Ohaiyo have left?
I honestly do not know. The Chinese shuffle is the biggest one in the world and also the messiest.
Chong Xin 'Ohaiyo' Khoo
How does it feel to relocate with Mushi like this - from Malaysia to China and now back to Malaysia?
I don't have any particular feelings about it. I feel very good about our current team and I learned a tremendous amount in China.
Did you experience living and playing in China change your thoughts towards the game?
Definitely, I realized that the trust between teammates are very crucial for the team and it is hard to beat others if we do not trust each other 100%. My opinion about the role 1,2,3 also changed and role swaps are very important. As an offlane player, I could sometimes go solo mid to create confusion. This would make it tougher for our opponents to adapt.
At TI3 and TI4 you had a very stable roster with both Orange and Titan - does the recent roster instability affect you and your gameplay?
Roster stability is also very important. For example, in EHOME, we practiced a lot but since we are new and unstable, I started playing worse and worse. One's action will affect everybody else in the team in terms of creating space and initiating fights. If the chemistry is good between teammates, you can perform regardless of what you play.
Kang Yang 'KyXy' Lee
Many people are surprised that you would choose to team up with Mushi again after multiple disbandments. Why did you choose to join this project?
I think he is a very experienced player and we have been teammates for a very long time. I know his style very well and we also have no problems communication wise. I feel very comfortable and confident to team up with him.
Why did you not join Mushi and Ohaiyo in moving to China?
Initially, they wanted me as the fifth player before they brought in Zyf. After much discussion, 71 thinks that Zyf is a much better suit for the new team and therefore, I stayed in Malaysia.
Some observers believe you will be moving to support, is this true?
It's a secret!
Fadil 'Kecik Imba' Bin Mohd Raziff
Invasion was doing well before you left them to join EHOME - does your decision to leave affect them immensely?
I think they are doing quite well at the moment. They recruited dabeliuteef (former G-Guard player) to replace me and they have a real carry player now. They did not have a strong carry player when I was in the team.
You played mid for Invasion, and now you will be competing with Mushi for the mid position - do you think you are a better mid player than him?
Of course not. Mushi is a veteran solo mid player. He was my mentor and has taught me a lot on the role.
Being regarded as one of the best up and coming player in the SEA region, can you talk about your dream and aspirations for your Dota career and for the team?
It is probably similar to all other competitive Dota 2 players. I want to win The International and I will do my best in every single game.
How well do you think you will fit into the team? Do you feel that there could be some language barriers between you and the rest?
I was actually uncomfortable the first time but I expressed my problems to Mushi and the team adjusted and now, they give commands in English. Things are going good now.
Johnny 'JohNny' Lee
Could you explain why you left Mineski despite doing well with them in the two months there?
Coming from a Chinese speaking upbringing, my English was not very good to begin with. When I went to the Philippines, I was forced to speak English and while we could communicate decently, it wasn't great. It is still best if I speak Chinese. I could get my idea across much faster.
You are one of the Malaysian players who have a lot of international experience: which place did you enjoy living in the most - Malaysia, Philippines, or China?
Malaysia for sure. As I said before, my English isn't very good and in Malaysia, I can speak Chinese. Of course I could also play in China but I prefer the Malaysian lifestyle over the Chinese. They have a big focus to only recruit great veteran players and the chances are very slim for me to be included in the shuffle. There are a lot of good unnamed Chinese players out there.
With your experiences playing in multiple countries, which do you think is the best for professional players?
Every country has its advantages but going overseas definitely gives you more focus because you are forced into training hard as long as you can overcome the communication issues. You have no peers overseas to distract you.
Den Part mit dem koreanische Dota fand ich interessant. Eine Zeit lang habe ich viel KDL (Korean Dota League) geschaut, da liefen mehr doer weniger täglich normale Spiele im Studio mit Publikum. Das war ziemlich cool. Es war halt eher klein gehalten, kein Riesenturnier. Für mich hatte das einen gewissen Charme.
Allerdings sind mir die Teams nicht so sehr im Gedächtnis geblieben.
Nur Rave, MVP Phoenix und Zephyr.
Zephyr war das Team um Purge, aber die haben sich mittlerweile aufgelöst. Einige Spieler sind aber wieder woanders untergekommen. Corey und Bamboe spielen in anderen Teams. Purge macht wohl wieder sein altes Ding und Blitz ist jetzt bei JoinDota.
Z
Zybba
Guest
*rauskram*
Interview mit Qojqva von Team Tinker (1.Teil):
Interview mit Qojqva von Team Tinker (2.Teil):
Interview mit Akke von Alliance:
Interview mit Qojqva von Team Tinker (1.Teil):
Ich will wieder TI4-Form
Shootingstar, TI4-Dominator, deutsche Hoffnung: Max "qojqva" Bröcker von Team Tinker hat in seiner "Dota 2"-Karriere schon einiges erlebt - trotz seines jungen Alters von gerade einmal 19 Jahren. Im ersten Teil des großen Interviews mit Entania spricht qojqva über die schwierigen letzten Monate, das neu formierte Team Tinker, seine persönliche Entwicklung und ein mögliches Karriereende.
Entania: Max, bei Team Tinker lief es in den letzten Monaten nicht so gut, durchwachsene Ergebnisse und Lineupwechsel warfen euch zurück. Erst langsam findet ihr in die Erfolgsspur zurück. Wie frustrierend war der Jahresbeginn für dich persönlich?
qojqva: Eigentlich war der Jahresbeginn nicht allzu frustrierend. Wir wussten, dass das damalige Lineup nicht wirklich zusammen passt und haben uns schon Gedanken über potentielle neue Spieler gemacht. In den Monaten vor The International macht man sich ohnehin nochmal Gedanken, ob das eigene Lineup wirklich gut auf dem TI sein kann.
Entania: Was waren die Hauptprobleme des alten Lineups?
qojqva: Die Kommunikation war das größte Problem, denke ich. Man hat nicht richtig zusammengespielt, es hat sich nicht wie 5vs5 angefühlt, stattdessen hat jeder oft sein eigenes Spiel gespielt. Unter anderem war die Zusammensetzung der Spieler nicht optimal meiner Meinung nach, aber dazu will ich nicht allzu sehr ins Detail gehen bzw. einen Spieler schlecht reden.
Entania: Wer war bei der Suche nach neuen Spielern die treibende Kraft im Team?
qojqva: Bulba unterhält sich wohl am meisten mit anderen Spielern, deswegen hat er uns potentielle Spieler genannt. Danach haben wir diese im Team besprochen und dann, wenn alle einverstanden waren, Testspiele mit ihnen gemacht.
Entania: Nach welchen Kriterien habt ihr die Spieler ausgewählt?
qojqva: Vor allem sollte derjenige viel reden und sich gut ausdrücken können. Natürlich sollten außerdem die Mechanics nicht allzu schlecht sein, ein wichtiger Punkt war zudem Kritikfähigkeit. Wir glauben, dass auf unsere derzeitigen Spieler jene Tugenden zutreffen.
Entania: Mit Black habt ihr einen der erfahrensten und besten Carries Europas verpflichtet. Was erwartet ihr euch von ihm?
qojqva: Wir hoffen, mit ihm nochmal besser zu werden und uns bei der Kommunikation bzw. beim Teamplay zu steigern. Durch seine Zeit in China kann er uns bestimmt in einigen Sachen helfen, gleichzeitig können wir ihm bei einigen Dingen helfen.
Entania: Black ist vor allem als farmender Carry bekannt, die Rolle als "Hauptfarmer" kam bei Team Tinker bisher vor allem dir zu. Wir wird das in Zukunft geregelt?
qojqva: In Zukunft werden wir wahrscheinlich keine festen Rollen haben. Black und ich werden uns bei den Rollen abwechseln – je nachdem, wer sich wohler mit dem Helden fühlt, spielt ihn ganz einfach. Das verwirrt den Gegner auch etwas und kann so von Vorteil sein.
Entania: Kurz zum Thema Talente: Mit Sumail hat es ein weiterer ganz junger Spieler in kürzester Zeit zum Topspieler geschafft. Wie kommt es, dass ein so unerfahrener Spieler schon solche Leistungen abrufen kann?
qojqva: Ich glaube, dass Sumail das perfekte Umfeld hat und im Spiel entsprechend gut behandelt wird. Das heißt, dass EG immer sicherstellt, dass er ein faires Matchup hat und seine Lane gewinnt. Dazu kommt natürlich, dass er sehr talentiert ist.
Entania: Wird das alleine langfristig reichen, um sich in der Weltspitze zu etablieren?
qojqva: Solange er weiterhin so viel spielt und ppd strategisch einer der Besten ist: ja, definitiv!
Entania: Was macht ppd aktuell besser als die anderen Team-Captains?
qojqva: ppd ist sehr konstant in dem, was er pickt. Er denkt viel über seine Strategien nach, bevor er sie ausprobiert. Vor dem Spiel erklärt er seinem Team, wie er sich die Strategie ausgedacht hat und wie er denkt, wie man sie spielen sollte. So funktionieren die einzelnen Spieler als Team und nicht nur wie fünf Individuen.
Entania: Talent, was bedeutet das in "Dota" eigentlich konkret?
qojqva: Ein Spieler ist talentiert, wenn er schnell sehr gut wird bzw. nicht viel Spielpraxis braucht, um sein Niveau zu halten.
Entania: Du hast auch sehr früh schon auf einem sehr hohen Level "Dota" gespielt. Was unterscheidet dich vom "Talent" qojqva aus deiner Anfangszeit am meisten?
qojqva: Natürlich habe ich bisher einiges an Erfahrung gesammelt, wodurch ich jetzt viel gelassener bin, wenn es mal nicht so gut läuft. Außerdem kommuniziere ich im Spiel viel mehr. Früher habe ich z.B. nicht angesagt, dass meine Spells auf Cooldown sind oder dass ich ein wichtiges Item für den Spielverlauf fertiggestellt habe. Heute leite ich auch deutlich mehr Ganks und sage meinem Team, wo ich die Gegner vermute.
Entania: Was waren die Schlüsselmomente und die wichtigsten Personen, die dir bei deinem Entwicklungsprozess in den letzten Jahren geholfen haben?
qojqva: Wahrscheinlich die Freundschaft und Bekanntschaft von Bulba. Ich kenne ihn schon lange und er hat mir in vielerlei Hinsicht sehr geholfen. Damals spielte ich
noch Offlane und ich sah ihn als einen der besten Offlane-Spieler, deswegen hab ich ihn viel zu der Rolle bzw. generell Sachen um "Dota" gefragt. Dazu kam, dass wir uns außerhalb von "Dota" sehr gut verstanden haben und so auch einfach viel miteinander geredet haben.
Entania: Wie würdest du deine Leistungen im Moment einschätzen?
qojqva: Ich bin zufrieden, obwohl ich um einiges besser spielen könnte, finde ich. Beim letzten The International hab ich die besten Leistungen meiner ganzen Karriere abgerufen. Ich hoffe, diese auf dem TI 2015 noch zu übertreffen. Leider ist meine Zeit gerade etwas limitiert, aber trotzdem versuche ich, das Meiste herauszuholen. Früher hatte ich z.B. viel mehr Zeit, um Replays anzuschauen. Jetzt hilft mir zum Glück mein Coach dabei, so dass ich nicht mehr viele anschauen muss.
Entania: Du sprichst die knappe Zeit an. Wie schwierig ist es momentan, die richtige Balance aus "Dota", Schule und Privatleben zu finden?
qojqva: Ziemlich kompliziert. Ich versuche, für alle Gebiete genug Zeit zu finden, aber manchmal leidet ein Gebiet. Ich bin mir noch nicht sicher, wie es nach dem kommenden TI weitergehen wird. Vielleicht werde ich wieder mit streamen anfangen und das professionelle Spielen vorerst sein lassen, aber es ist ja noch lange bis dahin.
Entania: Auf welchem Gebiet liegt der Fokus im Moment?
qojqva: Schwer zu sagen. Ungefähr 40 Prozent "Dota", 30 Prozent Schule und 30 Prozent Privatleben. Die Schule leidet wohl am meisten darunter, da ich oft nachts noch Spiele habe.
Shootingstar, TI4-Dominator, deutsche Hoffnung: Max "qojqva" Bröcker von Team Tinker hat in seiner "Dota 2"-Karriere schon einiges erlebt - trotz seines jungen Alters von gerade einmal 19 Jahren. Im ersten Teil des großen Interviews mit Entania spricht qojqva über die schwierigen letzten Monate, das neu formierte Team Tinker, seine persönliche Entwicklung und ein mögliches Karriereende.
Entania: Max, bei Team Tinker lief es in den letzten Monaten nicht so gut, durchwachsene Ergebnisse und Lineupwechsel warfen euch zurück. Erst langsam findet ihr in die Erfolgsspur zurück. Wie frustrierend war der Jahresbeginn für dich persönlich?
qojqva: Eigentlich war der Jahresbeginn nicht allzu frustrierend. Wir wussten, dass das damalige Lineup nicht wirklich zusammen passt und haben uns schon Gedanken über potentielle neue Spieler gemacht. In den Monaten vor The International macht man sich ohnehin nochmal Gedanken, ob das eigene Lineup wirklich gut auf dem TI sein kann.
Entania: Was waren die Hauptprobleme des alten Lineups?
qojqva: Die Kommunikation war das größte Problem, denke ich. Man hat nicht richtig zusammengespielt, es hat sich nicht wie 5vs5 angefühlt, stattdessen hat jeder oft sein eigenes Spiel gespielt. Unter anderem war die Zusammensetzung der Spieler nicht optimal meiner Meinung nach, aber dazu will ich nicht allzu sehr ins Detail gehen bzw. einen Spieler schlecht reden.
Entania: Wer war bei der Suche nach neuen Spielern die treibende Kraft im Team?
qojqva: Bulba unterhält sich wohl am meisten mit anderen Spielern, deswegen hat er uns potentielle Spieler genannt. Danach haben wir diese im Team besprochen und dann, wenn alle einverstanden waren, Testspiele mit ihnen gemacht.
Entania: Nach welchen Kriterien habt ihr die Spieler ausgewählt?
qojqva: Vor allem sollte derjenige viel reden und sich gut ausdrücken können. Natürlich sollten außerdem die Mechanics nicht allzu schlecht sein, ein wichtiger Punkt war zudem Kritikfähigkeit. Wir glauben, dass auf unsere derzeitigen Spieler jene Tugenden zutreffen.
Entania: Mit Black habt ihr einen der erfahrensten und besten Carries Europas verpflichtet. Was erwartet ihr euch von ihm?
qojqva: Wir hoffen, mit ihm nochmal besser zu werden und uns bei der Kommunikation bzw. beim Teamplay zu steigern. Durch seine Zeit in China kann er uns bestimmt in einigen Sachen helfen, gleichzeitig können wir ihm bei einigen Dingen helfen.
Entania: Black ist vor allem als farmender Carry bekannt, die Rolle als "Hauptfarmer" kam bei Team Tinker bisher vor allem dir zu. Wir wird das in Zukunft geregelt?
qojqva: In Zukunft werden wir wahrscheinlich keine festen Rollen haben. Black und ich werden uns bei den Rollen abwechseln – je nachdem, wer sich wohler mit dem Helden fühlt, spielt ihn ganz einfach. Das verwirrt den Gegner auch etwas und kann so von Vorteil sein.
Entania: Kurz zum Thema Talente: Mit Sumail hat es ein weiterer ganz junger Spieler in kürzester Zeit zum Topspieler geschafft. Wie kommt es, dass ein so unerfahrener Spieler schon solche Leistungen abrufen kann?
qojqva: Ich glaube, dass Sumail das perfekte Umfeld hat und im Spiel entsprechend gut behandelt wird. Das heißt, dass EG immer sicherstellt, dass er ein faires Matchup hat und seine Lane gewinnt. Dazu kommt natürlich, dass er sehr talentiert ist.
Entania: Wird das alleine langfristig reichen, um sich in der Weltspitze zu etablieren?
qojqva: Solange er weiterhin so viel spielt und ppd strategisch einer der Besten ist: ja, definitiv!
Entania: Was macht ppd aktuell besser als die anderen Team-Captains?
qojqva: ppd ist sehr konstant in dem, was er pickt. Er denkt viel über seine Strategien nach, bevor er sie ausprobiert. Vor dem Spiel erklärt er seinem Team, wie er sich die Strategie ausgedacht hat und wie er denkt, wie man sie spielen sollte. So funktionieren die einzelnen Spieler als Team und nicht nur wie fünf Individuen.
Entania: Talent, was bedeutet das in "Dota" eigentlich konkret?
qojqva: Ein Spieler ist talentiert, wenn er schnell sehr gut wird bzw. nicht viel Spielpraxis braucht, um sein Niveau zu halten.
Entania: Du hast auch sehr früh schon auf einem sehr hohen Level "Dota" gespielt. Was unterscheidet dich vom "Talent" qojqva aus deiner Anfangszeit am meisten?
qojqva: Natürlich habe ich bisher einiges an Erfahrung gesammelt, wodurch ich jetzt viel gelassener bin, wenn es mal nicht so gut läuft. Außerdem kommuniziere ich im Spiel viel mehr. Früher habe ich z.B. nicht angesagt, dass meine Spells auf Cooldown sind oder dass ich ein wichtiges Item für den Spielverlauf fertiggestellt habe. Heute leite ich auch deutlich mehr Ganks und sage meinem Team, wo ich die Gegner vermute.
Entania: Was waren die Schlüsselmomente und die wichtigsten Personen, die dir bei deinem Entwicklungsprozess in den letzten Jahren geholfen haben?
qojqva: Wahrscheinlich die Freundschaft und Bekanntschaft von Bulba. Ich kenne ihn schon lange und er hat mir in vielerlei Hinsicht sehr geholfen. Damals spielte ich
noch Offlane und ich sah ihn als einen der besten Offlane-Spieler, deswegen hab ich ihn viel zu der Rolle bzw. generell Sachen um "Dota" gefragt. Dazu kam, dass wir uns außerhalb von "Dota" sehr gut verstanden haben und so auch einfach viel miteinander geredet haben.
Entania: Wie würdest du deine Leistungen im Moment einschätzen?
qojqva: Ich bin zufrieden, obwohl ich um einiges besser spielen könnte, finde ich. Beim letzten The International hab ich die besten Leistungen meiner ganzen Karriere abgerufen. Ich hoffe, diese auf dem TI 2015 noch zu übertreffen. Leider ist meine Zeit gerade etwas limitiert, aber trotzdem versuche ich, das Meiste herauszuholen. Früher hatte ich z.B. viel mehr Zeit, um Replays anzuschauen. Jetzt hilft mir zum Glück mein Coach dabei, so dass ich nicht mehr viele anschauen muss.
Entania: Du sprichst die knappe Zeit an. Wie schwierig ist es momentan, die richtige Balance aus "Dota", Schule und Privatleben zu finden?
qojqva: Ziemlich kompliziert. Ich versuche, für alle Gebiete genug Zeit zu finden, aber manchmal leidet ein Gebiet. Ich bin mir noch nicht sicher, wie es nach dem kommenden TI weitergehen wird. Vielleicht werde ich wieder mit streamen anfangen und das professionelle Spielen vorerst sein lassen, aber es ist ja noch lange bis dahin.
Entania: Auf welchem Gebiet liegt der Fokus im Moment?
qojqva: Schwer zu sagen. Ungefähr 40 Prozent "Dota", 30 Prozent Schule und 30 Prozent Privatleben. Die Schule leidet wohl am meisten darunter, da ich oft nachts noch Spiele habe.
Interview mit Qojqva von Team Tinker (2.Teil):
Kommunikation? Mittelmäßig
Im zweiten Teil des großen Interviews mit Entania spricht qojqva von Team Tinker über "Dota" als Beruf, das schwierige Thema Kommunikation und die Verbesserungspotentiale in seinem Spiel.
Entania: Warum nicht einfach voll auf "Dota"? Heutzutage ist es doch gar nicht mehr so abwegig, ein kleines Vermögen durch das Spiel verdienen zu können.
qojqva: Man weiß nie, wie lange man in der Szene aktiv sein kann. Ich weiß nicht, ob ich mit 30 oder 40 noch viel Geld mit Dota verdienen könnte, deswegen fühle ich mich wohler, den ''normalen'' Weg einzuschlagen.
Entania: Wäre das denn Stand jetzt dein Wunschtraum, Dota für einige Jahre zum Beruf zu machen?
qojqva: Ich glaube nicht langfristig. Vielleicht ein bis zwei Jahre, aber nicht länger. Ich würde mich viel sicherer mit einem ''stabilen'' Arbeitsplatz und geregelten Arbeitszeiten fühlen.
Entania: Wäre so ein ruhiger Arbeitsplatz nicht zu fad, wenn man es damit vergleicht, sein Hobby zum Beruf zu machen und in der Welt rumzukommen?
qojqva: Ich hoffe nicht! Man kann sich ja auch einen Job suchen, bei dem man nicht neun Stunden am Tag im Büro sitzt und etwas nach draußen kommt bzw. gelegentlich reisen darf.
Entania: Was sind die Dinge, die dich an "Dota" am meisten begeistern und die dazu führen, dass du so viel Zeit in das Spiel investierst und ihm schon einige Jahre die Treue hältst?
qojqva: Die Anzahl der vielen verschiedenen Möglichkeiten und Strategien. Man kann so ziemlich alles mit allem paaren und alle Helden haben Potential in dem richtigen Lineup. Ich mag die Vielfältigkeit und deswegen wird mir das Spiel auch nie langweilig. Manchmal spiel ich zwar andere Spiele (z.B "CS:GO"), aber dann nur für höchstens eine Stunde, wenn ich eine Pause von "Dota" brauche.
Entania: Mit welchen Aspekten des Spiels beschäftigst du dich momentan am meisten?
qojqva: Kleinigkeiten wie Farming Patterns (welches Camp man wann farmt, um das maximale Potential aus der Zeit rauszuholen). Ich schaue sehr wenig Replays, eigentlich nur, wenn ich mich nicht komfortabel mit einem Helden fühle. Dann schaue ich Replays von anderen Pros und lerne ihn, indem ich einfach versuche, die Spieler nachzuahmen. Auf LANs spiel ich auch 1v1 vor den Spielen, um mich aufzuwärmen. Zuhause hat man mehr Zeit, dort spielt man dann ein bis zwei Matchmaking- oder Inhouse-Games.
Entania: Sind das dann auch die Bereiche, in denen du bei dir noch am meisten Entwicklungspotential siehst oder gibt es noch andere konkrete "Schwachpunkte" in deinem Spiel, die du in absehbarer Zeit beheben möchtest?
qojqva: Meine Kommunikation kann noch um einiges verbessert werden und auch strategisch kann man sich immer steigern. Ich will definitiv eine breitere Auswahl an Helden können und meine Effizienz optimieren.
Entania: Stichwort Kommunikation: Würdest du dich denn selber als kommunikativen Mitspieler bezeichnen?
qojqva: Ich denke, ich bin mittelmäßig. Oft mache ich Solo-Plays, die manchmal auch nicht funktionieren. Aber die wichtigen Komponenten wie Spells im Teamfight kommuniziere ich schon.
Entania: Welche Spieler würdest du in puncto Kommunikation als die besten ansehen?
qojqva: Puppey kommuniziert sehr gut, da er klare Anweisungen gibt und auch kommuniziert, wenn das Spiel nicht gut läuft. Kommunikation verbessert sich automatisch in einer guten Team-Atmosphäre, da man sich komfortabel und wohler fühlt.
Entania: Siehst du dich auf längere Sicht in einer ähnlichen Leader-Rolle wie Puppey mit viel Kommunikation und einem klaren Führungsanspruch was Strategie und Taktik angeht?
qojqva: Ich denke eher nicht. Ich war schon immer mehr ein Solo-Spieler und schaue nach Pick-Offs und nicht nach Objectives wie Tower Pushes bzw. nach dem Movement der Gegner. Als Leader muss man sich sehr gut mit Strategie und Draften auskennen und diese Dinge interessieren mich nicht sehr.
Entania: Trotz Puppeys Leader-Fähigkeiten hat es für das Starensemble von Secret auf dem DAC "nur" zum dritten Platz gereicht. Woran lag es aus deiner Beobachterperspektive?
qojqva: Dazu kann ich leider nicht allzu viel sagen, da ich das Turnier nur am Rande verfolgt habe. Aber von dem, was ich gehört bzw. gesehen habe, lag es anscheinend daran, dass Secret sich nicht rechtzeitig an den Spielstil angepasst hat und deswegen waren sie schon nach dem Draft im Nachteil.
Entania: Denkst du denn, dass man sein volles spielerisches Potential abrufen kann, wenn man sich für Dinge wie Strategie und Draft nicht so interessiert? Das klingt etwas widersprüchlich, wenn man bedenkt, was für ein extrem taktisch geprägtes Spiel Dota letztlich ist.
qojqva: Natürlich muss man die Strategie verstehen, die man gerade spielt bzw. den Draft. Man muss verstehen, was für eine Aufgabe man in dem Spiel hat und was man wo machen muss. Das heißt aber noch lange nicht, dass man selber draften und das Kommando haben will, denn das ist eine sehr viel schwerere Aufgabe.
Entania: Wie bewertest du das aktuelle Meta-Game?
qojqva: Meta-Game ist ein sehr breiter Begriff. Ich glaube, es ist etwas outdated, weil Dota jetzt sehr viel ausgeglichener ist, so dass man fast alle Helden in ein Lineup einbauen kann.
Entania: Aber sicherlich gibt es im aktuellen Patch Strategien, die besser funktionieren als andere, oder liegt das wirklich nur daran, ob ein Draft zum jeweiligen Team passt und ob die Execution richtig ist?
qojqva: Es gibt sicherlich Strategien, die besser sind als andere. Jedoch ist Execution auch ein wichtiger Faktor. Früher konnte man nicht sehr viel Verschiedenes spielen, z.B. gab es Patches, in denen immer Death Pushes gedraftet wurden oder Patches, in denen man immer aufs Lategame gegangen ist. Aber jetzt kann man so ziemlich alles spielen.
Entania: Welcher Stil gefällt dir persönlich am besten?
qojqva: Splitpush. Ich finde, es braucht am meisten Können und Spielverständnis bzw. strategisches Können. Definitiv bereitet es mir am meisten Spielspaß.
Entania: Welche Erwartungen hast du an die kommenden Monate mit deinem Team?
qojqva: Ich erwarte, dass wir um einiges besser werden und Lücken schließen. Letztlich geht es darum, dass wir ein stabileres Team werden.
Entania: Und an dich selber?
qojqva: Mir geht es vor allem um die kleineren Sachen, die ich oben schon genannt habe: Farming Patterns bzw. neue Helden besser zu können.
Entania: Max, vielen Dank für das Interview.
Im zweiten Teil des großen Interviews mit Entania spricht qojqva von Team Tinker über "Dota" als Beruf, das schwierige Thema Kommunikation und die Verbesserungspotentiale in seinem Spiel.
Entania: Warum nicht einfach voll auf "Dota"? Heutzutage ist es doch gar nicht mehr so abwegig, ein kleines Vermögen durch das Spiel verdienen zu können.
qojqva: Man weiß nie, wie lange man in der Szene aktiv sein kann. Ich weiß nicht, ob ich mit 30 oder 40 noch viel Geld mit Dota verdienen könnte, deswegen fühle ich mich wohler, den ''normalen'' Weg einzuschlagen.
Entania: Wäre das denn Stand jetzt dein Wunschtraum, Dota für einige Jahre zum Beruf zu machen?
qojqva: Ich glaube nicht langfristig. Vielleicht ein bis zwei Jahre, aber nicht länger. Ich würde mich viel sicherer mit einem ''stabilen'' Arbeitsplatz und geregelten Arbeitszeiten fühlen.
Entania: Wäre so ein ruhiger Arbeitsplatz nicht zu fad, wenn man es damit vergleicht, sein Hobby zum Beruf zu machen und in der Welt rumzukommen?
qojqva: Ich hoffe nicht! Man kann sich ja auch einen Job suchen, bei dem man nicht neun Stunden am Tag im Büro sitzt und etwas nach draußen kommt bzw. gelegentlich reisen darf.
Entania: Was sind die Dinge, die dich an "Dota" am meisten begeistern und die dazu führen, dass du so viel Zeit in das Spiel investierst und ihm schon einige Jahre die Treue hältst?
qojqva: Die Anzahl der vielen verschiedenen Möglichkeiten und Strategien. Man kann so ziemlich alles mit allem paaren und alle Helden haben Potential in dem richtigen Lineup. Ich mag die Vielfältigkeit und deswegen wird mir das Spiel auch nie langweilig. Manchmal spiel ich zwar andere Spiele (z.B "CS:GO"), aber dann nur für höchstens eine Stunde, wenn ich eine Pause von "Dota" brauche.
Entania: Mit welchen Aspekten des Spiels beschäftigst du dich momentan am meisten?
qojqva: Kleinigkeiten wie Farming Patterns (welches Camp man wann farmt, um das maximale Potential aus der Zeit rauszuholen). Ich schaue sehr wenig Replays, eigentlich nur, wenn ich mich nicht komfortabel mit einem Helden fühle. Dann schaue ich Replays von anderen Pros und lerne ihn, indem ich einfach versuche, die Spieler nachzuahmen. Auf LANs spiel ich auch 1v1 vor den Spielen, um mich aufzuwärmen. Zuhause hat man mehr Zeit, dort spielt man dann ein bis zwei Matchmaking- oder Inhouse-Games.
Entania: Sind das dann auch die Bereiche, in denen du bei dir noch am meisten Entwicklungspotential siehst oder gibt es noch andere konkrete "Schwachpunkte" in deinem Spiel, die du in absehbarer Zeit beheben möchtest?
qojqva: Meine Kommunikation kann noch um einiges verbessert werden und auch strategisch kann man sich immer steigern. Ich will definitiv eine breitere Auswahl an Helden können und meine Effizienz optimieren.
Entania: Stichwort Kommunikation: Würdest du dich denn selber als kommunikativen Mitspieler bezeichnen?
qojqva: Ich denke, ich bin mittelmäßig. Oft mache ich Solo-Plays, die manchmal auch nicht funktionieren. Aber die wichtigen Komponenten wie Spells im Teamfight kommuniziere ich schon.
Entania: Welche Spieler würdest du in puncto Kommunikation als die besten ansehen?
qojqva: Puppey kommuniziert sehr gut, da er klare Anweisungen gibt und auch kommuniziert, wenn das Spiel nicht gut läuft. Kommunikation verbessert sich automatisch in einer guten Team-Atmosphäre, da man sich komfortabel und wohler fühlt.
Entania: Siehst du dich auf längere Sicht in einer ähnlichen Leader-Rolle wie Puppey mit viel Kommunikation und einem klaren Führungsanspruch was Strategie und Taktik angeht?
qojqva: Ich denke eher nicht. Ich war schon immer mehr ein Solo-Spieler und schaue nach Pick-Offs und nicht nach Objectives wie Tower Pushes bzw. nach dem Movement der Gegner. Als Leader muss man sich sehr gut mit Strategie und Draften auskennen und diese Dinge interessieren mich nicht sehr.
Entania: Trotz Puppeys Leader-Fähigkeiten hat es für das Starensemble von Secret auf dem DAC "nur" zum dritten Platz gereicht. Woran lag es aus deiner Beobachterperspektive?
qojqva: Dazu kann ich leider nicht allzu viel sagen, da ich das Turnier nur am Rande verfolgt habe. Aber von dem, was ich gehört bzw. gesehen habe, lag es anscheinend daran, dass Secret sich nicht rechtzeitig an den Spielstil angepasst hat und deswegen waren sie schon nach dem Draft im Nachteil.
Entania: Denkst du denn, dass man sein volles spielerisches Potential abrufen kann, wenn man sich für Dinge wie Strategie und Draft nicht so interessiert? Das klingt etwas widersprüchlich, wenn man bedenkt, was für ein extrem taktisch geprägtes Spiel Dota letztlich ist.
qojqva: Natürlich muss man die Strategie verstehen, die man gerade spielt bzw. den Draft. Man muss verstehen, was für eine Aufgabe man in dem Spiel hat und was man wo machen muss. Das heißt aber noch lange nicht, dass man selber draften und das Kommando haben will, denn das ist eine sehr viel schwerere Aufgabe.
Entania: Wie bewertest du das aktuelle Meta-Game?
qojqva: Meta-Game ist ein sehr breiter Begriff. Ich glaube, es ist etwas outdated, weil Dota jetzt sehr viel ausgeglichener ist, so dass man fast alle Helden in ein Lineup einbauen kann.
Entania: Aber sicherlich gibt es im aktuellen Patch Strategien, die besser funktionieren als andere, oder liegt das wirklich nur daran, ob ein Draft zum jeweiligen Team passt und ob die Execution richtig ist?
qojqva: Es gibt sicherlich Strategien, die besser sind als andere. Jedoch ist Execution auch ein wichtiger Faktor. Früher konnte man nicht sehr viel Verschiedenes spielen, z.B. gab es Patches, in denen immer Death Pushes gedraftet wurden oder Patches, in denen man immer aufs Lategame gegangen ist. Aber jetzt kann man so ziemlich alles spielen.
Entania: Welcher Stil gefällt dir persönlich am besten?
qojqva: Splitpush. Ich finde, es braucht am meisten Können und Spielverständnis bzw. strategisches Können. Definitiv bereitet es mir am meisten Spielspaß.
Entania: Welche Erwartungen hast du an die kommenden Monate mit deinem Team?
qojqva: Ich erwarte, dass wir um einiges besser werden und Lücken schließen. Letztlich geht es darum, dass wir ein stabileres Team werden.
Entania: Und an dich selber?
qojqva: Mir geht es vor allem um die kleineren Sachen, die ich oben schon genannt habe: Farming Patterns bzw. neue Helden besser zu können.
Entania: Max, vielen Dank für das Interview.
Interview mit Akke von Alliance:
Alliance took the world by storm, by winning The International 3 not on the basis of individual brilliance but by superior game knowledge, strategy and playing their own style of Dota. Post TI, the Curse was in full effect and the team never looked like the 'TI3 Alliance'. In September last year, s4 and EGM left the team and since then they've been one the most unstable teams in Europe over the past few months, playing with stand-ins and never having a complete roster. Recently after the pick up of Niqua and 7ckngmad, the team has hit a new gear, beating the likes of Cloud9, NiP and ASUS.Polar, the Swedes are 21-6 since the arrival of Sébastien "7ckingMad" Debs on 6th March. It'll be hard for them to get a TI invite since its still unclear how they'll perform at LANs because they have a limited number of tournaments left.
This interview was conducted by Kim "Drayich" Larsson, a Swedish player turned journalist who also casts Dota2 in Swedish. Joakim "Akke" Akterhall talks about a variety of things about Alliance, their future goals and his support play with Sébastien "7ckingMad" Debs in the team.
D: First of all, congratulations! Last time you faced NiP it was another story.
A: They are a very good team indeed, I’m not surprised it can go both ways though. Overall it feels better and better as we’ve had some success the last two weeks, both in terms of teamplay and drafting etc.
D: I talked to Loda last week and I asked him if you, as a team, ever lost the desire to play during the hard times, and he mentioned that even you was quite upset. Can you elaborate?
A: Well, it was not that bad really. It comes to a point where you have to see this as a normal job and just fight on. Force yourself to play games that you don’t want to play and just work harder. With a full roster you can work on things that do not work, but for a long time we didnt even have that. I mean, in December Loda was in USA as a standin for Team Tinker and during that time we played five games in Starladder. I had to spend three hours a day just looking for standins, and that was not alot of fun I guess. It’s alot better now though, obviously.
D: I have noticed that the some players have changed their name, now playing without ”standin”. But Niqua still uses it?
A: Yes, I don’t know what he has done but it should not be that way. He is a member of the team. We are not that serious with that thing.
D: You have gone from a very good team with great synergy to a struggling team, now with different nationalities. Is it equally fun now as it was back then?
A: Yes, I think so. It’s more about the team atmosphere, how we communicate and how we handle losses. You have to encourage each other even though it is not going so well at certain times. But every team has these issues at some point.
D: Considering handling losses, who is the worst at that? (whispering Loda)
A: It’s Pajkatt I guess. That was something I was worried about when we took him to the team actually, but the situation was in fact the opposite. He always tries to see positive things of stuff, it’s really nice! Five out of five stars.
D: When I think back on the time when you and me used to play together, I remember Pajkatt also played. He was a great player, but he didnt seem like a ”teamplayer” back then so to speak. This is something that seems to have changed, has he developed on that front?
A: Absolutely! We’re all getting older and see that game from different angles, learning new things all the time. Pajkatt is one of the best solo players out there, very good at matchups and descision making. He has really showed that he is a teamplayer. But this is one of the hard things with Dota, it’s a team game and everyone learned how to play in different ways.
D: Looking at you now, you and Niqua seem to have found another level. Do you feel the same? That you play a bit better?
A: Well, it all comes down to the team. If I support Loda during the laning stage the first ten minutes and we lose all lanes, then it’s hard for me to do anything about it. But when we play as a team my role gets more noticed. I would say that my play goes hand in hand with how the team performs. I have not really felt that I’ve stepped up my individual play that much to be honest.
D: Interesting. To me it seems that you are better at finding farm and also broaden your hero pool since many teams do not let you play ”your” heroes.
A: Looking at my last games its Skywrath, Skywrath, Skywrath! laughing
D: Ok, you have atleast learned one new hero then.
A: It’s a nice thing about Mad, that he likes to play the heroes I dont like. I don’t like Bane, Rubick, Treant is OK, Wisp is a hero I’ve been somewhat forced to learn no that EGM isn’t with us anymore. So I guess that’s the only hero that I play now but didn’t know much about before.
D: That’s a really special hero!
A: Yes, there are almost no limitations on what you can do with that hero. At the beginning i stacked pubs with Loda and just played Wisp+CK and Wisp+Tiny over and over until we felt that it worked out.
D: Either way, I still think you have become a better player.
A: Thank you!
D: Lets talk a little bit about Mad, the handsome French. What has he brought to the team and how does the future look, is he coming to Gothenburg?
A: Yes, before any LAN-event the plan is that we use our team house to practice, which then including Mad coming here ofc.
D: You communicate in English I assume?
A: Yes! It happens from time to time that me and Loda speak a little bit Swedish if we just talk to each other about a small thing happening in the lane, that does not include Mad.
D: I’m not gonna draw this out too long, I’m sure you have other things to do.
A: It’s OK, Loda had to run over to his brother so we have some time to kill anyway.
D: Did he forgot to turn on his VPN?
A: We should not go into that too much. All that should have been fixed already.
D: So you knew it was going to be a problem?
A: Yeah, but it’s not really something you make an official announcement about. laughing
D: Niqua, have you ever met him in person?
A: Yeah, we have met him at Dreamhack, couple of times, he’s really nice.
D: Almost all of you are experienced LAN-players, has he ever been to a LAN
A: He have played a lot of HoN so I think he is experienced enough when it comes to that. But this thing is very individual overall. Some people that have not played at a LAN does’t really care much about it while experienced players still can be at bit shaky when there’s a big crowd in front of them and cameras everywhere.
D: TI5?
A: Of course we do not expect to get an invite at this point. But if we keep playing like this and maybe win a tournament or two, we can talk about the possibility. As for now, it looks like we’re gonna play the qualifiers though. We take it as it comes. I have no idea how Valve thinks about the invites, but it seems like they consider the ranks, i.e the one at JoinDota, just so roughly see how teams perform. We were at place 25 something before but have climbed quite a bit recently. They are also very active watching tournaments so if we have some good placements within this month maybe we can snatch a place, otherwise it’s qualifiers which is totally fine. All we can do is to play our best.
D: How is it going for you in ESL One?
A: We started off in the lowest bracket which is fine, we got to play more games and therefore got more time to practice and prove ourselves before facing C9.
D: Your mindset is totally amazing!
A: It’s not only about me, it’s just the truth.
D: Do you want to say anything to the stream before we end this?
A: Thank you to all of our fans, especially you guys who cheered for us even during the darkest of times. And I hope we can qualify to TI5 to show everyone that Sweden still has the best teams in Dota.
This interview was conducted by Kim "Drayich" Larsson, a Swedish player turned journalist who also casts Dota2 in Swedish. Joakim "Akke" Akterhall talks about a variety of things about Alliance, their future goals and his support play with Sébastien "7ckingMad" Debs in the team.
D: First of all, congratulations! Last time you faced NiP it was another story.
A: They are a very good team indeed, I’m not surprised it can go both ways though. Overall it feels better and better as we’ve had some success the last two weeks, both in terms of teamplay and drafting etc.
D: I talked to Loda last week and I asked him if you, as a team, ever lost the desire to play during the hard times, and he mentioned that even you was quite upset. Can you elaborate?
A: Well, it was not that bad really. It comes to a point where you have to see this as a normal job and just fight on. Force yourself to play games that you don’t want to play and just work harder. With a full roster you can work on things that do not work, but for a long time we didnt even have that. I mean, in December Loda was in USA as a standin for Team Tinker and during that time we played five games in Starladder. I had to spend three hours a day just looking for standins, and that was not alot of fun I guess. It’s alot better now though, obviously.
D: I have noticed that the some players have changed their name, now playing without ”standin”. But Niqua still uses it?
A: Yes, I don’t know what he has done but it should not be that way. He is a member of the team. We are not that serious with that thing.
D: You have gone from a very good team with great synergy to a struggling team, now with different nationalities. Is it equally fun now as it was back then?
A: Yes, I think so. It’s more about the team atmosphere, how we communicate and how we handle losses. You have to encourage each other even though it is not going so well at certain times. But every team has these issues at some point.
D: Considering handling losses, who is the worst at that? (whispering Loda)
A: It’s Pajkatt I guess. That was something I was worried about when we took him to the team actually, but the situation was in fact the opposite. He always tries to see positive things of stuff, it’s really nice! Five out of five stars.
D: When I think back on the time when you and me used to play together, I remember Pajkatt also played. He was a great player, but he didnt seem like a ”teamplayer” back then so to speak. This is something that seems to have changed, has he developed on that front?
A: Absolutely! We’re all getting older and see that game from different angles, learning new things all the time. Pajkatt is one of the best solo players out there, very good at matchups and descision making. He has really showed that he is a teamplayer. But this is one of the hard things with Dota, it’s a team game and everyone learned how to play in different ways.
D: Looking at you now, you and Niqua seem to have found another level. Do you feel the same? That you play a bit better?
A: Well, it all comes down to the team. If I support Loda during the laning stage the first ten minutes and we lose all lanes, then it’s hard for me to do anything about it. But when we play as a team my role gets more noticed. I would say that my play goes hand in hand with how the team performs. I have not really felt that I’ve stepped up my individual play that much to be honest.
D: Interesting. To me it seems that you are better at finding farm and also broaden your hero pool since many teams do not let you play ”your” heroes.
A: Looking at my last games its Skywrath, Skywrath, Skywrath! laughing
D: Ok, you have atleast learned one new hero then.
A: It’s a nice thing about Mad, that he likes to play the heroes I dont like. I don’t like Bane, Rubick, Treant is OK, Wisp is a hero I’ve been somewhat forced to learn no that EGM isn’t with us anymore. So I guess that’s the only hero that I play now but didn’t know much about before.
D: That’s a really special hero!
A: Yes, there are almost no limitations on what you can do with that hero. At the beginning i stacked pubs with Loda and just played Wisp+CK and Wisp+Tiny over and over until we felt that it worked out.
D: Either way, I still think you have become a better player.
A: Thank you!
D: Lets talk a little bit about Mad, the handsome French. What has he brought to the team and how does the future look, is he coming to Gothenburg?
A: Yes, before any LAN-event the plan is that we use our team house to practice, which then including Mad coming here ofc.
D: You communicate in English I assume?
A: Yes! It happens from time to time that me and Loda speak a little bit Swedish if we just talk to each other about a small thing happening in the lane, that does not include Mad.
D: I’m not gonna draw this out too long, I’m sure you have other things to do.
A: It’s OK, Loda had to run over to his brother so we have some time to kill anyway.
D: Did he forgot to turn on his VPN?
A: We should not go into that too much. All that should have been fixed already.
D: So you knew it was going to be a problem?
A: Yeah, but it’s not really something you make an official announcement about. laughing
D: Niqua, have you ever met him in person?
A: Yeah, we have met him at Dreamhack, couple of times, he’s really nice.
D: Almost all of you are experienced LAN-players, has he ever been to a LAN
A: He have played a lot of HoN so I think he is experienced enough when it comes to that. But this thing is very individual overall. Some people that have not played at a LAN does’t really care much about it while experienced players still can be at bit shaky when there’s a big crowd in front of them and cameras everywhere.
D: TI5?
A: Of course we do not expect to get an invite at this point. But if we keep playing like this and maybe win a tournament or two, we can talk about the possibility. As for now, it looks like we’re gonna play the qualifiers though. We take it as it comes. I have no idea how Valve thinks about the invites, but it seems like they consider the ranks, i.e the one at JoinDota, just so roughly see how teams perform. We were at place 25 something before but have climbed quite a bit recently. They are also very active watching tournaments so if we have some good placements within this month maybe we can snatch a place, otherwise it’s qualifiers which is totally fine. All we can do is to play our best.
D: How is it going for you in ESL One?
A: We started off in the lowest bracket which is fine, we got to play more games and therefore got more time to practice and prove ourselves before facing C9.
D: Your mindset is totally amazing!
A: It’s not only about me, it’s just the truth.
D: Do you want to say anything to the stream before we end this?
A: Thank you to all of our fans, especially you guys who cheered for us even during the darkest of times. And I hope we can qualify to TI5 to show everyone that Sweden still has the best teams in Dota.
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