Mag: «There have always been many strong players and teams in CIS»

— You and Solo came to Vega Squadron where three young players, No[o]ne, 9pasha and CeMaTheSlayeR, already have been members of the team. Did you manage to find a common language?

—We had credibility since the first days of joining the roster, and guys tried to listen to our opinion. It was quite interesting for me to play with them. Besides, they were pleasant in communication. However, we needed a player who could help us with macro, and we needed someone experienced and strong. Someone like Solo. In this way, we’ve got the mix of experienced and young players in the team.

— In 2015, you demonstrated a good game in tournaments and even won ESL One New York, but later your results started to get worse. What happened?

—Right after ESL One, we participated in another major. We had a boot camp, and prepared for the participation paying all possible efforts. We had good results in a group, and we had a chance to take the first place there. We played against Vici Gaming and lost with 1:2 score. In play-off, we’ve played against one of the strongest teams of the event - Evil Geniuses. We’ve lost the first match, won the second, but has outdraft in the third match which resulted in a loss. It was a real breakdown for us. In the loser bracket, we’ve met EHOME, and their game was stunning. They controlled us easily. We could do nothing. When you spend so many efforts on preparation, but the result is disappointing, it is easy to give up. Perhaps, if we had at least some rest just after the Major, we could show better results, but we had DreamLeague and GameShow planned. We had to cancel the participation and have some time to restore the energy. But we decided to visit all of them, and were too tired to show you’ve expected from us. We slowed down, and this recession lasted till New Year. Before the qualification to Shanghai, a new patch was released. We did not manage to rebuild our strategy of playing. Only after the major, we started to play better. And the results improved.

— You made a replacement — fn substituted 9pasha. He told in the interview, that he did not like to play on carry position. How did it affect the substitute?

—9pasha did not pay enough time to the game. During the training sessions, he played on harders and supports. He felt uncomfortable on carry position, and he did not want to develop the skill. We all noticed that. We have been playing together for a long time, had good relations between team members, but Pasha’s behavior forced us to replace him.

— The Boston Major qualifier has ended recently. Why didn’t you manage to pass to the Major?

—We've lost many matches with Shadow Demon + Luna heroes. It was not the best idea to use them without good practice. And we should not lose the match against Fantastic Five. But they had a small outdraft. We’ve noticed the potential of Shadow Demon + Luna only during qualifiers when everyone started to pick them. Our boot camp lasted for 2 months, and it was too much for all of us. We did not have a certain schedule for the major, so initially we’ve gathered to get used to each other as we had 2 new players in a roster. When we got to know that the qualifiers were scheduled at the end of October, we decided to stay at boot camp. It was our mistake, as we had already god tired of each other. We might play better online at home. Honestly, we were weaker that other teams passed to play-off. Ad Finem and Virtus.pro G2A were by far better than we.

About substitutes

— When did you understand that you need substitutes: before or after the Major?  

—We had a small conflict between Bogdan (Iceberg) and Rostik (fn) since the first days at the boot camp. They could not understand each other. It prevented our development as a team.  When the conflicts happen, the trainings have no sense. Even a month of such a boot camp was less effective than a week in a boot camp with a previous roster. Every day you just listen how other people argue all the time. The last straw was a match in DreamLeague. It seemed that some players did not want to play for the team. Bogdan told that he did not want to play with Rostik. We failed all games in a league. We lost the game against The Imperial although we should win to pass to the LAN. But we did not show necessary level of team play. The time to think about what would happen next had come. The management of the team decided to talk to every player personally and asked everyone about the possible ways to change the situation. We understood that Rostik and Bogdan cannot play together. So we decided to substitute Bogdan. Rostik has a good game skill and it is difficult to find a good substitute for him. We talked to Sergei (God) as we knew that he was looking for a team. It was our chance to play with him. When we just gathered a roster, we decided between Iceberg and God. Bogdan wanted to play with us more and was ready to join the roster immediately, and Sergei could not give an instant answer. We thought that he was looking for a better offer. So we’ve decided to sign Bogdan showing more desire to join us.

— Why was Sergei looking for a roster? He has an active contract with Team Empire

—The problems started long before we started negotiations. ALOHADANCE was dismissed from the team. Sergei did not actually look for a new team, but we talked about this issue and he seemed to be interested in the offer. Akbar (SoNNeikO) was free and he wanted to play with Sergei. So when we took Sergei to the roster, Akbar was in the kit, if it is possible to tell so.  We discussed this with a team and decided that we wanted to play in this roster. We did not even talk that we need to kick Artyom. He is a professional player who satisfied us completely. If we did not want to play with Akbar, we would never kick Artyom from the roster. But we decided to give a try to the roster with SoNNeikO.  He is one of the best CIS players, and it is interesting to look how Semyon and Akbar will play together, as now they play perfectly on their positions.

— Who will be the captain of a new roster? SoNNeikO?

—Akbar tries to coordinate the team. In the current roster, we started to train just after DreamLeague. We officially announced changes after solving some formal issues. When we played with Artyom, he took about 80% of coordination. Now, everyone tries to suggest something although Akbar is the main coordinator. As for the drafts, we still do not make a decision. I tried to pick, Semyon tried to pick, and Akbar also tried to do that. We will see who is better. It is like it was for Virtus.pro. Solo started to pick, then RAMZES666. It only means that over time, a team should build its own strategy about drafts. As we still think about possible solutions, there is no problem in drafts.

— Artyom told about your coach. He mentioned that his work was not effective. Do you agree?

—We took LoL coach just to make an experiment. He did not understand the game completely. At some point, he felt uncomfortable, and perhaps he thought that he could not bring us some benefit. He helped us with communication and scheduling, but his overall job did not bring us the expected results. I always wanted to work with a professional coach, perhaps from the big sports, I think there is someone who is also interested to try himself in esports. For me, the best team in roster management is Natus Vincere G2A. Their coach is one of the best players who have previously played for Na'Vi and who has been playing with most of the roster members. In one of the tournaments, GuardiaN could not play, and starix substituted him.  Or let’s take Ugin, the manager of the team. He controls the discipline, the communication in the teams. They always go for a dinner or to a gym together. He is doing a lot for the team. But it is difficult to find such people on Dota. Now, we are working only with the analytic.

About Dota 2 in CIS

— We have heard that professional Dota 2 in CIS has some problems. What is the reason?

— There have always been many strong players and teams in CIS region. Why the problems started now? It is all about the discipline. Do you remember the interview with Solo? He mentioned this problem. I can give you an example of our previous roster with Pasha. We could not achieve good results because of the lack of discipline and a coach. The mentality also influences this situation. In general, the community as well as the players is rather toxic. It is difficult to build the team from the people so that they can work together.

— And what about new players at the professional theme? Lately, we did not notice new names. Perhaps, you should look for someone in a pub?

—We thought about that in summer when we looked midder instead of Bohdan. We searched at the pub trying to find someone who is ready to play professionally. But it is difficult to find such a player. They are nuggets. The organizations who managed to find them were just lucky. For example, SumaiL’а and Miracle – they did not have good rating, but they played perfectly. You are looking at them and notice that they do everything perfectly. There are only a few players, as the region is really in decline. I think that those who tell that it is necessary to give way to young players are wrong. Why no one tells about that in CS:GO arena? That is the discipline of experienced players. If you are 25 or 26 in Dota, you are too old and need to step aside. This is a nonsense, but commentators support this idea. I do not think the age is the problem. The problem is that people need to work to make the region strong again and take at least places in top 3 of the tournaments.

— What conclusions can you make from The Summit 6? Don’t you think that  Virtus.pro G2A is the strongest team today or this event is not the indicator?

— Well, I cannot tell that they are the best team. But they have proven that other teams should watch out of them. EG and Wings Gaming did not show the best results at The Summit. EG have some time to work on the mistakes till the next major, and they will definitely show better results. The main disadvantage for Virtus.pro is that they did not lose. When you lose, you understand your problems. This tournament was too easy for them. Perhaps, they will not create new strategies, and their opponents will play better than they. Still, VP is one of the strongest teams. They make good picks and they game is perfect. They are strong in laning, in the team game, and in individual performance.

About conflict with commentators

— During The Summit, there was a conflict between players and commentators. Tell us what you are thinking about that.

—The commentators and streamers are somewhat responsible for the community. People listen to their toxic jokes and keep them in mind. In CS or LoL, this situation never happens. There was a conflict in CS:GO, when one of the commentators told that one of the G2 players was a noob. It was discussed by everyone in the community. Dota 2 streamers always denigrate players. It feels like they have nothing to do but to criticize the mistakes. I really do not like the relations of the commentators to players. But the community takes this relation as a normal one. However, we cannot complain about the relations now, and the players themselves are responsible for that. For a long time, we did not pay attention to that and did not make efforts to chance the community. Let’s take Adolf[RA]’s, StarCraft commentator, blog. One of the qualifying games to the Major, Invictus Gaming against iG Vitality. I’ve been watching on live. Almost all the time, the camera was on Slardar. His performance was bad, and the commentators rolfed on his all the time. But we did not even see the game! It is disrespectful. Just imagine that in football match camera shows only one player, and the commentator makes fun all the time “Will he fail or not?”. The bet on that. It disappoints me a lot. Analytics are not serious. When they make some jokes, it is ok. But when they just rolf, it is wrong. English speaking colleagues are more professional, they create interesting and respectful jokes. Russian-speaking commentators are more aggressive and dissatisfied with everything.  

— Don’t you think about the career of analytics or commentator when you quit professional Dota 2 playing?  

— Yes, many CS and Dota former players choose this option. I would like to try myself in analytics. Commentating is not my strong side, besides, it requires more efforts, including working with voice. This is not my goal. However, I do not think about quitting professional esports. Some Virtus.pro G2A CS: GO players are 30, but they keep winning all the time. It is interesting, how much time they will do that.

About reshuffles

— Let’s imagine that you do not have a contract with Vega and have no team. If you were asked to join American or Chinese team, would you do that?

— Previously, players did not even think about that, as there were almost no cases of such transitions. But after Digital Chaos, I think that I would like to join some foreign team. It is difficult to stay away from home for a long time, but this is the main problem. You leave a zone of comfort and change the surroundings, which can affect your life intensively. I would like to join some European or American team, Chinese teams are not interesting for me.

— What do you think about Na’Vi reshuffle? Was that a proper decision to leave these two players?

— As far as I’m concerned, they had different conflicts in the team. Na'Vi could build a new roster around SoNNeikO, as they are good players with Ditya Ra. Everyone knows that the main conflict was with Ditya Ra, as some players were pressing him. But Akbar felt quite comfortable with everyone. But when there are conflicts in the team, it affects everyone. I think they offered Akbar to stay, but he did not want to do that. They destroyed their team although they played well. They demonstrated good results. I do not know whether it was a good decision to build a game around Dendi. They do not hurry to take any decisions. The reshuffle is almost over, but I do not think that have some other options to change the roster. I think they will have European players. We have already gathered a roster, as well as Team Empire. DkPhobos prepare new members. Virtus.pro G2A will not change the roster no matter what the results of the Major will be. They really have good members. So here is a question: whom Na’Vi can take? CIS region does not have young and promising players. After the Major, they need to search among the European players.

— Is it possible that Na’Vi will destroy already formed rosters? Previously, they  could ask any player, and he transferred to their team gladly.

— It won’t happen today. Na’Vi was the best world team during the first, second and third The International. It is a truth: if they had asked someone to transfer, he would have done that. But Na’Vi is different now. The organization is the same, but the team changed. I do not see big differences between current Na’Vi, our team, or Team Empire. We even made joked what would we do is Na’Vi call us to transfer. But no one will make this choice now. Wise players understand that the former prestige of Na’Vi won’t help them now.

About current meta

— Why Lone Druid and Nature's Prophet disappeared from meta?

— If we are talking about Lone Druid, there are many strong players against him in meta. Now, Dota is the game when spikers and team fighters as Tidehunter or Dark Seer are the best on hard. Heroes that need to farm for a long time, like Faceless Void, Lone Druid, Nature's Prophet, are almost not presented in meta. In mid, semi-carries are chosen. I’ve been playing on Lone Druid for a long time. In the previous meta, I could win 20 games in a row, but in this meta I win one out of four games. The hero is still strong, he was not fixed, but it became difficult to play for him. His minus is that other players start to press him earlier. In the stage of a laning, 5 vs 5 fights start. But Lone Druid boost takes time. Learning the Radiance takes time. But you do not have this time! For other players, level is the only needed thing for the hard. When you get 7th level, you can assist the team. With Lone Druid you are useless. Nature's Prophet can be useful at the beginning of the game, but this is not a disabler. If you take him, you need to pick some initiator to the mid. For Nature's Prophet, you need to take Puck, Magnus or Batrider. They are better that to take Batrider on hard, but you need to take on mid meta strong heroes - Outworld Devourer, Sniper, Invoker. Nature's Prophet is a weak player. You can take him with Drow Ranger. This pair can destroy any enemy.

— You demonstrated good game playing on Broodmother. Now, this hero is rarely picked. How can  Broodmother be used in this meta? What needed to be changed for that?

— She is good against Drow Ranger. In general, Broodmother appears in some picks and shows a good game. It is better to take her on 4-5 pick when Sand King and Dark Seer. This is the point. Broodmother will have problems with laning, as the opposite team will put a hero who can play against her. For example, Dark Seer. When he gets Mekansm, the team starts to play together. With Broodmother. You can’t do that.

— What are your plans for the future?

— We have been training for two weeks, and we are planning to keep doing that. But it is difficult to find good opponents during the major. The next tournament where we will show what we are capable of is World Cyber Arena in China. There will be strong Chinese players, and it will be interesting to play against them on lane. Perhaps, at the end of the major, we will have a short boot camp for 4-5 days before departure to China.

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