Infini News

4&4Q - SSASPARTAN INTERVIEW

4&4Q - SSASPARTAN INTERVIEW

4&4Q is a series where we sit down with pro players to ask them 4 questions on the current state of Dota 2, and 4 questions for fun! We were lucky enough to start these series with one of the nicest players in the scene, Giorgos "SsaSpartan" Giannakopoulos of Aggressive Mode.

 

DJWilma - Let’s start the conversation with the hot topic in the community right now, the DPC changes for 2020/2021. You stated in a previous interview how playing against OG during the Major qualifiers ruined you guys in the psychological department, and you found it hard to recover after that. Now that the regionals will be spread out over a longer time period, involving more preparation time against your opponents, how do you think this will affect your approach to these series? Do you believe studying your opponents’ style will become a larger factor?

SsaSpartan - In my opinion as a Captain, studying the opponent isn't the thing I want to waste my time on, but since teams have to play a lot of games you can take a quick look at their last heroes/drafts so you can make it easier for you. That will be a big factor cause it means you need to be very versatile in order to succeed on.

DJWilma - Now that Aggressive Mode has moved over to the CIS region with the additions of Naïve- and Sunlight, having almost qualified directly to the Major through EU, how do you feel this roster shapes up against the top CIS teams?

SsaSpartan - Its pretty early to talk about our team roster's success. We practise but we must give some more time and see if we can communicate as fast as it should be in order to face the best CIS Teams.

DJWilma - Everyone talks about the top 2 CIS teams being Navi and Virtus.Pro, but having experience playing against several teams in the region, even most recently starting in the EGB Arena of Blood, who do you think are the underdogs that could dethrone the top dogs other than Aggressive Mode?

SsaSpartan - Its a bit hard for me to follow all the scene because I give all my time to myself and my teammates. I didn’t really look on what the other teams looks like but I’m sure the level is really high. So, I guess every team in the closed bracket will be able to take a win from any of the opponents.

DJWilma - When an esport switches over to these more long drawn out seasons with more games that we’ll see in new regional format, we usually see more organizations picking up teams. In your opinion, what organization, even if it’s just by their name, would be the best fit for your team?

SsaSpartan - I won't have any problem to play for any organization as long as they are legit/professionals so my team can focus in DOTA rather than ''other things''.

DJWilma - Now less serious, talking about organizations and teams, if you could go back in time and sub in for a team at any previous international, which one and why?

SsaSpartan - OG is the best example I guess thanks to the True Sight. We need to have fun after all. We tried to do that back with Ad Finem. With them we could have succeeded, if I had the knowledge I have right now.

DJWilma - If you could put together a team of players from when they were at their peak performances, what would that lineup look like?

SsaSpartan - Literally no idea, it would be better for me to assemble the 5 Greeks with all the knowledge I have now and go win so we could make everyone see what it should look like when you win. Especially for the fans that are in the arena, I’d want everyone to go crazy. I will still give my best to fulfill this dream anyways.

DJWilma - I’ve heard you are one of the nicest players to work with in the scene. Is this new information to you? Who would you personally consider to be one of the nicest you’ve had the pleasure to work with?

SsaSpartan - Oh, thanks a lot. I also have bad moments. I just want to be very loyal and straight to everyone I play with, so we don't build our relation into lies and illusions. Nicest guy on the scene award goes to my manager, Madao, love this guy. When we win and lose he is one of us and I'm happy to have him back.

DJWilma - Thanks for taking this time SssSpartan, any shoutouts?

SsaSpartan - Too early for shoutouts! Time to climb to the top! Cya on the field.

4&4Q - SABERLIGHT- INTERVIEW

4&4Q - SABERLIGHT- INTERVIEW

4&4Q is a series where we sit down with pro players to ask them 4 questions on the current state of Dota 2, and 4 questions for fun! We caught up with one of the biggest rising stars in EU to play the offlane, Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek of Chicken Fighters.

 

DJWilma - Let’s talk the hot topic of the DPC changes, and the introduction of the new regional format. You’ve already been quite public with your excitement about it all, but how do you think this will change for teams behind the scenes? More team houses? More special strategies prepared for specific match ups?

SabeRLight - I really like this change, obviously there are many things which might need polishing but all in all I really appreciate that Valve is trying to support T2-3 scene and I only wish this change came earlier. I believe that there will be much more teams who will have a more professional approach to Dota. I think team houses will become the #1 option for anyone who has the resources to do so and I am extremely excited for what the future holds!


 

- At this point I think it’s obvious Chicken Fighters is the strongest team in Europe who are still stuck in the Open Qualifiers. You all seem to perform incredibly well in online cups, even most recently taking to top of your group against Aggressive Mode, B8, and Godsent in the EGM.com Arena of Blood. How does this roster compare to previous rosters you played in? Do you believe this roster can make it to the International?

- The previous rosters I played in were SNG and Chaos, Chaos is a very good and experienced team who I think is top 2 NA, but I think the skill of our current roster is comparable to their power. As far as SNG in concerned, I think we are way better than them B), but we shall see that in the following rounds of EGM tournament. I think we can make it to TI but we need to work on better communication and be less stressed when we play important tournaments.


 

- Dota 2 has had its best moments around storylines and rivalries. N0tail and Fly, Navi vs Alliance, do any storylines or rivalries come to mind from your own personal career, or for Chicken Fighters? If not, what’s one you’d want to start?

- Rivalry I'd like to start is me vs DNZ because even though he is the funniest Dota 2 player I've ever met he didn't want me back in SNG when I returned from minor and for that I will never forgive him and never stop flaming him!


 

- Being a personality in the scene usually proves valuable to growing your own personal brand and is really the only other way to get noticed besides performing well within the scene. You were very social at Beyond the Summit while with Chaos, do you have any interest in working on analyst panels 2 for events you aren’t competing in? If so who would you have join you on the panels and why?

- I personally overall enjoy all things connected to gaming, be it doing interviews, playing, casting etc. At the moment I enjoy playing the most, but I can see myself becoming an analyst if I find a liking in it. As a co-analyst I would probably choose Nomad or maybe, if he apologies for his mistakes, dnz since I am sure we would have a ton of family friendly fun.

 

- If you could have Chicken Fighters signed to an esports organization, or get a major sponsorship, what would it be, and why?

- With Chicken Fighters we would be glad to work with any proper organization but if I could choose, I would probably say 100 Thieves. They are very successful, and they don't currently have a Dota section.


 

- What has been your favorite moment in your Dota 2 career thus far?

- Favorite moment was when we were playing regional finals of WCG in Greece and if we won that game we were going to China and if we lose we get 0, and we played like a 70-minute game in which we were defending our base for the most part and in the end we won.


 

- Tell us more about SabeRLight- out of the game, what are your favorite pass times, what do you find yourself doing when you aren’t playing Dota 2?

- Well I'm still in school, but hopefully this year I should finish my high school and after that I intend to take a 1-year break from studying and focus solely on Dota and see where this takes me. In my free time I either play other games such as Witcher, Minecraft, Shakes and fidget... usually some non-competitive games just to relax, or I'm with my girlfriend or I watch series/movies.


 

- Thanks for taking this time Saberlight, any shoutouts?

- Shoutout to my twitter: https://twitter.com/jonas_volek where you can follow me for any news and dank tweets!

 

4&4Q - KHEZU INTERVIEW

4&4Q - KHEZU INTERVIEW

4&4Q is a series where we sit down with pro players to ask them 4 questions on the current state of Dota 2, and 4 questions for fun! We had the pleasure of sitting down with the #1 Dota 2 streamer from Germany and offlaner for CR4ZY, Maurice "KheZu" Gutmann.

 

DJWilma - Thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak, all live esports events have either been cancelled or will be closed off to the public. For the DPC season, if it’s not cancelled entirely, we will most likely see players flying into studios to compete. As a player yourself, do you have any concerns about the travelling during the outbreak? Do you see the potential for players/teams to just opt out of competing until the hysteria around the pandemic dies down?

KheZu - I'm still a little in between. In terms of I don't quite know how to feel about it. I think travelling to specific places is fine, as long as you're not in huge crowds, you're cautious, and you make sure to avoid too many social interactions; no handshakes, try to stay in your practice room/hotel room or however. When you go to airports and stuff, try not to touch too many things and so on. I've been reading up a lot about it, and I'm really wondering how this whole thing is going to develop. At the same time, I think if it keeps developing worse, then I can definitely see teams and players opting out of competing, and staying home, making sure they are safe and healthy.


 

- Now looking back, Cr4zy’s performance at the StarLadder Kyiv Minor was better than expected by most. Many thought Cr4zy’s results would be more reflective of Cloud9’s at the DOTA Summit 12. How do you feel about your result? Team cohesion and moral seemed quite high; would you agree?

- You mean, most people thought we weren't gonna win a single game? Just making sure I understand the question properly.

I think our result is fine, could've been better, could've been worse, but overall considering we're a new team, I'm totally fine with our result. But for me, the result doesn't matter so much. The tournament showed me that I can & want to be with this team long-term, because I enjoy my teammates and think that they are all capable of playing at the top, that's what's most important to me. Overall our moral is high, our interaction and team dynamic so far, is very good. We can discuss whatever and help each other improve at the game.


 

Cr4zy at the StarLadder Minor - StarLadder

- Many argued the losses of your North American counterpart, business associates, was due to choking in the mid game. Though the level of competition in group B was considered tougher, what would you attribute your losses to? What is the team going to be focusing on inside and outside the game to regain a spot in the top 12 of the DPC?

- I think our losses mainly came down to us being a new team, not fully knowing how to make use of each individual player, and overall just not playing the best as a team. For now we will focus on ourselves, get fully used to each other, and practice as a team.


 

- You just reached over 4 Million hours watched on your stream, congratulations. You also maintain a top 10 position in most viewed English individual Dota 2 streamers. You have received raved reviews from the community when you’ve joined the rest of the talent as an analyst. At the end of the day, its a job, so what keeps you wanting to come back to competing? You can still play and watch as much Dota 2 as you like if you’re not on a team, but at every good opportunity, you jump back into the competitor’s seat, why?

- Thank you, thank you. I really enjoyed panelling & casting at the DreamLeague Major, and the feedback was very positive. At the end of the day, I want to compete, because that's what I enjoy the most, and I know I can place well in tournaments, or rather, I will at some point. I'm confident in my ability. Also I enjoy playing/competing a lot. I do quite like commentating/watching games too, but not quite as much as competing.

- Now on some less serious topics, say you’re invited to draft your own team for an all-star match at this year’s international. What does that roster look like, and why?

- I'm in these teams, right? Anyways...

Pos 1: Miracle/MATUMBAMAN - Miracle / Matu are very good, and Matu is a great teammate
Pos 2: Nisha - I don't know Nisha well at all, but that kid is insane.
Pos 3: Me? - yeah me, I'm fucking cr4zy for sure.
Pos 4: Cr1t/YapZor - I know Cr1t and YapZor very well and like them.
Pos 5: Puppey - Puppey is the best 5 & captain in Dota.

I just think these players are amazing, and I know more than half of them and can relate to them in and outside the game.


 

- You’ve competed in several Internationals, won some Major events, and have been playing professional Dota 2 for over 5 years. What has been your favorite moment of your Dota 2 career?

- My favorite moment of my Dota 2 career... I can't really choose one specific one, I have a few that make me very happy and are absolutely unforgettable to me.

  • First time I qualified to TI, back in Escape, with YapZor, Era, Qojqva & syndereN, it was also YapZor's first time, we were so fucking happy and just like yelled and overall were overwhelmed with emotions, I remember YapZor and I couldn't believe it.
  • I guess when Puppey messaged me on Twitter to potentially play with him in Team Secret, and then I won my first Dota 2 LAN in my 'tryout' tournament, felt great!
  • Back in Secret when we won a game on the TI stage in the lower bracket vs Execration, I felt so great. I fully remember that MidOne was playing Templar Assassin, a year before I lost to his TA in the same round.

 


 

- You’ve shared in previous interviews that you would like to be a Massage Therapist or a Chef if you weren’t playing video games for a living. Say you’re trying to impress the girlfriend with a full course dinner, what would Chef KheZu be cooking?

- I'm not sure I could whip out a full course dinner right now, I'd definitely need a recipe/follow a recipe for the desert.

  • For the entree, I'd probably just start with a salad, self-made dressing, just basic stuff.
  • Main course I'd make my signature stew WAOW with beans, potatoes, chorizo, bacon, red onions, garlic, yellow peppers & diced tomatoes. Once you've cooked it for a while you add some red wine vinegar to infuse it. At the end you cook some baby spinach (under it)? Or you infuse it, not sure about the correct wording. Then you eat it with a sour cream topped off with parsley and chives.
  • In terms of desert it depends what she wants, perhaps some sort off Tiramisu (well this is my favourite desert), otherwise perhaps just some ice cream, nothing too crazy on the desert.


 

- Thanks for taking the time to answers these questions KheZu, any shoutouts or plugs?

- Don't really have any cr4zy shoutouts/plugs.
Shoutout to my team and Cr4zy, thanks for the support and I'm sure we're gonna do some good shit this year.
Other than that, thanks to everyone who supports me, keep watching dotes/esports and support the people you like.
Last but not least, WASH YOUR HANDS and stay home, thanks

4&4Q - XCALIBUR INTERVIEW

4&4Q - XCALIBUR INTERVIEW

4&4Q is a series where we sit down with pro players to ask them 4 questions on the current state of Dota 2, and 4 questions for fun! We were lucky enough to get the newest addition to B8, Steve "Xcalibur" Ye to sit down with us for a chat.

 

DJWilma - In your interview with Zyori, you credited Fly and N0tail to why you looked good early in your career, being able to set you up with what you were good at. There is no question that players have strengths and weaknesses, so how do you feel B8 is measuring up to provide what you need to look better in game than before?

Xcalibur - We have unfortunately not been looking very good recently. We didn’t have the best results to begin with but then roster changes started happening and I guess it got worse. The problem with losing official games over scrims is that you start questioning things you believe in and we started doubting things that also helped us win games. We had some pretty good games versus the good teams in the ESL tournament where we definitely had chances to beat them with some more practice. But with huge losses people loses trust in each other and you lose the mental game and it only gets worse.


 

- Follow up to that, the broadcasting talent has mentioned that B8’s weakness seems to often be found in the draft and not in the inherent skills of the players. Vikin.GG most recent success weighed heavily of the drafting ability of their coach. Do you feel the team could benefit from a coach, and in what ways would that help?

- I’m not sure if it’s true that we mostly lose on draft, I think it’s more that we don’t know how to play our draft perhaps. Sometimes the draft looks weak because we are not playing the drafts properly. We haven’t played much together and honestly all these official games we’ve played are more like scrims because we have not been able to scrim much so we’re not able to play our draft effectively. I’m not really involved in the drafting process because we don’t want to mix ideas so I don’t think too much about it.


 

- B8 has recently been trying out the Greek duo of SsaSpartan and Skylark, to change things up with the roster. With all your experience on various teams, what is it that is missing? What does B8 need to fix to start securing wins in these series in your opinion?

- We need time and we need to practice to play in a certain way. Right now what I feel is that we’re all over the place and we’re just playing randomly. We need to get some kind of system going so we’re feeling more comfortable when playing but right now I think we’re mostly just playing on instincts which makes it inconsistent. We also need a break to reset mentally because it’s very hard when you lose a lot of games in a row and it leads to you losing the mental game.


 

- There is currently a large focus on the EU/CIS scenes, being the most saturated with competitive talent. Ninjas in Pyjamas even moving back to Europe during ppd’s tenure to remain competitive on the global stage. The recent regionalization of the scenes could create even larger gaps of skill versus the rest of the world. Having played in various regions, what sort of impact do you think this isolation will have? Who will be the biggest winners and losers once we all come back to international LANs?

- The stronger regions are still going to be stronger because of better practice, when you lose you start improving what you are doing and you get better but when you are winning you easily start to get complacent and you stop improving. China and Europe will probably still be the strongest but these kinds of isolations will probably also create their own metagames and then we’ll have to see whose metagame is the strongest when there’s LANs again.

 

- Now on some less serious topics, what has been your most memorable moment in your Dota 2 career?

- The obvious one most people remember me for would probably be my first LAN game at summit 1 vs team DK with my Tinker. The hero was not in meta and we managed to make the hero look pretty broken (it was pretty broken). It was also my first LAN game though so I kinda just played to be honest. I can’t say I remember much from what I felt.

But the moment I felt the best was probably when we beat Alliance 3-0 at D2CL in 2014. Alliance had just won Dreamleague, where we lost pretty badly, and my confidence was not the best. I managed to play my comfort heroes and we managed to win the series. It was also my first series win if I remember correctly, we had taken games but we never won a bo3 before that.


 

- What do you find yourself doing outside of Dota 2, especially during the COVID-19?

- I recently found a hobby which is bouldering and I only managed to do it for approximately a month before COVID hit. For years I haven’t had a hobby outside of Dota so being in quarantine wouldn’t have been a problem but nature decided that I should stay home, so it’s all my fault sorry guys!

During COVID it’s business as usual. I don’t really play much other than Dota, but because of the quarantine some of my friends have been staying at home more often and I’ve played some Counter-Strike with them.

 


 

- About things bad for our health, what is the most toxic thing that has ever happened to you in a pub game?

- It’s hard for me to recall because there’s way too many instances of it happening and it’s not really sticking to my mind anymore. The most annoying thing though that consistently happens are low ranks first picking core roles. It should be an official rule that the higher ranked gets to pick their roles and role stealing should be a reportable offense.


 

- Thanks for taking the time, any shoutout, plugs, or last thoughts you want to share?

- Thanks for the interview. Shoutout to my team B8 and our sponsor rivalry and my fans. Really sorry for the results recently, it has not been easy for us, but we’ll bounce back! Also if you guys are interested I stream high ranked Dota on Twitch www.twitch.tv/xcaliburye pretty consistently.

4&4Q - ARAMIS INTERVIEW

4&4Q - ARAMIS INTERVIEW

4&4Q is a series where we sit down with pro players to ask them 4 questions on the current state of Dota 2, and 4 questions for fun! We were lucky enough to get to know the position 4 of one of the hottest new teams around, Vikin.GG's Adam "Aramis" Moroz.

 

 

DJWilma - Tell us more about yourself. You started playing professionally around 2018, when did you get into Dota 2 and what made you consider going pro?

Aramis - I started playing Dota in 2013.I was looking for cool games to play as a 13 year old boy, stumbled upon Dota 2 and the game was honestly unreal for me at the time, I always like to go into the depth of things and Dota just gave me an amazing platform to do that. I played casually for 3 years where I reached 6k by age 15 but I kind of got very stressed out from school and life so i decided to drop Dota to focus on that. I took a break for 2.5 years and towards the end of high school I wanted to do things that make me happy and Dota was just that, after calibrating at divine 0, I climbed relatively fast to immortal and then I started considering going pro.


 

- BOOM stated in an earlier interview on how he dropped out of high school to go pro. How all in are you on playing professional Dota? Is it an all or nothing approach? What does the family think about the choice on going pro?

- I think when the competition is so intense, if you don't go all in you won't make it. Right now my schedule is mostly Dota, eat, sleep which is kind of unhealthy to be honest, but at least for some periods I think you have to go through this if you want to reach the highest level. My family is very supportive of me, it took them a while to understand what I'm actually doing but once I started playing those big online tournaments and got signed by Vikin.gg and went abroad they were very happy for me.

 

- I don’t think there is any question that Vikin.GG is a top 8 EU team, but with how the competitive landscape is shaping up to be more region based, do you think this will hurt your team’s chances to shine on the international stage?

- EU is definitely a bloodbath right now, and its a bloodbath of titans too. I want to say we are going to do well in the leagues but it's kind of hard to say because right now it feels like every other week some team out of the top 8 is very dominant for a while, and its rotating and I guess if you are lucky and smart enough about it, you can be the dominant team during the crucial time.


 

- After not dropping a single game in the WePlay! Pushka League Division 2, the OGA Dota Pit EU/CIS Regional has been quite a different story. Was it due to the large skill gap between the two events? Do you feel more figured out? What would you attribute the recent results to?

- The skill gap is definitely bigger, but I think some issues within our selves are holding us back pretty hard right now. I'd say though, that burning out after playing 7 tournaments simultaneously is the main reason why we've had a rough time this tournament. After resting for a bit, we are slowly grinding our way back to playing to our highest level.

 

- Now onto some less serious question, if you could do anything in life other than Dota 2, what would it be?

- I'd probably go study Psychology; I'm reading psychology books and studies all the time and I find it very fun and interesting. I think part of it has to be with all the mental people in public matchmaking which made me fascinated.


 

- If you could assemble a team of your favorite players for the all-star match at TI, what would that team look like, and why?

- Miracle-, SumaiL, 33, GH, Fly. I was looking up to these players when I was just playing casually, especially 33 and Fly since they are Israeli as well.


 

- Everyone loves a story line, and the best revolve around rivalries. What is the current biggest rivalry either you have, or your team has? If there is not much of one, but you could start one, who would it be with?

- I'd say Secret is the closest team we have to a rivalry because they are the strongest team in the world in my opinion, and they were the first to acknowledge us because they wanted to scrim with us a lot. Whenever we play Team Secret we try our best so when our coach wants us to be focused towards the game he says play them like you play vs secret, or think these guys are secret.


 

- Thanks for you time, any shoutouts, plugs, or some words to say to your newly created fans?

- Shoutout to our coach Immortalfaith, I'm having a bit of a hard time lately due to stress, and it is hurting my performance a lot, so faith is really helping me with taking things easy and not over complicate things. Also, thanks for everyone who are cheering for us and wants to see us win, I promise we will make it all up to you!

4&4Q - SAMMYBOY INTERVIEW

4&4Q - SAMMYBOY INTERVIEW

4&4Q is a series where we sit down with pro players to ask them 4 questions on the current state of Dota 2, and 4 questions for fun! We were lucky enough to get to know the carry of the hottest new North American team, 4 Zoomers's Samuel "Sammyboy" Anderson.

 

DJWilma - First off congratulations on your success with 4 Zoomers. Your team has been getting a lot of attention from the Dota 2 community, but in terms of your previous rosters, you have performed similarly in North American Qualifiers. Do you feel this attention is due to the regionalized events, or is this roster just that much better than your previous ones, and why?

Sammyboy - Hey thanks man!

I think this roster is one of the first rosters to include new players in NA which has a lot of people excited. Off the top of my head, the only "new" NA players over the last few years have been Gunnar and Myself on a few NA stacks. I guess you could consider Bryle new blood too but for the most part its full of the same players we have seen for 5+ years.

I also think when we announced our roster everybody expected us to kind of suck lol which we all laughed at but ya know that stuff is real. Everybody on Reddit specifically made threads saying we were going to disband/suck/"classic NA" and then we ended up becoming the 2nd best team in the region so I think it surprised a lot of people and drew people to watch us.

We also have a really unique playstyle as well as signature picks that I think draw a lot of people to our team.


 

- You point that the NA scene is in a dire state, with no sponsors willing to touch the scene. What do you think can be done to make Dota 2 Esports a more marketable scene, especially in NA? Is it up to the players to do more, or does there need to be a third party to save the scene?

- I think it's important for these NA teams to build their own brand and personalities as well as having a sustainable league system with consistency and production value would help a lot. Giving these players the opportunity to build brands. ESL did a great job with that recently using pre-game/post-game interviews, need more "content" like that to help the scene grow and that is on players and organizers.

I really do not think it's up to third parties however, the responsibility falls on Valve to put the effort into the scene. I really don't think it's too much to ask either, but we will see.


 

- Toxicity and negativity are some of the biggest issues with esports in general. Everyone has had their fair share of public bouts, but those who tend to succeed and improve the most are usually those who can create strong interpersonal relationships, making people want to work with them. Do you feel that personally, that is something you need to improve with those you have been negative with? Or is it more about reciprocity?

- I think toxicity and negativity go both ways. I think I can use myself as an example of where the toxicity and negativity from a pro side of things is super negative and detrimental and probably causes a lot of the toxicity and negativity from the public which is something I am working on improving about myself.

However regarding interpersonal relationships the people I care about or interact with know that I will treat them right and give my best towards them which is what is truly important to me at the end of the day. Even if the public doesn't agree the people that know me are what is important to me. Public perception doesn't necessarily match much of the truth a lot of the time unfortunately I have learned.

This isn't even including how toxic the public is towards some of the nicest people in the scene but that's a whole different topic, stuff makes me really sad. When I see people unjustifiably shitting on my teammates or friends I tend to get really upset and say things that I shouldn't say haha. Rather them shit on me than the people that do not deserve it in the slightest :/.

 


 

- Information has come out about the top EU teams are working together with tournament organizers to provide consistent Top Tier Dota 2 tournaments, being able to share the benefits and revenues. With only one organization in NA Dota, is this even possible to help stabilize the scene, or what would NA have to do differently to keep the scene alive in the wake of no DPC?

- Ideally to stabilize the scene we would need to compete with the European teams on some level, maybe that means sponsors provide boot camps on the east coast so teams can travel and play on acceptable ping not really sure. Think that would help stabilize the scene a lot by allowing the top couple NA teams to compete with European competition. SabeRLight- suggested something like that on twitter recently haha so shout-out the boy!

 

 

 

- Now onto some less serious question, who, inside or outside the community, had the largest positive impact on your Pro Dota career and why?

- Ixmike88 easily. I remember waiting in line at TI4 when I was 14 to get his autograph and tell him how much I appreciated ixdl and NEL. Somehow, I end up having the opportunity to play with him which still blows my mind and he has been nothing but an upstanding and amazing person to me. Shout-out Mike man he gets so much shit for absolutely no reason. Oh, also Shredder, Newsham, Jenkins, all the Leviathan boys.
 

- With Team Secret dominating the EU region, aiming to win their 8th event in a row, what roster do you think was the most dominating of their time besides the current Team Secret roster?

- Wings at TI6 was certainly ahead of their time, think that display of dominance is about as impressive as you can have on the biggest stage in the world. However, what Secret is doing right now is unprecedented and the most dominant stretch we have ever seen from a team ever. Maybe VP at/around the Summit 7 deserves a shout-out, winning the tourney while picking only different heroes until the Grand Finals haha.


 

 

- Who would you say is your biggest rivalry currently as a player?

- I used to say Gunnar when we were on different teams but nowadays it would have to be SabeRLight- I think, my god the EU rank 1 offlane godman. Can't wait to get the opportunity to compete against him again!


 

- Thanks for your time! Any shoutouts, or love you want to share around to the community?

- Zyori, Godz, Jenkins, Moxxi, Purge, Cap, too many to name man. We have so many awesome Dota personalities nowadays from NA that I have only recently begun to appreciate. Wish the public showed them the appreciation they deserve.

BORANIJA OUT OF MUDGOLEMS

Just another Dota 2 area

Dusko “BoraNija” Boranijasevic announced today that he was no longer part of the mudgolems roster. BoraNija did not play under the roster for their tiebreaker match against Just Error, which put them at the bottom of the round-robin group in the EPIC League Division 1. German player Daniel “Stormstormer” Schoetzau substituted in their tiebreaker match, but it did not make enough difference as Just Error was able to defeat Alliance as well, causing no need for a 3rd match. Sources close to the team say the team is currently not set on a replacement and is looking to try out players as they continue to compete.

The roster saw early success in taking second place at the BTS Pro Series Season 3: Europe/CIS, and a 3rd place finish at ESL One Germany 2020. The team successfully qualified for Division 1 in the EPIC League, taking down the likes of Gambit Esports, Live to Win, and Yellow Submarine. After a great start in the early stages of the round-robin, defeating both Just Error and Team Nigma, the team began struggling to gain any more wins during the event. First narrowly losing 2-1 to both Team Secret and Vikin.gg, mudgolems found themselves only able to take one more game off Alliance for the rest of the group stages. This left the team with a final score of 2-7 in series, and 7-16 in games. Mudgolems’ first Division 2 playoff match will be against the ex-NiP roster December 8th, 2020.

Just Error Disbanded

https://omwproductions.com/sites/default/files/pictures/justerror.jpg

RAMZES666 announced that Just Error was disbanding, and its members were looking elsewhere for opportunities. This comes after SumaiL went his separate way after the team performed rather poorly in the EPIC League Division 1. RAMZES666 stated it was probably not the best choice for them to play in the EPIC League as the top teams were already well versed in this patch, and most of the roster for Just Error had not been playing that much this patch, and thus were at a disadvantage. Resolut1ion, who played with them in their Division 2 playoff matches is rumored to be joining B8 gaming, but neither party has confirmed this rumour.

Just Error made their first appearance after receiving an invite to the finals of the EPIC League Division 1 Qualifier. This was largely criticized by several members of the community for several reasons. Though many fans supported the idea, as the team was made up of fan favorites, the roster had no public results or achievements. Additionally, the identity of the team being invited to the finals of the qualifier was kept from the other teams participating until the bracket stage, giving them an even greater advantage. There could have easily been a massive conflict of interest with the former Virtus.pro manager managing Just Error, and EPIC Esports, the tournament organizer behind the EPIC League. With Virtus.pro being owned by the same parent company as EPIC Esports, it could be argued as a former employee, Just Error was giving additional favorable treatment. This did not end up helping the team either way as they dropped to the Division 2 Playoffs where they were not able to win a single series.

Just Error lasted one event.