The OpTic Gaming press conference was held on the day off at the Supermajor in Shanghai. For OpTic Gaming it was a day after they eliminated Evil Geniuses from the event. At that time they were still fighting for a place at TI8 via DPC points and the journalists present at the media day focused some of their questions on OpTic’s overall performance through this season and, of course, the rivalry with Evil Geniuses.

What are @OpTicGaming looking to achieve at the #Supermajor? Press day looks to find out pic.twitter.com/C1KsdUnZVS — Perfect World_DOTA2 (@PWRD_DOTA2) June 8, 2018

Q: How confident are you guys going into the NA qualifiers for TI8?

PPD: Regardless of our results at this tournament we are very confident that we can make it to TI8 through the NA qualifiers.

Q: Everyone was waiting for the PPD tweet to come after your series with EG, why it didn’t happen, what’s the unusual silence on your twitter account?

PPD: I usually tweet when I have free time and right now I’m just busy with training and scrims. I put all my focus on that at this moment.

Q: Probably most of the NA fans were hoping to see you win the series vs EG because of PPD’s storyline with them, but the Chinese fans were not cheering for you because they wished VGJ.Thunder kept their 8th spot in the DPC rankings. With this tournament being held in China did you feel extra pressure going in that elimination match up against EG?

Zai: No, or not that kind of pressure. And when it comes down to who is the better team between us and VGJ Thunder, I think we established ourselves on top already after we won the StarLadder grand finals against them. Yes, they are ahead of us in points but we really don’t feel any extra pressure playing in China.

Q: Valve just released the new DPC season with changes in how the invites are going to work. Basically, no invites except for the Minor winner who gets a spot in the Major. Considering that OpTic had a slow start this season, would you say it would have been different for you guys if those were the rules for the season that ends now?

PPD: Not necessarily. I think our slow start from this season had a lot to do with the fact that we were a new team, we started only at the beginning of this year really. This was also my first year playing after taking a year off and with the roster changes we had and all, it just took a while for us to develop as a team. With that being said, I don’t think we will have any problems or any slow start in the next season because we already established ourselves as a good team and we have a good core group of players and I’m confident that we will be in a good spot in the next season.

Q: CCnC, your performance improved with every single tournament to the point where we are now, at the end of the season and you are absolutely killing it. So, I am a bit curious if you could share some insights on what did you do or how can one improve so much in such a short time. Also, how do you feel going up against No[o]ne who is regarded as one of the best if not the best mid laners right now?

CCnC: Regarding my improvement through the last few tournaments, I don’t really know what to say. I think every player is looking to improve and same as anyone else, I worked constantly with this goal in mind. Maybe some random spikes happen in a game, maybe some heroes are more flashy than others but personally I don’t really understand why people think I improved. Regarding playing against No[o]ne, I think respecting someone too much or being scared by him is generally bad. You play worse from the start, you give him too much space, you do things you wouldn’t do if anyone else would be on the other side. So, I’m just going to play Dota, it’s just another team we face and we have the capability to beat them.

Q: PPD, what do you think of this new trend with offensive tipping and the spam of the all chat-wheel?

PPD: I don’t have any strong opinion on that because if someone is just abusing those I’m just muting them. However, I think it’s something entertaining for the viewers and if people use them properly, the chat-wheel lines are actually funny and add a lot of value to a game of Dota. So, overall I think it’s a good thing to have from everyone’s perspective, players, casters, spectators.

Q: Pajkatt, you are one of the players from the old guard, you have a lot of experience and played for so many teams around the entire world, from China to Europe and now NA. So, being one of the elder players we have, what’s your secret in maintaining your form?

Pajkatt: I guess it just helps if you want to play the game at a high level , if you strive to win and I think this season I’ve been pretty lucky. I found a team where everyone is very capable. On the past years I’ve been in teams that simply weren’t as strong as OpTic is now, so I didn’t really had the chance to prove what I can do.

Q: If you guys had the time to recalibrate right now, who do you think would have the highest MMR and who will have the lowest?

33: I would probably have the highest MMR and PPD would have the lowest because you know, he’s playing position five and he’s not trying that hard in pubs.

RELATED: