Interview with Black^ : "The team was pretty disappointed when we lost"

The interview was conducted on 30 May 2015 by Pranjal "pranjal26" Drall via Skype.

Hi Black^, how are you doing today?

I guess I can't really say I'm feeling GOOD but it's going alright, could be worse!

Well let's start from the beginning, who approached you to join Team Tinker?​ Did you get any offers from other teams?

I've had a couple of offers to join teams, but the time when I got dropped from VG was a really unfortunate one, because most of the western teams were already done reshuffling before DAC started, so it was really tough to decide for me. When it came to Team Tinker it was, now my manager, who approached me and explained the team situation to me. In the end it came down to two teams but after I talked to them, I felt like Tinker had more potential for the time being therefore I went with them.



You mentioned two teams. Can you disclose the other team?

Sure, MvP.Hot6ix, basically a team made of good friends of mine with huge potential, hence the reason why I am cheering for them to take the first place in the SEA qualifiers!

Three players on Team Tinker were from Europe, why did the team decide to move to Canada?

Originally I was against moving to Canada and wanted to move to Europe instead. I voiced my concerns about haw the whole case scenario where dropping SingSing to become an American team and have an "easier" way to tournaments will go and after that, I was assured, not only by the players but also the management, that they want to move to Canada (NA), only because they would feel much more comfortable living here, because most of the people present would be from the area and didn't want get pulled out of their comfort zone.

Did you guys talk to Valve when moving to Canada about which qualifier you'll be invited to; Europe or America?

Yeah, our manager found a team house in NA and spoke to Valve to clarify where we'd be playing, because it would be kind of a waste to have a team house in NA but then having to play in the EU qualifiers. Aafter we recived Valve's confirmation we all moved to Canada.

What were your first impressions of the team in terms of individual skill, communication, shot calling and teamwork?

When I first got there, because I was used to everything from VG, I thought our communication, in game planning, shot calling and teamwork were really bad. The individual skill on this team is really high and there was a huge amount of potential that could have been tickled out if we would had really tried to get it out. After all the time we spent together, we were definitely making improvements, but I felt only the four of us were, because we were only four at the team house one of us was always behind and wasn't on the same page with us. When the qualifiers finally came and the team gathered up, we had a really good practice schedule and learned a lot. It seemed like everyone would give 100% now that we were all everyone present.

You guys were owned by GGA, how come Mouz picked up the team?

I can't really answer this question, because I don't know how much I'm actually allowed to say about that. Haha

After you got picked up by Mouz, did anything change for the team?

Nope, definitely not. In the end all that changed for us, was the fact we had even more support behind our backs!

Looking back it now, do you guys regret missing I-League?

I definitely think going to I-league could have been an eye opening event for us, see how the Chinese draft and play around the game, maybe get some conversations going with them about it etc. It's hard to say now, but I always believe tournaments are much better practice than just "training" games, so I defintely regret not going there.

You guys were the favorites going into the qualifiers but unfortunately lost, what went wrong in your opinion?

First, we didn't prepare well enough, you can't just go into a tournament thinking that you already made it through or that you can make it through without working hard. Second, I think the players in this team aren't used to handling the pressure of being the favorite. I have been there before too, but ever since VG I learned how to deal with it and not let it affect me. But if it happens for the first time ever, it's a really huge problem and hard to deal with. You get nervous, shaky and you're very afraid to lose, so you play with less confidence overall.

What is going on within the team right now?

The team was pretty disappointed when we lost, we've already talked about our future but that's something that should stay within the team. We still have MLG coming up, which we will probably attend with a stand-in and then after that, we'll see what happens!

So we can assume the stand-in announcement will come in a few days?

Yeah, we're currently looking for a fitting player.

Tell us one thing that you miss the most about China and Vici Gaming?

Definitely the communication in-game. While I wasn't a 100% fluent, we never really had a silent moment in our voice, we would constantly give each other information about all the heroes on the map and what they might be doing at the moment. I felt like it was really easy to play in VG because everyone knew what they had to do and what they had to say to bring the team forward. About China, I think that would be the friends I made there. Hoping to meet them again soon!

How are you utilizing the Chinese that you've learnt, now that you're in Canada?

Right now, I'm still using my Chinese to talk to my friend's from China and even in America and Canada there are lots of Chinese speaking people so it's useful for chatting with them too.

You've had a bad time in the past few days, did you learn anything about life in general?​

Yeah, I learned a lot about life and people in general. I'd say it was a disappointing end of the "DotA" year, but I definitely grew a lot as person and player.

A lot of people have been supporting you guys regularly; do you have any messages for them? Or any shout-outs in general?

People used to tell me that I'm on my own.

They said I'd never make a difference in this game.

There's a million other people who can play this game.

I said, well thanks for the push cause you all were wrong!!

With that being said, I want to thank everyone who has been supporting me and the team in general, you've been a great help and I wouldn't have made it to where I'm now without you guys.

I think that does it for us, thank you for taking time out for this interview we really appreciate it! I wish you luck for the future!

Thank you, It was a pleasure!

Image Courtesy : ESL, Mouz