It’s only fitting that Captain’s Draft 4.0 is taking place in Washington, D.C., as a winter storm in the capital city arrives following a flurry of changes in North American Dota. Even Evil Geniuses couldn’t escape the changes with the arrival of Rasmus “MiSeRy” Filipsen onto the team. Now, the team has arrived as a direct invite to the non-traditional Dota Pro Circuit event and hope to start the new year off right.

Clinton “Fear” Loomis has remained loyal to the Evil Geniuses squad throughout it all. Known as the veteran of the team, he’s worked in a number of positions over the year, from carry to support and even coach. He’s even acquiring a new role as a father, as he recently announced a child with his wife, Sarah.

We caught a few minutes of Fear’s day to chat with him about the team, the baby and which non-Captain’s Mode hero he’d prefer to see (or not to see) during this offbeat event.

The Flying Courier: You guys had some shuffles recently? How’s that working out for you so far, since this is your first major event?

Clinton “Fear” Loomis: We haven’t played together at all yet, so I don’t know we’ll see after the next couple of tournaments!

TFC: Well, Misery’s been in the United States for a while, how’s he holding up in your house?

Fear: We actually haven’t spent any time together.

TFC: Really!? None?

Fear: First time seeing each other on this particular team. It was holiday break, Christmas, New Year, so everyone went home and kind of celebrated with their family. This is our first time playing even a single game together. It’s completely new.

TFC: So this is like running into each other in a pub?

Fear: Yeah, pretty much.

TFC: Whatever works! So for Evil Geniuses, has competition in North America felt very tough for you? Have you had any challenges or teams you’ve felt like you’re working against?

Fear: In North America, I feel like there are teams we think are pretty good but in the end we won both the Major Qualifiers pretty easily, so the competition has been a little hard for us but when we got to the main stage against the other teams that had better practice than us even though we’re the best it still wasn’t good enough, so the competition in North America wasn’t as good as we hoped it would be going through all these qualifiers. We played against other teams like Liquid, Secret in Europe, they seemed to have better practice.

TFC: What role do you think your kid is going to take up?

Fear: Carry, for sure. That’s how almost all players start when they want to play Dota and win, it’s the most enjoyable and you’ll be in the limelight.

TFC: And you’ll feed him a lot, right?

Fear: Yeah! [laughs]

TFC: Which one of the banned tournament mode heroes do you least want to see?

Fear: I don’t want to see Pango, right. Pango’s obnoxious. I’d rather play against Techies than Pango.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.]