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[B]Hello. We kindly ask you to introduce yourself and your team to our readers.[/B]

[B]Congratulations on your victory against Absolute Legends in the Infused Cup. How do you feel?[/B]

[B]In the final, you faced AL, a team to whom you lost in Brawl Qualifier 1 because of a disqualification. How confident were you that FIRE would be able to claim revenge against the Aussies this time?[/B]

[B]With regards to the controversy surrounding your team's disqualification against AL in the Brawl, how do you respond to claims of an alleged bug abuse?[/B]

[B]So, in that respect, would you consider the disqualification a fair judgment on the part of the tournament organizers?[/B]

[B]How do you think this scandal has affected your reputation as a team, and what will FIRE do to make amends, especially to your fans?[/B]

[B]In the past, your team was known for its aggressiveness and unique picks. More recently, however, FIRE has employed a more defensive and safe play style. How true is this statement and if it's true, what's the reason behind the change in strategy?[/B]

[B]Although FIRE is a team to be reckoned with in the international scene, surprisingly the team has yet to secure a sponsorship. Do you expect to get picked up anytime soon?[/B]

[B]Before becoming Dota 2 pros, were you playing other Action RTS games professionally?[/B]

[B]That is the end of the interview Brian. Any final shout-outs you want to give?[/B]

Today, JoinDOTA managed to sit down with Fire team leader,Brian [B]'FLUFFNSTUFF'[/B] Lee, to discuss about the victory of his team and various other questions.Hi, I'm Brian "FLUFFNSTUFF" Lee. I am team FIRE's captain. I mainly play support roles for our team. My second-in-command support player is Michael "ixmike88" Ghannam. Our sidelane/semi-carry player is Tony "HANNAH_MONTANA" Talavera. Tyler "`TC" Cook is our mid and carry player. Lastly, Jio "Jeyo" Mayadag is our hard carry player. This is the core five players on our roster.I'm ecstatic about our first place finish in one of the most competitive tournaments to date. I can't find the words to express how gratifying the victory was. All of the hard work and dedication finally came with such a monumentous payoff. I'm grateful to be playing with such great friends and teammates.To be honest, our teams had been great friends and scrim partners for weeks prior to this event. Shortly afterwards we had hardly kept in touch. As far as confidence goes coming into the Infused tournament, we had no idea what to expect from AL. We had hardly watched any reliable voids for information or got a chance to keep up while playing the tournament itself. We had gone into the game reluctantly, with the intention of playing the style that we ran all throughout the tournament. However, we quickly found that we needed to accommodate to the style that AL imposes so harshly on teams.This question has been asked time and time again. If I have to give an answer, I firstly need the readers to respect my words. All that we can say is that we had not purposefully intended to utilize such a bug. We hardly pick puck, if ever, and we were sort of forced into that position. I can guarantee that our players have a strong sense of morality. But, I would just like everyone to drop the whole ordeal. As stated in our recent interview over at ESFI world, we had come to the agreement to move on. We respect the admins decisions and we hope that we can show the international scene who we truly are. I would just like to say that AL is a great team and I am very happy for their recent sponsorship.Initially, we had hoped for a bo3 series to settle the score. I was informed that the head admins would come to a conclusion the next day. However, we had reached the conclusion that the rules are rules as a team. We decided to respect all decisions made by the staff and it didn't impair us from signing up for the second qualifier.I think that it had slandered our names in such a way that I couldn't really comprehend until some days later. On that day, the very first tournament that our actual team had competed internationally, we had very good games. I felt like our upsets were suddenly overshadowed by the ruling. Although we were quite upset for a couple of days, we had found the strength to tune out all the negative words. All I can say, regarding making amends, is that team FIRE will practice hard and play hard. Although there were many haters, inversely there were many supporters. Our team cannot thank our supporters and fans enough. Whether it be 1, 10, or 100 fans we are happy.Our preferred strategy is push-gank. However, with game upon game, we had been observed so much so that we couldn't effectively run it against prepared opponents. As far as safe plays go, it is an adaption that we had to make on the fly. Without any preparation time for new strategies or knowledge of our opponents, we had to adapt as we felt necessary. I don't think it's necessarily true that we adapted a safer and more defensive style. Take, for example, our game against EG in the losers bracket. We had still taken them down at a rapid rate. Dignitas and AL were both very prepared, so naturally we couldn't execute the obvious. I believe that strategies are first and foremost the best way to win a competitive game. Secondly, adaptation is very key and that's why our matches against Dignitas and AL started so slowly.As a team we had decided to play it patiently and wait for the best-fitting sponsorship for our goals. We definitely wish for a great sponsorship to come along, but for now we are considering our options and awaiting new ones alike.No. As far as I know, all of our team's hearts have been set on achieving a professional level in DotA and only in DotA.Shoutout to our families, friends, and fans! Shoutout to new beginnings and the revival of North American DotA.For further team inquiries contact dotateamfire@hotmail.com.