CIS June on the TI4 Quals and Black^

Hi, thank you for accepting our interview and congratulations on getting to Seattle. Before participating did you think you could get such good results?



We thought we could get top 4 and do pretty well. The first day we were 3-3, and we thought the 2nd day it would be very difficult to play LGD and DT, so we thought, just try hard and put up a fight. And then we won all three, beating LGD and DT to get into top 4. Wasn't expected, but we tried very hard to fight, so we're really happy.

You've only been together for half a year, is communication good? how come you can already do so well and defeat such strong teams?



Because our team atmosphere is very good, and actually communication is quite an issue but we all really longed to get to Seattle, like all Dota players. Also usually in practice we are very hardworking and prepared a lot for this competition. Mm.. that's about it.

Has the addition of Black helped a lot?

Black has helped a lot. Before Black joined, in practice we would basically lose all day. No matter how we played, we lost. Especially against DT, those strong teams, no matter what we tried we lost. With Black he taught a lot, how to play professionally. Important things like, Roshan timing, helping counter-ganking, a lot of little details. Using courier.. when you want to use the courier you should give a heads-up. He taught us a lot, without Black we wouldn't have such good results

On communication issue, do you have someone dedicated to help translate?



Yes, our leader studied in the US and speaks fluent English. At the start he helped us communicate so it was no issue, and afterwards he doesn't say anything to let us do it on our own. So now we can communicate the basics without trouble. Just sometimes there will be some comprehension problems and confusion.

The challenge must be sometimes at crucial points, Black and you guys will have different thoughts, in the month leading up to TI, maybe you guys will go learn some English or Black will learn more Chinese?



This.. should be him learning more Chinese, because the 4 of us speak Chinese. We will exchange more phrases, and the basic English we already know, but it should still be him learning the more important Chinese words. For example, that day AM with the urn charge on him [Black's AM barely died to an urn against DT], and he was on the side he doesn't know how to say urn. We were confused for half the day.. .so there's that communication problem. If we added a friendly urn charge to him then he wouldn't die. So yeah..

Have you thought about using simplifications, like TA?

We have, it's just at the time.. the urn it never occurred to us. But after we thought about it we should use some substitutions.

Some question about studying opponents.

[Mic noise].. Not yet presently.. there is still a month's time but we will study them. Since we are going, definitely can't embarrass China .

Goals for this TI?

Goal is of course first the play-ins, and then.. just play. Just try hard and do our best.

Actually domestic players expectations for you are quite high, since you were a ladder king. Do you have some advice for ladderers?

Well now that I play professionally I haven't laddered in awhile.. but generally you pick a mid, Kael, [some other hero I can't understand], these two heroes have a higher win rate and are more perverted [slang]. Or you can wait and see the opponent's, if they pick a weak laner then you can tell your teammates to go aggressive, and it's easy to play.

You will likely meet Black's old LGD.int teammates, is this an advantage?

For sure it's an advantage, he should understand them very well. We will be able to prepare for them and hope to get into the main event.

In the quals you used a lot of clockwerk to great success. Other than Clockwerk, what heroes do you like?

Windrunner, Timbersaw.. but everytime I play Timbersaw we lose. The main thing is that hero can't control the tempo. If he gets fat he is strong, but he can't control the tempo. If mid, or the other lanes don't do well it becomes very weak. Clockwerk can help your team control the situation, and these tempo heroes are more suitable I guess.

Credits:

Interview:

Translator: aboxcar Interview: SGamer Translator: aboxcar

TL user aboxcar has translated an interview with CIS June (aka Minimi) from SGamer . They talk about their experiences with Black^ , preparation for TI4, and more!