[Translation] Lil Interviewed February 17th, 2017 20:57 GMT Text by dfs Graphics by ESL Lil:

"Fng simply did not let me play on my heroes."

Source:

— Na`Vi announced its roster an hour and a half ago, what can you say about it?

— Building a team — is a very difficult process. Conflicts constantly arise in any team, generally psychological ones. For example, when a team plays and wins, and then the meta changes or a new patch comes out, it begins a series of losses, maybe players simply didn’t have time to figure out the game yet — and conflicts start to arise. It could end up in a disband. It is a difficult path.



Dendi is used to winning, and a path to victory is difficult, and suddenly you get three foreigners in your team. GeneRaL always played in CIS team only, while here only three players understand Russian.



Pajkatt — is really strong and plays very well. Don’t know about Biver. Na`Vi does have its stats people who figure out players’ skill based on some stats with some formulas. But when you play on a stage, on a Major, it makes no difference, because if your carry dies, then you have to go and help and not bother about your stats. Also, personality traits play a big difference: it is important what kind of a person you are as well as how skillful you are.



I, as a player, do not believe in this Na`Vi roster. You need some kind of super strong boost, amazing team chemistry, synergy, have everyone on the same page, and it isn’t that easy to build.



— You mentioned team conflicts and disbands, so i can’t help but ask: in one of your streams you acknowledged you were wrong when you got kicked from Virtus.pro in 2015. You also reposted DkPhobos’ interview where he talked about you not being able to adapt to a new patch as the main reason. So what was is you were wrong about?

— Some things you can’t mention in public, it may not be ready to some things. For example, to the fact that Fng acted like an idiot in that situation, and he understands that as well. He let himself be led by God, so we got kicked.



— But it is no secret that God likes special treatment to himself. XBOCT once said that God likes to have four “God-lovers” in his team: he likes to get supported in mid so he would be able to make the most impact. The International 5 showed that well.

— We got really lucky on TI5, it wasn’t some pattern. We could’ve lost to сompLexity if what happened didn’t happen.



— Do you mean when God got ill in the booth so there was a few minute long pause?

— There was a different reason. After that pause сompLexity dropped their tempo and we simply erased them. Because the guy on Anti-Mage decided to get a Heart instead of a BKB when we had tons of control spells. We could’ve lost many times in that tournament, the fact that we ended in 5th place was in a big part due to luck.



Dota is a game of one moment. I thought about this a lot in those six months after I got kicked. A split second decides everything. The difference between you getting to The International at all and winning it — is 10 matches. You lose the first of those ten — you’re not even going. You won all ten — you’re the champion. We lost Boston Major in 1.5 seconds — we went into a fog of war where Sniper without a buyback killed himself off of an Alchemist’s Blade Mail. Everything that happened 60 minutes before that didn’t matter in the least. It’s a game of one moment.



The entirety of the professional scene — is a show. And I am trying to speak in a way that everyone would hear but not clearly know weather I am serious or just joking. When I reposted the DkPhobos interview I… wasn’t entirely serious.



What basically happened: we had a good team, at some point Silent got ill and we needed a replacement. We thought to get fn, but Vega Squadron took him out from under us. There was an option to play with XBOCT or RAMZES666, but we decided to go with yoky. When we got home from Croatia we had a talk over Skype.



God — is a very emotional player, very irritable so to speak, he can get really angry simply from not getting enough sleep. The four of us had a talk, and DkPhobos (and I might a bit exaggerate here) told Fng that our practice brings no results, that we have no rational approach and we are wasting time. Instead of figuring out certain strategies and practice specific heroes, we pick random stuff. DkPhobos wanted to change our approach and said something along the lines of “I would rather practice on my own for now, it would have more results.” God took it to mean that DkPhobos doesn’t want to play as a team.



God’s second problem was his approach to practice: “The more you play — the stronger you get.” He always thought that if you play 12 hours a day, then you will be better than someone who is playing 10 hours. DkPhobos had a different point of view — “How much time you spend thinking is much more important,” that it is more efficient to practice for three matches and then study replays for a few hours.



A conflict arose and then we went to do our own stuff. Then, for three days there was silence, then I was told I was kicked. The argument against me was that I can’t see farther than my nose, that I am egotistical, that I only play flashy and ask to play on Earthshaker to appear in YouTube videos, that I didn’t play to win, but to hype myself up, which is completely wrong. I was also told that my macro is weak.



— But you did say on your stream that it helped you to reevaluate your approach.

— Yet I still think I was kicked undeservedly. Time showed what happened with Fng and God. They simply wanted to play in “2+3” format.



— You also said: “I remember that analysts think that Virtus.pro problems come from Silent’s small hero pool””

— People who watch the games from the outside — commentators, analysts — see only 10% of what is really happening in there. Building a communication in a team — is a very difficult process.



Silent — is one of the strongest players in CIS on all accounts, he is strong not only as a player, but as a person. He holds all traits that fit the “perfect teammate” criteria. He is calm, reasonable, good at analysis, can help during a draft, plus he doesn’t get mad easily — he is a very cool dude, very nice to talk to.



— How would you evaluate this year for yourself as a player?

— There are no difficulties you can’t overcome. I got kicked two days before a roster lock, so I had no chance to get a team. I couldn’t go to Na`Vi or any foreign team...



— Were you asked to join Na`Vi?

— Some time ago — yes. But two days before the roster lock I was unable to do anything anyway. I don’t believe this situation was my fault. I did 150% of what I was supposed to do. I was always nice in a conversation, tried to adjust to everyone, did everything I was asked to do, tried to help everybody. The only thing I could do at that point was to build a team with DkPhobos to play in open qualifiers.



— You called new Na`Vi trash on your stream.

— Yep, tier 3 trash. Although, right now, especially in this patch, any team can beat any team. For example, you’re going to a Major, and in there EG drop two maps to compLexity, when they aren’t really supposed to lose to a team who is basically a mix of pub players, while you have super-strong mechanical players. EG have no right to lose! But Dota is this kind of game: a wrong rune can spawn at the wrong time, a miss while attacking at a high ground and that’s it — you’re third in a group stage and have to play Wings. There are no objectively stronger or weaker teams.



— But there are ratings, like Gosugamers, who put you first in the world in their rankings.

— None of that matters. We had a streak of 25 matches without losses, and we came and got rekt 0-2 and ended in top 8. While there is one interesting team from Greece, where guys play for the fun of it, who are super happy to even leave the house — they just get high from the game and end up top 2.



— And here I instantly think of this question — where are your emotions? In the first days of the Boston Major you had almost no emotions after victories.

— It’s a completely different mindset. Too much pressure. I go on the internet to just read some news and suddenly everyone has decided that we must get first place in Boston. You start to wind yourself up: “I have no right to lose.” It creates pressure. You enter the booth, waiting to play EG, but you know you have no right to lose. You don’t think about strategies or about what lane to put where, you think about how not to lose. You have no right to lose because everyone decided that way.



— Is it much easier to be the underdog nowadays?

— Of course. Everybody built hype out of nowhere — it was a big distraction. Our management gave us a goal: doesn’t matter what happens before the New Year, it is important what happens after. And then everyone else started to tell us we must win a Major, just random people. It creates unwelcome pressure.



— Recalling ppd’s interview, and interviews of other professional players, many of them said that this pressure is exactly what helps achieve results.

— I understand what you mean. Yes, it helps, but our team is very new. We have almost no experience playing together as a five, and we have to go on stage to play a single elimination tournament. Cool!



— What were your thoughts on that format of the Major?

— It was an extremely uncomfortable format for teams like ours at that particular time. We really were the strongest and we understood it. Single elimination only means one thing: you can easily end up in a place that doesn’t correspond to your current level of play. OG that got 1st place can only beat EG and a few other teams. If they met Ad Finem in the first round — the Greeks would’ve destroyed them. EG — top 4: a team who cluelessly loses to OG, cluelessly loses to us and to whom, in the same clueless way, we lost. All three teams ended up in different places.



Arbitrary speaking — we are stronger than OG. If we met in Ro16, then those guys would’ve had to be glad to be top 16. If we do not meet OG, then they take first place. Where is the logic? It shouldn’t be happening. I think that in a double elimination tournament there are more chances for a team to take the place it actually deserves.



Ad Finem — second place. I was watching the final from the venue and it was laughable. Neither of the teams were understanding the game.



When you are playing on a competitive level, you understand what you must do to win, so you pick the appropriate heroes. Most of the time it works this way: you build up a critical mass — items and levels that make your hero the most cost-efficient. After that you take objectives and fulfill the game plan. What do OG do? All of their lanes get pushed — would would a normal team do? A normal team would push them out… But OG are using a smoke and running in an empty enemy forest. They are going in the forest, in a fog of war, when there are not even any objectives left to take. It looks like a 4K MMR pub game. Of course, when you’re playing in a booth, it all looks completely different, but from the outside — it was terrible. I almost started crying blood, I was facepalming for the entirety of the finals, especially the third map. The level of execution — equals StarLadder Pro Series. But in the end OG — are №1 in the world, while you are barely top 8, so you have no right to say anything about them. Kiev Major will also be single elimination by the way.



— Currently everyone is running reviews of the year. My colleagues named the best player of the year to be JerAx. Who do you think was the best in 2016?

— It’s really difficult to evaluate a player. Professionally speaking, I can’t really name a specific one. You can only see a small thing from outside perspective. For example, a guy is really strong in micro and macro play, simply a genius, let’s say Miracle. He joins a new team. I don’t know how things really are in Team Liquid, but they clearly lack in macro strategy, and Miracle has a hard time to find a place for himself there. As a result the best player in the world does absolutely retarded stuff and plays like trash.



Speaking like a viewer…

Best player of the year… Another thing is this year had a lot of patches, a lot of teams, a lot of rosters, reshuffles… It is hard to pick just one person. JerAx — did really well, plays well, got much better in micro. He had a team that lets him play openly, so to speak. I am allowed to play the same way. Once I played a support Weaver in a pub game, and the told the guys “Hey, let’s try it.” So I got support Weaver, and I end up with the highest net worth, 7 kills 7 minutes in, and a godlike streak during The Summit finals — and at that moment people call me the best player on the planet. But why did all that happen — because I have a team that believes in me.



So let’s say JerAx is the best player of the year.



— Going back to Weaver and other 4th position heroes: Fng said that he doesn’t understand what use those heroes have on that position, heroes like Kunkka for example. While you do well exactly on those kinds of heroes.

— My position isn’t a 4, it’s 3.5. Plus we don’t have a strict 5th, we have 5th-and-a-halfs. Current patch differs from the last one in the fact that roamers now play a bigger role, and roamers don’t farm, they can’t have a high net worth, whereas I was getting first in it. As a 3.5 you walk around getting runes from enemy mid laner, chasing away enemy carry, stealing farm from enemy offlane — you do whatever you want.



Fng simply did not let me play on my heroes. For example, we needed an Earthshaker, I play him. Due to certain circumstances the game isn’t going well, so Fng decides that I — suck as Earthshaker, and it would be better that he would be playing him instead. It went the same way with almost every hero. At one point someone asked Fng why we never play Chen or Enchantress. He answered that it is because I don’t play those heroes, and he had no time to practice them, or something along those lines. What really happened was: “Artyom, let me play Chen. Artyom, let’s practice him.” “No, you don’t know how to play him.” Then I get kicked, while having 90% winrate on those heroes in Polarity. Why? Because I played each one for 30 games in matchmaking. Solo — is one of the best Chen players, it’s a fact, he proved that in Vega Squadron. He has good micro and he understand when and where he need to be on the map, but the one who is playing Chen now is me, because Solo believes in me, and says that I do it better. It is very important for the team to believe in you. In the old Virtus.pro roster no one believed in me.



— Do you have a feeling that the success of the current Virtus.pro roster happened based on what was already formed in Vega Squadron with 9Pasha, No[o]ne and Solo?

— It’s hard to answer for me. They used to be our closest competitors. Your success and hype around you highly depends on the misfortunes of your closest CIS teams and players. It is much more advantageous for us to have Na`Vi, Vega and Empire drop out from the next The International, and for us to go further, for example. Don’t know how things were back then with the guys, but we weren’t even a real team.



Then we gathered a new roster, bootcamped for a month, then Summit, bootcamp in USA, then Major. There was a lot more to that, but none of that matters now — we did everything together: went to movies, ate together, etc. We are having fun talking to each other. Everyone is simple, calm and honest.



— You were really strong in the autumn, but with the new patch everything could change. Is 7.01 the Virtus.pro patch?

— Hard to tell right now. With time — maybe.



— Did you play a lot of matches together [on a new patch]?

— A few. We’re trying to find our game. So far it is really difficult — New Year. We’re going to ESL in Malaysia on the 3rd of January. Acclimating to the previous patch — took us 1.5 months to get at least something prepared. We kept working hard and then suddenly — we understood how to win Dota. We figured out the heroes and got second place in the Major qualifiers, thankfully, due to us suddenly figuring things out. It can happen at any moment.



— How many hours a day you usually practice? How do you spend your free time?

— Practice time varies: a few hours on playing, then analysing replays. Regarding free time — got a fitness club subscription last month.



— But you used to do that before.

— Before — only at home, plus going to the nearest court. I simply lacked time and motivation, but now I like it a lot. During our month in USA I was going to the hotel gym every day. Sometimes I go to movies, but the last few weeks we spent maximum amount of time on figuring out the new patch. Until we study everything for 100%, we try not to get distracted by other things. If you want to be the best, you must put maximum amount of effort.



— Why not 12 hours a day, like God?

— God spent 12 hours a day on perfecting his micro. We focus more time on analysis. As opposed to Fng, Solo is always trying to improve himself and help to improve the team, instead of grinding useless RMM by playing carries. Solo, for example, asked our analyst to make a list of heroes whose talents at levels 10 and 15 give bonus gold or experience — those heroes will be the most effective, especially for position 5 players, since he will be getting gold even without farming.



— Talking about matchmaking: you play a lot of Visage mid. Can we see it in an official match from you?

— If there will be a specific strategy — then yes. We never discussed it with Solo, but if the situation will arise, then sure. It’s a matter of trust. In a situation where enemy drafted some trash that gets destroyed by Visage, and we have mood for it, and it’s some kind of game 3 of a Bo5 with us leading 2-0, then I could say: ”Guys, let me win this solo.” I think Solo will let me without a question.



— --------------------

— Also, I just realised that I’m sitting here and just keep talking about how bad God and Fng are. Regardless of everything I said, thanks to them we achieved something, won some money, placed 5th on TI5. I am very grateful to them for all the time we played together, they taught me a lot, both in game and in real life. They are good guys, they just made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes.



— I will gladly talk to Fng so he could speak openly the same way about you.

— Otherwise the people who will read this interview will call me a egoist and an asshole (smiles).



— Let’s talk about some personal things. On one of your streams you talked about your girlfriend that dumped you. How did you even meet?

— We met online. She’s 18. I liked her photo, she wrote back to me. She was writing some dumb stuff, but I gave her a chance. She does gymnastics, she’s very cute. Her personality ... you know how some people are just repulsive by nature and some just ended up this way, due to parents or nearby circles. She is of the latter case. Everything was fine, but she’s 18, with hot air in her head, not thinking with her head. Unfortunately it only manifested six months into the relationship. We are simply from different worlds — completely different points of view on life. People must make each other better, but she only wanted to party and have fun, which looked very weird to me.



In the end she left me for, at the time, a more successful Dota player. Though now this Dota player is sitting at home without a team, and I play in Virtus.pro. Fate decided this way — people get what they deserve. Regardless, I am thankful to her for the experience I got.



— Do girls write to you themselves?

— They do, and I am late to meeting one of those girls right now. They do write, but mostly inadequate 14 y.o. schoolgirls, or some glory hunters who only want to talk to you because you’re successful. Very few honest people. I think that a girl playing Dota is weird in and of itself. Either way, most of those fan girls — are just some rubbish, a one time thing, and I am not interested in that.



— In Russia there is a prejudice that diploma of higher education — is some kind of a must have achievement. What about your education?

— It is impossible to combine the game and education. The level of education in many universities is quite low as it is, you can end up wasting a few years of your life in the end without getting any useful knowledge in your head.



— What do your parents think of that?

— When i finished 9th grade, I was told to apply to a college, which I did. Though, when Dota started making money and I started helping my mom to pay her credit, she understood that the game might become a real source of income, so she never insisted on me getting a diploma.



Translation: DFS

Editor: tehh4ck3r Source: cyber.sports.ru http://i.imgur.com/Q1jSb9X.jpg (c) Shiro; http://i.imgur.com/lSDLLKb.png (c) drav