Black^ Interview

Hello Black^, thank you for accepting this interview. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Sure thing. Hello everyone my name is Dominik Reitmeier. I am 19 years old and currently playing DotA 2 in team mousesports.

First off, congratulations on being invited to the TI3 qualifiers! How did your team react when you found out, and what are you doing to prepare for them?

Thanks! We were very relieved when we heard that Valve decided to invite us into the qualifiers, because this year there were many possible contenders. Preparation wise we are practicing as much as possible as well as analyzing the teams we are gonna to play against.

How well do you think mousesports will do in the qualifiers? What other Western teams do you think have the best chances of qualifying for TI3?

Hmm... good question. I can't judge the teams that had roster changes, because I haven't seen them in action yet. Most people think that EG as well as mouz are the favorites for this tournament, but I personally think every team can beat every team in this one, so it's gonna be a close call. But I obviously hope we can make it all the way haha.

You recently added SyndereN to your roster. What do you think he will add to your team?

We added SyndereN because we believe he can bring us what we always needed since Kuroky's departure: A well drafting/leading captain.

And before adding SyndereN, you found qojqva. How did that happen?

I'm not too sure myself to be honest. I was the person least involved in that change. I believe Fata asked him to tryout for us and he accepted. Shortly after, we realized he has very high potential and asked him to join our team.

You are called the best Western carry by some. What kind of practice have you had to achieve so much?

I feel very honored when people think of me that way. What I did to achieve that "level" and what I do to maintain it is practice at least 10 hour every day in either practice wars, matchmaking or simply playing single player mode to get every timing right. A good side effect of that is that it actually greatly improves your mechanics with most heroes too.

When talking about carries, people often use the phrase 'finding farm.' What are your thoughts on that? How much of a role does the individual carry player play in this versus the role of the team?

Finding farm is usually the phrase people use, when the carry is under heavy pressure but still manages to find considerable farm. It depends on the game and the strategy. For example, in 4-protect-1, the carry usually has all the space in the world to farm up. When you play a 2 or 3 core strategy, like iG does, it's a lot harder for the carry to find farm, because you will usually be under a lot of pressure and you'll have to join a lot of fights.

What about the role of a carry versus the rest of the team in general?

I think it's a give and take between all the roles. In the early game especially the mid hero and the support heroes play the biggest role, as they control the gameflow and they set the tone of a game, which gives them a lot of responsibility. When it comes to mid or lategame that responsibility shifts over to the carry player, and even a little mistake can cost you a game. In my opinion there is no "easy" role. Every role has its hard part and every role has a timing window in every game where they bear the most responsibility.

What are your thoughts on the current Dota 2 metagame, particularly surrounding carry choices, since that's the role you're most familiar with?

Hmm... The current metagame is push oriented, which sometimes leads to some stalemate situations. Usually one team has a big carry and the other team tries to finish the game before he gets out of control. The team that has the most success in the world, iG, plays a different style though. They usually pick 2 or 3 core heroes as opposed to one, core heroes that can fight really early e.g Naix, Nightstalker etc. That style however is a lot harder to play. But it gives great benefits if you manage to pull it off successfully (2 or 3 farmed heroes instead of 1)! Personally I don't like the metagame that much cause I am mostly stuck on Gyrocopter and Naix, especially since it's really hard to pick an Antimage or Phantom Lancer versus a heavy push oriented lineup.

What are the biggest differences between Western and Eastern carry players? Are there any particular Eastern carries that you try to emulate? I believe you mentioned BurNing in a recent interview for the G-1 League.

The difference between Eastern and Western carry players is mostly the decision making, which is almost perfect in the Eastern scene (BurNing, Sylar, Zhou) and pretty flawed in the Western scene. My personal favorite is BurNing, so I watch him a lot and adapt myself a lot to his playstyle, simply because I think he is the best player so I can learn the most from him.

Before we close this interview, would you like to give any shoutouts?

Shoutouts to all our fans and supporters and our sponsors BenQ, GeiL, Razer and Thortech! And a special thanks to you for interviewing me ^_^.

Thank you very much for your time, Black^, and we look forward to having you on our community Q&A. All the best in the upcoming TI3 Western qualifiers!

Writer: Firebolt145

Gfx: Hawaiianpig, riptide

Editor: riptide

