

Coming off of two matches against Arrow, both crowned by stellar performances by Galvin "Meracle" Kang Jian Wen, the Scythe star carry took the time for a brief interview with us, right before he and his team prepare for the ever so important TI4 qualifiers.

Hello Galvin. First of all congratulations on winning the May edition of MSI Beat It GosuCup Asia. How does it feel adding another title under your belt?

Hello! Feels really great but it's not a reason for us to start slacking as our main priority would be the TI4 qualifiers.

You were one of the invited teams for the GosuCup. Looking at the team list, how confident were you going into this tournament?

I feel for every team to have a chance to win any competition they have to have confidence in themselves, so... We were pretty confident coming into this GosuCup.

Scythe managed to oust LGD.CDEC and Orange Esports in stage II of GosuCup. Did you prepare any specific strategy for these games? Also, how was it playing against the new team of LGD.CDEC?

No, we just drafted and played the game according to how it goes. The team of LGD is a little new but they are actually pretty good just like every other new Chinese team, we also had the latency advantage as the server we played on was SEA.

Later on you faced Arrow Gaming in the winner bracket finals. Despite of losing game one, you bounced back with your signature Naga Siren in game two to tie the series. What makes Naga Siren so special despite the significant nerf hammer she received in the latest patch?

I personally feel we could've done a lot better in game one but we were completely outmaneuvered by their movement. Naga Siren wasn't really nerfed that much as her late-game potential is still there, it's just that the nerf made farming Radiance a little slower. Also, Naga Siren would always be special!!!

Why would she always be special? Is it due to the fact that she wins games for you even when you are behind by a large margin? *smiles*

I've been playing the hero this way since back in DotA 1 where Naga Siren's Riptide was similar to Dragon Knight's Dragon Breath (second generation Naga). She's also in my opinion the strongest late-game carry in terms of what she can do in the entire game (not only in direct teamfights).

You went on to win the series with a Meepo pick in game three. Did you pick him considering the fact that your team's burst damage potential was very high or was it a last minute pick?

It was a last minute pick, Arrow's lineup wasn't extremely good at taking down multiple units and laning wasn't exactly that strong. That opened up the opportunity for the Meepo pick.

Scythe is one of the participating teams in the SEA qualifiers for TI4. What is your opinion on the teams and the qualifiers as a whole?

All the teams are extremely strong and are capable of beating each other. Whichever team is the most prepared will win.

Who are you most afraid of facing in the SEA qualifiers?

We haven't been doing very well in scrims against many other SEA teams. I can't really tell who we are most afraid of facing, as many of them are really strong and unpredictable.

Arrow destroyed New Element in the loser bracket finals of GosuCup and ended the games in a short span of time. Did that amazing performance by Arrow worry Scythe?

They drafted well and played really well during those series, but if we are worried even before the draft begun we probably would've lost.

Nonetheless you won against Arrow in the grand finals. The first game was a real thriller with some intense battles. At one point, you almost lost that game before pulling a miracle all of a sudden. What was the exact team atmosphere that time and what went wrong on Arrow's side?

I guess they were a little rash at that moment as their heroes needed to end us fast but they were not predicting that we would have buyback on most of our cores which allowed us to take back the advantage.

Considering how good iceiceice, Mushi and ChuaN are doing in China, would you go back if you're provided with a good opportunity again?

Probably not, when I played for Titan back then after I came back from RisingStar I realized I played a lot better in a SEA team rather than a Chinese team, probably because I wasn't really the type of player that is very good in an organized team.

What do you think of the recent 6.81 patch? Tell us the best and the worst thing you've come across in this patch. According to you, what other changes are needed?

The greatest thing about the 6.81 patch was that it didn't completely nerf those overpowered heroes to uselessness as that would've been really dumb since TI4 is coming and no one wants to re-adapt to an entire meta. I don't think there's anything else that I personally dislike about this patch as it has done nothing to remove a particular hero but actually increased the possibility of more hero picks.

As we near the end of this interview, could you tell us how you found playing in GosuCup so far? What do you suggest on making the event even better?

This GosuCup is great, but I personally feel bad for some teams (Arrow Gaming in particular) as they had to play three BO3s (Scythe, New Element & Scythe again) in a row without having breaks in between. I guess the schedule could have been better.

Before we round up the interview, I would like to ask you whether Scythe are in talks with any sponsors?

We're currently in talks but we can't really reveal anything as of yet.

Thank you for the lovely interview. Any last words?

Shoutout to our amazing managers Jupi and Vampyrette and all our fans!! Couldn't have done it without them.



Next up for Scythe are the ESL One Asia Finals, the dates of which are to be announced as of yet, and which serve as the qualifiers for the ESL One tournament in Frankfurt, Germany, in late June, as well as the SEA TI4 qualifiers starting May 16.

Photos by WPC and Armageddon







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