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A good captain should always keep calm in the face of Era.

Picture by Fnatic.

Shalom, brother Tal! Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. You've recently been rather preoccupied outside of Dota, would you mind giving our readers a bit of a rundown on what you've been up to over the past few months?

Shalom, brother Sun_Tzu and readers! I've been quite busy lately, training in (mostly) Commando Krav Maga, spent two months in Italy while having courses in Switzerland and eventually in Israel as well. Unfortunately, during this time I was not able to fully commit to DotA.

Fnatic used to be well known for bootcamping several times a year, but it's been a while now since you've actually all been in one place outside of LAN events. When was the last bootcamp for you guys, and what has contributed to this change of pace?

Our last bootcamp was before Dreamhack Winter in November, so it’s been a while.

It’s usually not that easy for us to bootcamp before most LANs; I have been fairly busy myself and others have had some real life commitments as well, so that’s the main reason.

You are now kicking off your two month bootcamp in Belgrade, with time off only to attend LAN events. Is this the longest bootcamp to date for you guys? How do you feel about putting much of your life on hold for the duration?

Two months is the most time we’ve ever had a bootcamp for, we usually only had a week at most. It’s not that easy to put your life on hold, especially since I’ve only been back home for two weeks or so, but we have our eyes set on a goal and this is the best way to achieve it. I hope we will make the best use of our time during this bootcamp.

Did you guys consider bootcamping outside of Europe? What was it that made you decide upon Belgrade in the end?

We considered it before, but ended up going with Europe. The decision for Belgrade came mostly from management, as our manager StreeT lives in Belgrade, he knows the place and says it’ll be good, so we’re pretty much going on that.

I think being able to play the asian teams would’ve had been a good advantage, but I wouldn’t say it’s a deal breaker.

You are well known for your drafting abilities, especially long time fans will know you for your ability to adapt and drive the metagame forward. With so much public focus on your role as captain, you've at times been overlooked as a player. What's the captains training regime for himself going to look like, in order for you to be able to show everyone that you're more than just the brains of the operation?

First of all,l I have to say that a big reason for being known in the past to drive the metagame forward was always the work of the team as a whole, finding new things and trying out new strategies and heroes. As for the question itself - I haven't been focusing on playing as much lately, as those who follow Fnatic might know, and once we get to the bootcamp I will practice the heroes I will be playing in official matches a lot more. Right now, when I pub I just play for fun - heroes I never play in official matches, because my preferred role was never support. I think that I can show everyone that I can play a lot of heroes, perhaps return to practice junglers, as I used to play a long time ago. Just need to invest the time, like with everything else in life.

Will your bootcamp include any practice outside of Dota as well, in order to ensure not just peak mental preparedness, but also peak physical condition? Do you think physical well-being affects your ability to perform in e-Sports?

I workout pretty much every day, so for myself, I can say yes. I highly recommend training for everyone, and I do find it helpful when playing. It helps you concentrate, feel more focused and energetic - not to mention that we will be playing and sitting so much it will be a good way to try and balance things. As for my teammates, they can join me or do what they want, I can suggest it, but it’s up to them if they want to. Probably only H4nn1 will join me, maybe N0tail if we can convince him!

Fly with his father, the founder of Commando Krav Maga.

Picture taken from Fly's Facebook fanpage.

Fnatic used to be all about inventing new strategies and thinking outside of the box. With 6.78b due to be ported into tournament mode before DreamHack Summer, can we expect a return to your creative roots for TI3, or is there any value still in trying to surprise an enemy like the Chinese?

I'm sure this bootcamp will allow us to develop a lot of new strategies as well as improve our form in general, which we desperately need to do as of now. Whenever we're together at LANs, we always end up talking a lot about DotA and always come up with interesting ideas. I still think that the surprise factor is a huge thing, because if your opponents know what to expect from you - they can prepare much better. Being able to play a lot of different heroes/strategies is always an advantage, and I think a lot of teams are gonna have creative and interesting strategies, but only a few will actually dare to use them.

The team has been changing roles around a lot, not just in Dota 2 but since it's inception. How does this affect your draft, do you think it helps you or is there at times too much to consider?

I think it can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Some roles really require you to play the hero, the lane and the same players all the time to be the best. Having the most experience in a certain lane can really make a difference.

Are there any role changes we haven't seen yet in Dota 2 that you might be looking to try out? And who do you think is the most versatile player on the team?

We’re still trying things - lately we’ve been trying to have Era middle, Trixi as carry and H4nn1 as offlaner. Nothing is set in stone, we can change things any game pretty much, but we’ll see how this goes.



I haven’t been playing much secondary support but maybe some games I’d like to try that, while having N0tail as main support, depending on the heroes of course (like Enigma!).



I think all of the team is fairly versatile, each individual with their strengths. If I’d have to choose one, I’d probably say H4nn1 can play every role fairly well.

Finally, what is the most important thing you hope to get out of the bootcamp? For your team and individually?

I hope we will be prepared for TI3, as that is our goal. I can say that this is both an individual as well as our team goal. We want to win TI3

Any last words or shout-outs?

It’s been a rough time for us lately, as our performance has really been disappointing and it’s mostly due to lack of practice, something I can take a lot of the blame for - my timing of this two month absence wasn’t good for the team. I hope our fans can stick with us through this time, and that we are able to show everyone that we can be a top team again.



Shout-out to my sponsors, my team, my dad and my mom, Yotam & the honey badger.

Also thank you for this interview!