

A very young TL Qojqva

A very old interview with Qojqva together with the one and only Hotbid

That’s true (laughs).I mean back then everything was a lot smaller I would say. Esports and dota in general was a lot smaller. And also Team Liquid obviously was not as big as it is today. I knew Victor from before, pretty well. He’s a great person to come back to, because back then I really liked him as a CEO already. So, it’s always really nice coming back to people and they still believe in you after all this time. It feels really nice being back on Liquid, for sure. Now everything has grown really… to insane proportions. But yeah it feels super nice [to be back].I mean for sure, back then I was… I want to say 18 or 19, now I just recently turned 24. I definitely have a different mindset now than I did before. I think I’m much more, I don’t want to say like… I’ve always been very stable outside of the game, mentally, but I think my performance now is a lot more stable than it was back then. Back then it was more flashy, likely to go 10-0 or you don’t have an impact in that game. So, for me, in that area I definitely improved a lot I would say. Other than that I think I’m pretty much the same person.Yeah I think so (laughs), I don’t think I’ve changed that much, I think.I think it definitely factors in, having played a lot of lans. The nervousness doesn’t really affect me anymore, and also the confidence levels, they don’t really shrink when you don’t perform on stage for one or two games, it doesn’t really get in my head anymore, but back then it definitely did. So I’d say experience is for sure a thing in Dota, but I don’t think you need five experienced players to do well, looking at OG for example (laughs).Yeah having a good mix of new players and experienced players is always a good synergy to have.I’d say TI4 was a lot of fun, that was probably a top-3 favorite. I’d say ESL Hamburg, last year, even though we got knocked out pretty quickly. Everything was so well done and the event was just fun. Yeah I wanna say this TI, but… I think if we’d gotten further this TI, then I’d say the last TI as well. It’s just a lot of fun, but getting knocked out is just in front of my mind when I think about this TI. It’s the first thing I think about, I don’t think about how much fun it was, just the getting knocked out part.Everyone feels that way, for sure.But it’s all good.I don’t think so. I think we all agreed that the season last year was not where we want to be, ideally. We want to be a stable top team, top 3 every lan kind of thing. So I think the road for us isn’t even half done. I think we’ll all strive to be a lot better than we were last season, even though there was clearly a lot of improvement. So, I think that’s just our, I will say motto, our slogan, just keep improving every season, just keep getting better. You don’t have to go from top-16 to winning TI in a year. If you just keep improving, you’re gonna get there eventually.Yeah, it’s true.Yeah, it was a nice opportunity, that this is happening. I think we all feel really welcomed by Liquid, and I think Liquid gives us everything we need to perform and improve for the next season, so there’s nothing in the way.I think in this team, we’re all pretty similarly-minded people. I’m just talking about Dota, not outside of the game. We just strive to be better in Dota and it’s actually not easy to find five players, on each individual role, that are as into the game as you are. It’s actually pretty hard (laughs). So I think in that sense, it’s a really good fit, because we all want to just win. That’s pretty much just it, we all want to win, no matter what. I think that’s the most important thing.Yeah, most of the tier-2 players, tier-1.5 players, I don’t wanna say they don’t work as hard as [tier] 1 players, but… I think most of the tier 2 players, they’re studying on the side or they have a job or work outside of Dota, which is completely fine. But for someone who wants to win tournaments and wants to be the best, you can only focus on Dota. I’ve tried studying and playing Dota and uh (laughs), it doesn’t work. I don’t think you can be on the best while studying, I think it’s very very hard. You have to have insane time management to even have a chance. I think in that sense we’re pretty lucky that we found five players that have a similar mindset and just play dota. It’s been a nice experience so far.Yeah, it’s very hard, especially with all the travelling. The minors, majors, TI, ESL’s, it gets very rough.Yeah…I think the USA, obviously, is amazing every single time I’ve been there. You know, The Summit, we won the last Summit in LA and that was just the best time, I love LA. I’ve been there like five times now.I’ve been at Venice Beach, in the old Liquid, where the team house was near Venice Beach. Venice Beach is just the best. The vibe, the people are so chill, the food. Chipotle is my favorite food in the world.I mean it’s actually just the best. I don’t know, I just like the mindset and mentality of the people in the US. It’s just a very nice place for me to be, I could definitely imagine spending months there. Other than that, I really like Kiev. Kiev was really chill, the food in general was really good. And we just bootcamped in Malta with Team Liquid for the last set of qualifiers. So that was really nice as well, the weather and the people.Yeah that was just a good time.I actually quit school one year before graduating, and then that’s when I played with Liquid. Then after I left Liquid, I finished school for a year, and then returned to Dota after that. I just played a little on the side, I tried to be as good as I can while finishing school and then returning full time.Pretty much, that’s been the battle ever since. And now I’m here, I’m back.Oh this was just high school.Yeah I took a year off of high school since I was 17 or 18, so I took a year off of high school, and then finished high school, and then moved on to professional Dota.Pretty much, yeah. I think he did it a little earlier than me, but pretty much the same thing.So like be that hero in real life?Oh probably Furion, because you can TP anywhere. That’s what I think, that’s just convenient. Have a LAN in China? Just TP there. No more travelling. Oh My God! Definitely Furion.My all-time favorite is probably Tinker, and Storm, and right now it’s probably Ember. I think Ember is a lot of fun right now. I’m curious to see the two new heroes in Dota, I hope they make kind of a mid hero. I’d definitely be down to play them.Yeah I hope the new Spirit is a mid hero, that would be cool.I actually was an offlane player back in Mousesports, when I played with them. But I played a pretty farm-intensive offlane, then eventually I just moved to mid because it was the most fun for me at the time. It felt like a natural move and ever since then I’ve been playing with mid.Yeah, that’s true. A lot of people have been switching from Mid to Carry. That has been a popular move right now, and Carry to Offlane.I think if you have high individual skill, then moving from Carry to Offlane is… I don’t want to say it’s not that hard, but if you play the heroes well in Dota, then you can still be a good offlaner even if you’ve played Safelane all of your life. We saw in the MDL Major Qualifiers that Ramzes played things like Nightstalker, Enigma, heroes like that and he played really well. I think if you just know the heroes really well and watch replays of other top offlaners, then you can definitely do well. I think time will tell for sure, it really depends if you’re a sacrificial offlaner. If you remember the old EG.Universe, he played a really sacrificial offlaner, or if you’re a high-impact offlaner, someone that gets kills and runs around.Exactly. For sure, time will tell. I think after one qualifier it’s kind of early to tell if it was the right move for them.Yeah, we’ll see high-stakes games at the Major. Stage games, you know, when the pressure is up, if he’s gonna perform.I think Offlane, Offlane is a lot of fun for me. In pubs sometimes I still play Offlane, if mid is taken for some reason. I think Offlane is definitely the most fun for me after Mid so yeah, definitely Offlane.I was definitely one of those people that just played 15 or 16 solo queue games a day, but I do enjoy the new party system actually. I’ve been playing with a lot of pros from other teams, and also with my own team. It’s just a very nice change, the games are… solo queue games are a lot more… toxic (laughs), that’s just the way it is, than to party queue games. Party queue games are just good games. They almost feel like scrims in a way, like training games where you can actually learn something. So yeah, I’ve definitely been enjoying the system. If somehow Valve is able to make it so party & solo queue games can coexist, that would probably be ideal for everyone, but I understand that is very hard to do. Because I used to queue for about 15 minutes per game for the last few weeks in solo queue.Oh yeah, two to ten minutes usually.Yeah (sigh).Yeah for sure, it’s a lot easier to practice these combos in party queue games than instantly in officials or in scrims. It’s a nice way to just try out things.Yeah and you don’t really want to waste a scrim by trying something out, when you could just do it in party queue games. Then, if it works, you can try it out in scrims. And it works.Pretty much (laughs).Micke is clowny, Insania is ambitious… we’ve actually done this on a video for Team Liquid, I’m trying to remember what I was saying.I can’t remember what I said back there. I think Boxi is also, not clowny, but funny. Tommy is kind-hearted. That’s one word right?That’s more outside of the game. I think in the game, it kind of depends on the game. It can be any one person that keeps up the spirits. I don’t think we have a player who is always super positive, it definitely depends on each game.Pretty much, yeah.I played with Insania and Micke on a smaller team before, and then those two and Boxi and Taiga went to Alliance. I went to play with Chaos Esports, it was DC back then. I played with Bulba, Mason, Jimmy, and MSS for a few months. Then that team disbanded, and eventually Loda moved to coach and I joined after him. Those two [Boxi and Taiga] knew me from before, so that was my connection with them from before.Not really, I don’t follow any real sports. I follow other esports, that’s about it. I follow some CS, not really though, but I follow Fortnite a good amount. I watch most of the Team Liquid guys. I watch Tom, I don’t know if you know him, 72hrs. He’s probably my favorite streamer.Oh yeah, Fortnite is definitely… I play Fortnite in my free time, whenever I get the chance, and watch it too.Chipotle? (laughs)It actually is, yeah. It’s just the bomb.It doesn’t exist, actually.Actually I think there’s one or two in the UK, but I live in Germany so that’s not gonna happen. I’m not gonna fly to the UK for Chipotle. (laughs) Not yet, at least.Yeah we have kebabs. We probably have the best kebabs, I think, in the world.Kebabs are insane here, for sure, but nothing beats Chipotle on a hungry day. For me, at least.Hmm. I just want to thank Nazgul, or Victor, for this chance. I think we’re gonna do well together and that’s pretty much it I’d say. Nothing really worthy of saying (laughs).Thank you thank you, no problem.