Hello, friends. We are now at Game Show League, aka DreamHack. Here’s Alexander “XBOCT” Dashkevich. Hi, Sasha!
- Hi. - Let’s begin with the recent WEC 2014.
It was a first tournament for your renewed squad. Tell us about it.
Well the first attempt is always a failure. We played 4 games, the 3 of which we simply ceded.
We ceded these games in a rough way I hadn’t done at my best times.
We played awfully after a certain minute. I hope it’ll be fixed.
The worse thing is that we’d come to China to play against the Chinese teams, and we were defeated by the Americans.
It is hard for us to play against the American teams as their players have already played together for a year.
They underwent unsubstantial reshuffles. EG engaged Fear instead of Mason. Well, Fear has been with them for a long time.
The other team engaged Rabbit, while they’ve kept all the other players. It is hard now.
Wow. Why did I mention Rabbit (he is a Chinese team player, not American)? I made a mistake.
What is your perception of a new squad performing on your first LAN? Do you have a notion of the development direction for your team?
Yes, everything is clear enough. We need to change the style of the game a bit. We need to improve discipline in the team.
And it will be ok. I think and hope so. I was satisfied with the first LAN on the whole, though I expected better results.
We have what we have. We played well till a particular moment.
You said in a private conversation off camera that you were positive about the trainings and that you wanted to train. Tell us about it.
Yes, I’ve started to enjoy playing with my team for the first time over the past 12-18 months.
We eagerly discuss many things. Each of us considers the demands of others and we meet half way.
We reach a compromise and play a rather funny Dota. We try not to “dismoral” others.
Such ambience provides a favorable environment, in which everyone wants to play much. We do play much.
So the ambience of the team has changed drastically, hasn’t it? And this is the reason.
The ambience has refreshed. We got more freedom to fulfill our ideas. Maybe we haven’t acquired full freedom in picks.
However we gain opportunity to implement in game and strategy things we deem powerful and necessary.
- It is good for now. - You’ll see it.
Yes, we’ll see it in time. What we need is a very good implementation of it. We lack it for now, but we do our best.
Speak of the new players (Fng and Vanskor). They’ve just left, so they are not here. Can you characterize them, their game style and personalities?
- Both of them are tramps - Really?
Vania (Ivan “Vanskor”) is a very interesting personality. I never communicated with him much before.
We were deciding at TI4 whom to invite to the team. I came up to him to talk. “Hi! How are you? Bla-bla-bla”
We talked and he seemed a nice person to me. Now he is ill and he is whining. Well, maybe “whining” is a wrong word.
But he makes like this: “E-e-eh…” But he is a nice person on the whole. Fng is just a bit conceited, but it means he is ambitious which is good.
Both of the new players are interesting and pleasant. Judging on the whole, I like being nearby them and play with them.
You mentioned that you’d known at TI4 you’d invite Vanskor. Were you playing with a notion you’d be changing a squad.
- Or did you realize that after the loss? - It became obvious for everyone after the loss.
We didn't understand clearly who would leave and who would stay. I won’t tell the whole story, but it was my wish to invite Vanskor.
And the guys supported me. This was no secret to anyone, including Empire.
I told them in advance that I had invited Vania and he’d agreed to join Na’Vi. I told them to think about their future steps.
As concerns inviting Fng, we made this decision later. We had a squad of 4 players and we decided to consider him as a potential player.
- It is good for now. - Can you tell the reason for the previous squad to disband?
- Why is its era over to your mind? - We lost mutual respect and trust in each other.
We couldn’t stay close to each other anymore due to human factor and actions people do.
They didn’t like what I did. There was a player in a team. I didn’t like his behavior at all. I couldn’t get along with that person at all.
- This resulted in reshuffle. - Ok. Back to China and games against the Americans.
Na’Vi has been heavily unlucky lately when it came to Cloud 9 and EG. You would be usually defeated. What’s the reason?
It’s not about the lack of luck. They play very good. We do not play as good as they do.
When a necessary important decision needs to be made within the game, they make it promptly, while we are dumping.
We lack practice. We’ve been playing for 14 days, while they’ve been playing for 18 months.
I think we performed ok. Loosing 0:2 twice was a shame, taking into account that the 3 of us must’ve performed better.
However this is not a problem. This LAN is not of great importance. There were bad computers but who cares?
We’ve lost and that’s it. Haters gonna hate us anyway. Nothing interferes with that. We’ll be working hard and see the results.
Now we are in Moscow. Once again we haven’t been training for it. We’ll see the performance at this LAN.
And then we’ll have a big journey Moscow – China – New York if we are qualified to ESL.
We’ll need to train hard for it to perform at our best there.
- How many times have you been to China? - 8, or something like that.
Do you like China, the venue, the ambience, the food, and accommodation of this trip in particular?
If this interview is translated into Chinese, I won’t be let into the country anymore. China is China.
It was hot, food was ok this time. I had a possibility have a snack and even eat my fill.
During my previous visits the food was much worse at times and less badly at times.
The accommodation was fine. We stayed at a normal hotel in the city of… Chanzhou?
- Hangzhou. - Yes, Hangzhou. It is the greenest city in China, right?
The lake is the coolest in China too. We went to look around. It was hot. The city was green, there were beautiful places.
Though on the whole it doesn’t differ much from what other Chinese cities I saw before.
So, the trip was useless for me, because we lost. However it was useful for the team as we acquired experience.
- One more question about the game against EG. 8:52 or 53… - 58!
Some say it is one of the shortest matches in the history of short matches. Tell us about it.
- Yes. - Thank you very much. The answer corresponds to the match.
- Ok. Another question concerns this tournament (GSL) and its participants, the return of Ivan Balanar. What do you think about it?
We’ll see. I might offend somebody by saying that they seem to participate in GSL only for fun.
They took the guys they played public games with. They want to win. I do not know if they succeed…
Take Arthur Goblack. He took the players he is comfortable to play with, and now the team is winning everyone.
They seem for me to be the mixes, but who knows? You never know which team starts performing well.
If people improve discipline and skills – I do not know about their level except of Dread’s and Artstyle’s levels. I’ve heard about Yoka, but never saw him.
- Dubas? - Ah.Yeah… Vitaliy. Ok. Then I know all of them.
I know Allohadance too. Dubas is undefeatable best headliner. I do not know his role in the team, but I think he’ll be an interesting rival.
Virtus.pro will replace Team Tinker. Is it advantageous for the tournament, or you wanted to play against the Europeans.
I think there won’t be a big difference. I think they would’ve come and…
…as any bourgeoisie at the CIS tournament they would’ve been defeated by a team with unclear strategy and...
would’ve gone to watch the tournament in the hall. Team Tinker is a strong team, but everything changes at LAN.
What do you think about the participation of Moscow Five team and the return? They have a powerful squad, they aren’t a mix? Can they break through?
They are mix as any previous team, but they have a tag. We are just as them. This battle is named “CIS region’s tramps”
We are tramps just as anyone else here. We will fight for meat and food.
Ok. Thank you very much for the interview. To resume it, speak of your expectations of the tournament, e.g. a flow of fans.
I am very glad the venue is not a shopping mall. It wasn’t announced as loudly as it had been previously.
So I think there won’t be any crowd. Instead there will be people who respect this game and its players and who wish to see it.
There won’t be any chaos and panic. I think the tournament will be good. I like the venue.
It might even try competing with Kyiv Cybersport Arena in some aspects. We’ll see how it goes.
We’ve played a bit now, and everything might be different at the tournament.
Ok. Do you have any regards, wishes and gratitude?
Regards to our sponsors and thank you very much! Regards to my mom. Regards to my friends. Regards to you, Oleg.
- Thank you very much for the interview and good luck tomorrow. - Thank you very much!