Hello to our subscribers and guests.
It's media day for NAVI Dota 2 and I'm sitting down here with Iceberg for an interview.
Bodya, you are actively participating in the media activity, never turn down any requests and you seem to like it.
Tell me what you make of it.
There are players on our team who don't like doing any media activities. - But they will have to.
Well, yes, but I take one for the team. - Do you like it though?
Sure. I get positive feedback, so why not?
Great, then we will exploit it.
To be honest, I'd like to talk about some serious topics, discuss the mental state of the Dota players.
Following Aloha's departure, you talked a lot about his lack of motivation to play, which he didn't deny.
Have you ever felt the same way in your career? - Of course.
When did you feel you hit a wall and needed a break? When was it?
A number of times - after TI 2018. It's quite simple in Dota as everything is about one single tournament.
Everything else is just leading up to it - you prepare, but the season's final result depends on your TI performance.
That's how it is. Aloha saw there was no TI this year because of the COVID, and decided to take a break.
He returned to Dota after TI 2019, when OG won the second time.
It got him fired up and made him want to play, but then TI was canceled, and his motivation dropped.
Anyway, I could tell it even 1.5 months prior to when he informed us about his decision to quit.
We got together as a team and decided to give him more time, but he made his choice.
How did you overcome this state? After 2018 TI.
It took me a while, about half a year. - What helped you?
Talking to certain people, and Dota itself, obviously, as it evolves and is fun to play regardless of tournaments.
There was a patch at the time with the heroes I liked and it regained my interest in the game, that's it.
Did you work with a psychologist or was it just friends?
You could say so, a bit of both.
Are there any pro players who always supported you and provided useful advice?
There are no people like that in Dota, though I have some outside.
There was this guy in the game, a high MMR player, but he is relatively unknown.
This mental thing is important for most teams this season. Who is the most mentally stable among Dota players?
How important is this factor?
Among the people I've played with it's probably Airat Silent.
He was as mentally stable as possible; he was composed in every situation.
I always liked this about him - he could always make a cool-headed decision.
Do you think the CIS and EU players are different in this regard?
Of course. In CIS, as someone said today, until something bites you, nothing will happen.
It has always been the case for the CIS, even during the best years, when our teams placed top 3 in most tournaments.
Even the first NAVI roster would always go through a lower bracket - only losing once would get them going.
That's our mentality. Losing motivates us the most rather than winning, I don't know why.
- We don't take the easy road. - Yeah.
Among European players, Puppey plays more MM than anybody else.
You can check a website that displays it. And he's won last 7 or 8 tournaments.
Speaking of what makes Secret good, Puppey is your answer.
Puppey really grinds more than any other Dota player.
FLY stated in his interview that you're one of the best CIS or even world's players if you keep your head in the game.
Everybody has their issues and could claim they're the best as long as circumstances allow.
This needs to be worked on and dealt with; and once you fix it, you can get really good.
However, I don't think I am the kind of player FLY considers me to be unless I improve at things that prevent me from being so.
How would you rate your current form though?
I'd give it a 7 out of 10.
- That's not bad. - COVID is taking its toll, too.
I can't always force myself to do stuff if there is no goal in front of me.
It's all about one tournament in Dota, and when it's not happening anytime soon, you have a hard time staying motivated.
Basically, when players claim TI is not the goal and all the tournaments are important they're not being sincere?
Pretty much. Perhaps not everyone, but most of Dota players think the same way I just described.
You moved into the bootcamp, though you mentioned it wasn't particularly necessary.
It wasn't at the time, but now that the new DPS season has been announced with regional competition, it's about time to get right into it.
How did it change your routine? What's your practice plan like? Is bootcamping making an impact on your game?
We are improving, though I can't say it's solely thanks to being at the bootcamp - it was the case even before coming here.
We are yet to grasp how to make the most out of it, and we're trying to realize how to do that.
The main idea is to test the waters and for everyone to get out of their comfort zone of their homes to see how it affects us.
Because coming to LAN, you might feel uncomfortable;
and having no LANs for 6 months due to the pandemiñ, everyone forgot what going to the bootcamp is like.
- Does it affect you in any way? - Sure.
First and foremost it's in your head.
Say you get uncomfortable with your elbow placement and it just won't stop bothering you.
There's been a lot of frustration about playing online, including our CS players. What's the situation like in Dota?
- Is it easier to play online than on LAN or is it the same? What's the difference? - It's not the same, obviously.
I think the overall level of play has dropped after switching to online and Dota is not growing as fast as it did before.
Comparing TI5 and TI8, you could tell the difference was tremendous.
However, over the past six months the improvement has been pretty slow.
This is just my observation and my stance though.
Let's touch on ESL One Germany that's being played now.
What do you make of the format and how do you feel about your chances here?
Without making specific predictions to avoid jinxing it, how confident are you in your team in this tournament?
Well, judging by the latest results, I believe we can make it into the top 3 without too much effort.
We've seen others team in action, and though I wouldn't go as far as to say they played to the fullest, we feel pretty confident now.
As long as we don't get into a stressful situation, I think we've got what it takes to make the top 3.
I hope you face as few of those as possible or even better get through it stress-free.
Thank you guys for watching our interview, and thank you, Bogdan, for taking the time to do it.
Like, subscribe and post your comments and questions to Bogdan that he might answer in his next interview.
Thanks again. Bye!