- Hello, friends. I am interviewing Ivan ìVanskorî Skorohod. Hello. - Hi.
This is our first interview after youíve joined NaíVi. Congratulations on becoming NaíVi player.
- Tell us about the process of choosing you as a member of the team. - It was rather simple.
At The International main event, after the group stage it became obvious that the team, I was playing in (Empire), wouldnít go further.
I started communicating with XBOCT. Then NaíVi lost too. He asked me if I wanted to join NaíVi, I said I wanted.
He asked if I aspired to win. I said ìYes. We will winîÖ some day. Itís good.
Ok. Share you emotions and impressions. Did you think something like: ìOh come on! No way!î
I was pleased. If I happily jumped, it was only in my mind.
As far as I know, it was you, who proposed Fng to join the team. Why you, not the players of the old squad?
We had a couple of candidates to the position of the fifth player and the captain. It wasnít my idea to invite Fng. I only wrote to him and informed him. Thatís it.
Tell us about the environment in the team taking into account the results youíve already achieved.
Itís rather positive. All arguments are resolved. There are few conflicts, but they are resolved too. Itís all ok for now.
What do you like about NaíVi compared to Empire. Maybe the terms or the ambience. Can you compare.
I had a short experience of being the member of NaíVi organization and a long term experience in Empire. I like NaíVi as an organization more.
As concerns the team, Alexander and Daniil bring more positive to the team compared to Empire.
Have you experienced in your personal life? Do people recognize you more often?
No. Itís all the same. More people have started writing to me.
- How did your former teammates treat your leave? - I never discussed this matter with them openly.
First I denied transferring anywhere, as I wasnít sure Iíd join NaíVi. After The International we didnít communicate.
We might have written a couple of messages in Steam, but they didnít seem to treat me negative. Weíre still friends.
Empire players would wonder about, claiming that the old squad wouldnít last for a long time. Did you know that Empire squad would undergo reshuffle?
Yes, I knew. I told that at prodota. I predicted reshuffle. The reshuffle was inevitable after such horrible results at the most important event of the year.
Iíve prepared the question about prodota and the topic about the vacancy and guide on you wishing to get to the top. Tell us about it.
Iíll also ask a question, which I ask almost in every interview. Tell us your success story. What needs to be done to be successful?
As concerns vacancies, it was long ago at the times of the first Dota. Dota 2 has just been presented after TI.
I was looking for a team. I played in many teams. I transferred often. Some players didnít like me and I had to leave.
I didnít like others, and I left the team. One day I decided to create my own team with one player.
We decided to invite young players from the teamÖ there was a tournamentÖ a Starladder tournament for Euro Arena, I donít recall it
- Star Series? The first season. - There was a team with bzz, yol, Alwayswannafly, Resolut1on and Hardeev.
We decided to invite the three players (bzz, yol and Hardeev) or at least one of them. We managed to engage yol.
We had been playing for 2 weeks, when he wrote to us, that he was invited to join Rox.kiss along with bzz and Hardeev.
We stopped playing together and started searching for replacing players. However the players we found werenít as good as yol at that time.
In 2 months yol wrote me saying that I might join Rox.kiss too. Thatís the story.
Ok. What have you done to reach success? Did you play much? Did you indicate a goal to get to the top?
When I was in 7th grade I had an argument with a friend and I bet that one day I would earn money playing Dota.
He thought it would never come true. I bet. This wasnít my main motivation. I just had a very strong desire to play video games and earn money.
- And win? - Yes. To win. And here I am.
Youíve come to China from Excellent Moscow Cup. Youíve been to many LANs including TI. You can tell the difference.
Thereís no secret that EMC was a failure. It was bad, frankly speaking. Share your impressions of this event and its undecided results.
The tournament was a true failure. It was called Epic Moscow Collapse by someone.
- I havenít heard that yet. - I was at the first season of the tournament.
I think it was organized adequately. The first season was fairly organized and the organizers seemed to have taken into account their previous mistakes.
The only thing they couldnít forecast is the novelties of the e-sport arena of Dota and DDOS attacks.
As a result the tournament was a failure. I think they will make their conclusions.
As concerns the results, it was obvious NaíVi wasnít going to loose. You goal was top1.
Did you expect that Empire would get to the final? What is your attitude to the online final?
Participation of Empire in the final was expected. The two candidates for the final were NVMI or Empire.
It depended totally on the games. These teams are rather equal in their performance level. They are new and equal.
As concerns online, I wouldnít want to play it online. LAN is LAN, it is an important event.
The attitude to online and the spirit of players can be very different. Therefore the result at online event could be very different to the one at LAN.
Were you prepared to play at 2 AM?
The good me said: ìDonít play. Go to bedî. The evil me said: ìI want to play. I need to play.î
As concerns DDOS, is it the general situation for Dota? Or is it NaíVi being hated? Such cases occur at your games someone interferes with your games?
No. Why only us? I heard that there was DDOS attack of the match Fnatic vs Cloud9 on the day I was DDOS-attacked.
There is a pack of hackers. It might include some NaíVi haters which DDOS-attack NaíVi.
As far as I remember another match was DDOS-attacked. It was match of Hell Raisers vs ñ I donít remember exactly if it was NVMI or Empire.
- Virtus.pro. - Yes! Virtus.pro. There was DDOS. There wasnít any NaíVi.
- I heard they found that person. The one, that asked money. - I donít know about money. It can be.
Ok. What was your attitude to the new squad of Empire and to the fact that Mag doesnít play anymore?
Well, thatís Resolut1on who said that Mag played no more. However the manager of the team writes that Mag hasnít left the team yet.
He wrote it today or yesterday. What was my attitude? I feel sorry for Mag, but I think it is positive for Empire.
The squad needs changes, perhaps the big ones.
I see. What is your attitude to the last patch? You had to play LAN once the patch had been issued.
So you felt the changes right at the event. Share your impressions of these changes and name one positive and one negative change.
- I think the patch is great! I like it very much. - Really?
Yes I liked it even with old formulas: experience and gold. E.g. if you loose a fight, your graphs will be even.
Why would you loose a fight? Because you would chase to the towers. The chase is absolutely unnecessary.
Therefore this means that Dota goes to a new level. So that everything would be made in an absolutely right way.
The formulas were nerfed in the end. They were smothered. Thatís it. The patches are good. I donít see any bad changes at all.
Except for maybe Bloodseeker and Phantom Lancer are very strange. Thanks God they were removed. They can be very powerful in right hands.
You are in China now. What are your impressions of this country and the forthcoming event?
The country is good. The only minus is a mentality of certain persons.
My opinion is that there are bad and good people in each state notwithstanding their nationality.
So the only minus is food. Sometimes it can be not that good compared to home.
- And you seem to sort it out. You donít eat spicy food, etc. - Yes.
I see. What about the event? It is announced that it is supported by the government. Is it the first event of such kind you participate in?
What do you think about the support of e-sport events by the government?
I think this is just an event like others except for the very big prize pool.
You will encounter Newbee tomorrow. What are your expectations of the match? They donít seem to have the same level as at TI4.
It looked like a wave of freebee then. What do you think of their level of performance? What are your expectations?
The rivals shouldnít be underestimated. All rivals at this tournament are powerful and worth themselves.
Well, xiao8 has left the team. He was called the anchor of the team, but that wasnít really true. He might have been weak in terms of micro skill.
However he was very powerful in general strategy. He used to guide the team. Newbee is a powerful team.
I wonít speak anything bad about it. Each player is very good in his own style.
Tell us about yourself, your personal life, hobbies and life beyond Dota.
I think that I am an ordinary man, who lives with a girlfriend and pets. I do what I want. I can go for a walk, read books, watch movies or play another game.
- Itís simple. - So Dota doesnít take away all your time.
- It takes only half of it. ñ Tell me about Fng.
What do you think about his performance as a captain? Do you like his picks or you disagree with him at times?
He is a good guy and a good captain. This implies he contributes to the game. We pick heroes together.
We inform him about our preferences. We say which heroes we want to play and which heroes we donít want.
Each of us invents his own tactics or might invent his own pick. We discuss it much beyond the game.
We discuss what we can pick including imbalance. We try most things we discuss beyond the game.
We recently tried new things. Fng has only 2 minuses: he is tooÖ how to say that?
- Young? - Yes. He is too young and therefore infantile due to his age.
I am young too. The other minus is his haircut.
He isnít emo. He told me. You canít do anything about it. Or you have a secret team wish to cut his hair?
I do have. I donít want to cut it with my own hands, but Iíd prefer his hair cut.
I see. Do you wish to express gratitude, wishes and greetings?
Greetings to my fans. Support us! Greetings to my friends and my girlfriend Olga, to my cat and my dog.