Dear viewers, the last couple of days you've been sending your questions for the players via our social networks,
as we promised we've gathered the best ones, and today the players will answer them.
The question from Mikhail Pikin, how does the team spend time apart from practice?
How often do they spend time together and what is XBOCT's role in it?
Apart from practice? During the bootcamp, we mostly play; when we don't have practice, we play separately.
I either do my own things, or watch the players; sometimes we go for a walk or ride bicycles,
just to get some fresh air and clear our thoughts. However we mostly talk about Dota,
because so far it's only been 8-9 days since we started bootcamping; people want to play Dota, to achieve something,
so we dedicate a lot of time to playing Dota.
Yesterday we had a BBQ, our manager made it for us, we gathered outside to eat and talk.
We're getting to know each other better, that's how we spend most of the time, we mostly play and do some activities.
We ride bicycles, walk outside, there aren't a lot of things to do here, we wanted to play tabletop games,
but we didn't have time. The guys play Dota a lot, impore their skill, and that's great, I admire it.
But sometimes we need to take a break, to keep track of real life.
Yury Semykin wrote a message: Hello, my favorite team. How does Crystallize handle so much pressure?
For me, it's important to live up to the expectations of the team, the coach,
because I'm an unknown player and yet they decided to sign me.
Dimas Nechkin wrote the second question: The new patch is coming,
are you going to gather for a bootcamp when it's out, or are you going to practice online?
Most likely a bootcamp, because we don't know how soon, it can be out starting from September, 18,
but my bet is sometime in the middle of November, together with an iPhone, so I'll have both...
I think we'll have a bootcamp, because now we are still getting to know each other,
but after we have some basic teamplay, we'll have to focus on teambuilding and stuff.
Of course, it's better to have a bootcamp to spend time more productively,
to get the grasp of the meta faster, to share your opinions, because online you have other stuff to do,
you don't take the games very seriously, but here you have to talk, to solve problems, otherwise you'd feel uncomfortable.
I mean problems can be both in-game and life situations, so it's better to have a bootcamp,
but we don't have any dates yet, so we can't plan anything.
How does it feel to be on the same team with Dendi, Vitya, the coach, and Sonneiko?
For me it's very important and awesome, because I've wanted to join this team for a long time.
Vadim Belousov and the third question: Are you going to pick Magnus in the future?
Vadim, I can't give away all our secrets, maybe we'll use him later.
Danil Zonov sent us a question: How did Crystallize's parents react to him moving to another city, and going abroad later?
They reacted well, because I already travelled to Double Dimension's bootcamp twice in Moscow, there were no problems.
Arina Naumova sent us a question, girls also watch us.
Where does Sasha buy his magical bananas?
There are very few of them, and they are invaluable to me, so I won't give my secrets away.
But with your love and kindness you can make any banana a magical one, Arina.
Ilya Ivanov asks: What do you think about the inexperienced Crystallize after the first games?
Crystallize already has his own fan page with 25000 followers, so don't wait any longer,
stop watching this video and subscribe his page immediately.
He is playing very well. At first he was nervous, but the guys help him out, I can see it in the game.
It's natural, it's his first experience of a serious bootcamp, with a coach, management, and a lot of people who support him.
I can see him blooming bit by bit, if there were any skeptical thoughts about how well he'd do, they are gone now.
Vlad is a great guy, I respect him and I think he will do well.
Viktor Bazuev sent a question: What are your plans for the upcoming year?
We want to qualify for all Minors and Majors and try to win them, and of course the International.
The next question is from Alexander Guilhon. I mean, Alexandre Guilhon.
That's a good one, Alexandre Guilhon. If you're watching this, thank you for asking this question.
It's hard. Changing yourself is really hard, and those who can't handle it are getting the boot.
It is really hard, and you'll probably need someone you trust.
Or maybe you're a superior man, you see how people change around you,
and you realize that what you were doing a month ago was good, but not anymore.
Being able to grasp it right away is a great quality which I would like to adopt.
And I believe that 99% of the people would also be knowingly or unknowingly happy to have it.
Unfortunately, you can't always see your own mistakes, and this is the problem most people have.
You gotta learn this stuff or have someone helping you out.
It is essential for Dota teams to have a person from outside.
And if you collectively point out someone's mistake and tell him,
"Stop farming jungle, go gank top lane instead",
he'll say, "Oh, yeah, you're right!" and will go gank top.
This is just a casual example, there are a lot of them;
it's something you learn over time and by making mistakes.
It helps you realize that you are doing things wrong and you should do it another way,
or listen to people around you, or to players who do some things better than you.
For example, Miracle.
Roman Kozinskiy asks: "When will Crystallize start streaming? I'd enjoy watching his streams."
I'll probably do it when I get home from the bootcamp. I'll set up a stream and maybe will start streaming.
How is the communication now? That's the biggest problem the team has had since 2015.
Khanh Le asked this question. Or Lee. I think it's Le, Khanh Le.
Well, communication was not necessarily the biggest issue.
Yes, it's something we're working on now,
everyone tries to listen to each other and provide information properly.
It is important for everyone,
because during the game you're focused on doing your own thing: pushing, watching timings, etc.,
and during a team fight you may easily miss what your teammate says;
or you will hear it, but won't be able to process it right away because you're focused on another thing.
And for the team to do well, it is crucial to be able to perceive as much information as possible.
If you perceive 80% of the information from your teammates,
then you're already a very good player; it's enough for top tier teams.
The more the better.
We had this problem from the get go,
but since I hadn't been a part of this team for 2 years, I wouldn't know what it was like without me.
After having been on the TeamSpeak with the guys and listened to their communication and what information they provided and what not,
I wrote all these things down, talked to the guys and we discussed them together.
It has changed over time, I can't say that everything was fixed straight away and we'd become a brilliant team, no.
Some things are still there, which means I've helped less than I should've with that,
but I continue to try to solve this problem delicately, and I hope everything works out.
Clara Isabel Pinton asks: "Crystallize and Rodjer, how were your first days at the bootcamp? How do you feel about your new team?"
The first days were hard for me personally,
because this is the first time I'm playing at such a level,
and didn't know what I should be doing.
What do I think about my new team?
Playing for this team has always been a dream of mine and I think we'll succeed.
A question from Ioannis. When I saw Ioannis I thought it's from Edward.
Where did you discover Crystallize?
Not that I discovered him.
I knew that he used to play with ALWAYSWANNAFLY for Double Dimension a while ago, or maybe not so long ago, we practiced against them.
I noticed that he was playing well, and then I asked FLY, who's a friend of mine, I think...
Well, he'll say he definitely is, but I'm not sure yet.
So he said that they parted ways for certain reasons,
but I tend not to rely on other people's opinion, and I decided to do a research myself.
I talked to him a bit, he played some try out games and he did really well in those games, better than all other candidates.
He's proactive, you can tell that he's eager to win, while the other guys were so so.
After two days of practice, we decided he fits in well, acquired him and two days later gathered for the bootcamp.