Hello, friends! I'm here with Victor "GeneRaL" Nigrini, the new Na`Vi player, and I'm going to interview him now.
We'll find out how he got into the team and much more.
Hello, Victor.
Hi.
How are you, how's your mood?
I'm fine, we're playing, getting ready for the tournament.
How many days have you been bootcamping in Kiev?
About 5-6 days.
Got it.
This is probably your first big interview.
For me too, I haven't interviewed anyone for quite a while.
So don't worry and neither should I.
Okay, let's get straight to the point.
Can you tell us about yourself? Briefly.
Who are you, where do you live, how old are you, what do you do besides Dota?
My name is Victor, I'm 19 years old, I live in Uzhhorod, I play Dota in my spare time.
How did you start playing DotA? How old were you back then?
I started playing DotA in 2009, a friend of mine introduced Dota 1 to me,
I liked it, and then I started playing it in computer clubs with my friends.
Even attended some small tournaments.
In Uzhgorod?
Yes.
However, we didn't manage to take the first place, only 2nd-3rd.
Then Dota 2 came out, I bought a beta key straight away.
So you started at the time when profiteers were selling beta keys?
Yes, and I bought it.
How much did it cost?
About $60, I bought in September right after TI 1.
That's pretty much how I started playing.
How was eSports evolving in Uzhgorod?
Do you consider yourself now as one of the most famous players in Uzhgorod?
Or maybe you have friends who have been progressing along with you, could you mention someone in particular?
I started playing later than others.
Some people started in 2007, they are older, they attended tournaments in Lviv,
when Dota just came out and wasn't quite popular.
There are a couple of good players, but probably it's only me who's playing in pro teams.
Tell us please how did you get to Na`Vi? Who invited you, who was the first one who contacted you?
It was ArtStyle who invited me to join Na`Vi, I met him in October 2015, when he was forming second Na`Vi squad.
And there goes an inside information!
Huh? Well, I don't know.
Never mind, go on.
Okay, SFZ.
It was me, ArtStyle, Sh4dowehh, AxMo and someone else.
We played about a week, it went quite well.
We played qualifiers for tournament in Lithuania or Latvia, made it to the finals
and then Empire invited me to join.
I kind of abandoned Vanya and played for Empire, we won the qualifiers.
However, it didn't work out with Empire, we couldn't quite get along.
How Vania reacted to this?
I apologized, I said that I want to join Empire, I though...
Well, they are a strong and perspective team, but it didn't work out.
What exactly didn't work out?
Basically we had 2 mid laners: me and Resolut1on.
It was hard for him to adjust to offlane.
You didn't want to try offlane?
I didn't want to play offlane back then.
Okay, what in your opinion helped you to get noticed and invited to pro teams?
First it was Empire then Na`Vi.
What factors made this possible?
I played a lot of RMM games, I had high mmr.
What's your mmr?
7400 now, but it doesn't matter anymore.
Among the pro teams sQreen was the first one who called me.
Then I played as a stand-in for PR and Empire.
That's how it went.
Did you study somewhere or you devoted all your time to Dota?
Yes, I did.
Where and what specialty did you choose?
Programmer, in Uzhgorod.
I made it to 3rd year and then quit.
Does programming attract you? It's one of the most attractive and prospective jobs nowadays, so...
Are you good at programming? Could you write some analytic program for Doters?
I started programming when I was in 9th grade, attended some competitions...
So I'm rather good, about 40%, so I can write it, I already wrote programs professionally, but now I'm only into Dota.
I see. How much time did you practice before joining a pro team?
Practice... I practiced a lot, whole days, probably.
How did you do that? Did you watch replays or play MM, or something else?
I played a lot of MM, it's necessary.
I watched a lot of pro players' replays of the Midlaners I like, like Arteezy, Dendi as well.
Also you have to watch your own replays, it gives you a lot.
Did you just watch your replays for mistakes after you lost pubs?
Pubs are not necessary, I watched tournaments, getting motivated,
and then started to watch my own mistakes, looking for my misplays, comparing myself to pro players.
In general what changed in your life when you joined Na'Vi?
Or was the most important change when you joined Empire?
Did you have some point in time, when people maybe started to recognize you on the streets or you felt some popularity?
No, nothing like that, I'm just usual and I play the game.
Well when I joined Na'Vi a lot of people started to write, supporting me, it's a pleasure, thank you.
When you joined Na'Vi it wasn't a top team and you felt you'd have to improve with the team.
How did you accept that the team wasn't in top and...
It's you teammate, I'm certain.
Anyway, how did you accept the fact that Na'Vi wasn't in top?
I don't know, Na'Vi isn't a top team, but all the players are great, I'd love to play with them.
I always wanted to play with Artstyle, Sonneiko. All of them are cool.
Did you feel some pressure from the community, that "new era" thing...
That's Artstyle 100%!
Anyway, did you feel any pressure?
No, I didn't feel any pressure, I was learning my new role, everything was fine. I like my role.
We will talk about the role later, tell me how did the team treat you,
tell me about relations in the team and the atmosphere in the team.
The atmosphere is good, everyone is positive. They treated me well,
we played with Sonneiko and Artstyle before, everything was easy.
In a few days you are flying to your first LAN, it's a long-awaited LAN for Na'Vi,
for you also it's one of the largest tournaments, did you participate in any LANs?
Yes, I did, but the prizepool was probably less than $10k, it was in Moscow, I don't remember the name.
By the way, what's the biggest winning you've had?
That was actually paid out?
Yes.
There was some that wasn't paid out?
Yes, we won $6000 and we didn't get the money.
That wasn't a professional high-level tournament, was it?
Well, yes.
We took the first place.
Yes... it wasn't.
Okay, and what's the biggest winning?
Per person?
Yes.
$1000, maybe $1200.
Okay.
What are your expectations about this trip?
My expectations... We need to beat Secret, then we'll see, but the most important is to win Secret.
We'll talk about them a bit later.
Have you been abroad before this trip?
Do you think there might be some difficulties?
The first trip is always quite exciting and you might get distracted.
No, I've often been aproad, don't see any problem with it.
Which countries did you like most?
Which countries...
It's hard to say.
I was in Croatia, everything was nice.
I had some problems with the sea though, but the sea is clean, everything is fine.
I was in Italy, I loved it, everything was great.
You live in Uzhgorod, which is near the border, and you can easily travel within 100 km of the Schengen zone?
Yes, yes.
You've been playing offlane role for several months now, this is a new role for you.
Frankly on a 10-point scale, how would you rate your readiness to play this role?
Depending on the stage of the game, in early game I'd rate 5 out of 10,
in mid game and team fights about 7-8, but in the laning stage - 4-5.
Is this a new role for you, or did you practice it before?
No, this is a completely new role for me, I started practicing it when I was invited to Na`Vi.
I watched a lot of replays, I'm constantly playing hardlane heroes in public games.
Did you learn from someone in particular?
Yes, from Universe and old eLeVeN, I've watched all of their replays.
Okay. Your current hero pool is not quite diverse.
Is it because of the current meta, or you haven't mastered many heroes yet?
We pick strong heroes, there's no point to pick weak heroes.
There are 3-4 meta heroes, we pick them. I think I can play other heroes.
Aha, some secret strategies...
Okay. Do you miss playing mid lane?
No, I like my role, I'm totally fine with it, and I'll probably keep playing it in the future.
Was it hard to adjust to a new role?
Did you take any tips or advice?
Or maybe you wanted to take over Dendi's role?
I didn't want to do that.
Well, it was hard, and it is still hard now.
However, with every day it gets better.
I'm trying my best, watching replays, asking for advice from Akbar and Ditya Ra.
In your interview you mentioned that Batrider is one of your favorite heroes.
You are really good at this hero, but now we often see you on Beastmaster.
What can you say about this hero? Do you feel comfortable playing it?
Which offlane heroes do you like the most?
Batrider and Clockwerk are my favorites.
However, Clock is not in the meta now, so we don't pick him.
The team picked Beastmaster for me.
I didn't play that hero at all, so I started playing him a lot in public games
to gain more confidence, and I think now I'm playing well this hero.
In this patch, you have a 71% win rate against Invoker in 17 games.
What do you think is the reason? The hero is insanely popular in the current patch.
We have 3 players in the team who played this hero a lot
and they understand how to play against him, his weaknesses and strengths.
That's why we played good against this hero.
The addition of Iron Talon has greatly simplified life for offlaners.
Many people think that you can start jungling from the start
and get the same amount of farm and exp that you'd get in the lane.
Do you agree with this opinion and what do you think about this item?
Yes, this is a great utility item for offlaners,
but I started using it when I started playing Beastmaster, because this is not the best item for Batrider.
The item is really good, makes life for offlaner much easier,
and if you're getting zoned out in offlane, you can just go and farm the nearest neutral camp.
How do you communicate within the team? Maybe you attend some trainings?
There was a moment recently when you and ArtStyle used both Beastmaster and Bane's ultimates onto one target.
You didn't have time to decide which target to focus or why this happened?
Everything happened quickly, there was a slight misunderstanding,
the hawk didn't reach the area to give us vision and we didn't understand whom to focus.
That's why we both ultied onto one target.
How do you communicate in general? Do you have the seating order like it is in CS:GO?
When three people on your side communicate more closely, for example ArtStyle, Sonneiko,
or Ditya Ra and Sonneiko prefer to play in a bundle?
We communicate together, give information to each other, some of us talk less, some more.
Mainly Akbar and ArtStyle.
Ditya Ra and I talk less.
Do your teammates advise you something?
Frankly speaking you are the least experienced player in terms of duration of playing in pro teams.
Some recommendations, advices?
Well, of course they help me, I need to improve myself.
Okay, one more question regarding offlane heroes.
Do you consider some offlane hero particularly strong, that might stand out among other heroes?
Your thoughts about Enchantress?
Enchantress is imbalanced hero, we play her as a jungler, however, we can use her as an offlaner as well.
ArtStyle loves to play this hero, so we pick her for support.
The hero is strong, yes.
What do you think about the idea to host a Major in the CIS?
Where do you think it should take place? Would you like to see a CIS Major?
I would definitely want it, would be more convenient to get there.
I don't know where, I haven't attended tournaments yet,
so I don't know about organization and stuff, but Starladder in Minsk was decent.
Yes, I'd like to.
Okay, thank you for the interesting and comprehensive interview.
A couple of words to your friends, fans on how to get into pro team,
what efforts to make, I don't know...maybe write down your goals. Any advice on how to get into eSports?
The most important thing is desire and hard work, these qualities are needed.
Any shoutouts?
Shoutout to everyone who's watching me, to all our fans and supporters.
Hello to Uzhgorod city and everyone who's cheering for us.
That's it, bye.
Thank you for the interview, good luck.