A whiff of Anthraxxx

As ESWC edges closer, GosuGamers head on over to Pakistan to interview Anthraxxx of Tornado Walay.

The community may not know the team, Tornado Walay at all, but some may remember two of its key members, Anthtaxxx and amartnt who played for Ks.int for a short time. In this interview, Antraxxx shares his thoughts on the Asian vs Europe debate and what he hopes for at ESWC.

First things first, can you give us an introduction about yourself?
-My name is Mustafa and I am 18 years old, currently studying and I am a carry/solo player.

Alright cool, now could you give us a brief introduction to your team? As many people do not know your team well
-Our team is considered the best team in Pakistan, we recently won a South Asia tournament. We currently have 6 players in our team AT , warlord, munchy_SK , amartnt ,must gandoo-u and me. But our lineup for ESWC would be munchy_SK, amartnt , must-gandoo, AT and me. An interesting thing to note is that during ESWC 2008, munchy_SK's team, S3x, won the Pakistan qualifiers, however three of his teammates couldn't get a visa for California so he had to use three players from the Pakistani Counter-Strike team.

Oh. That must be pretty funny, having three Counter-Strike players playing DotA.
-*Laughs*. Yeah pretty funny. His team beat our team in 2008, thats why we weren't able to go to California.

Very interesting. So can u give me a low down on which player will play each role?
-Sure. For the roster going to Paris, we have AT who usually plays gankers and is usually the one that initiates team fights. Amartnt will play semi-carries, gankers or any role that is needed to finish up our draft. Must-gandoo-u is our support player, while munchy_SK is our ganker and semi-carry. As for me, I am usually the solo carry player.

After seeing the list of participating teams, what are your opinions on the rest of the teams?
-In my opinion EHOME/DTS/BLIGHT/AEON and MUFC look pretty strong at the moment, don't really know about the rest since I haven't seen much of their replays or anything. My personal top three for winning the whole thing would be DTS AEON and EHOME in no particular order.

So you're pretty much all in for the Asian teams to win?
-Yep. Asian players are better on LANs as compared to the Europeans.

Well said. In your personal opinion what do you think makes the difference that Asians are better on LANs than the Europeans?
-The co-ordination and atmosphere on LAN is different than online and Asians have better experience on LAN. That's why Asians are better on LANs, but anything can happen, lets just see what happens at ESWC. Time will tell.

Is Tornado Walay preparing any new strategies for ESWC?
-Yes. We have been practicing a lot recently and we have prepared some strategies for ESWC.

Any interesting ones you can reveal?
-Sorry not right now, maybe some other time.

Being one of the dark horses of the tournament. How do you think your team will fare against the powerhouses of DotA?
-Well, I think we can at least give them a tough time. But then again, anything may happen. All I can say right now, is time will tell. Who knows whats gonna happen?

Who are you personally looking forward to facing?
-EHOME, Blight and DTS.

Some very strong opponents.
-We will put up a good show.

If memory serves me correctly, both you and amartnt have had a short stint in the old Ks.int. Do you think your experience during your stay at Ks.int will help you in Paris?
-Definitely. To add to that, we have a lot of LAN experience that might help us as well in Paris.

Alright, that's a wrap. Any shoutouts?
-Nope.