ChuaN talks IEM

Posted by Terrence "MrBlue" Wong 1 year ago

Hello. We meet once again. On your QQ, you had "Second place, its all my fault." Why is that?
-"Yep. In the finals we lost because we didn't do well in the Ban/Pick phase. We picked a lineup that is guarantee to lose, instead of picking the heroes that we have thought of beforehand. We aren't really at our best during the game as well, got countered a lot which gave Dai's Lion some massive farm."
Note: QQ is China's version of MSN messenger.

You mostly play mid solo in the team and have played against some of the best soloers in the country. Who do you think gave you the most stress playing against? 2009, Dai, Pis or someone else?
-"They all have something special when they play. 2009 is very smart, PIS plays more aggressively, DAI is more defensive. But overall, I don't feel any stress playing against them, not that I am blowing my horn."

Haha.So do you think this year's IEM is a success?
-"IEM doesn't really care that much about DotA, they had their attention on CS and WC3 instead. You can tell from the live streams that was available. As for the "more kills" rule in the case of a tie. I strongly believe that a rematch should be done when the teams are tied. Its the fairest way. Even if they did use the "more kills" rule, I don't think they should only count the number of hero kills."

Let's talk about something else. What do you think of the knock out stage being BO1?
-"I think that the finals should be at least BO3. Its good for the team to have BO3 as well as the audience. There is a possibility that a team may win with a 2:1 score whereby the team from the winner bracket may be overconfident in themselves and relax. I have seen countless victories from teams that came from the Losers Bracket."

When there was no matches to play at IEM, what were you doing? Out and about checking out show girls?
-"I left for the hotel as soon as we finished. Shang Hai is just too hot, besides my mind was just to compete, I didn't think about anything else."

And talked about the Ban/Picks with your teammates?
-"We did talk about it a little, but the rest of the team are either too busy with their girlfriends or accompanied our leader to look for Haigen Daz ice-cream."

Haigen Daz? Does this mean that the team went with a purpose to enjoy rather than winning?
-"Of course we wanted to win, we just did a lot of things that had no relation to the competition whatsoever. I would like to take this opportunity to say sorry to my team mates and our sponsors. We probably got overconfident when we won our first match and relaxed too much in the finals."

There was a big different in performance between the two times the team faced EHOME. Why do you think this happened?
-"Indeed there is a big difference. No matter the spirit, form or the Ban/Pick stage. Not to mention during the Ban/Pick stage, EHOME was in it to counter pick us. And we fell for the trap."

I believe you've met 2009 once again at IEM, did you talk to him about the transfer?
-"I did meet him, but we didn't talk about this issue. I felt very sorry to 2009 this I was a bit reluctant to talk to him. I've heard that the team is going through some problems as well, I hope they solve it soon."

But we've heard that you'll be joining LGD once IEM finishes.
-"It is all unconfirmed yet."

Then what tournament are you preparing for at the moment?
-"All the ones that I can play in. But due to some sponsorship issues and my citizenship I am unable to play in the China eSports open. What a shame."

So after IEM, the team have come to a conclusion to train harder for upcoming competitions?
-"Yep. We will not let history repeat itself."

Through this LAN event, what do you think of the team's current form?
-"I believe that the team is in a good form right now. This could be due to me staying in the team, the team has a better morale now. While we lost in IEM, but the upcoming competitions, we will be more prepared. We will not rest until we get a gold medal in our hands."

Very confident words. Lets end with a final shoutout.
-"Thanks to all that have been supporting ToT all this while and I hope that the competitions in China don't keep the rule that all players must be from China."