The grand finals of StarsWars 6 will kick off this weekend in ShangHai and it's expected to be a fight of epic proportions. The Dota division will be contested by LGD, TyLoo, CCM and EHOME - the final four who will be battling it out for championship glory. This time, XiaoShou from sgamer.com interviews legendary Chinese player LongDD to talk about their preparations for StarsWar 6, expectations on facing CCM in the semi-finals and last but not least, their team's current mentality.
Thank you LongDD for accepting this interview collaboration between sgamer.com and the organizing committee of StarsWar 6. I understand you have been busy preparing for the finals of StarsWar 6. How are your preparations?
-"Yes I have been busy training, so I suppose I can say that preparations are going well. However, results are subpar and average at best; I'm not satisfied with our wins."
How have your recent preparations been like? Do you practice with teams who are not in the competition? And if you practice with the competitors in StarsWar 6, do you deliberately deceive them with a different strategy and level of play, so as to throw them off guard? (laughs)
-"I guess I'm more concerned with finding strong teams to train against, and not particularly concerned about my teammates. I'll train with whoever is available. I guess when you're training you will tend to employ some level of 'deception'; I can't reveal everything under my sleeve."
During my interview with SanSheng, he remarked that your team was innovative and consistently strong. Apart from regular trainings, do you guys have anything specially planned for StarsWar 6?
-"After every game, we will hold discussions and talk about our mistakes in the hopes that everyone has a clearer and more unified picture of our strategies. However, we don't have anything big specially planned for this event.
Recently, your team has been spending a lot of time on LoL, do you think it will affect the group's performance?
-"It's nothing much. When our training ends around midnight, we'll just play a few games, so I don't think it will influence anything."
You used to play LoL for a period of time, why did you decide not to continue?
-"Because I'm a professional Dota player, and I should concentrate more of my time on Dota."
Your clash with EHOME can be anticipated as a battle between the old and new powerhouses of Dota. Since your match against them in DMT, what are your opinions towards their current roster and performance?
-"CCM is a powerful and formidable team. Objectively speaking, their current level of play is above us, and it will be a challenge playing against them."
What do you expect Saturday's result to be like? Who do you think will enter the grand finals?
-"Although they are very strong at the moment, I do not think it's impossible to win them."
Do you think your clash with EHOME will be more enticing for the viewer than the other semi-final match (LGD.sGty - TyLoo)?
-"It should be I guess. I hope we will put up an incredible show, and blow our audiences away.
If you successfully enter the finals, who are you eager to meet in the grand finals?
-"LGD is very strong, but TyLoo can always pull off a win or two. With regards to who will make it to the finals, I can't say anything with confidence."
Former EHOME leader 71 once said that you were responsible for commanding the squad, and you were indeed the one in the hot seat making all the decisions. Now that you are playing more of a support role, are you satisfied with this arrangement?
-"Actually now I'm playing the number two or three in the team (the Chinese ranks their players for farm with hard carry at #1), initially when I played support it was because I wanted to try it out. It was only later when I realized I didn't have the 'heart' of a support player. 820 is now in charge of commanding the team, while 357 and Dai (X!!) have taken over the role of support.
Let's end the interview with a couple of shoutouts.
-"I don't like doing shoutouts..."