SCNTV had an interesting conversation with LGD's coach and former DotA superstar Zhou '820' Yitian. He shares his thoughts on his career, the new LGD line-up and the global DotA2 scene.
SCNTV: Maybe has made his competitive debut in the last few days. As a newcomer, his performances can be said to have been very bright. Compared to xiao8, what do you think are their differences?
820: What xiao8 brought to LGD was not only his individual skill, but also the team’s spiritual lead. For LGD, losing xiao8 was honestly a blow. In terms of developing new leadership talent for the team in a short time, right now this is something that would be very difficult for Maybe to do. What Maybe brings to LGD is a new life. With Maybe, LGD can play lots of different styles. Between the two players, I feel that xiao8 is a stronger ganker, while Maybe is a stronger laner. Maybe isn’t as precise and efficient with ganks, yet is stronger in other areas. LGD needs to develop a new leader.
SCNTV: LGD seems to always be four players staying while one leaves. How do you think this affects xiaotuji, who has been with the team for a relatively shorter time? Or just in general? Veteran members versus newcomers.
820: Not much, I feel that with me here now we’re going to resolve any potential issues. And at big competitions I’ll be there as a coach, I’ll take hold of these situations and ensure that no problems arise. These were all reasons why they wanted me to join them.
SCNTV: We talked earlier about Yao potentially becoming the next focal point for LGD. As an offlaner (3 position), his colleague in iceiceice has seemed unstoppable in China. Even in cases where a trilane has been sent to stop him, compared to Chinese offlaners, iceiceice seems to show just a bit more! What do you think are the greatest challenges facing Chinese offlane players?
820: Chinese offlaners don’t have as strong mechanics as iceiceice, this is an undeniable truth. Their details and mechanics aren’t as good as his, but iceiceice has one big weakness in that he fluctuates a lot. Kill him a few times and he’s lost his own rhythm. And in DK, if you look at their recent styles, iceiceice’s resource allocation is fairly high, with B-God even specifically freeing up some resources for him. So at least some of iceiceice’s spectacular play in recent times should be attributed to DK’s tactics! For an offlaner in the face of a trilane, it’s impossible to not have a harder time, and if the team doesn’t work out a way to allow the offlaner to catch back up in terms of resources, then it’s very hard for the player to have any effect in the game. For any player to perform well, a prerequisite is that the team’s tactics are tailored towards allowing them to do so, and only then can they show the level of play they are capable of.
SCNTV: In terms of offlaners, has Yao surpassed YYF?
820: The two are pretty close. They both tend towards steadier styles, in big contrast to iceiceice’s style. So how iceiceice does doesn’t really concern me, Yao has his own traits, and there are strengths and weaknesses to all. It depends on which team can allow their players to play to their style!
You can read the rest of the interview in English and Chinese.
820 images by sGamer
