Gaimin Gladiators are starting today, October 12 the most important journey of the year at The International 2023 as the main favourites after dominating the scene for the entire year.

A couple of weeks back, when Gaimin Gladiators were about to start at DreamLeague Season 21, the very last tournament before TI12, we were fortunate to have the chance to sit and talk to the team’s captain Melchior "Seleri" Hillenkamp, who shared with us his thoughts on this year’s pinnacle event and how Gaimin Gladiators deal with the pressure mounting up.

You've been to pretty much all the big events this year and won five titles, without counting the DPC regional leagues, three majors back to back. How do you keep up with this insane schedule that you had, don't you need some time off as well?

It was definitely a long year for us, but it was also very fun, we've got a lot out of playing all these tournaments. It also helps when you are winning them. Winning a tournament gives you a big boost of energy. You might feel tired sometimes, but the moment you win, you feel like you've got all your energy back. It also helps a lot when you are having a good time with your teammates. So, in that regard, we've been very fortunate. However, you do need to make sure you take your rest in between whenever you can.

You are going to TI this year from a very different position to compared to TI11. You are without a doubt the main favourites and I guess everyone looks at Gaimin Gladiators as the team to beat and everyone is studying you closely. How do you, as a team, feel going into TI12 with this huge target on your back?

It's hard to say to be honest. We are in a pretty good mood and we look at it as a new experience. None of us had ever had this, where everyone puts you as the favourite. I would say that at Riyadh Masters we got to experience it for the first time, how it is to go into a tournament that big with everyone targeting you.

We felt a bit more stressed there than all other events we've been to this year. But it was good, we got some experience from it, and as long as the atmosphere in the team is good and we don't stress each other out, I feel like it should be fine.

You've won all Majors this year, but the DPC was put to rest by Valve. What's your thought on this decision?

I joked about this on Twitter. I said, "I guess we are too good so they had to cancel the DPC." But on a serious note, something definitely had to change because it felt a bit too drawn out. The leagues took longer than the actual LAN event. A league was three weeks and the Majors were two weeks at best and that felt a bit weird. That definitely had to change and one solution is to just cancel the DPC leagues altogether.

At the end of the day, I'm just a player and I'll play whatever you give me. If there are 10 tournaments I'll play them, if there are 5, I'll play them.

Well, I remember the year of 2020 when you were Vikin.gg and played in over 30 online tournaments and also won quite a few!

Haha, yes that was pretty crazy.

Coming back to the present day, one of the biggest changes in the 7.34 patch is the drafting formula. Do you like it; how do you feel about having so many bans in the first phase of the draft?

Yes, that is a really big change, and I think it's a really good one. What I experienced so far in practice and tournament games is that it feels way more open.

You could read a lot of stuff online from people saying that we don't play a lot of heroes, and it always felt weird to me to see those comments. We have a super big hero pool, I think we might have the biggest hero pool out of any team, but we just never got to play it because we figured out what's good and then we just played that. That's why we won all these tournaments.

But now, it feels that there are so many good heroes, so many cool heroes to play and so many draft variations that you can do. There are a few heroes who are too strong, that you see a bit more than others, but besides that, you can play so many cool things. I'm very surprised, to be honest, that it changed so much. I did not expect it.

Last year you donated some of your TI earnings to a charity shelter for animals. Have you thought about what are you going to do with your prize money this year?

My mindset changed a bit in the sense that now I think it will be best to save as much money as possible and invest in a way that I can spend as much time as I have on things that I want to change in the world, instead of donating.

At the end of the day, you also need to be able to live. I don't need to live in some big villa, but if I can support myself and spend time on the activities that I want to spend time on, then I am good. I don't know for how long I'll be a player and how much money I'll make, so I'll just try to spend it wisely and hopefully, in the future, I will be able to spend time on things that can make the world a bit better.

TI12 prize pool might not reach even the same amount as what we had last year. Does it matter to you in any way what kind of prize pool are you playing for at The International?

You definitely want to win TI so you can say that you won TI. But, at the same time, money can add some pressure on you. At Riyadh Masters, which had a 15 million dollar prize pool, I could feel how that could add extra pressure. In relation to TI, I just won't think about the prize pool, I have no power anyway to change how the prize pool is going to increase or not and we already have this extra pressure of everyone wanting to beat us. If there will be more money at this TI, it will be nice, if not, it's fine. Right now we are not worried about it in any way.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to talk to us and I hope you and the whole team will have a great time in Seattle and achieve your goals and make your dreams come true.

Thank you and to all the people cheering for us, there are also a lot of people who cheer against you when you win most of the events, but I also see a lot of positive messages so thanks a lot to all of you! A big shout-out to all our sponsors as well. We wouldn't have been able to go all the places we've been and achieve what we achieved this year with all of our sponsors. So thank you for that and thank you for all the beautiful bootcamps that we had.

Read also:

Zai Interview: “The prize pool won't change how I feel about TI”
Nine Interview: "I am very blessed to have Saksa and Aui as my coaches"
Collapse Interview: “We don't care about the prize pool, all that matters is a second Aegis”

Seleri Interview: “None of us had ever had this, where everyone puts you as the favourite”