ChuaN of Invictus Gaming interviewed at the team's gaming house after the G-1 Champions League on May 2013. He talks about their current shape, about east/west and about the future.
How long do you guys train per day?
Normally we train from 2PM to 12AM.
What do you guys normally do during your training? Do you play more scrims or focus mostly on replays?
Right now, after we lost G-1 League, we will set up some times with other teams to scrim, watch the training replay afterwards and also watch replays of various tournaments.
What do you do after your training period is over?
We play public games or train some 1v1 solo.
You don't go out?
Very rarely.
Well, now you are living in Shanghai, but you are a Malaysian. How often do you go back to Malaysia?
When there are no ongoing tournaments, I go back quite often, about once every 1-2 months. If there are tournaments, I may not even go back for more than half a year.
iG reimburse you for your trip back?
Yes.
Oh that's very good. Recently, your team's performance in G-1 League wasn't that good. A lot of fans were very disappointed. What actually happened?
After we finished G-League in March, we didn't play in any tournaments until now. We do train everyday but during our training, I felt that something was wrong, it's not that good. Our team's timing etc weren't that good. I told the rest about it but at that time, we hadn't lost in a single tournament and DSL hadn't started either. They told me there is nothing wrong with the team. I told them "there is something wrong but if you guys insist then okay". Then we went into the tournament and this is the result.
Everybody agree now that there is a problem?
I said "I told you guys that there is a problem" and everybody just kept quiet.
I see. I don't think I saw you guys at the final day of G-1 League. Were you guys watching it from home?
Yeah we were all at home. We watched it after we got up from bed.
I remember there was an interview with you before the G-1 League stating that if you guys would lose to Alliance, it means that the difference between their strats and your strats are decades ahead.
Oh that one. Yeah it's because I watched them play online and I did't really understand their draft. So that's why I think that if they can win over us, they are ahead of us (in strats) by a pretty big margin. Because we really can't understand their draft but they are still able to win.
If you compare it to the bans/picks in Asia, I guess it's a little weird. What do you think of it right now?
Theirs are definitely newer. Actually it is because they play it well. They have played so many games and I think they know the advantage in drafts and the disadvantage in certain drafts. So, I think they play it well. They are very stable, even more stable than Chinese teams.
Many people say Western teams such as Fnatic and Team Liquid etc will threaten your position in TI3. Do you think this is true or do you think it's just Alliance that is strong?
I feel that without G-1, this might be a possibility. But since there was this tournament now, I'd say it wouldn't be a threat, just put up a good challenge. It really depends on performance on that day.
Well I have this question but you can skip answering it if you choose to. I heard ACE has banned DK, iG and LGD from participating in smaller tournaments like AMD Premier League. LGD for example, withdrew from the tournament because ACE instructed them to. Is this true or not.
Well, this I'm not too sure because these are handled mostly by the club and the manager. Basically we will play whatever they arrange. So yeah, I don't really know about it.
So you can't really make any decision? Maybe if the team members would like to join one small tournament for example.
We follow the club's decision.
When are you going to TI3?
I think they start on the 7th of August. We'll go there a few days before, just to get used to the environment.
Last year, Valve interviewed Loda and Loda said some of the Chinese teams did not perform exceptionally well before they arrive in Seattle. After they arrive, the teams suddenly became very good in just a matter of week or two after training with the teams from the west. Do you think the eastern teams are lacking in strat compared to the western?
Well, they watch our replays and we watch their replays too but we don't understand theirs while they understand ours. Therefore, they know us better. Besides that, all the tournament prior to that, it was us winning all along. So we thought we are ahead and we wouldn't care much about them. However through this experience, we now know they are ahead by a little, so we will improve slowly.
Do you think you can win TI3 this time?
We can win for sure. If we can't win then we won't go.
Other than Alliance, which other teams will threaten you?
DK and LGD.
No western teams?
As I said, it's because we don't understand them. However, after we arrive there, in a LAN game situation, they shouldn't pose much of a threat.
Some people say that iG is hiding their strats for TI3. Is this true?
Nah none of that is true. It's because we haven't play for so long and we are not in form for tournaments.
That is the end of the interview ChuaN. Anything you want to say to you fans before we finish?
Thank you everybody for supporting us although we lost. We will win it back!
