Puppey: 'Rubick is total imba - I don't know what to do against him'

In the second of a series of interviews conducted by Prodota.ru in anticipation of The International, Na`Vi captain Clement 'Puppey' Ivanov was in the spotlight as he spoke about his team's preparation for the event, his impressions of other teams and even some of the strategies being practised by his team.

With a mere two weeks left go, Puppey is confident that his team will be well prepared for the event. "We just need to think faster and not argue after lost matches. We must progress everyday and it would be enough."

Even so, he stated, the performance of teams are always fluctuating and no one should be left out of the equation.

"A few days ago I would name TongFu, Zenith, mTw and some other teams [as their strongest opponents]. But the situation changes everyday. Now I think LGD has good chances and Zenith has less chances. Maybe even teams like coL will be in the top three."

When asked to predict the most 'useful hero' at The International, Puppey admitted it to be the spell-stealer, Rubick.

"Rubick is total imba! I don't know what to do against him. He can be useful all the time and I think it wasn't the right decision to add him into Captain's Mode - even though it seems he fits the current metagame well."

Another versatile hero that was mentioned in the interview was Wisp, one hero that Na`Vi seemed to enjoy using in combination with heroes like Sand King and Tinker for global map control. Other Europeans, for example, run the hero along Chaos Knight. "We'll see how often teams use Wisp at The International," said Puppey.

While this year's event may just boil down to which team comes out in terms of picks, Puppey insists that picks and execution come hand in hand.

"In general, I've always liked the picks of EHOME in 2010. They discovered interesting picks and won almost every tournament except the World DotA Championships."