With Virtus.Pro just hours away from making a roster change, we thought it will be interesting to translate a Russian interview performed by Maelstrom over Twitch to shed light on what went wrong in the star-studded VP dream team. On the receiving end of the interview is one time The International winner LightOfHeaven.
Why did you leave Empire and what made you join Virtus Pro after it?
Empire had two leaders and one manager. I couldn't get along with the manager and that's the main reason why I left. Virtus Pro has a stronger leadership and that's why I'm here.
VP's first month was a disaster? What are the reasons for that?
Well, they decided to gather people who do not know each other, relying on their reputation and having big names. The result speaks for itself. Basically, everyone wants to give their opinions and sometimes we could not hear each other because of that. Morally, it was tough from the first week we got together, so tough that I wanted to leave the team and we did not manage to fix the problems.
Did your teammates try to have a talk about it?
It wouldn’t even work because after the discussion we would go back to our old ways. Let's say you are at the North Pole and you have to get to the South Pole, you only have two directions - either through the East or through the West. Some of us are moving to the East and some of us are moving to the West. We do not move together.
What about training? How many hours does the team practice per day and how many hours were spent playing public games?
We begin training as a team at about 19:00 Moscow time and play till 00:00. I usually stay till 05:00 playing public games.
You won The International when you were playing for Na`Vi. Are you suffering from any motivation problems in the past couple of months?
I personally dislike that teams are only gunning for that one tournament per year. There was no TI before and people have motivation to perform their best in every tournament. I feel satisfied when everything works out well and we pull off great teamfights. It's similar to billiards, where people play for the pleasure of seeing their geometrical calculations working out - it's like a task for them. We were very motivated in the last game eof Starladder because we were on the verge of being throw into Pro Series and the game against Kaipi. Kaipi are my favourites, I have some personal issues with them.
You said Rattlesnake.int are your favorites. What is your opinion about them? They have some crazy strategies, because their players think out of the box.
They are typical pub stompers who know all the tricks in the current meta but when it comes to the teamfights, almost every team can overcome them.
What is future for the team?
We are waiting for players’ opinion about what’s happening and we will make a decision later. There is no point thinking about future tournaments when the team is in such condition.
What is your opinion on Chinese Dota?
I like that Chinese teams are starting to play the good old Dota they used to play two to three years ago. Now, they pick heroes that can control the game and move quickly on the map.
DK looks phenomenally lately, what is your opinion about them? Any thoughts on iG? These teams are leading in the WPC-ACE League.
DK has some really skilled players and that's why everything is going well for them. iG should be very pumped up right now because they were owned hard at TI3. Chinese teams are starting to pick heroes like Spirit Breaker, Io and Chaos Knight. Also, I have to mention that they have started paying attention to the finer details in Dota which wasn't present in the past, because they could win just from their high individual skills.
What is your opinion on Pudge+Chen combo nerf?
IceFrog finally realized that this trick should not make a team win a game. It’s embarrassing when two heroes with boots in their inventory can kill a 6-slotted Gyrocopter even with an Aegis.
What do you think about new heroes that were added to CM pool?
Troll and Barathrum got my respect, because they just move and kill, they make Dota active. Centaur and Abaddon on the other hand, should be fixed or removed.
