Get to know em : Eastern Europe under the loupe

KD-Gaming [KD]

Thanks for doing this, why don’t you begin by introducing yourself?

-“Hi, my name is Marc 'Mag1X' Müller, I'm 21 years old and I'm from Koblenz - Germany where I'm currently studying engineering.”

Do you have a main starting 5 at the moment? If so who? And does anybody play any fixed roles, as it seems from recent matches that you guys tend to rotate the carries and supports a lot.

-“The starting five at the moment are: Akke, Loda, SemiJew, Kay` and Mag1X. Kebap is currently the "6th" player cause he was kinda inactive the last 4-5 weeks due to some RL issues. At the moment there is actually only one fixed role, and that's Akke playing gankers and supporters in every game. The rest are rotating, since we wanna try to find out what works best for our team. And of course everyone is able to play anything, which is very good. And nobody gets bored, another positive effect.”

Based on the current brackets, assuming no upsets happen in the group stages and you guys make it, between TSoG, Loaded and SK-Gaming, who would rather face in the quarterfinals?

-“I would love to play against TSoG, for several reasons: First of all its an EU Team!! So no annoying US-Servers for the LowInternet-Mag1X. The second reason is that I really like TSoG, they have a nice playstyle and we met each other in real life during Dreamhack Summer. Greetings to PapaDrayich-san.”

Last question, on a scale of 1-10, how confident are you of winning the World Cup?

-“I think the 8 fits us at the moment, since we are not scrimming that much and Loaded and MSI are currently pretty strong.”

Thanks for your time, any final comments to wrap this up?

-“Shoutout to everyone around me (especially Semijew-Bro)! And Mag1X+Antibot > Loda+Akke at SC2, L2P LODAA!!”

Team unZ [unZ]

Thanks for doing this interview. Firstly, why don't you introduce yourself?

-“Hello my name is Vizar Zymberi also known a twiSta/RykoN of former teams such as Valid/LAo/TLR.”

So, unZ haven't exactly been as active in the competitive scene as teams like Empr and MSI despite being active for quite some time I believe, mind sharing how did this team come about from the days of LAo to now? And while we're on it, what does unZ mean?

-“Well me Louie` and Revyy know each other from far back, since the early days of beta, where i joined them up in OCP/Valid. Things didnt seem to work so well back then so we decided to form LAo which we did ok back then and got picked up the UK organisation, TLR which failed to send us to DH summer. After that i went inactive and Louie`, Revyy and Chamie created unZ (which i think means uber noobz?). Then they picked up Soender, PQLLLLE and CaptainBoner, sadly 2 of the players decided to go inactive and me and Nishkea (of former druidz) joined the team and we plan to rape some uber noobz out there.”

Who do you want to face the most in the World Cup?

-“Ohh I really don’t have any rivals that I'd like to meet in the World Cup, but a rematch with the new KDe or MSI would be ideal.”

What are your thoughts about the EU scene at the moment?

-“My thoughts on the EU scene, well its slowly growing up and there quite a few clans now compared to 4-5 months ago which is a positive thing.”

That should do it, thanks for your time. Any last comments?

-“Shoutout to my broskis in unZ, Derrik, Frud, slashi and whole of fuk-rog!"

Empire Multigaming [Empr]

Thanks for agreeing to this interview. Why don't you start by introducing yourself?

-“Well I’m Scandal of team empire gaming, I’m 18 years old and i play hon.”

You and nooblike` are relatively new to the team, not being part of the original Phenomenal Boyz, how did you guys get introduced into the team?

-“First of all, I've never watched for competitive games or teams earlier, i didn't even know them. My 1st account in HoN was Pontorez and all i did was play public games on a pretty high lvl for a regular "noname" player. One day i faced some PhB players in a pub and (I think) I impressed them :). Some time later 2 guys left PhB and uniQFazer who was the captain suggested me to play with them. I accept. Finally i told them about this guy, who could try out for this team. It was nooblike`. Since then, we've started to train and take part in different competitive leagues/tournaments. About week or two later we were renamed to Empr due to sponsorship changes.”

Is there a particular team you guys want to meet in the World Cup?

-“KD, MSI, and Loaded of course. These 3 teams which are very competitive and skilled. If you want to be the best you should play with the best. That's what our team thinks.”

A fan favourite as a team for your off-the-wall hero picks, with so much money on the line at the World Cup would you guys rather play it safer, relying on proven heroes or still go about your trend of picking surprising heroes, especially against top teams like Loaded?

-“We’ve got some interesting hero picks up our sleeve and probably will use it, until then let's keep it secret.”

Last question, who do you predict to make the last 8 in the World Cup?

-“LOAD, MSI, KD, DrDz, DWi, unZ, tSm and Empr of course.”

Thanks for your time, any last comments?

-“Shoutout to the community!”

TS-Gaming [TSoG]

Thanks for doing this interview, Drayich. Why don't you begin why introducing yourself?

-“I’m PapaDrayich, PapaKim, I’m the captain of TsoG, I’m way too old and I’m from Sweden.”

With members like XoYnoZnU who are still actively playing DotA, how's your training schedule like?

-“Wow, we do practice a lot I can tell you that. However we often use stand-ins when trying out different styles/picks. Losing 90% of our scrims is not even a exaggeration. We try to gather when my kids are sleeping, have some fun, but pure real practice happens perhaps 5 nights a week.”

You've received publicity for a blog post a while back about asking players to step it up in terms of respect and gaming ethics, how do you think the community has progressed as a whole thus far?

-“That's a good question, haven’t really thought about it like that. However the competitive scene seems to be quite okay as it is right now. Some teams still not coming in time, but people behave pretty nice towards each other. The public scene is still a disaster, but I’m guessing most of them didn’t really read it either.”

Considering TSoG will likely be facing the likes of Loaded after the group stages, which teams concern you guys the most?

-“The team that concerns me the most is TsoG. When we dare to play with confidence and with our strategies and with our strengths then we’re good, really good. But we are still fairly newly founded and we are still learning that some things are not for us. So honestly this is my biggest concern. I won’t namedrop, because if TsoG isn’t working then any other team can beat us. When TsoG works no other team can.”

Do you see any teams breaking into the scene at the World Cup? Or is it going to be a dominating performance by the established teams?

-“I hope other teams come in. To be completely honest the competitive scene of HoN still has a lot to learn, and I’d like other teams with confidence running their own strategies here. But I don’t know any names of any special teams, no.”

That's all I need to know, thanks for doing this. Any last comments?

-“Yeah, shoutout to every mannered player out there. Remember PapaDrayich don’t care about your skill, only your manners. And of course thanks to Qpad and Ts-gaming for their support.”