Muga, congratulations for qualifying; how was it playing for you guys, taken the amount of games, the rough schedule and the opponents into account. Was it stony way?
-"Thank you, the amount of games and scheduling was hard to plan in such a short time. We only have 5 players. The opponents where rough, that's all I can say."
“
The most important thing about replays is the draft”-"We were busy so we played individualy. We did so in Allstars/PDC as well as SIG and DI. Because of the tight schedule, we never played as five so funwars were impossible; we did watch a couple of replays though!"
When you watch replays; do you watch games from yourself and check what needs improvement, or rather the ones from your opponent and draw conclusions.
-"The most important thing about the replays is the draft. I myself though check replays for frequently made mistakes, be it our own replay or the ones of the opponent. The team however mostly checks the drafts only.
I see; which game of the qualifier was the hardest for; who gave you the best fight?
-"NE, they focused on keeping me down. They were the first team to accurately ban some of our favorite carry picks. They were also the only ones that actively ganged and what not."
Since you made your way now; do you think the seeded teams are entering the groupstage with a disadvantage, having not played the games from the qualifiers, hence a lack of practice in a sense?
-"For some of the more inactive clans this might be true. There are however many other tournaments running, such as Pick-league, F4F and ICS. Most clans which haven't appeared in the qualifiers did so, because they were already known for winning other matches in other tournaments."
“
NE was the first team to accurately ban some of our favorite carry picks and ganged actively”-"Breaking those questions down abit, the name and the team officially came from Bamboe's public clan. We have an extreme lack of fantasy so we are still stuck with this name. We are real life friends and the time we spend together per week varies strongly. We play alot but mainly as 3 or 4.
About our members:
Koekebakker aka ZSMJoey is our aggressive support player. He is the one that mainly does the roaming and trolls more than he plays DotA.
EvilIsNear aka mijn2enaamisgod is our defencive support player, as he does the main warding and what not. Always standing behind me while I do the farming.
Deadmage is our best player skill-wise. He is our grand captain and tells us which items to go, when to do what. He does our picks mainly solo and plays the hardest lanes, as seen in the replays against EU, TeG and NE, which he wins as well!
Bamboe is our wildcard player. He is the most aggressive in our team and mostly does the mid lane.
And lastly there is me, Muga. I am the carry player from GoD. I do the farming when the rest is actually playing DotA."
I just noticed DiaDora only has Voice in your channel; did he leave the team?
-"Yes, he plays alot with DPP now."
How did you discover DotA in the first place? How did you end up playing in your current team later on.
-"I started playing WC3 thanks to some friends in school. I quickly lost my attraction to the real WC3 but started to like custom games more and more. I started playing DotA WAAAAY back. I believe it was still version 5.something with Luna ulti being instant and stunning and what not. Later, I joined in "pro" DotA by playing for teams such as TKoC, Pushin' it and others.
“
Bamboe never asks for Tiny, he gets the heroes Deadmage assigns to him”If you compare your engagements in the old teams, to the success you have with GoD at the moment. Are there aspects from the old times, that you miss today?
-"I kind of miss playing Sand King almost every game. We used to always first blood the mid lane. With the Sand King/Potm lane that was going top. But I guess the average level of skill is so much higher than before. These tactics are no longer viable."
Are you enjoying the game more today than back in the past, with more events to play and a stricter schedule?
-"I enjoy the average level of skill being higher than it used to be. I dislike being part of a team that does not feel like they are a team. That is why I enjoy playing more with my teammates. As well as I still enjoy public games where there is no real pressure to win, which makes DotA a lot more relaxing."
How does the drafting phase look like in GoD. If Bamboe wants Tiny, do you give it to him without arguments, or are there always discussions involved?
-"Bamboe never asks for Tiny, he just gets the heroes Deadmage assigns to him. If Deadmage believes Tiny is a good pick, he picks him. There is no discussion involved Deadmage is always right."
“
I kind of miss playing Sand King almost every game”-"It did before Bamboe gave away his role as captain. But inevitably he had to give away the role to Deadmage. Mainly because Deadmage also supports us ingame, by telling us our item builds, when to go and what not. Also Deadmage tends to outpick the opponents while they previously tended to outpick Bamboe."
And it pays off as the results show. The next step of the Cup follows next week. Who would you like to face in the groupstage; any rivals you want to beat sooner than later?
-"Anything is fine, except for Na'vi. We truly fear those Ukrainian masterminds. That is why we gave a 110% versus NE."
DotA in the Netherlands is not a very common thing it seems; at least not on this high level as you are the only uprising top team. Where did you orientate yourself, finding good opponents and such; did you connect to the top scene rather fast and how did things develop as you got better?
-"That´s a really hard question. We knew eachother because there are so few good Dutch players; we know NoFriends as well for example. Finding opponents is usually done on mIRC on dotacw.euro. To the question, did you connect to the top scene rather fast, No ofcourse not. It took us a very long time before we became good. Even now I don't see us getting close to beating teams such as MYM so we have a long way to go.
That takes us to the last question. Where do you want to go with GoD? Did you set yourself any goals and how long do you plan staying in competitive DotA
-"We want to make the best of it, trying to challenge as many teams as possible and showing that Dutch Dota is fun. We will play for as long as it is fun!"
Then I hope we keep seeing you for a long time. Thanks so much for your time and congratz for qualifying. Do you have any last words?
-"Shoutout to Axak, Soapy, Womblebottom, Archlord_of_sky, xpN, Meathead, Promi, Diadora, LuckyOne, Buraydah, Coldfire, K4mpfkeks, Smulgullig, HeroofRenown, Suuki barbosicks, kensuand and last AND least stockTME. Sorry if I forgot anyone, but this list is so long. Thanks for the interview."
