KuroKy interviewed after his playdate

Did you have fun following Colby's stream while he plays with KuroKy and Kebap? We hope you did. After the games, Colby did an interview with KuroKy which touches on various topics like the state of the team and how the future for DotA is like. Listen or read the interview transcript below.


Colby: KuroKy, do you believe there will be EU all-stars vs. Asian all-stars?
KuroKy: I don't know, if someone organizes it, sure, but it will be hard to get a good host kind of to the Asians. You want all the players online at the same time, there's time zones. If someone is willing to organize it, it might happen.

Colby: Will GGnet take part in big LAN's like ASUS, ESWC, WDC et cetera.
KuroKy: We plan to go to ESWC if we get accepted and besides that, we plan to go either SMM or WDC, I am not sure if we can go to both LANs, it is pretty expensive and takes a lot of time. We still have players who have jobs and go to school et cetera.

Colby: We have lately seen a lot of teams boot camping (NE, Nevo, and MYM) - When will we see a GGnet boot camp?
KuroKy: I don't think we're gonna boot camp anytime soon it's a matter of time, as I said one of my players are on vacation right now, we could have boot camped if he would have been here, but he is not. It is hard to organize

Colby: When you started playing DotA several years ago did you ever see yourself still playing right now in 2011 competitively
KuroKy: It is hard to tell, something like this, it's like - you just play the game and as long as it is still fun, you keep playing. And when I got into competitive DotA, the competitive thing keeps being fun and is always fun, being competitive for me at least. So yeah, I keep playing until it’s not fun anymore.

Colby: Do you believe the arrow roshan steal will be in the GosuGamers top10? (In reference to this game at 32.50 minutes
KuroKy: I don't know, maybe, if you send it to the guy who makes the video, he might take it in. (Kebap talking): Wasn't it the venge stealing it? Colby: No no, the potm got it and then KuroKy got the aegis afterwards. Kebap: No no no, it was the venge killing it with howl. Colby: Oh really? Kebap: yes

Colby: How did both of you go from playing DotA just for fun, to playing DotA competitively.
KuroKy: It was like this, I played DotA for 1-2 years, then I went inactive for 6 months, which was when the scene started to become competitive, when I came back it was kind of competitive already, I joined a German team called WE and it was playing competitively.
Kebap: I started a bit later, than KuroKy, well it all started with playing with Lion, a so called fun team from Germany, then well wicked asked me to join them a German team with Moodz and Carefenster (don’t know if spelled right) and from then on, I kind of played competitively.

Colby: Kebap, is Ench your favorite hero or do they just make you play her a lot?
Kebap: I like playing Ench well, but most of the times it's getting picked, I am the one who is playing her.

Colby: In general, what do you two think of specifically designated roles for players, instead of everyone being able to play a lot of heroes?
KuroKy: Imo, it's important to have specific roles for every player on your team, or it will leave with confusing within the team, and there are players who are just better with some roles, it's hard to do really good with every hero. There are players who are good with a lot of heroes, like this Chinese player, 820 who was a really good carry, and then he went to be a really really good support. But as you can see, he didn't play both roles; he had to choose one role; he can either carry or support. It is better to concentrate on one role, it is better for the team and for yourself.
Kebap: Yeah, I kind of agree, but at the same time, it's important to understand how each role works, so you can play better around it or with it. You have a better feeling playing with your team and stuff like that.

Colby: KuroKy, do you have any tips on picking vs. decent clans.
KuroKy: There are a lot of factors you got to look at while you pick of course, one of the most important factors is when you start a new team, to look what kind of heroes your players are able to play, a lot of times people either copy the best teams picks and stuff like that, but they can't really execute it the same way, so one thing you have to do is look at what your team is able to play, and the other thing is try to out-pick your opponent, try to think of counters, like if the opponent pick Enigma, and you see Venge is still in the pool, usually it is a good idea to pick venge at this point, but again, it is very (Can't figure what he's saying here.. Superficial?) because with DotA picking/strategies they are so big it is hard to really find it, so yeah, the best thing you can do is just play a lot of games, try around with all heroes, pick a lot for your team and you will just get better all the time. What else I have experienced over the years? It is important to talk with your team and players about picking to improve your confidence in picking and way of understanding some heroes.

Colby: Out of the current top teams (M5/MYM/NaVi/NEVO/OK) which teams do you struggle against the most - and why?
KuroKy: There's no specific team we really struggle against, right now we are kind of rebuilding the team, I just got RMn in the team and such, there's summer vacation for us, and we are in holidays. There are no specific teams we struggle against yet, we didn't play much together with this team construction. So yeah, we kind of struggle against all teams - that’s how I can put it in a general way.

Colby: For both of you, if DotA2 reaches a level similar to SC2, where we have pro gaming houses where everyone has a yearly salary, would you guys consider going pro full time?
KuroKy: Um, that is too far in the future, to talk about that honestly, it's like you have to have five people who can afford to go full time gamer, some of your team member have girlfriends, some have studies, some have I don't know, go to school and stuff like that, it's really hard to organize five people to go pro gamer house in some cities, and since some European teams are international, and you want them to go to the same city or same country at least, so yeah, I'm gonna say: From my personal consideration, I have one more year of school, and I want to play DotA / DotA 2 in this year of course, and if I'm lucky and if I'm good at winning, I might consider going full time for maybe one year, and after this year I will either study, or continue if I am lucky enough to stay at the top, it depends on how big the scene will be in the end.
Kebap: Well, I would definitely consider taking one year and then getting a normal job, but one year would be a good experience I guess, living in a pro gaming house with 4ppl together.

Colby: KuroKy, do you still offer DotA lessons?
KuroKy: No, it's very funny actually, the moment I offered it, I never actually did it, since my time was so limited at that time, and I got spammed by so many people, it was too much before it even began. I actually consider doing it, but first I want to concentrate on my team and achieve some tournament winnings, and if I achieve that, I will consider doing some lessons I guess.

Colby: What do you guys think of PGG who plays for TR?
KuroKy: I think PGG is a nice guy, I have played with him many times, I have met him in real life, he is a nice guy, at least in real life, not much I can say, he is a skilled player, but sometimes he is not taking the game very serious and his play suffers from that, but if he shakes up and play serious, he is really good.

Colby: KuroKy I heard you say sg players are noobs?
KuroKy: I never said that, why would I say that?

Colby: What do you think of the new Team-A/TR Roster?
KuroKy: I haven't looked into them actually, so I have no real opinion.

Colby: Do you guys miss Puppey in the GGnet roster?
KuroKy: Not really, I am still in contact with Puppey, it is not like he's gone, that’s the way it is.

Colby: What do you think about the popularity of DotA2 compared to DotA, do you think the transition will be smooth and will it be a lot bigger?
KuroKy: I am pretty sure that the European scene will be much bigger, and the most important factors are gonna be that there is going to be a big American scene, the American scene in DotA1 is nonexistent, I think (Colby confirms) and since most of the Americans play HoN or LoL, and I think the Americans are into HALO and CoD and beat-em-up games like street fighters, but I think DotA2 is gonna make a big American scene at least. I am not sure, but I think Europe/America scenes will be pretty big, not sure about Asia.
Kebap: Well I think the EU scene will kind of explode, and it will be kind of big I think, it will be crazy! The player base in total will be pretty huge; I think it is going to rock.

Colby: Any last minute comments?
KuroKy: Thanks for the games; I hope you guys enjoyed the show!
Kebap: Yeah, thanks for the games and I hope you guys enjoyed it very much.

Special thanks goes to DemoniC for transcribing the interview.