From the author who brought you the biographical interview with legendary captain ArtStyle (see), Prodota's Morf-designer is back with his second piece. This week, we invite DotA's bad boy, Rasmus 'MiSeRy' Filipsen, to share his thoughts on the competitive scene, his personal life and later his own career.
Love him or hate him, MiSeRy has been a fixture in the competitive scene and subsequently under the spotlight in teams such as MYM, Lost.eu, DDT and currently EG.
With the EG roster under intense scrutiny, MiSeRy took a step back and reevaluated his time as a DotA player and his hopes for the future - the following is the original English transcript of the Russian interview found on Prodota.
Hi, MiSeRy. As with how my previous interviews were conducted, let's talk about your own life. Introduce yourself to the readers.
-"Well, despite what a lot of people might think of me as a person, I am a lot different in real life than what I sometimes seem to be in the online world. I would describe myself as a really friendly and nice guy with a lot of self-confidence."
Where are you living now, and do you live with your parents? What is their opinion on DotA?
-"Since I came home from China almost a month ago, I've been living with my parents, but I'm planning on moving out as soon as possible. Before the china trip, I lived in an apartment in Copenhagen with two mates. My mother thinks I play too much computer and she usually tends to whine about it while my father is a little more excited and interested."
So would you say that they support you in general?
-"Yeah, of course they both support me. They, as with most other parents, just want me to be happy with what I do."
Do you have a job besides DotA? Do you study somewhere? And what are your future plans in this direction?
-"I'm currently not studying or working. Actually, I'm not a big fan of schools and studying in general. I think its way too boring for now.
I think maybe in the future, when I figure out what long term job I want, I'll be able to pull myself together. But for now, it's about having fun and playing DotA."
Are there any stable salaries in EG? Is that enough to live in Denmark? Are you planning to make money only from DotA in the future?
-"I'm not gonna comment too much on the salary, but I hope it will be better and easier in the future to make a living out of playing DotA."
Do you have a girlfriend? Do you still remember that moment when you were taking photos with the Razer-booth girls at The International? *smiles*
-"I don't have a girlfriend, no.. About the Razer girls, sure, how could I forget? *grins*"
Are you currently a sportsman? Do you follow any sports on television?
-"I used to play a lot of football when I was younger, but now I'm only an e-sportsman! I still love watching football though; I frequently follow the Premier League, Champions League and so on. Barcelona for the win!"
What in your opinion is your biggest achievement in DotA and in real life?
-"I'm not sure I can say what my biggest achievement in DotA is; I guess I could say that playing at top level for two to three years now is a big achievement for me. Also, placing fourth at Gamescom and securing $80,000 dollars was a nice experience.
As for real life, I can't think of one big achievement here either, but I've been traveling a lot due to DotA - been to China three times now, Jordan, Malaysia and more. This has been very instructive and that by itself is an achivement to me."
Tell our readers about the history of your DotA nickname. Did you have other nicknames in the past, maybe at school?
-"I used to name myself Saxodog whenever I played counterstrike or something like that when I was younger.. MiSeRy actually came out of the blue; I made an account called missere on WC3-battle.net, and the team I played with started calling that name with the expression of misery - so I just changed it to MiSeRy after a while."
Interesting. How and when did your start playing Dota?
-"I started playing in the last years of elementary school with some friends from my class. We used to play 2v2 in the beginning at my friend's house, but later I liked the game a lot and wanted to continue playing so I bought it for myself at home and started playing more. That was basically how I got into DotA."
Are you still playing DotA 1? Did you manage to see 6.73 and its key features?
-"I didn't touch DotA 1 since I came home from China around Christmas, so I haven't seen the 6.73 version, no, though I've seen most of the changes through the latest patch update in DotA 2."
Was it easy for you to switch from Dota 2 to DotA and vice versa?
-"Yeah, for me it was very easy. I believe it's close to the same feeling playing both games. And of course, after playing DotA for more than five years, it's easier to fall back into the old graphics and gameplay."
Can you say now that you have know Dota 2 perfectly?
-"I would say I know the game close to perfectly, but there are small things I might not be confident about which doesn't really matter so much in an actual game. After the latest update in Dota 2, there's alot of new stuff to get used to and look into."
In previous interviews, you said that you could not wait to see Dota 2 in half a year's time. Now that six months has already passed, what can you say about the game?
-"*laughs* Well, I can say that I think the game is amazing. I actually thought the game was gonna be out at this time, but I understand it's a long and very important process to make the game as perfect as possible and I think Valve is doing a great job so far. The game is not even comparable to HoN and LoL in my opinion - it's just so much better."
Many of our forum users remember that you were once caught in maphacking incident and they wonder if you have any cheats for Dota 2. Can you explain what happened, and why you seem to play so badly on LANs where maphack is not possible?
-"That maphack incident was many years ago and it occured before I even started playing DotA competitively. I simply maphacked in some public games in Garena on my account, and my account was noticed because of that.
And about me playing worse on LAN compared to online, I don't think you can generalize it like that. I played really well in some tournaments while in others I didn't perform as great as people maybe would've expected, but I can assure everyone that it has nothing to do with maphack.
I think that's up to people to decide about whether I play bad on LAN. I feel no big difference except the pressure is much higher. I can say that especially now, with a lot of experience in my bank - I play better on LAN than online in my own opinion.
I think the question is ridiculous though, and you must be stupid if you think I maphack online - even after two months of bootcamp in China and proving myself at several LAN tournaments throughout the years. I must be one hell of a player if I can get so many people from the Russian community to think that I maphack in online games."
So do you think that using cheats in pubs for training would improve a player's performance? For example, after using maphack, you better understand your opponent's moves and their way of thinking and then in actual games without maphack, you will play better?
-"No, I don't think you should be cheating at all, not in pubs or anywhere. I'm totally against that. Even if you did try to improve by using cheats, I don't think you would succeed.
You mentioned that you liked playing Batrider in DotA. What is your favorite hero in Dota 2 and what hero do you hate the most?
-"Lately I've been very happy playing Shadowfiend in Dota 2; I think the hero is pretty underrated. As for heroes that I hate... hmm, I hate playing against Anti-Mage and Pudge."
What do you think of a famous fan art of Dota 2 girls – Lina, Crystal Maiden, Drow Ranger and Windrunner? Would you marry Crystal Maiden? *grins*
-"I think the pictures are very nicely drawn for sure but I think I’d go with Windrunner instead... Crystal maiden might be too cold for me. *laughs cheekily*"
Tell us your thoughts about Dota 2 leagues. What league can you distinguish and where do you personally play?
-"If I'm not playing with my team, I usually just play random matchmaking pub... I have played a bit in Esahara, ownedbypro and NA-DL, but I don't like the waiting time there is before you actually get to play."
What do you know about the skill level of European teams such as SK, Fnatic, mTw and others? Perhaps one of them stands out for some reason?
-"SK is now the only full Danish team around after the MYM disbanded. I think they are one of the better teams in Europe at the moment. Fnatic, mouz and mTw are all highly overrated in my opinion and they are carried by their tags. No offense."
Have you heard about ArtStyle's comeback and that in an interview, he pointed your team as a very strong opponent? What do you think about these two facts?
Yeah, I saw the news about his appearance. ArtStyle is one of the players I respect the most in the scene and I'm sure his team will be strong. With that said, my focus is on EG and I'm not afraid of any team, not even the mighty ArtStyle's."
What can you say about M5's recent performance and their future? It seems that they are playing a game with Dread and ArtStyle (unconfirmed) right now.
-"I haven't seen M5 play, with or without Dread/ArtStyle, so I don't have much to say about that matter. Like I said before, it will probably be a strong team in the future..."
Describe in a few words, the top CIS teams such as Na’Vi, DTS, and eSahara.
-"Well, the CIS teams are usually underrated, especially on LAN. I still haven't been to ASUS or any other Russian LAN tournament, so I can't really tell though Na`Vi is still our biggest opponent in Europe in my opinion. The Russian teams are known for their aggressive playstyle and if I wasn't playing with EG, I would love to play with Russians since their playstyle suits me and it's more fun to play with them I think."
What about PGG? It seems you have an old conflict because even in your last encounter, you were both trash-talking each other badly in chat. Would you like to kick his ass when you meet him at some LAN (I mean literally)?
-"*laughs* No, trashtalk is just trashtalk. I met PGG already last year at WDC and we had a lot of fun drinking, raping China streets [sic], etc. *grins* I think he's a very funny guy and I have nothing against him - in fact, I'm looking forward to the next LAN with him."
What do you think about Vigoss? Have you played practice games against him recently?
-"I think I've played only one game against Vigoss in Dota 2 and that was yesterday against the new DTS. He's still a good player, but the game is much more complicated now and everyone else have become better since his prime days."
This is something I always ask in my interviews - would you beat Vigoss 1v1 using Priestess of the Moon?
-"I believe DotA is a team game, and I never liked the idea of playing 1v1 DotA - if so I would've chosen a different game, like StarCraft. But if it came to it, I'm confident I would kill him in a 1v1. *winks*"
Just moments ago, Next.kz won their second game against a “big team” - first it was M5 and now it's SK. What can you say about the guys from Kazakhstan?
-"Like I mentioned earlier as well, the teams from the Eastern region are usually underrated, and Next.kz is most likely one of them. I also remember some team from Kazakhstan winning DTS cup a few years back. They definitely have potential, but they usually don't have the stability and consistency it takes to be a top team."
Do you know anything about Natural 9? They seem to have come out of nowhere and beaten many great teams.
-"I don't know much about Natural 9 but I recognize xMusica and shatan from some other Australian teams. Apart from that, I haven't seen many of their games.
I remember playing an Australian team some time ago, and as far as I can recall, they play insanely passive. I think they are a decent team, and they can probably beat most teams on a good day."
Name a player that was the hardest opponent for you to play in mid lane lately.
-"I don't really play that role anymore in real games. Usually, it's PlaymatE or dual mid, so it's hard for me to answer. But I guess Dendi is one of the best solo mid players nowadays."
What teams in your opinion are top three of the competitive Dota 2 scene at the current moment?
-"EG, NaVi and I'm not sure about the last team - xP, m5 and SK are all worth mentioning."
Even at the World DotA Championships, you mentioned that there was no difference between Europe and China any more. Will the Chinese be outplayed by Europeans massively after switching to Dota 2?
-"In the beginning, we might see Europeans beat the Chinese, especially online due to the lag, but after some time I'm sure the Chinese will catch up. I don't think we will see the same domination as in DotA 1, but it's hard to say; it's only the beta of Dota 2 for now and many things can still happen.
A lot of time has passed since you were a member of Meet Your Makers. Can you summarize and describe the experience you had playing under that tag?
-"I was very happy in MYM and I think we had really good chemistry and friendship within the team. I played with the MYM guys for almost a year and I got some very nice experiences.
Also, there is one bad thing I remember in particular and it was our trip to OSPL in Kazakhstan. We flew all the way there, but were deported and banned from the country due to our visas... That was a shitty trip, but overall I had a really nice time in MYM and that team will always be unique in my opinion."
Name the hardest opponent of all time (team) for MYM and why you feel that way.
-"Well, obviously our biggest enemy in Europe was Na`Vi basically because they were the only team that could really fight with us at that time. We kinda switched back and forth between winning them and losing against them. It was a pleasure playing them back then; we had some very intense and high level games."
Are you missing some of the epic battles with Na`Vi now?
-"Well, I think you will always have good DotA games, so I wouldn't say I miss them. Now, there are just other teams to fight, but I do still look back on some of our epic battles, and of course the game we won after defending our throne for 40 minutes or so - that was really crazy. It's probably the game of the year."
I saw that game and it was epic. In an interview from The International, you said that you were calm about future games and “it’s just money”. Were you satisfied with your final results back then and do you care about prize money now or is it more about having fun for you?
-"Of course I was a little disappointed, but it was still a decent result placing 4th. About the money - I still believe there are more important stuff in life than money, so it's not that important to me. You can say that the game has become more business orientated now for players, and for me too, but still, playing a huge LAN event is just as great as the money you win."
Were you jealous about Na`Vi's victory? What were your first thoughts after they won 1 million?
-"Well, I was a bit sad we never got to play Na`Vi at Gamescom, but overall they were the best team there and they deserved the win although it hurts to say that. They had nailed the picks and general metagame in my opinion, and of course they also utilized it very well.
About my thoughts - I kinda saw it coming before it happened so I wasn't very surprised."
You still won a big sum of money at Cologne. Can you tell us where you spent your prize money?
-"I still have some of the money left, but I generally spent it on normal stuff for living - nothing specific. I guess I spent some of it in China as well, in clubs and massages *laughs*"
How do you feel in your current team compared to MYM? Do you miss being a part of MYM?
-"The feeling is a little different since the MYM core was all Danish and the atmosphere was really nice. If there's something I miss from MYM, it's this - being 5 Danes (and DeMoN). But actually, after spending a couple of months in China with the Evil Geniuses, I got to know them much better and it's definitely helping the morale and spirit of the team. I like being in EG; it's a great organization and it's a great team we've established after coming home from the trip."
Hmm... So why did you choose to play with the guys from America instead of having a full Danish roster? Have you had any language problems in your team so far and are you able to think in English fast enough?
-"Good question - I think it has been too complicated trying to gather a full Danish team since the disbandment of MYM. Since I decided to sign with EG a couple of months back, it's even harder now. About communication, it's no problem for me at all, I've been speaking english basically throughout my whole DotA career, and to an extent I actually prefer speaking English over Danish."
Wow, interesting to hear about your language preference. You mentioned once that you didn't feel prepared for WDC because of some problems with visas and so on, but I just can't understand why you made the same mistake. Playmate couldn't participate in WDC back in 2010 and it happened last year. Can’t you arrange for visas beforehand and why did PlaymatE come to the tournament two weeks earlier then the rest of the team?
-"It wasn't at all the same mistake or situation. The first time, PlaymatE didn't have a working visa and therefore he couldn't go, simple as that. In 2011, I dont recall myself saying we hadn't been practicing because of visa issues. We just didn't practice because we had no sponsor and hence no motivation to play.
When we were contacted by EG, Amel (PlaymatE) was sent to China immediately since he was staying in Serbia to get his visa and it was easier to send him directly to China. Therefore, we couldn't scrim since he was in China.
Well, it was basically our own fault, but we never expected to make it in time for WDC, so we had no expectations for that event. It's not like we are using it as excuses for losing - we already knew we wouldn't win anything. Actually, placing in top eight was a nice placement considering the circumstances."
Did you watch Na`Vi's games vs DK? Can you compare their performance with your overall performance at WDC?
-"I watched the game they won DK with Pudge and it was obviously very nicely done. Unfortunately, we had to play around that time against iG, so I never got to see the other matches. I think they were a better team at that event for sure, compared to us. But we both got in top eight - we lost to iG and they lost to DK, probably the two best teams in China, so it's hard to say."
You mentioned that SMM 2011 was the worst tournament of all time and you were treated very unprofessionally. Now that time has passed and you have calmed down, do you still feel the same way? What would you respond to people saying “rules are rules”?
-"I didn't really wanna bring the SMM thing up again, but okay. It was for sure the worst event I've been at, without doubt. The first day we waited for ten to eleven hours to get to play - from being told we had to be there to actually getting to play.
We got no constructive information from the staff at SMM, which was by the way, mostly people younger than myself. Next day, there were several blue screens, disconnects, non-working computers, gear problems and terrible administrators.
Then after experiencing all this - being very disappointed and pissed about such an awful event - we get treated like idiots, having to remake an already won game because of their shitty computers crashing. The administrators' decision about remaking the game was based on rules that made no sense whatsoever - towers don't count before 20 minutes?
In the remade game, MitH.Trust skills differently, buys different items and are generally prepared completely on our push strategy we played against them - we ended up losing instead of winning in around 20 minutes. All this basically led us to the decision we made about boycotting SMM which did not only stem from the MitH.Trust game.
Sure, "rules are rules" and that's cool, but common logic from the administrators' behalf and fair play from both teams should be rated higher in my opinion, especially in that situation."
What were you chances for winning SMM if there were no “unfair decisions”? Did you prepare well for that tournament?
-"We were very well prepared; we had won all games in around 20 minutes at the tournament, and the game against MitH.Trust was the winner's bracket semi--finals which had put us in top four already there. We had really high expectations and we would have easily placed top three. Beating iG would be hard, but we were very confident in beating all the other teams that were at that event."
Some guys from our forum have criticized you for playing very badly in mid lane at all the matches of G-league. Do you agree that your performance was far from top level there?
-"*laughs sarcastically* I love these people making questions about something they don't know anything about. I don't even remember if I played solo mid in any games at G-League, but there will always be criticism. Personally, I'm satisfied with my performance there, but my role was mainly support and utility, not solo mid."
Have you learned Chinese after staying in their country for all this time? Describe the time you spent there.
-"After being there thrice for long periods of time, I start to understand [Chinese] a bit, but it's still very difficult. If I was studying Chinese, I would probably have an easier time learning it. Well, the time in China is always super awesome; the people and the attention you get is something very special.
Drinking in China is very nice as well - generally China is an great place to be for a progamer and foreigner."
Recently I heard that you replaced Pajkatt with Maelk and Demon with Lacoste. Is that true?
-"Nothing is official yet; you gotta wait for the update on www.myeg.net. It should be announced very soon."
What about your eternal trio: DeMoN, MiSeRy, PlaymatE? You’ve been playing together since I remember you being in any team.
-"I don’t know what to answer to that."
Your current roster differs from The International with only one guy missing. Do you believe that you will be able to achieve more compared to your previous achievements in MYM?
-"I don't know anything for sure, as only time will tell. Of course I believe in the team, otherwise I wouldn't be playing."
Tell us about your unusual tactics in one of the latest game vs DTS at D2EC when you used Gondar and Slardar to counter only one invisible unit of your opponent (Weaver).
-"Well, first of all, it's very strong having two heroes that give complete vision of the enemy heroes. With that being said, Bounty Hunter is very hard to gank for Furion and that was basically our main thought with this hero. It's also very hard to deal with those two heroes together because of the improved movement speed and minus armor.
The counter on weaver was also something we thought about, and what is weaver going to do against track and amplified damage? It's gonna feed!"
What result or achievements do you expect from your team in 2012?
-"I expect to be the best team in Europe, nothing less, and our goal is to win everything there is to win."
One of the people from our community who actually asked for an interview with you was Na`Vi.XBOCT. Did you know that he is your fan? What can you say about him as a player?
-"That's really nice to hear! I respect XBOCT a lot myself, and I think he's a really nice guy and a great player as well. He basically came out of nowhere and started owning everyone. *smiles*"
Do you agree that Russian DotA community is the most powerful community ever? Did you hear about PGG getting to go to California with their help?
-"Wow, if PGG is going to California because of the Russian DotA community, then it must be powerful. *grins*"
What can you say about Russian players in Dota 2? Are they ruining most games? Should Valve create a separate server for them?
-"I have definitely met some very retarded Russians in some of my matchmaking games. *grins* But on a serious note, I think it would be good for Russians as well to have their own servers. I know not all Russians speak English and since there are so many Russians playing the game, I don't see why not."
You told us that you got to travel a lot with the help of your involvement in DotA. Have you ever been to Russia? Would you like to see Moscow?
-"I have actually never been to Russia, Ukraine or any of the CIS countries. I tried to go to Kazakhstan as I mentioned earlier in the interview, but that wasn't very successful. I'd like to go to Moscow, and I'd love to finally attend a Russian event this year. I heard it's great competition and there are nice parties! *grins*"
You can’t even imagine how great it is! *grins* It wouldn’t be an interview for a Russian website without my next question - do you like vodka and Russian girls?
-"*laughs* Who doesn't? We almost only drank vodka when we were drinking in China. And of course I like Russian girls too. I would normally prefer other girls, but Russian girls are nice for sure! *winks*"
And can you say a few words in Russian without Google Translate for our community?
-"Bl*aaat…PGG HAROSH DENDI LIGHTOFHIEEEVEN NA*UI PI*DEC? SOSI BUDET!"
As always, only trashtalk. One of our forum trolls asked a facetious question: does your nickname reflect your ganking potential in game? *smiles*
-"My nickname only reflects my enemies' feeling after playing the game..."
Well said! Thanks for all your answers. It was a pleasure talking with you. Final shoutouts?
-"Thank you too! Shoutout to Santa, Smile, Beast, PGG and all the other awesome Russians I’ve met through DotA! Also, shoutout to my fans all over the world. If you want, you can support me on Facebook.
Finally, shoutout to EG and all their sponsors: Intel, Steelseries, Monster Energy, Kingston HyperX, Six Pool Gaming, In Win, Bigfoot Networks, Intel Extreme Boards, Gunnar Optiks, Slappa, Split Reason Clothing." 
Links
Prodota.ru - Original Article (Part 1)
Prodota.ru - Original Article (Part 2)
Facebook - MiSeRy's Fanpage
