Na'Vi was recently announced as one of the European teams invited to participate in Hao Fang Golden League (HFGL), an international online tournament featuring teams from all over the world.
Fresh from his win at The International, the former captain and Na'Vi star accepted an interview by SGamer which was translated for the Chinese audience. The following is a re-translation of the interview as published on SGamer.
Hi Puppey, congratulations on your win at Dota 2's The International. Before the competition, did you expect your team to take home the million dollars?
-"Even before the competition, I felt that we stood a good chance with Dota 2, and the results certainly proved that this was so. Compared to the other teams, Na'Vi was slightly above the rest in terms of team synergy and game strategy."
How did you celebrate your win?
-"After we won, we threw ourselves a big party, but the real celebration of our win only came when we finally got the days of rest we all deserved."
How do you plan to spend your winnings?
-"I will splurge on something extravagant, like say, an apartment, but 80% of it will go into investment."
Na'Vi is looking at a couple of major tournaments down the road, including HFGL. What are your goals for Na'Vi?
-"My goal - to win them all, but with an emphasis on playing to the best of my ability. Let's see how Na'Vi fares against the top Chinese teams. I am really looking forward to some great games between us."
In the group stages of HFGL, Na'Vi is set to face the other Dota 2 grand finalist EHOME. How confident are you of taking them down like you did in Germany?
-"Of course, we are confident of beating EHOME. Our main concern at the moment has to do with connection and lag issues."
How does European and Asian DotA differ in terms of strategy?
-"Chinese DotA and Asian DotA are already on separate levels, so I will take the angle of China versus the rest of the world. Chinese DotA is strictly rooted in tactics, and perfect tactical play is part of Chinese DotA itself. It's hard for a player or team to arrive at such a level.
As for the rest of the world, even though we have our own set of strategies and tactics, they may not be as perfected as the Chinese's. That is not to say we are not constantly trying to improve ourselves."
In your opinion, which team(s) will be Na'Vi's strongest opponent? Which team(s) are you most looking forward to meet?
-"Currently, EHOME and iG.Y are looking really strong. These two teams will pose the biggest threat to us. On the other hand, we are really looking forward to meet DK, and maybe after meeting LongDD and Burning we can witness something spectacular from them."
Which Chinese player do you respect and admire the most? Why?
-"Zhou - he is always a huge threat to his opponents especially at competitions. From his style of play and leading his team I have indeed learnt alot. I deeply regret not having the chance to get properly acquainted with him at the International in Germany."
What do the Na'Vi boys do when they're not training?
-"Just stuff that normal European guys do - study, rest, and molest Dendi."
Do you have any words for Na'Vi's fans in China?
-"I hope everyone can feel as proud as we are of our accomplishments. We recently opened a couple of Microblog accounts for our team at t.qq.com/naviteam as well as our players, t.qq.com/navi_artstyle, t.qq.com/dendi_navi. We hope you guys will support us.
Last but not least, we would like to thank our sponsors Na'Vi for all the support they have given us, Steelseries, Kaspersky as well as Antec."
Thank you Puppey for accepting this interview, and I wish Na'Vi the best of luck in their competitions!
-"Thank you!"
Links
SGamer - Original Article
