Burning: 'Always be humble in victory, never bitter in defeat'

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INTERVIEW: DK.Burning

*Legend:
[text] = Editor's note

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Hey, Burning. Thank you for accepting GosuGamers' interview. First question, tell us something interesting about yourself, something that our readers at GosuGamers will not know. *smiles*

-"Hello everybody, I’m Burning from DK. About something interesting - oh, after our 90-minute first game against LGD at G-1 Champions League, my teammates decided that they would never let me play Slardar again. I failed my Slithereen Crushes so many times that game. =.="


I'm sure they understand. *laughs* Anyway, you have a wealth of experience playing professionally yourself, from 7L to EHOME to DK. From your experience, what is the toughest part about being a professional gamer in China?

-"When I first started playing professional [in China], I was treated rather badly. In the worst scenario, I wasn’t even given a salary and paying for my own meals each day became an issue - but I persevered.

If you ask me, I don’t think these are the challenges per se, I would call the challenging part about being a professional DotA gamer in China as making sure that you can work with your teammates, especially when you are placed in a high-pressure competitive environment.

You need to manage your emotions well in those situations and keep your cool. One word of advice - always be humble in victory, and never bitter in defeat."

How did it all begin for you then? And by this I mean, how did you get into DotA?

-"I was introduced to DotA by my friends. In fact, I remember the first DotA game I played (as Beastmaster). I killed so many heroes that game, all my friends called me a kill-stealer. T.T"

I have read people describing you as a loyal player considering how long you've stayed in DK. In fact, you are one of the original members (Benz, Yaphets, KingJ and Ksssss left). Have better opportunities presented themselves to you in the past? What kept you in DK for so long?

-"Actually, I wouldn’t consider myself a loyal player since I’ve been in so many teams and have had so many teammates in my professional career. The fact that I never left DK the past two years was because of two things - one, the boss and I are basically friends and he’s a very nice guy.

Two, I know that I’m nearing the end of my professional gaming career and I guess I would like some stability instead of constantly hopping around teams."

I see. Indeed, you mentioned that you planned to retire after next year’s The International. Is this still true? What are your plans after that?


-"Yup, the plan is still to retire after The International next year. I want to take advantage of the fact that I’m still young to go out into the world and experience and learn new things, as well as have a change of lifestyle."

Let's talk about what you are good at doing now then. Last-hitting, map awareness, teamfight execution - rank these three factors in terms of their importance to a good carry player.

-"I wouldn’t consider last-hitting to be the mark of a good carry player. I mean, that’s the most basic requirement of a DotA player. In my opinion, to be a good carry player, you need to possess the following qualities: map awareness, including being able to evade ganks, and understanding your role in teamfights (whether you should build more survivability or pump your farm into doing damage).

You also need to understand the rationale behind your item builds, which is fluid in itself, and you need to know how to adapt your build as the game progresses."

And yourself - what would you say are your strengths and weaknesses as a carry player?

-"I guess I would call myself a silly player. =.= If I have to list out my strengths and weaknesses, well, here goes: I think my strength is that I don’t have any weaknesses and my weakness is that I don’t have any strengths. [He’s saying he’s an average top carry player probably.]"

Pause and talk about this picture for abit. It was quite popular on our forums some time back so I have to ask about it. *smiles* Do you remember this game you played against Panda? What can you say about this picture?

-"Nah.. I did not use one hand to play that game. The picture was probably taken during the drafting phase and I was, you know, deep in thought. *laughs*"

What is the biggest regret you've had in your entire professional career?

-"It would be the fact that I never made it to the first International. [Team DK never received the invite in 2011.]"

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On Team DK

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Moving on to DK. How much time do you spend with your teammates each day? What do you guys usually do?

-"We’re basically together every day, except for when we are given long vacations. Apart from playing DotA, I occasionally head to the cinemas or listen to songs of my own.

Oh, our club will sometimes take us our for Karaoke sessions or on vacations."

Team DK is currently three fifth of EHOME 2010. What can you remember of your encounters with KingJ and 820 (two missing players)?

-"Sorry, it was too long ago and I can't remember. =.="

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On The International

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It's okay. If you had to sum up your experience at The International in one word, what would it be?

-"Not hardworking enough."

In your opinion, what was the reason why Na`Vi was able to defeat the top three Chinese teams (iG, LGD, DK) to win the Upper Bracket?

-"At The International, you could see that Na`Vi was behind us in terms of their strength, but as defending champions from last year’s event, they were much better prepared emotionally to take the title compared to Chinese teams. You could also see that they improved by leaps and bounds throughout the tournament.

They experimented with all kinds of strategies in depth, for example, how to bait Chinese teams into picking Naga Siren [before countering it with Enigma or Rubick]. It blew me away because all three Chinese teams fell for it. In fact, I feel that any Chinese team at The International would not lose to Na`Vi twice."

Okay, using iG as an example, why do you think Na`Vi was not able to beat iG again in the grand finals?

-"iG is a very strong team in itself, and having played their way up from the Lower Bracket, their team morale was soaring. All this only reaffirmed their confidence and understanding of their strategies."

Anyway, I am sure you picked up new friends at The International. What were some of the teams or players that you were close to? Are you still in contact with one another?

-"The team that I was closest to was Evil Geniuses, and especially DeMoN and Bulba. We spoke alot at The International and in fact, Bulba still approaches me every now and then to talk about the game - including ideas about certain lineups as well as which heroes are OP [overpowered] and how they should be played.

Iceiceice was also hilarious in Seattle, he actually honored his words before the tournament, that he would wear boxers to play the games. We still keep in contact to this day."

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On the competitive scene

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Rank the top three teams in Asia right now.

-"I would have to say iG, LGD and DK."

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On G-1 Champions League

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Fair enough. Lately, I noticed that in G-1 Champions League, you have a preference for going Hand of Midas early on and then selling it later. Run us through how and why you decided on such a tactic.

-"In most cases, when I build a Hand of Midas it’s mainly to make sure I get a good early start in the game. I also take into account how I think the game is going to turn out. For example, if I look at both lineups and see that our team can only win by turtling to late game, then there’s a high chance that I’ll go for the Midas.

Another possibility is if I’m playing a hero that relies heavily on levelling up quickly - I would also go for a Midas then."

iG has been dominating the Dota 2 scene in Asia ever since they took the million dollars in Seattle. I know it's a tough call, so gun to your head - what would iG's weakness be?

-"*smiles* I think iG’s weakness could be that they tend to easily underestimate their enemy, especially given how many championship titles they have consecutively won in China or abroad."

I asked Ferrari this exact same question a few days ago (about your team). What do you think he said is DK's weakness right now?

-"I guess he would say our weakness right now is rOtk. *laughs*" (see Ferrari's answer!)

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Conclusion

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That's a wrap! Thank you for the interview. You can thank your sponsors and your supporters but I have a special request - say something in English for our readers! *grins* No cheating.

-"Shoutout to GosuGamers and all our fans over there. I would like to thank our sponsors I-rocks as well. Your continuous support is what pushes us forward. We will continue working hard and putting on a show for you guys.

Thank you! Really Appreacite! *grins*"