Vici Gaming holding their EMS One trophy: Fenrir, rOtk, fy, Super, Sylar. Photo by ESL
GosuGamers: Hi Fy. First of all, congratulations on your recent victories. Feeling tired from all the travel?
Actually yes, very tired. It took us more than ten hours flying there, and we didn’t have much time to rest well. We were having a bit of jetlag.
Well seems like you were not given much time to adjust to jetlag?
We were given several hours. Merely enough.
You had a big break when your team, the runner-up of the qualifiers, was chosen to replace DK at the EMS One Fall tournament. DK reportedly had Visa problems. How did your team secure the visa on shorter notice?
I can only tell you how good my boss is.
?
Is your travel to Poland the first time you left the country? What do you think of Tychy?
Yes. Poland is very cold, and we were playing in the surburbs so it felt a bit bleak and desolate for me. The best food there is probably McDonalds for me. Local food is not very tasty for me. The audience on site was very nice. The atmosphere was great, and people are respectful and polite.
The venue isn’t a very big one, right?
It was kind of like a theatre. There were two floors. There were audience on both of them. Oh and there were vendors selling little stuff walking around seats, very much like a theatre.
Did your team had a hard time adjusting to the time difference? Clearly it did not impact your team’s performance by much.
It was the first time for me and Fenrir to be abroad so we were tired indeed.
What do you think of your first encounter with European teams?
Na’Vi boys are not in their best state. However, Alliance and Fnatic are really strong, especially Alliance.
Considering your team was only given a week’s notice before flying to Poland, what was the game-plan? Did you guys research teams like Alliance and Na`Vi a lot prior to your flight?
Not really. We like to play in our own tune and we would not try to adapt to any other team’s play style. We just did what we always do, train to enhance our own game style.
Did Fnatic’s performance catch you by surprise?
Not really. Fnatic’s play style is better than the general Western style I think. They are very aggressive and try to bring you down in the early laning stage, while other western teams like Alliance and Na'Vi focus more on mid-game teamfights and late-game movements. Once Fnatic catches your weakness early on, you just never have a chance to come back, just like Game One we played with them.
?While you guys were competing in EMS, we saw some Western players complain that you guys did not wear the noise-cancelling headset. What is the main reason your team did not wear it?
The noise-cancelling headset was huge, heavy and had very good seal. It was not comfortable to put on; I felt like I drowning in water when I had it on. Plus you had to wear an in-ear headphone as well as an on-ear headset inside the noise-cancelling headset. It was just extremely uncomfortable. We were playing worse when we had them on. And it’s not even like we did not wear the noise-cancelling headset; we were wearing it all the time, and we just put it a little sideways in the beginning just trying to find the comfortable position. Later, we were forced to put on the headsets by admins.
Do you think it gave you guys an advantage? I mean, “Alliance is going into Roshan” couldn’t be that hard to understand right?
No. All of our team is very bad in English except for rOtk, and even rOtk couldn’t understand what Tobi was saying because he was talking way too fast for RotK.
fy getting prepared to face LGD.Int in WPC-ACE League. Photo by SCNTV.
Either way, congratulations on the win again. Looking at our database, you won 34 of your last 41 matches, many of which are against tough opposition. Where do you attribute your success?
I play a lot of Dota and I think about the games. If you want to improve your skills you have to take the game seriously rather than as amusement.
?
The current Vici Gaming only has you and Fenrir as the original members of the team. It is quite clear that you guys play incredibly well together. What do you think of Fenrir and how did you guys form this “bond”?
We are very, very good friends in real life. He is older than me, and he’s always thoughtful and takes good care of me.
I sense bromance.
Haha, friendship.
Vici Gaming has had its fair share of roster change. What do you think about the addition of rOtk, Super and Sylar? What do they each bring to the team?
rOtk is a very good captain and drafter. He has very good game sense and while he is in the offlane, he keeps us aware of where the enemy supports are. We are much safer in the early game with him and Super is getting less pressure thanks to rOtk.
Super is an excellent mid player. His performance is steady while he can be aggressive in the meantime. You just never see him getting crushed in mid lane. If we manage to roam and get Super some advantage in mid, we are not far away from victory.
Sylar is a balanced carry player. He farms quickly, he can take pressure early game, and he always know how to play in teamfights.
Will you guys still be playing with Tutu in WPC-ACE League playoffs? How do you juggle playing with two different carries at the same time?
Tutu has officially left the competitive scene and we will not be playing with him. We will have sydm as our carry player in ACE. Tutu has his talents but he often overextends. Also he was not performing steadily. Sylar on the other hand, makes us feel safe even when we are playing from the behind. We never feel worried or in a hurry when we have him.
Are you thankful you did not end up leaving the team half a year ago?
I made the right choice.
Let us have some game-related questions this time. You have a perfect 10-0 record on our database when you play Crystal Maiden. What could be the reason of the team’s high success with this hero?
It fits our play style very well. CM is a very strong roaming support while she is also good in lane. In fact she fits my play style well and I usually do better when I am playing CM.
?
We notice that you like to build a Hand of Midas. Building this item on supports was not very popular before [in the previous patch], of course. Could you tell us your insights about this item?
It’s not very easy for supports to get this item. And supports should only get this item while their team is in leading position. You can get one if you just won a teamfight and had plenty of gold. You can’t just go farm and bank up for a midas; whole team might fall suddenly if you do it that way. On the other hand, Midas is a very good item to have for supports. They don’t have much time and space to farm, so if you just keep on getting creeps whenever Midas is on cooldown, you wont fall behind in item progression and you can do more in mid game teamfights.
Your Rubick is very famous. We saw a clip where you were hitting ice paths after ice paths with this hero. Do you think that he needs to have animations on stolen spells?
That’s true. Whenever you see Twin Head Dragon’s casting animation you would try to dodge the ice path. Rubick’s doesn’t have any casting animation and is harder to dodge.
You guys have a lot of tourneys coming up. How do you train with two different carries (Sylar and sydm for WPC-ACE)?
Sydm probably won’t be training with us. He is still in TongFu 3 right now.
As we mentioned earlier, you are famous for your Rubick and very successful with CM. You also have other heroes you are known to play great as, like Windranger and Leshrac. Which heroes are your favorite?
Rubick, Windranger, PotM and Enigma. I like all of them.
What if I say you have to pick one?
Rubick it is.
What is next for you and Vici Gaming?
G-league champion.
You have gained quite a following, and are now very famous, especially among girls. What is your message to your fans, and do you have any shoutouts?
Thank you for all your support. Your support is what I am playing for.
