Tsunami Interview: “According to my parents, the plan was to become a doctor”

Neal "Tsunami" Khandheria is most known by the Dota 2 community as a co-caster, panellist and most recently host. However, his journey in the content creation area started way long before he cast his first game.

Tsunami touched base with the Dota 2 community as a writer at first. His inclination towards entertaining an audience brought to life a few projects aimed to help the players to learn the game faster. howdoiplay.com is his own creation, he started his own YouTube channel, Relax You're Fine and has been fairly active on the Dota 2 subreddit back in the day, helping the community with hero tips and counters.

His road to becoming a panel host at The International was rather long and it featured multiple transitions, so we were curious to hear from him how it all happened. That, along with picking his brain on a few other topics, can be found in the interview we’ve been able to have with him at the Bali Major.

Hi, Tsunami, how do you find Bali, did you have time to relax and enjoy the surroundings?

Hi, this is actually my second time in Bali. My first time was a year ago, because after the Singapore TI, a couple of my friends decided this would be a cool vacation destination. We got a villa, it was like 12 of us there, and so I got to do all the monkey sanctuary stuff, the rafting thing. I'm glad that I got that out of the way last year because this year it has not been too convenient to do things with the weather that we are having.

Is Bali making it into a top 10 of the best locations you’ve been to for a tournament?

It's definitely one of the most glamorous. My very first Major was the Paris Disneyland one, and I was like "wow, I can't believe that esports events can be in these glamourous locations." Most of the tournaments are at a random arena and some auditorium or something like that, so Bali is definitely going up on that list of prestigious places that I never thought I would be able to talk Dota 2 at.

It’s been a while since you made your debut as a talent in the Dota 2 world, but it took quite some time before you switched gears from written content format to being in front of the camera. So walk us a bit through your journey.

My beginning in Dota 2 content creation was as a writer. I used to make this funny, comedian, but also informative articles on tips on how to play the heroes. Things that you would only know if you played the hero 100 times or watched a streamer. So, I made a compilation of that and it scratched the creation itch that I’ve always had. From there, I transitioned into YouTube and then I realized that you can't really make a career out of YouTube, at least not in the way I was doing it.

Around 2016 I started transitioning into casting, after that, in 2019, I got to work at my very first TI and I'd say probably over the last year and a half I've gone from being a co-caster or panellist into becoming a host.

Were you always interested in making a career for yourself in esports, or what was the plan when you were still a student?

According to my parents, the plan was to become a doctor. That definitely did not happen because, in the back of my mind, I always had a passion for the creative arts.

I have a degree in microbiology, but I had no interest what so ever making that a long-term thing. While I was pursuing esports on the side, my day job would be working at a lab, doing research. In the daytime, I would go to my job and be bored and then in my free time, I would enjoy casting Southeast Asian Dota.

If Dota would have never exited what other game do you think you would have picked?

My origin in competitive gaming is from the FPS genre so, way back when I started playing, it was Counter-Strike 1.5, after that, I got into TF 2, I was pretty good at Halo, but I never took that one seriously. If I had to choose another esports transition if Dota didn't exist, it will probably be Counter-Strike.

What’s your dearest memory related to Dota 2 and your career?

You probably hear a similar answer from most of the casters. Getting the invitation to my very first The International is a moment I will never forget. I vividly recall that I was at my lab research job and I got the email at like 2 am because I was working the night shift and my hands were shaking as I was reading it. It was starting with "We would like to invite you to The International," and I only saw the notification on my phone, I didn't even want to open the email because I was like "this is too good to be true." I ran out in the parking lot, I ran around in circles, thinking that this can't be happening.

TI is coming back to Seattle this year. What are your thoughts on that?

As a North American talent, I'm obviously very excited. The TIs I have worked on so far were TI9 -Shanghai, TI10 - Romania, and then TI11 held in Singapore, but with the talent in Norway. So, I am hoping that having a TI on home soil, if it happens with the panel in Seattle, may actually end up being the first event, the first time when my parents would actually be able to come by and watch me at work.

Do you think that not having the TI in the US for 4 editions had a negative impact on the NA scene and on the player pool there?

I wouldn't necessarily say so, because I can imagine that most people's motivation to play Dota or be competitive at Dota isn't TI location dependent. Western Europe never had a TI until TI10. There is a reason it's called The International. Everyone wants to participate, no matter where they're from.

Bali Major struggled a bit in terms of viewership, what would you say is the reason?

I imagine that part of it is due to the time zone difference. As we saw from the group stage of this event, SEA Dota is not doing too well, and so, with three teams from the home region getting eliminated, if that's your time zone, if you are from Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and you have no teams to root for, then I imagine you don't tune in as much anymore. For me, for example, if I would be at home, I would either have to wake up very early, which I don't do because I'm not a morning person. The more likely scenario would be that I stay up until 3 am, watch the first series and then go to bed and miss an entire day at the major.

So, time zone would be the first excuse for me, and then probably the production value is having a little bit of an impact too, with all the delays and pauses and whatnot.

What's the biggest satisfaction of your career?

Making hosting my new home. I think as a panelist or co-caster I would eventually burn out on the game. I love Dota, but I kind of love making shows and being able to be entertaining and that's not quite valued in a co-caster or analyst role. For those, you are supposed to be a Dota 2 nerd and there are people who are so much better than me in that area. So, I enjoy being able to do my silly bits and make people laugh.

Who would you say it's the most entertaining player?

The one that pops into my mind right now is SabeRLight-. He understands what it is to be good at Dota, but also give something for players and fans to latch onto. Whether is just your stream personality or your funny interviews.

Who is the GOAT in Dota 2?

It would be hard to come up with a different answer than Puppey. This is a discussion that often times comes up and the two names that are most frequently passed around are Puppey and Notail.

I give it to Puppey purely for longevity. Notail definitely has more achievements overall, but Puppey from being here not just from the beginning of Dota 2, but even the Warcraft III era, all the way up to TI1 and being at the top of the game for that long is something that can't be denied.

Which Dota 2 player do you respect the most?

I would give it to one of the OG boys, either Notail or Ceb because their journey was probably the most publicised. They were always in front of the camera, you would watch the drama unfolding, you would see it all, and yet they still persevered and moved through and made great accomplishments. I think a lot of the players would have been discouraged and not been able to continue pursuing their dreams after the setbacks that Notail and Ceb faced.

Check the video below to see what Tsunami, Sheever, SirActionSlacks, BSJ, Arteezy, Panda, Sheepsticked, and Capitalist, and have to say to you and to Valve at the 10-year anniversary since Dota 2 was officially released.

Tsunami Interview: “According to my parents, the plan was to become a doctor”

Neal "Tsunami" Khandheria is most known by the Dota 2 community as a co-caster, panellist and most recently host. However, his journey in the content creation area started way long before he cast his first game.

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