Team Spirit are back in their true TI10 champions form and they seem to have found the opportune moment to get back in shape.
With just two months before TI12, Team Spirit won their first big tournament of the year, Riyadh Masters 2023, and last week they also claimed the DreamLeague Season 21 title.
Ahead of the DreamLeague Season 21 we’ve been fortunate to get to talk to Team Spirit’s offlane player, Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov who told us what the schedule for him and his teammates looks like:
"Pubs, practice, scrims, pubs, scrims, some more practice. Every day from now to TI looks like that - Collapse”
Team Spirit went with the main goal of taking DreamLeague as the best opportunity to practice against some of the best teams that will also be at TI12 while making sure they give their all to win the tournament, as Collapse would say to us. We tried to find out from him who are the teams to beat before The International 2023, what expectations Team Spirit have for this year’s edition and what changed for them in the past couple of months that allowed them to finally regain their true form.
"We need to practice a lot before The International, so we take this event as a very good opportunity to practice against some of the best teams that will be at TI12, but we would very much like to win the tournament - Collapse”
Who is the biggest competitor, the team that you see as the biggest competitor now that we are just a few weeks before TI?
Tundra Esports
Is it because of their new addition in the mid lane or because with or without Topson, they are one of the teams that give you a hard time?
We see them as one of the strongest teams in Western Europe and we really want to play and test ourselves against them.
If we look back at the whole season, none of the Majors went well for Team Spirit. You haven't been showing your true form until Riyadh Masters 2023. What changed with that tournament?
Mainly the drafts. With the new patch, we also got a lot of our heroes back in the meta. We had very good strategies for the first phase of the draft and almost always we've been able to pick my hero in the first phase of the draft at Riyadh.
I would say that a lot depends on me because now I have all my heroes in the meta, or at least this is how things went at Riyadh Masters. That was an easy and fun event for me to play.
You just mentioned the drafting strategy used in Riyadh. The biggest change of the 7.34 patch was the drafting order, do you like the new formula, or did you actually prefer the old one?
I don't know yet if we like it or not. It's definitely a big change and it's also very new. It's something we need to adapt to. I don't think we ever had these many bans in the first phase before. It's all too soon to say if I like it or not.
DreamLeague is actually also a good opportunity to get used to this new order and practice as much as possible the drafting stage. maybe some teams have already prepared some strategies for this new draft formula, we will see.
How do you like the offlane right now?
Offlane right now is probably in the best place it has been through the entire year. It's definitely better than what it was when we had the aura build meta. Now it feels like you have more freedom in what hero you need for offlane. If you feel like you need a hero that buys Pipe, Crimson, etc you can play around with that, of course, but if you don't need those items for your overall strategy, you have so much freedom, so I like how the offlane is now.
Who would you say it's the most annoying duo to play against in the offlane
Skiter and Sneyking.
So again, Tundra, you really have a thing with this team right?
Yes, we really want to take some wins against them.
Along with the small balancing patches we had in the last few weeks, we also got quite a few bugs in the game. Valve has been great at fixing a lot of them, but are there any still left in the game that might be considered game-breaking and should really be fixed before TI?
I just hope we can get rid of the Wraith King bugs. To be honest, I didn't notice any bugs in the past week, so maybe they are all fixed now.
TI12 will probably have a smaller prize pool than what we are used to seeing every year, and definitely a smaller one than the TI10, which you won. Does the prize pool matter at all for you, will you feel less motivated if it's a way smaller amount than what you anticipate?
To me personally, the trophy is what matters the most. A second Aegis would be pretty good for me and for us all. That's what we are after, that's what we want. We don't care about the prize pool, all that that matters is a second Aegis.
This will be the first time when you will go to Seattle for The International. Does the fact that TI is returning home this year make it more exciting for you than any other TI edition?
To be honest, I’ve always wanted to play there. I thought about it many times. For me, Seattle is the home of Dota 2 and Key Arena is the home of The International. I really want to see the Key Arena, to be there.
[ed. note: Key Arena is now named Climate Pledge Arena]
Has winning TI10 put extra pressure on you as a team moving into the next season?
Not really. I would say that at some point after TI10, we faced a really big problem with our drafts and we have also been having problems with individual form. We had a period when we couldn't prepare as well or as much as we usually do before a tournament. That was also something that had an impact on our performance, of course.
You are one of the first teams that decided to relocate immediately after the war started. It's been a bit more than a year since you moved to Serbia, how did you adapt to a new life there?
I feel like this place has become a home for me. It's my second home, I'm able to chill here now. Every time I play in a tournament, when I think that I'll be going back home I'm thinking of Serbia.
You won Riyad Masters very recently and if you win DreamLeague Season 21 you will head into TI12 with a huge target on your back. Are you ok going into a tournament like TI as a favourite or would you prefer the underdog status, as you had at TI10?
I prefer the underdog status for sure. If you go as a favourite, everyone depends on you. People will have certain expectations from you and if you lose just one game, they will hate you so much. Going as an underdog it's the easiest way because nobody will expect anything from you.
Thank you for sharing all these with us and for taking the time to talk to us. We wish you the best of luck at TI12, don't think about the favourite or underdog status, just have a wonderful time there and achieve your dreams in the Climate Pledge Arena.
