Bach Interview: “I simply can't enjoy mobile games”

Ahead of DreamLeague Season 22 we had the chance to chat with Zhang "Bach" Ruida and learn more about what made him return to the competitive scene and why he changed his nickname.

After a top 6 finish with LGD Gaming at The International 2022 in Singapore, Zhang "Faith_bian" Ruida announced his retirement on the OG Monkey Business Show. He moved to Europe and through the whole 2023 year he made just two appearances on the talent desks at ESL One Berlin and Riyadh Masters. However, a bit more than a year into his retirement, the TI6 Champion made his return. He joined Azure Ray at the beginning of 2024 and has already played a couple of LAN events under the Bach nickname.

We were curious to learn more about his decision to return to the competitive scene and what are his thoughts on why the Chinese scene lacks new talent coming to Dota 2.

When you retired, you announced your intention to learn piano so you could play Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations. Did you do that?

I'm still learning, but I'm too bad at it. I only learnt the first aria. I'm trying to practice, but sometimes it's hard because of my schedule, I can't really keep the everyday practice going.

Is this why you changed your name from Faith_bian to Bach?

Yes, and because after being on the OG Monkey Business Show I realized that N0tail's name is Johan, Ceb's name is Sebastian, and, you know, the composer's name is Johan Sebastian Bach. So after that show, I said, ok, I can be Bach.

I'm looking forward to the day when Johan Sebastian Bach will become a project or why not a Dota 2 team featuring you, N0tail and Ceb.

Haha, I have known the guys for a long time now, I would say that we are friends by now. They are great players and kind people.

What made you decide to return, was it a specific tournament, did your friends or someone in the scene convince you to do it?

It's a bit more complex. I am 25 years old and I don't know for how long I can keep playing. This is a job that I know I can do right now, maybe I won't be able to do it past 30 years old. There are many things that happened to me in the past year that made me think about a comeback. I was invited to join teams multiple times during my retirement, but this time, after talking with my family and after seeing who was on the roster, I decided to give it a try.

I know you were actually looking to move to Europe and start a new life with your wife in Germany. Did you move back to China when you joined Azure Ray?

Yes, I did because we need to play Chinese qualifiers. My wife still works in Germany, so we have to live separately this year.

Why is the Chinese scene lacking new, young talent? Why are young kids not falling in love with Dota anymore in your region?

That's a good question. I am also wondering why. I don't have too much research on it, I can only answer from what I see happening. The young kids are playing mobile games and Dota is too complex and too hard for them to pick up.

Did you try any of the mobile Mobas?

No, I prefer to play some indie games in my spare time, or some good PC games. I simply can't enjoy mobile games.

They say that every loss is a lesson. What did you learn as a team from your recent losses, and what would be some of the changes you guys want to make moving forward?

I think the whole process is the biggest lesson for us. BetBoom Dacha Dubai was our first international LAN and we didn't have a coach with us. So besides that, we just need to play better because in a lot of games, we lost because of some micro things that we messed up, or some bad positioning.

A total of three DreamLeague events will be part of the 2024 ESL Pro Tour as well as two ESL One LAN tournaments. DreamLeague Season 21 and ESL One Kuala Lumpur, which took place towards the end of 2023, were already a part of the current EPT.

Azure Ray took the championship title, but swapped three players on their roster in between EPT events, and per ESL rule book, that wiped all their points. Unfortunately, they were also eliminated early from DreamLeague Season 22, at the end of the first group stage.