Fly interview at TI 2024: “Hopefully, we can ride that underdog story”

We sat down with Tal "Fly" Aizik in Copenhagen to discuss nouns’ progress and expectations heading into The International 2024.

nouns delivered the biggest upset in the Decider Series by taking down in a clean sweep the defending Champions, Team Spirit, who until that point were the only team with a spotless 6-0 group stage run.

Ahead of the group play, Fly’s eyes were already set on Group D, as it was the group from where nouns would get their opponent for the deciders. We had the chance to talk with him as nouns were just about to embark on the Road to The International as the only North American team present at the most important tournament of the year.

Hi Fly and thanks for taking the time to talk to us given the packed schedule. Speaking of the schedule, you’ve been at the previous two TIs with the long breaks between stages. How do you like this year’s format?

I personally like his year's format where everything is a little more compact. I think having a break is ok, but not for too long. A week-long break between the different stages was a little too long for me. I like this year’s format as it's nice to just keep playing, especially if you are on a good momentum.

Are you happy with your group draw?

In this GSL format, because no team actually gets knocked out, the group stage isn't as crucial as some of the other tournament formats. So, honestly, the most important match is the one after the group stage and for us, it will be someone from Group D. In that sense, I think we actually have a hard group.

Earlier this year, at PGL Wallachia you talked about “realistic goals” and taking things step by step in terms of team improvement. How is nouns today compared to the beginning of the year?

nouns today is definitely in a different spot. We lost most of the qualifiers this year to Shopify, but after actually improving little by little, we were able to beat them and qualify for Riyadh and for TI. So, I definitely think we are better now. I wouldn't say that we are at the top echelon of teams, but hopefully, we can kind of ride that underdog story.

Obviously, everyone comes to TI to win it, but with what other result would you be content this year?

This is a tough question because truly, as a competitor if you're not first place, you're probably not content. However, based on this year's results and on how I feel about us compared with the best teams right now, I think getting top 6 would be nice. But, you know the 1st place, that's what everyone should be content with.

From the outside, it looks like there was a significant push forward after you welcomed a new coach. You are one of the most experienced captains in the scene, how are you getting along with Milan and how has he impacted the work you guys put in?

Having Milan has been a great help because before he joined I was kind of doing most of the work, I was having two roles. I was the captain and the coach of the team and I was a little overwhelmed by everything that I had to do and it showed in my personal performance. I played worse before Milan joined.

For me individually, it was extremely helpful having him and he is also the type of coach who can be pretty strict about things. Whenever we make mistakes he points them out in a good way and we were able to make our fundamentals better. Milan is also a very smart Dota mind, which is always great to have on your team.

You have some fairly new faces on the team. Yuma and Copy are making their TI debut, how do you guys cope with the excitement and the stress TI puts on the newer players?

I personally find it kind of nice to be able to witness them experience TI for the first time. I had that a long time ago, but seeing someone else experience it is nice. I don't see any signs of nervousness or anything like that in them, and I think they will be ok and if they need help, there are plenty of people on the team, including myself who can guide them through it. But, honestly, the guys will be totally ok.

photo credits: Valve

After all these years in the competitive scene do you ever get stressed before big matches?

I wouldn’t say I get stressed, but there’s definitely nerves. I usually feel it the most in the first match of a tournament and then I kind of ease into it. After a game or two, you realize you are doing the same thing you’ve done for years on end, you are just playing another Dota game and in the end, whatever happens, happens, so just enjoy the moment.

What is the most exciting thing about being a Dota 2 pro player?

I get to travel to so many cool places. That’s nice! I’ve been fortunate enough to be around the entire world, so that’s cool.

What makes Dota 2 so special and different from other esports titles?

Dota as a game has this sort of infinite skill cap where you can never be good enough. There is always something else you could do. I think there is not a single game in anyone’s career that was actually a perfect game. That thing doesn’t exist. So, that on top of very complicated strategies where you can play different heroes all the time, makes Dota unique.

Speaking of the game's complexity, what are your thoughts on the addition of facets?

I like the addition of facets. It’s always fun to have to relearn the game, and there are so many new little things. There are some good facets, there are some really bad ones. For instance, my favourite one before it got nerfed was the Dying Light from Phoenix. It was very funny to walk around and just burn down everybody.

Are you happy with 7.37 and did the small balance updates change things up enough?

7.37 has definitely been the whole aura and grouping up gameplay that we've seen Gaimin Gladiators being really good at. There have been little tweaks in the recent updates, for sure, and some of the most popular heroes, for example, Omniknight and Tinker, have received some nerfs. Was it enough to make them not a part of the TI meta? I'm personally not sure yet.

All I have is data from the public games I play and the scrims I play and I feel like there are a lot of unexplored heroes in the current meta. It's definitely going to be one of those metas where you will have a lot of auras and grouping up and healing, and probably a lot of the games will end faster. But we might see some teams coming with a different style, teams that might go more for the late-game scenarios. I think both options are viable and will definitely see new heroes.

It’s been a while since NA Dota hasn’t been in good shape. How do we resuscitate the NA scene, what should happen for North America Dota to get a revival?

Oh man, NA Dota is definitely struggling. Nobody really plays the server anymore, everyone just plays Europe. South America is playing Europe, NA is playing Europe. It's tough. I think Dota is in a situation where we will not going to see an influx of new NA players, realistically.

I am not really sure how you would revive the NA scene. Maybe some tournaments having two slots for the NA region for potentially other teams out there would be helpful. I think having organisations coming into NA would be probably the biggest thing, honestly. Any sort of organisation that is willing to support NA players at the core of it, so three NA players plus whoever else, would go a long way.

Well, I hope you have a great time in Denmark, enjoy the road to TI and I hope we get to see you and nouns on the Royal Arena stage next week!

Thank you!