Interview with Tundra Esport’s Nine as they head to Seattle for The International 2023 (TI12).
In the last couple of years, the Dota 2 scene has undergone a major shakeup. A lot of the old guard has been left behind, and new teams have taken over. One of the best examples of this is Tundra Esports – a team that were stopped on the last step for TI10 qualification but came back strong to not just qualify, but win TI11. Heading into TI12, Tundra Esports found themselves in a weird spot, where they were forced into a roster change a few weeks before The International. Their previous mid player, Leon “Nine” Krilin, switched roles from mid to position 4 support to accommodate the new player in their roster, Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen. GosuGamers caught up with Nine to talk about Tundra’s mentality going into TI12, his transition from core to support and the new TI format, amongst other things.
Thank you for taking the time to talk with us, Nine! Is the team on a break after DreamLeague Season 21, or are you at a bootcamp?
Hello! We have been bootcamping since the start of September and played DreamLeague here.
We viewed DreamLeague as part of our practice, and therefore didn't take a big break afterwards.
When do you plan on travelling to the US? Will you be bootcamping there?
We are travelling to Seattle on the 1st of October and plan to continue bootcamping until TI12 starts!
Tundra Esports are going to The International as the defending champions, but you haven’t had the strongest of seasons. Is there a burden of expectations on your shoulders to repeat last year’s feat, or not so much?
We definitely want to defend our title and claim the Aegis again, however, this year might be a bit tougher than the last TI. This year, we have faced new problems that we need to overcome, one being our last-minute roster change due to Martin “Saksa” Sazdov’s health. Going into The International with a new roster, there is less pressure on us, as we are focused on doing the best we can instead of being focused purely on winning. For that reason, I would say there isn’t a burden on our shoulders.
Let’s get to the roster change Tundra just made – what brought the team to a decision that there would be a new mid coming in and you would switch to position 4?
We only looked at potential position 4’s in the beginning. However, our options were very limited and we wanted to have someone who is comfortable playing at TI. There are a lot of skilled players, but we did not want to risk getting a young talented player without experience to play their first TI with the defending Champions.
As we didn’t find an option we were comfortable with, I suggested that I play position 4 and we look for a mid laner instead. Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen was an obvious choice, so we contacted him and made it happen!
Do you and Topson discuss the mid role, or even play against each other to practice matchups? It must be an advantage to have two of the best mids in the game in one team!
We do not talk about the mid role too much. Obviously, if he wants my opinion on something, I can share my thoughts. I want to let him do whatever he is comfortable with, and I don’t want him to feel like there is another mid laner in the team. It's important to me that he has as much freedom as possible, so I just let him do things his way. With the switch to position 4, my main focus is continuing to learn my new role.
How do you like your switch to the position 4 role? What is the biggest change in mentality that you have had to undergo while making this switch?
Overall, the switch to position 4 has been very pleasant, I enjoy it a lot and I there is something new I learn every day. The biggest change in mentality is that I am in a support role now. Before I played to kill enemies, my focus now is on helping my cores as much as possible.
Team fighting has been very different as I have to look at my cores a lot, instead of just looking at the enemies and how I can kill heroes. There is also way less spotlight on supports, which was something I needed to get used to, but that happened very quickly.
Saksa mentioned on the ‘We Say Things’ podcast that he helps the team analyze replays. How much has he helped in your transition to the position 4 role?
I am very blessed to have Saksa and Kurtis “Aui” Ling (two of the best position 4’s in the history of Dota 2) as my coaches. They teach me a lot and when I feel lost. They help me understand my role in the game. I need to speed run this role, so I take all help that is given to me.
The DPC has been scrapped for the next season. What are your thoughts on that?
I really disliked the DPC as a player, so I am very happy about that. The seasons were just very slow and boring, always ending in tiebreakers anyway.
What do you think of the new TI format? Both, the group stages and the entire tournament. Is it a good thing or is it a bad thing to have all the breaks in between?
There are both positives and negatives to it. Breaks can interrupt a lot of momentum, which is bad for winning teams. However, it can also give more time to the losing teams to figure things out. Overall, it might lead to a more balanced competition because of that. Personally, I dislike the idea of having breaks in the tournament, as it can be very distracting.
I remember last year I was in a very good mentality, ready to play, and then suddenly there was a 4-day break where I was asked a lot of questions about winning TI in interviews. I just want to focus on the tournament and play. I don’t want to sit in my practice room for 4 days when I am in the middle of a tournament.
Dota 2 patch 7.34 was released a couple of months ago. Any big changes that you really like? Has the game improved from Dota 2 patch 7.33?
Patch 7.34 seems more interesting to me. The biggest change that I really like is the Drafting Order. Teams have to figure out the best way of drafting.
Do you think patch 7.34 is a good patch for TI? Any changes you would like to see in case there was a balance patch before the tournament began?
I really wish for a small balance patch before TI. Right now, there are a few heroes that are just too good, and I would love to see more balance, instead of just picking imba [imbalanced or overpowered] heroes at the start of the draft. Other than that, the patch is good!
