GosuGamers met up with Talon core players Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon and Rafli "Mikoto" Fathur Rahman at The International 2023.
The action has taken a break at The International 2023. Between the group stage and the first phase of the playoffs, teams have the chance to refine their strategies and mentally prepare for the next part of the journey on the road to The International.
The event has already seen its share of upsets and excitement.
One such storyline belongs to Talon Esports. Right when it seemed that the SEA team might be eliminated from Group D of the TI12 group stage phase one with a 0:4 start, the team showed resolve to end with a score of 4-4 by winning their next two series.
That set them up against one of the strongest teams of the season, Gaimin Gladiators, in phase two of the group stage.
Talon Esports secured an upper bracket slot at TI12, banishing Gaimin Gladiators to the lower bracket with a 2:1 victory over the TI favorites.
It isn't the first time Talon overpowered Gaimin Gladiators in recent memory. Three months ago Talon Esports ended Gaimin Gladiators' reign of terror to secure the top 3 at the Riyadh Masters. Until this point, GG had won all five premier Dota 2 tournaments of the 2022-2023 season.
The current Talon Esports roster was completed almost a year ago, including the addition of coach Lee "SunBhie" Jeong-Jae and the team has yielded strong results for the most part since. They secured their place at TI with an 8th-place finish in the DPC with 1120 points.
We had a chance to meet up with core players Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon and Rafli "Mikoto" Fathur Rahman in Seattle to chat about their group stage experience, their next opponents in the playoffs, and their thoughts about the new patch.
Their next series is the upper bracket quarter-finals.
Team Liquid
vs
Talon Esports Friday, October 20th at 22:00 CEST
23Savage and Mikoto Interview with GosuGamers at The International 2023
Congratulations on securing an upper bracket seeding. Can imagine how it would feel to overpower one of the favorites. Can you tell us a bit about your plan of attack once you learned you would have to play Gaimin Gladiators?
23Savage: I think it's just normal. We don't really feel anything special about any of the teams, so just need to play our game.
Mikoto: (nods) Also the same. I think we played all of the teams at the same level. I feel like they are all pretty good teams, so we just play our own game.
What happened and changed from your difficult start in the group stage so that you could get in the upper brackets?
23Savage: I think we changed the strategy we play. We put Q on certain heroes and life is easier (laughs).
Mikoto: I think we just changed a few heroes in our draft, and then we just tried to make it a little different than we used to do and be.
Do you think Team Liquid will be a harder opponent than GG was?
Mikoto: For me, of course. It is because we lost so many times against Liquid but I hope we will make a story against them.
23savage: Yeah, I think they are of course the highest values to our team because they always beat us but, we just need to play well and we'll win it.
You have a different status at this year’s TI compared to last year. Many see you as favourites given the strong year that you had. Is this adding extra pressure on the team?
23Savage: No, I don't think we have any pressures.
Mikoto: I think all of us don't really feel the pressure, even though the SEA fans are cheering for us a lot. We are just comfortable.
23Savage: Because we don't hear anyone (laughs).
Talon is the only remaining SEA team at TI12. Does that bring added pressure to represent the entire region and carry their hopes?
23Savage: Don't care, we just play for ourselves.
What does SEA need to do to get back up there as one of the strongest regions?
Mikoto: Find a good captain and maybe also a good coach. I think all the SEA players have good mechanical skills but they need a captain/leader, need someone to teach them about the game.
23savage: Yeah I agree.
Mikoto: Jabz and SunBhie have been teaching us a lot.
What would be a result that you would be content with here in Seattle?
23savage: Top 3? I think I will be happy.
Mikoto: Yeah, top 3.
Last year you weren’t able to have your coach from back then with you in Singapore for TI11.
This year you have SunBhie with you. How important is it to have the coach with you and how having SunBhie joining Talon changed the team dynamics?
23savage: I think it's really important because coaches are a really important part of strategies... like they plan the draft and how the enemy plays. So, I think coaches are really needed. And SunBhie helped us a lot because he's really nerdy about the game, he keeps learning new stuff about the game and keeps telling us, while we don't really study much, but he studies so much.
Mikoto: He said it all.
Do you like the meta right now? Have the recent balance patches made a big difference?
Mikoto: I personally don't like this patch. People are just buying Heart every game and it's hard to throw if you buy Heart.
23savage: I think the game is kind of boring now because people just keep farming for 30 minutes and then fight. So, I think that should change to like before - when you could make a lot of fights before 15 minutes and onwards.
What do you think of this year’s TI format? Do you like the breaks, or would it be better to have the tournament in one go?
Mikoto: For me, I would prefer it in one go. I think it's just I feel like we have so much time and so many days of break between the group stage and playoffs.
23savage: It's just boring to stay in the hotel. I think we just wanna play and get it over with.
Mikoto: I don't mind the seeding, I think it's quite decent.
23Savage, this is your third TI overall, and first TI in Seattle. Does this year feel different in any way, is there any special feeling attached to the fact that TI has returned home this year?
23savage: I think the first two times I was quite excited, but this time I'm not really excited. But it's not because of the location, I think it's just I played more and became more calmer.
You haven’t played your signature Morphling in the group stage until the very last game with Gaimin Gladiators. Have you lost your faith in this hero, or why didn’t you get to play it more?
23Savage: I think it's just not so good in this patch. It can be picked only on certain matchups.
How do you like the hero pool for the carry role in the current meta?
23Savage: I think it's kind of boring. I want the last patch like Void, Morphling, and Terrorblade.
Who’s your Dota 2 role model player?
23Savage: (without a second of hesitation) Ceb
Mikoto: Miracle
A team that inspired you to become a pro player?
23Savage: (again without a second of hesitation) OG
Mikoto: OG, they were pretty good
How do you like the implementation of the Behaviour Score? What's your Behaviour Score?
23Savage: I have a 12k behaviour score, I think the system is good, it makes people less toxic.
Mikoto: I have 12k also. I don't mind the new system. It makes the game much better.
Did you struggle with the new Behavior and Communication score system?
23Savage: Nope, I'm a nice guy.
Mikoto: (laughing) Mmmm maybe. You can not ping the people that died... its quite annoying.
What's your take on smurfing? What do you think of surfing?
23Savage: I think it's normal. It's going to happen. There are some people that are good at the game and they want to play with their friends. But it's not like you should always do that. But for me, sometimes I'm bored and I want to play with my high school friends so, I just have no choice when I want to play with friends.
Mikoto: Maybe it could be changed somehow. A lot of pro players have too high of MMR and the queue is so long that you need to play under another account to make it easier. I think there is something that can be changed still.
Did you get a smurf account banned?
Mikoto: I haven't.
23Savage: I haven't... I haven't played since the new patch
Do you think banning all smurfs worked in your games?
Mikoto: It helps for a new player, but it doesn't help for us, the pro players because we need to play on smurf for a few heroes.
23Savage: (nodding in agreement) Yeah.
