DM on Team Yandex: “A skilled team with great ideas for Dota”

To be honest, I didn’t feel any emotions. After all, emotions—at least for me personally—probably depend on the team. I mean, let’s say, at PARIVISION, the team had a more emotional atmosphere. I mean, there, people react more emotionally to wins, losses, and what happens in the game. Here, that’s not the case. Here, the emotional atmosphere is very calm. And when the emotional atmosphere is very calm, I’m exactly the same. So, honestly, there weren’t any huge emotions. Just a thought flashed through my mind, like, “Oh, nice,” nothing more. Like, there really weren’t any special thoughts.

...> The thing is, we were in the zone, we were focused, we played our game, and our game plan worked. And, well, that’s to be expected: if our game works, our ideas work, our drafts work, the early game goes as it should, the middle flows as it should, we make good decisions, we win. That’s to be expected. So, yeah, exactly those kinds of not-overwhelming emotions.

Yes, there were. There were two organizations, European teams—not entirely European, let’s put it that way. It was also a pretty good offer, but as it turned out, we ended up winning the tournament with Team Yandex. And when the offer from Team Yandex came, I prioritized that one. As for who made the offers and what exactly they were—I think it’s better to keep that behind the scenes; after all, you never know, I might cause some kind of, I don’t know, reputational damage to the teams. After all, there are players there now, and they’re sort of playing together, so I don’t want to say anything. [So, is this Tier 1?] It’s not the CIS region. And I guess you couldn’t exactly call it European either. The fact that it’s Tier 1 in its own region—yes. It’s just not the CIS; it’s Europe.

Probably, it’s just the team’s overall vibe. I really like that the team has a calm vibe. I mean, it’s not like we’re finishing a game and, I don’t know, there are people yelling things like, “Oh, it’s impossible to play against this hero.” Or like, “We just pulled off some unreal *** [nonsense] here.” Sorry for the language, but you get the point.

I really like the team’s mindset. That’s what I appreciate the most. Overall, though, it’s a skilled team with great ideas for Dota, excellent players, and pleasant personalities. It’s just nice to be around these guys.