Iceberg on Cheshir and DKLana: “Nikita and Rusia helped me remember what IRL is all about.”
Former Team Spirit player Bogdan “Iceberg” Vasilenko spoke in an interview with the club’s YouTube channel about Ayrat “Silent” Gaziev and Ruslana “DKLana” Berest, and also explained why his interest in Dota 2 has waned.
On his relationship with Team Spirit’s CEO
By the way, here’s a funny fact: they kicked me out, but Nikita [Cheshir] let me stay at bootcamp, and I played with Team Spirit’s bootcamp for over a month after that. That’s how well we got along.
On playing with Silent
I always really enjoyed playing with Ayrat because he was calm, pragmatic, and cool-headed. I was the opposite, and he would slow me down a bit, cool me off. I’d say he’s the second person after Nikita who taught me so, so much in Dota 2.
On Team Spirit and DKLana
Spirit is like a family. For me, Ruslan [DKLana], just like Nikita, is like an older brother or older sister. They instilled so many qualities in me outside of Dota.
Ruslana once recommended—I still remember it—Dawkins’ book *The Selfish Gene*, which I even reread from time to time to see how my worldview is changing. Ruslana also helped me a great deal and instilled a lot in me. When we flew to Lima, we went to Peru, and after that we went to Machu Picchu—one of the wonders of the world. I remember it fondly because we were there and on Isla de Muerte. There were so many moments like that. It’s hard to recall specific conversations, but I remember the vibe, and it was really, really cool.
It’s only thanks to them that I’ve been able to look at everything I do—and everything happening around me—from a different perspective. They’ve helped me a lot, of course, in that regard.
On my waning interest in Dota 2
Most likely, this was a sign that Dota was becoming less interesting to me. IRL [Real life. — Ed.] is, after all, much more interesting to me right now than living inside a computer. Basically, as a kid, I played sports and wasn’t very interested in computers. The only game that really caught my interest was Dota. For the next five years after I discovered Dota, I didn’t stop playing it. I had already forgotten what the outside world was like. Nikita and Rusia helped me remember what IRL is. After that, I gradually started getting back into IRL.
Earlier, Iceberg explained the reason for his removal from Team Spirit’s second roster: “We just didn’t click; that happens. So the second split wasn’t particularly hard. After that kick, I competed at The International”
Photo — Bohdan “Iceberg” Vasilenko.
