Insania on lorenof: “He’s like a programmed NPC”

Quinn: I think there’s almost no chance MOUZ will make it through the qualifiers.

Cap: Is it really that bad?

Quinn: I’m just being honest. I think there’s almost no chance. It’s just statistically unlikely because, in my opinion, they’re roughly on par with any CIS team, and there are about eight of those. It’s a very tough qualifier.

Insania: Who’s their fifth man?

Quinn: Oh, it’s panto. “Fifth” is panto.

Insania: Okay, so panto, MidOne.

Quinn: yamich, BOOM, Crystallis.

Cap: They’re definitely on a downward trajectory.

Insania: I don’t think I’ve seen her in a while, and that’s a problem. That means things aren’t going very well for them.

Quinn: This hero’s laning phase is just broken. And all the melee “fives” are strong right now, so you need turrets, and Drow Ranger is good against most of those heroes. For example, Shadow Fiend is also strong, but Drow Ranger just destroys him. So that kind of evens things out. The only combo that held its own against her in a draw was Shadow Demon + Undying—and she won everything else.

Insania: I saw that, yeah, that was BetBoom Team, right? That was really weird because Undying isn’t usually seen as a good hero against Drow Ranger. I haven’t played much lately, so I can’t speak from a practical standpoint, but it seems to me that when Drow Ranger gets really strong, she almost always deserves the first pick. I remember a time when she was picked around ninth. That was around the time of the Lima Major.

Quinn: Yeah, she was incredibly strong back then.

Insania: And this hero falls into the category of those who, if you buff their stats just a little bit, become completely broken.

Quinn: My main question is about this Lorenof. To me, he’s the complete opposite of Nigma Galaxy. Nigma plays like a headless chicken that just runs into fights and has no idea how to farm; their economy is terrible. And Lorenof… In-game, even the laners are called “Lorenof laners” because he pushes mid and farms the lane behind the tower for 20 minutes. I don’t know how this will even work together. There might be a major conflict. Or maybe Lorenof will crack and become a rank 150 player, because there are two scenarios at Nigma: either you get worse because you accept their bad ideas, or you get kicked because you don’t agree with them.

Insania: I don’t think Lorenof can be reprogrammed. He’s the kind of player who, no matter what you tell him, will do things his own way anyway. I’ve played with him for many years, and in my opinion, he’s resistant to any changes Nigma tries to impose.

Cap: Maybe that’s why he’s such a good mercenary? He joins a team, and the team adapts to him, trying to bring out his style.

Insania: He’s like a programmed NPC. He always does the same thing. For him, the map consists only of mid and the two bases. And he’ll do that in every game. He doesn’t care. Maybe he’ll use Smoke of Deceit or teleport—against his will. If someone on his team gets up from their chair and walks up to him with a knife. But to be honest, I have more faith in this version of Nigma. They have SumaiL, who’s just returned and is motivated, which is rare. There’s lorenof, who won’t just do the stupid things others do. And there’s Davai, who can do strange things on his own. And it’s like a balance of chaos. The potential is there. I think they’ll play more through the offlane and make fewer chaotic decisions that No!ob used to initiate. He talked a lot and forced the team to act. So this will be a completely different team. It won’t resemble the previous version at all. And it has a very high ceiling, but also a very low floor.