KuroKy on Miracle-: “To me, he’s the best player of all time. There’s no question about it.”

Back in the day, some kind of monster would emerge every year. Every year, we had to deal with a new monster. In 2014, Arteezy and zai came along, along with all those guys from HoN—s4, ppd, Universe. Then SumaiL showed up and just destroyed everyone. After that came Miracle-, Topson, ana, and from China—Maybe. Every year, players like that would emerge; new teams would be built around them, and they’d start dominating. <…>

In recent years—it’s been just ATF and Satanic. There are great players like bzm and Pure, but I’m talking about those incredible players who, if they want to, can stay in the game for more than ten years and still dominate. If they wanted to play right now and took it seriously, they’d dominate. They’d perform very well. If Miracle- wanted to play today, he’d dominate today. He just doesn’t want to. It’s the same story with zai.

Our personal relationship has always been excellent. I literally spoke with him just a couple of days ago. We have a very strong bond. Guys, every year I ask him to come back to the game. I tell him, “Play. You don’t have to play for this team. Just play. It doesn’t matter where—go anywhere and play.” I told him, “You’ll be successful. You’ve got what it takes. For me, it’s not even up for debate.” And he replies, “No, I don’t want to.”

I think I did my part. I asked him. But he’s lost all his motivation and passion—he just doesn’t care anymore. It’s very sad. Now there’s Yatoro, a three-time champion. You look at him and see a man with a purpose. He’s hungry for victory; he’s magnificent; he has immense talent. Miracle could have been among those players, too.

I don’t need to talk about his Dota skills. To me, he’s the best player of all time. It’s not even up for debate. He inspired other players more than anyone else. There’s no other pro who was looked up to so much or praised so highly. Ask anyone from that era—they’ll tell you, “I look up to Miracle-. I learn from Miracle-.”

And there was something else about his gameplay that we’re missing even among new players today: he was incredibly fun to watch. That’s a very rare quality. There was something special about his style, the way he played and pulled off difficult plays. People loved it. We loved it. We’d be playing together, he’d pull off his miracles, and we’d sit there thinking, “What on earth is going on?” <…> We’d all just be playing and thinking, “Yeah, that’s our teammate. Oh my God.”

And he did it over and over again. It wasn’t a one-time thing. Once a month, he’d pull off some absolutely insane game. He’d be doing something on his own out there, while we were farming creeps. I’d be buying items, checking when wards would spawn, or doing something else, and he’d be pulling off something like that. Playing with him was amazing. He was the one who held the team together.

He’s a wonderful person. And it really is a loss for the scene. Not just that he stopped playing, but also that, unfortunately, he was pretty private and didn’t show that side of himself. Guys, you would have loved him even more. He’s such a funny guy, but the public almost never saw that side of him.

Even in this interview, you can see a little bit of it—just a few glimpses. But if he were to let his guard down, he’d make absolutely everyone laugh. For me, it was always a shame that he didn’t show that side of himself. But in a way, his approach was similar to mine: keeping more of his personal life private and not drawing too much attention to himself.