Loda on “Rat Dota”: “We actually took it from MOUZ”

To be honest, going there was crazy. That’s when I realized just how big esports already was and how much bigger it would become. …> I’m talking about my trip to China in 2009. It was an experience that made me see myself in a different light: fans recognized me on the streets in downtown Beijing. I thought they were going to rob me, but they asked for an autograph. And I was like, “What, me? How do you even know who I am?” It just didn’t make sense to me.

They’d already come so far, the production value was so high—both the fans and the professional players… After that, I took another long break from Dota because I thought, “Wow, how long will it be before something like this happens in Europe? We’re so far behind that it’s not even worth continuing with this. I know how things could be, but we’re not at that level yet. And I need to figure out what to do with my life.”

I played on a European team with Pajkatt, MiSeRy, and even Lacoste—he’s a commentator now. But I was really upset… I don’t know, maybe I was going through a rough patch in my life; I’m not sure. It constantly annoyed me to play with people who had a negative attitude, whined a lot, and flamed. I was just really tired of wasting my energy on arguments. That’s why, at first, I had very mixed feelings about Dota.

I remember being in Ukraine at a tournament in Kyiv. We got knocked out, I think, in fourth or fifth place. I sat there thinking, “What the hell am I doing? How did I end up here again, on these teams? We’re arguing about the same nonsense all over again, and after the tournament we’ll be discussing who to kick off the team.”

I really love Dota, but back then, in a way, I felt lost. Then Kelly convinced me to move to Singapore and play for the Singaporean team Zenith. Before that, I’d met one of their key players, Hyhy, and maybe iceiceice. I knew they were really good players, and, to be honest, I needed a change of scenery. <…>

My time at Zenith was a very, very important part of my career. I think it was what ultimately led me to come back and win the Aegis. Honestly, it taught me a great deal. And it made me fall in love with Dota all over again.

Throughout my career, coming up with new strategies and styles has always been a crucial part of everything. That’s what excites me the most, what I’m most proud of: truly breaking the game. Zenith did something very similar. They were completely crazy—in a good way. Back then, China was very strong, and they reminded me—and in some ways taught me—that you can’t go to The International and beat China by playing their Dota. If you play their game, you won’t win.

So when we created Alliance—or rather, it started out as No Tidehunter—that undoubtedly became the foundation of our team: we’re going to break the game. We picked up things from others very quickly—things whose power they might not even have realized themselves. Even “Rat Dota”—I’ll tell you, we actually took that from MOUZ.

I think it was qojqva or Black—one of those players. We beat every team, but for some reason, every time we went to ESL, we’d face MOUZ somewhere in the quarterfinals and just get knocked out. They always played against us with that awful style. After one of those tournaments—I don’t remember if we were already Alliance or still No Tidehunter—we decided: “You know what? This is the worst thing I’ve ever experienced in a competitive match. I absolutely hate this. I hate this style.

Let’s adopt it ourselves and make everyone else feel like they aren’t even allowed to play. Let them leave the game so frustrated that they won’t even want to play the next one, because it infuriates them so much that we don’t even engage them in combat.”