Nix on getting emeralds while retreating to a small camp: “That’s exactly why the safe lane is way more overpowered.”
Community caster Alexander “Nix” Levin explained during a stream what the advantage of the soft lane is and why he wouldn’t want to work as a coach.
On the advantage of the soft lane after the change to the spawn time of the Emeralds
Do you know why Small is being pushed as early as possible right now? <...> Yes, because of the neutral creeps—that’s exactly right. Your carry needs to come over and farm Small. He gets six Emeralds as quickly as possible, and after that, you become three times stronger on the lane. In fact, Dire doesn’t have an alternative like this on the off-lane. That’s exactly why the safe lane is much more overpowered.
If you convert resources into gold mathematically, you’ll see: let’s say there’s a Vitality Booster that gives 250 health for 1,000 gold—so two Vitality Boosters equal 500 health. 500 health is worth 2,000 gold. Look at what that *** [idiot] on the dev team—just because he’s “Guardian-2”—added to the game: You can get the Ash Legion Shield, which essentially gives you a [barrier against] 320 physical damage—that is, 320 HP—plus 110 from the Brawny charm you receive. That’s 430 HP, meaning you get about 1,800 gold for free by the fourth minute.
Do you see the difference? Let’s say you’re playing against top-tier players, and the devs give you 1,800 gold so that even a low-skill player can play Dota, and suddenly your effective HP jumps to 430. Do you see how broken that is? And Yatoro, because he’s a skilled player, already has the first-tier neutral kill by the fifth minute, because these guys are a Tier 1 team, and they understand how Dota works. If you look, for example, Yandex, who won the last tournament hands-down, they abused the cooldown and dominated their lanes because of it. That’s why it’s really strange to watch teams like VP.P, who are on a contract and don’t understand these things.
On coaching
“San, would you agree to become Team Spirit’s coach?” No way. Well, for one tournament—sure. But you understand that being a coach is just as much of a job as… Let me put it this way: coaching is harder work than playing.
On the Decline in the Number of Standout Players Worth Following
Back in the day, there were so many personalities who were a blast to watch. Now on the international scene, there are very few—people with that certain aura. You understand that any sport, and esports in particular, is always more about specific individuals than about teams.
Take NAVI, for example—a legendary Dota tag with the most *** [incredible] achievements, accolades, and so on. Their brand had such *** [enormous] clout that no matter what roster they put together, people would come and start watching their matches, and viewership would skyrocket immediately.
On the European TI qualifiers
Tell me, is it even bearable to watch four bo3s like that *** [crap] in a day? I don’t know; I enjoy watching Counter-Strike. Does nobody want to change anything? Does nobody see this besides me? Why do they focus on CS and Deadlock? There used to be an argument: “San, they don’t focus on Dota because it’s Valve—they *** [don’t care].” Well, I have a counterargument: “Why do they focus on CS and Deadlock?”
Former esports player Yaroslav “NS” Kuznetsov previously spoke out about Dota 2’s decline in popularity. “Everyone’s already *** [fed up] with Dota; seriously, no one can just play it anymore, while CS is only getting more popular,” he noted.
Photo by Alexander “Nix” Levin.
