The biggest regret of his career and a fight at Wings before The International 2016—highlights from ALL CHAT with Bach

Vici Gaming offlaner Zhang “Bach” Zhuidi spoke on the ALL CHAT podcast about the loss to Yakutou Brothers in the qualifiers for The International 2026, his biggest career regret, the best Dota 2 offlaner, and the team feud within Wings Gaming leading up to their victory at TI 2016. Here’s a quick rundown of the highlights in our article.

Bach admitted that he rationally understood the team’s poor performance in the qualifiers, but deep down he remained confident in their ultimate victory—even when the odds were estimated at 99 to 1. Podcast host Quinn “Quinn” Callahan noted that he was familiar with that feeling from his own experience, while Austin “Cap” Walsh remarked that he had already heard about this kind of intuition from several players and asked about its nature. Quinn explained it as a combination of experience, intuition, and a kind of self-suggestion: if a person sincerely believes in a certain outcome, they instinctively begin to play and act in ways that bring that outcome closer.

Zhang said that many consider his loss in the final of The International 2021 to be his biggest regret, but upon taking a more honest look at himself, he named something else—the years when he failed to qualify for TI at all, particularly while playing for EHOME and Azure Ray, where he had strong and close teammates like Cty and fy. It is precisely the inability to play with them at the tournament that he considers his true biggest regret.

Bach named Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf as the best active offlaner, noting that he looks up to him and that his play has changed Bach’s own perception of the role—primarily thanks to his strong performances on Bristleback, Razor, and Mars, which allows him to turn even poor counter-picks around. Bach added that previously, while playing for Wings and LGD, he considered the draft to be the decisive factor, but after watching ATF play, he concluded that modern Dota 2 has become so much more complex that execution plays an equally important role.

Zhuidi recalled the boot camp after The Summit 5, when a discussion of gameplay moments escalated into a major argument and even a scuffle between teammates—the conflict was quickly stopped, but at that moment, the team felt that their performance at TI was in jeopardy. According to Zhang, it was then that one of his teammates demonstrated leadership and gathered everyone for a serious talk, after which the team went on to win the tournament—since then, it has become a running joke in the community that the team is “supposed” to have a falling-out before a major tournament.

Earlier, LGD Gaming players Yuma “Yuma” Langle and Mateusz “KJ” Jungles Diniz discussed their second-place finish at BLAST Slam VII, the team’s preparation for the tournament, and the significance of The International to them on the ALL CHAT podcast.

Photo: SC PGL Esports S.R.L.