“While you play against each other you also learn from each other and thus become better” – Dino“dnz”Šavuk

The playoff stage was filled with thrilling moments and we enjoyed watching every match, now we take a bit of time to ask the captain of the winning team to share his thoughts about the tournament the region as a whole and their future plans, here are some that we asked him.

1. How did you come to the decision to form a new team before the start of the competition? One former Elements Pro Gaming (EPG) decided to play for LvLUP, while you, Mitch and Swiftending decided to form a new team for the tournament.

Dnz: “I’m not 100% sure, but I think I was talking to Damir (Mitch) and he told me that there would be an online tournament with a decent prizepool and that there was also a chance to go to the LAN finals, and that we could play it for fun and win some prizes if possible :D.”

“I suggested dzy and Jajkan as a duo because I play WESG and WCG, and the fifth was supposed to be our former EPG coach g0g1, who was not able to play because he was on a LAN final in Greece during the playoffs.”

“Then we immediately remembered that we could call Swiftending, (I would like to mention that there is no bad blood between any former EPG players, but it’s simply more exciting, at least for me to play with other players (as much as possible), so we made this decision rather than to have a stack of former 5 EPG players, Swift, to our delight, agreed and we played the tournament and had a great time and eventually won.”

How did you perceive the other teams, did you expect such opponents or did you think it would be easier or harder? The Last Jedis (TLJ) defeated you in the Bo1 in the upper bracket, which was a surprise for many.

Dnz: “We honestly thought that we would win most of the games without much effort, but some teams have proven us wrong, and they showed that with practice and a good grind that they were no easy match.”

“I think that the TLJ team played phenomenally and they made a lot of problems for us, they came really close to winning the whole thing, I have nothing but praises for them, I hope that they continue practicing if their goal is to succeed in Dota not just in the Balkan region but on the European scene as well.”

Do you think that Dota 2 has potential in the A1 Adria League and the region in general? Regional competitions in Dota are much less seldom than in some other games.

Dnz: “I do not know what to say about Dota 2 in the Balkans, because the last time there was a” big “Online Tournament with a LAN finals (EBL), the challenge was kinda slim and we with EPG won all the games more or less as routine and (in all fairness it was a stronger and more serious team), but there were a lot of the same players, some of whom progressed fairly and some remained on the same level.”

“I think the ego is a big factor hindering the Balkan scene (as many old school players would say), and unfortunately it is true, because when I see how the players relate to all of this I feel kinda sad, because there is no healthy competition, which would benefit all the players in the region (While you play against each other you also learn from each other and thus become better). “

“A big factor in all of this is that quite a few of these guys have real life obligations, so they can not go for a pro Dota player career, which is quite understandable because Dota is such a complex game and it requires a tremendous amount of time to invest in it. (I think that it is even the most complex Esport game). There are plenty of these factors, and I’m also aware that investors are not that attracted to invest in Dota tournaments in the Balkans, but again I think if they do more and make more tournaments, that there would be more stable Teams and that the quality of the games would increase.”

You have earned a place in the group stage of the fourth season. Will the team have the same lineup or what are your plans for the future?

Dnz: “I think the lineup won’t change for the next season, but you never know, for example, Mitch can decide to go to he’s destined team LvLup and perform the transfer of the year. Or if he would rather win he will decide to stay with us, a little bit of trash talk never hurt anyone :D.”

As for the plans I do not know yet, the only left things are the open/closed qualifications for TI, and the next DPC season should be more forgiving towards tier 3 / 4 players starts from September, so we are not sure about our plans yet :(.”

Would you like to add something?

Dnz: “A big shoutout to everyone in the Adria Inhouse League and I would like to praise Bartol “Rebi” Rebernjak, who is giving it his best to make an Inhouse League (with a prizepool), trying to create a competitive atmosphere for Dota players from the Balkans who are fed up with ranked games and would like to learn more about Dota, because it is definitely not easy to make something and to please everyone while also encouraging everyone to play, but I think it’s one of the steps in the right direction in order to provide a good breeding ground for good Dota players from all over the Balkans. “