Q: So, you guys have made your way to the upper bracket finals and secured yourself top three. Is this a result you expected coming into this event?
Skiter: Well, I think every team that comes to the major should be confident enough that theyâre capable of winning, so for me personally Iâm very happy we achieved this, but honestly, considering how much time and work weâve put into this game, Iâm not very surprised, it makes sense kind of.
Q: Thatâs a good mentality! Do you think youâre one of the hardest working teams here?
Skiter: I would 100% say that we are the hardest working team at this event.
Q: And why is that? What kind of work are you doing?
Skiter: Nothing outrageous. We play a bunch of pubs, we never truly stop, our breaks last for two days, we boot camped for the entire DPC both seasons, full duration. We just put a lot of hours into the game. We talk about it, we have a very strong passion for the game. I feel like thatâs very important. So you donât get bored.
Q: With a lot of the other teams, Iâve noticed thereâs a few players that take the initiative when it comes to drafting and strategy, and the other players just chill, maybe provide matchup suggestions, but generally donât get involved, just play the hero thatâs picked. Is that the same for Tundra?
Skiter: I think in our team, everyone actually has their share of creativity in the draft. Itâs sort of like if you have an idea or if youâre doing very well with a hero in a pub, guys, look at this. Iâve been winning with this hero in a pub. Can we make it work in a competitive game? And thatâs how our process works, and I think itâs very cool. For example, if you look at this major and you see five of our plays have two to three heroes that are above everything else, and when you play against us, you only have two bans for the first phase, so youâre cornered! What poison are you picking? That’s what it comes down to.
Source: Skiter’s twitterQ: So you want the enemy to feel like theyâre making the best of a bad situation in every draft?
Skiter: Yeah absolutely.
Q: So do you think the source of that comes from Nine? Because he is such an unconventional player. 33 as well, to a certain extent, but Nine is really out there.
Skiter: Yeah, Nine is for sure a genius at Dota. The way he views the game, itâs very non-traditional. When it comes to his hero picks, heâs just very free, his mind is free, and Iâm very jealous of that. I donât know. This guy wakes up and says, âguys, I wanna play Crystal Maiden mid,â and heâll then go 20-0 in a competitive game, and youâre just like, âokay, I guess itâs another day on the job.â
Q: So do you never try to understand him?
Skiter: I always try to understand him! But Iâm very happy since Iâve known him for shit I donât know, like eight years. I just love to see the growth.
Q: Awesome, so whatâ s33 like as a teammate?
Skiter: Heâs a very good teammate actually. He helps all of us when it comes to micro stuff in the game. Item builds, skill builds, hero suggestions, and gameplay. He does a lot of work. And yeah, he makes it very easy for his teammates to play the game. And he brings a lot of attention to himself with these unique picks, you know? The draft starts, and suddenly thereâs visage or beastmaster or something, and you know the attitude is like âshit, we need to solve these heroes,â so if youâre the one or two, you have such freedom.
Q: He sounds like a great voice to have! And talking about voices to have, you guys bought in Aui this year, but was he always kinda part of the team in some way?
Skiter: He definitely helped when we were playing last year’s TI qualifiers and a bit prior to that as well, so he was always sort of involved, but not as much as he is now that heâs officially hired and our official coach. But I think heâs a great help. Obviously heâs a TI winner, so he brings a lot of experience and a lot of wisdom, so he basically guides us, and he does a lot of psychological work in our team, and I think itâs very cool to have him on board.
Q: When you guys were playing the DPC, you didnât show nearly as much dominance as you have done at this major. Did you have a different mentality coming into this major compared to the DPC?
Skiter: Honestly, before this tournament, we always struggled with consistency. If you see our DPC runs, we always end sometimes fifth, sometimes fourth, third, we never truly shined in that system, and I think it truly comes down to consistency. There was like a DotaPit before that we won. Even against LGD, we won, and a lot of these tournaments are very short. Then you see the DPC season that lasts a long time, thatâs where we struggled, and thatâs what weâve been working on, trying to find the consistency. Because thatâs how Dota works nowadays, these leagues matter so much. Winning the leagues is almost as important as winning the major when it comes to points.
Q: I almost expected the opposite answer, that you didnât focus as hard on the DPC Leagues and you didnât think they were as important.
Skiter: I wish it was like that! But itâs not. I canât really tell you exactly why we struggle. I really donât know. Weâre working on it.
Q: How exactly would you say youâre working on improving your own consistency?
Skiter: I would say itâs about keeping pub numbers up through the whole season. For example, we started the season with 3-0. Then suddenly we end up 4-3, then we finally got our shit together and won the last one against Brame. We just keep playing the pubs, keep talking more Dota, thatâs it, thatâs all we have to do and hope for the best! Hope we all have a good night’s sleep and hope we perform!
Q: Going out on to the stage tomorrow against TSM, do you feel like youâre in quite similar positions in terms of Major experience?
Skiter: I honestly sort of felt relieved when TSM won against Gladiators because I feel like we always choked against Gladiators in the DPC, so I was so happy when TSM won. Thatâs the opponent I wanted to play personally, but I donât want to undervalue them. They got here for a reason. They improved so so much during this tournament, so I donât want to underplay them at all. Weâll try to bring our A-game, and hopefully, weâll all perform. Itâs been like 4 years since Iâve played in front of a crowd so Iâm kinda nervous as well after such a long time. So hopefully, that wonât play a big role tomorrow.
Q: Yeah, I wanted to know, is there anything you guys are doing to mentally prepare yourselves for the fact that youâre playing in front of a crowd for the first time in ages?
Skiter: I did ask Aui for some tips, and he just told me to try to ignore it. Within a couple of minutes, youâll just forget about the crowd, so that’s what Iâll try to do. I donât want to overthink it, I want to focus on our game and hopefully, weâll do our best.
Q: Does anyone play as good a KotL as you guys do?
Skiter: Iâm not sure, actually. I donât want to sound cocky.
Q: I want you to sound cocky!
Skiter: Who knows, man, who knows!
Q: What about yourself, what hero do you want to play, if itâs a really good game for it, who do you want to kick off on on the main stage?
Skiter: Honestly, I can just say Chaos Knight, everyone knows this hero is something else, and Iâve always been very passionate about the hero, so for me, it was very easy to implement the hero into my pool.
Q: Do you like it when a hero you already enjoy comes into the meta?
Skiter: Yeah, it makes it super easy, for most heroes, you have to learn and adapt with the meta, but Iâve always loved this one, so it was easy.
Q: Iâd like to ask about your region. Thereâs a bit of a powershift. Nigma relegated, Secret isnât here, and OG reshuffled. Do you feel like this is the end of the old guard in EU?
Skiter: Yeah, in some ways. I would say no one expected Secret to underperform like this. I think Nigma had it coming. They had these flashes of brilliance on LANs, but you could see their downfall for the last couple of years, but I feel like Secret will bounce back. Theyâre going through a roster shuffle right now. A couple of other teams are doing the same, and who knows, maybe OG will do the same, maybe Ceb and Notail will come back next season. Dota retirement is not real! Itâs just not.
Q: Do you think in the post-TI 10 period, some of the teams in EU were too reluctant to bring in new blood?
Skiter: Itâs hard to say. You could say thatâs what Secret lacked because they went with the veterans, they got Iceiceice, they got Sumail, and I think the direction theyâre going to go in now, theyâre going to get new blood and see how that matches with the veterans and I feel like Team Spirit proved that thatâs the correct way, Yatoro was an upcoming player, so was Collapse. You pair that up with experienced plays like Mira and Miposhka, theyâre in a position to guide them, and it worked brilliantly. They won a TI!
