Monthly Archives: July 2013

TongFu team interview after their DSL win

Congrats to TongFu for taking champions in this season of the Dota 2 Super League. First off, we’d like to ask the three of you with tears streaming down your faces, what brought those tears about?
Sydm: For me, to see them win made me very happy. To watch them grow step by step, and finally win this title, the feeling is that for me, to give so much to this game and finally see some results in helping them become champions here, it’s a very joyous thing. We all love each other, and the win is a collective achievement.
Mu: Tears of joy; this has been my very first champion in a large event, and I hope that this is a new beginning for me. I will work even harder down the line.
Hao: I’m the same as Mu, really, hadn’t achieved a title at a large event in a very long while. To play together for such a long period of time and finally win a title, the tears falling are tears of happiness.

KingJ, you had a chat with Nekomata before the match, what was that about?
KingJ: His mom had said that it would be DK and TongFu in the finals here, with TongFu to take the title. At the time, I had hopes for this as well, but didn’t think that it would really come true like it has.

Before the match, there was an EHOME reunion. As an old EHOME veteran, did this awaken your desire to become champion today?
KingJ: It was a very emotional moment, but to be able to win against old teammates, current opponents… I’m still happy about it.

How do you all rate your coach, sydm?
KingJ: Coach has helped us improve on our focus and analysis, the effects have been great.
Banana: We wouldn’t have this title without our coach!
Mu: He is a legit coach.
Hao: He fully deserves to be recognized as a great coach!
Sansheng: Coach has helped us focus better, and become more disciplined, thus allowing ourselves to overcome our own challenges.

In the match-deciding Game 3, you guys picked Naga Siren and Razor. This was something we had seen from Zenith before, were you guys borrowing the strategy from them?
Hao: I think a lot of people had tried this before in practice, and we will make sure to prepare more strategies for TI3.

Banana has just had his 26th birthday, how will you guys celebrate tonight?
Banana: We’ll go celebrate by having a fun team dinner.

What do you think of Hao’s recent performances?
Banana: He’s becoming more and more steady and reliable all while maintaining his fierce and aggressive style, and he should be considered a top tier carry now.

Use your home dialect and say something to your fans?
Banana: Thank you for all your support (in the Henan dialect)

Your team had just lost previously to DK in the Alienware Cup, what adjustments did you make for this?
Mu: We lost yesterday, then we spent a lot of time discussing together. We felt that the loss had something to do with our own performances and form, our drafting, as well as our execution. But we also felt that the DSL match would be much more important, and so after our discussions, our drafting for the DSL finals was improved, but of course most importantly, we played much better.

How would you rate your opponents in the DSL finals, DK?
Mu: I think DK failed to perform to their own standards today, and their picks entirely fell into the traps we had set.

Can you talk a bit about the key points in each of the three games played, or share with us when you felt you had each game won?
Hao: The first game was determined from the drafting and lane setups that they would be at a disadvantage, and indeed they basically lost in laning phase, and we had a clean win. The second game with me on Anti-Mage, I got two kills and was very fat, while my teammates held the ship steady to give me more room to farm, but the win was probably secured later on when I had fully built out my items on Anti-Mage. In the third game, they attempted to counter us by changing their laning up, but it didn’t end up affecting us at all. Our supports rotated, and we ended up getting an advantage later in laning. The drafts meant that we had stronger teamfights, and when we took Roshan, that’s when we could had the title in sight.

For Coach Sydm, you had not been highly rated as a player, yet you’ve seen great success and recognition now as a coach. What was the transition like? And how exactly are you going about helping your team and players?
Sydm: I hadn’t ever considered becoming a coach before this, and it was a bit of a coincidence or fate that brought me to TongFu. It was decided after I chatted with Hao, and I felt that becoming a coach meant I wouldn’t have to waste all the time I’d put in before. I wanted to dedicate myself to helping them, and I made them improve on their living habits, so they could focus completely on training and competing. And as an observer, I’m able to see many things that they might not be able to see clearly in-game, as well as be there to smooth over any potential conflicts. After all this hard work, seeing them able to win this title, I feel it’s all been very worthwhile.

Banana, as an older player, what have you done to ensure that you continue to play at a high level, even improving over your previous self?
Banana: Because I want to win titles!

What hopes do you have for your TI3 adventure?
Sansheng: The DSL title is just a beginning for us, and as long as we don’t get overconfident with ourselves, I feel that we can achieve even greater things at TI3.

Predictions for TI3 results?
Sansheng: Before this, we wanted to strive for a top 3 finish. After this, I think we’ll want to make sure we get top 3, and strive for top 2. We won’t talk about being champions at TI3 because we don’t want to put that kind of pressure on ourselves.

Can you all share you takeaways from this DSL win?
KingJ: To be able go the whole distance is a reward in itself.
Banana: We were able to do well in terms of teamwork and execution.
Mu: The biggest takeaway is to be able to win the title.
Hao: What Banana said, an achievement in teamwork with new teammates.
Sansheng: The biggest reward is that we proved ourselves, and increased our own confidence.

Say something to fans to cap off this interview.
TongFu: Thank you to all for your support, and thank you to our sponsor TongFu Porridge for their unrelenting sponsorship.

 

Chinese pros respond to LGD ‘tactical pause’ against NaVi

A selection of responses from some iG, LGD, and TongFu people regarding the Alienware Cup ‘tactical pause’ incident between LGD.cn and NaVi…

Ferrari_430 responds to DD:

DD: We were at an internet cafe. When I dropped, sydm (TongFu coach), along with Hao, were both behind me. This fight was very much in our favor; when the pause happened, Magnus had already gotten 4 with his second ult. Those who get it, get it.

Ferrari_430’s reply: Got it got it got it :thumbs up:

Yao’s explanation:

Yao: Today we weren’t at our team base, we were in Shanghai for a photoshoot, and so we played the match from an internet cafe. The computers had some issues, there had already been problems earlier, and then at the team fight DD completely crashed. We couldn’t possibly play the game out for 80 minutes, and then give it up by playing 4v5.

Sylar explains:

Sylar: At that moment, Magnus had gotten Shadow Fiend in an ult and had Skewered him in; our communications at the time involved Rubick saying that he had Dragon Knight’s stun. As he went to use the stun, his computer stopped responding, otherwise Shadow Fiend would’ve been instantly picked off at that time. Instead, Rubick sat there for nearly three seconds doing nothing before we actually hit pause.

Ruru is sad:

Ruru: It’s been five years now and I’ve always said to myself to be strong to the end. But this world does not see my hard work. The only thing I get is insults and a lack of understanding.

Hao and Mu to the rescue:

Hao: DD’s computer indeed had problems, LGD had that fight in the bag easily

Mu: Nothing to do with any pause; NaVi had no chance in that last fight!

xiao8 is just happy they won:

xiao8: Fuck yeah, finally got revenge for TI2!

Pics and video from DSL Finals day: DK and TongFu

Worth checking out… some of the galleries load a bit slowly, but I decided against re-upping them to imgur because I don’t wanna steal views or whatever. Yeah. There are some shots of the venue, which is the new Gamefy Esports Stadium, pretty cool.

 

Pre-match: http://dota2.sgamer.com/albums/201307/8006_323420.html

DK eats breakfast (KFC, apparently): http://dota2.sgamer.com/albums/201307/8007_323445.html

Venue shots: http://dota2.uuu9.com/201307/447681.shtml

More venue shots: http://dota2.replays.net/pic/page/20130706/1830391.html#p=1

Fan interaction and crowd shots: http://dota2.sgamer.com/albums/201307/8004_323372.html

Lots more crowd shots and images from event: http://dota2.uuu9.com/201307/447697.shtml

Perfect World people speak: http://dota2.sgamer.com/albums/201307/8005_323401.html

DSL Finals Opening Cermony: http://dota2.sgamer.com/albums/201307/8008_323447.html

rOtk and DK live: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTc5NzAwNDYw.html

TongFu’s awarding: http://dota2.sgamer.com/albums/201307/8009_323467.html

 

DSL interview with TongFu.Hao: We will look to counter DK’s style

SGamer did an interview with TongFu’s Hao, focusing on their upcoming Dota 2 Super League Finals showdown with DK…

SGamer: Thank you for doing this interview with us. You’re just about to partake in the DSL Finals now, what is your team’s form like recently?
TongFu.Hao: Our current form is pretty good, because in practice in the past few days we’ve been performing quite ideally. There’s still time before the Finals though, so what actually happens on the day is still uncertain.

SG: Have your practices been the same as usual, or have you undergone specific routines to prepare?
Hao: Our recent practices have mostly been the same as usual, we’ve been focusing on training up on a wider variety of heroes and styles, so we can have them as options to use in the match.

SG: Have you found any particular style to counter DK’s renowned ‘turtle’ strategy?
Hao: Eh, we’ve done some analysis into styles that may be able to counter, but we’ll have to wait until the actual match to see if they actually work out.

SG: How do you feel about your team’s chances at taking the title here?
Hao: This is hard to say, because after all, DK is an old-school powerhouse team. We can only find out after we’ve played and fought, but if you insist on having me make a guess, then I say it’s 50/50!

SG: Many fans have taken a liking to you due to one of your nicknames being ‘Chopper Hao’; now, if you don’t win the title here, then will you follow through on the whole “if I don’t win then I chop my hand off” thing?
Hao: Uhm… actually, that’s hard to say. Actually, it was a misunderstanding at the time that I said that.

SG: Then let us settle this misunderstanding once and for all by taking a look back at what truly happened then.
Hao: It was like this: at the time, I hadn’t gone professional yet, I was still just another amateur player. I was with friends on a team playing at an offline event in Guangzhou, it was a school league. But at the time, we weren’t actually students, so we got reported to the authorities. The person who reported us also happened to be someone whom we had played against earlier, and we ended up flaming each other on the forums. What I said at the time was that, as long as it was an offline event in Guangzhou, if I failed to win then I’d chop my hand off, yet it ended up being interpreted to apply to all kinds of competitions outside of that, so it really was a bunch of misunderstandings.

SG: If you do win the DSL title, are there any wishes you have in you that you’d be able to fulfill afterwards?Hao: Winning the title itself is my wish, plus, my goals are to win more than just the DSL.

SG: What other goals are there?
Hao: Of course to win more titles and championships, haha.

SG: Nowadays, more and more teams are constructing coaching teams. Your team has sydm (战神7） as coach, how have the results been? Do you feel that having a coach is becoming increasingly important?
Hao: I am absolutely convinced by sydm’s attitude towards his work. Why I say this, because he is very professional and treats his work with the utmost respect. Drafting, every team’s style, he takes notes of everything in a notebook. When we lose, he is always there to remind us, to keep our heads up, that we still have chances, and helps us adjust our mentality and help us analyze why we lost. When we win, he’s always there to remind us, to not get arrogant, to not get loose, to work on staying in winning form. I really do feel that having a coach is pretty important.

SG: You’ve been playing professionally for three or four years now, and been in scores of events, small and large. What do you think about DSL?
Hao: DSL is currently the highest prizepool event in Chinese competitions. Due to official support from Perfect World, it has the broadest reach, and does very well at packaging and presenting the players. Gamefy’s work at producing the event itself has also been very professional. Of course, for me my favorite part is the commentators they have, haha.

SG: Do you like the Chinese voice work for the localized edition?
Hao: The voice work is very decently done. Some will sound very sincere and full of emotion, while others are hilarious. Additionally, the Chinese client has been done to be very user friendly, so I believe that as the Chinese beta grows, many people will come to love it.

SG: Currently, it would seem that most professional teams in Dota 2 consist largely of veteran players who have been around for a while. Newcomers seem to lack opportunities to prove themselves, why do you think that is? Speaking for yourself, do you tend to dislike carrying new players?
Hao: I feel that one cause for this problem is that Dota 2, unlike LoL, is not as easy to get into. Most people at the top are there on the basis of many years of practice and experience. I do indeed dislike having to play with newcomers, I basically don’t do it. The reason I dislike it is simple: I don’t want to waste my time, and it affects my mood.

SG: Older players eventually naturally end up in the end of their careers and choose to retire, so will these things add up and cause overall Chinese Dota 2 competitiveness and ability to decline?
Hao: I feel that right now there hasn’t been much of any decline, but it’s not an easy thing to determine.

SG: Do you think that the current TongFu is the strongest TongFu there’s ever been?
Hao: I don’t think so. Reasons are two-fold: first, we have yet to win anything, so there’s nothing for us to boast about. Second, I feel that our previous roster was rpetty good too, it just lacked a bit of teamwork and trust. After this Final, you will see whether the current TongFu happens to be the one that looks the most like champions, haha.

SG: Okay, then go ahead and say something to cap off this interview!
Hao: There’s a lot I’d like to say, but I haven’t earned the right to say it for now. After we’ve won something, I will say it on stage during the awarding! Lastly, thanks to our sponsors TongFu Porridge!

Source: http://dota2.sgamer.com/news/201307/151354.html