The International 2012: Na`Vi-ZeroGravity (English subtitles)
Uploaded by MoscowFive on 02.09.2012
Transcript:
Hello, everyone. We’re once again at The International 2012. I’m sitting with... the boss from Na`Vi, ZeroGravity. Look, what’s your official title for us to know in the future?
It’s CEO. Chief Executive Officer.
Oh, so you’re the director, ok. Your guys are going to play just in few minutes. I see you’re a little bit nervous. How do you feel?
Yeah, I really do feel nervous. It’s always like that when my boys are playing CS, DotA, FIFA or whatever. I always root hard for them, of course. Every tournament takes 1 year of life away from me, so by now I should be like 220 years old, ha-ha.
You come from the Counter-Strike background. I’ve seen Ash asking you something, so how well do you really get into DotA? How familiar are you with the game as of now?
I play it myself on an amateur level and can substitute one of the players during some random noob-tournament. As for The International, this tournament has given me a lot more in a sense of deeper understanding of the game, especially at the pick stage, where many pro-players agree with my choice occasionally when we pick our heroes.
Cool. You’ve been to GamesCom last year. Can you compare these two tournaments and tell us if The International has any downsides whatsoever?
This is one is definitely more epic, more spectacular. Talking about organization, GamesCom was a little bit better, because the players didn’t have to arrive early - only before their own games (like an hour or two), and it also had less matches per day, so less pressure and more concentration. Lastly, I liked the format of GamesCom better.
Counter-Strike 1.6 is fading away nowadays, and Na`Vi has been one of the best CS-teams for the last couple of years. What future do you have for your boys?
We will discuss that when I get back. I think we will work it out in a couple of weeks. So, I would be able to talk about our plans only after.
At some point Na`Vi had its teams for League of Legends and StarCraft, but then those squads were disbanded. What results should a team show to be able to stay with Na`Vi?
Ha-ha, I got your question. The standard’s pretty high indeed, but a team should necessarily show some constant progress, they should always be improving. So, when they stop, there’s no sense in keeping that squad. Speaking of numbers, it should be at least top-8, top-6, top-4 for them to be able to progress. In the end, there were no such decent results from those teams, so that’s why they were disbanded.
LoL is now actively evolving alongside DotA while StarCraft isn’t in a sense of tournament development. I think we can expect to see some LoL-players in Na`Vi in the future, but what about StarCraft? Do you think it’s reasonable to seek for such opportunity and take a StarCraft-team on board?
We’re considering the possibilities, and I think that we will have both, LoL and StarCraft, this year.
- This year, 2012? - Oh, I’m sorry. 2013.
- So, we’ll know before the end of this year? 50/50? - Yeah, something like that.
You see, we can’t go beyond our financial abilities, but new year will see new sponsors, new contracts and eventually new rosters coming.
You’ve recently moved to a new training base. As far as I can remember, you’ve already changed it like several times before. Why can’t you stay in one place for long?
Because there isn’t enough room for us. We are always growing and evolving, so we felt that one room wasn’t enough, then we felt the same about two rooms. As for now, we have two training zones for our players, but even that won’t be enough for us by the end of this year, I can feel it. So, we’re expecting to have a large house next year.
- The one like Americans have? - Yeah, with pool and everything else.
- With blackjack and whores? - Yeah, ha-ha.
There are a lot of rumours going on about M5’s falling apart and you wishing to take over our LoL-guys. Do you wanna aquire them?
It depends on them. I haven’t talked to them on any matter yet, so it would be too early to say something like this about M5.
Yeah, I think M5 will not fall apart. Now, what plans does Na`Vi have for its players for the rest of this year? Any bootcamps, trips, etc?
As for CS, there will be definitely a shot at the Portuguese tournament, then Dreamhack Bukharest, and the main event of Dreamhack. DotA will see ESWC and Dreamhack. These will be definitely attended.
During TechLabs I’ve noticed that Markeloff had a lot more hours put in in DotA than in CS. I’ve also heard from one of your DotA-players that Markeloff would be able to play DotA competitively after 3-4 months of training. Will Na`Vi at some point have any reserve players?
Ha-ha, yeah, I heard that, too. But if CS:GO will stay on the competitive scene, then it will be Markeloff’s primary game to play professionally. But if he wouldn’t like to play it he could probably be our reserve DotA-player, of course.
Let’s talk about sponsors and partners. How hard is it to talk things out with them? How long does it take to sign a contract with a single sponsor?
It’s always a hard job to do in CIS. We always need to try and dig for money in the global marketing, including the American and European markets. The negotiations usually take between 1 week to 3-4 months. So, we’ll need to get back and work hard on this starting this September already: preparing presentations, meeting certain people and talking with them during some exhibitions and so on, in Kiev’s offices or in German offices, or whatever.
Or at Na`Vi’s place after that? Ha-ha. I’ve noticed your funny shirt and learned about you guys selling those fun-T’s with “Hello, Pudge” on it. Like “Hello, Kitty” but Pudge. Who was the author of the original idea?
There are some guys called “Chapaev Street”. They got really creative shirts, so they’ve offered us creating something new together for us, and here you have it. We all like it and wear it, even Dendi.
It has been something like a week or so since you’ve launched these. Can you predict their success among the fun-crowd?
Nah, I can’t right now, ha-ha. Haven’t done a research on that one.
So, what do you personally think of this shirt? Will you wear it at all times?
- I just want Dendi to pick Pudge! - But they’ll ban it.
Yeah, first ban Pudge, ha-ha. But I think my boys will overcome LGD. Anyway, Pudge would be great to have.
Alright, any last shout-outs? I just wanna find out if you know all your sponsors well enough.
I don’t, ha-ha. Well, firstly I’d like to thank all our fans who’s support is always really nice to have. We read the comments, so the players see and understand everything going on, and it boosts their fighting spirit. We also thank our partners: SteelSeries, AlienWare, Antec, and Kingston for their priceless support. Special thanks to AlienWare who provided us with their cool laptops which we used during the preparation for this tournament.
- Antec? - I’ve already said it.
- Damn, ha-ha. Ok, I wish you good luck in the final, so that you could grab that next million. - Thanks a lot, man. Adios.
It’s CEO. Chief Executive Officer.
Oh, so you’re the director, ok. Your guys are going to play just in few minutes. I see you’re a little bit nervous. How do you feel?
Yeah, I really do feel nervous. It’s always like that when my boys are playing CS, DotA, FIFA or whatever. I always root hard for them, of course. Every tournament takes 1 year of life away from me, so by now I should be like 220 years old, ha-ha.
You come from the Counter-Strike background. I’ve seen Ash asking you something, so how well do you really get into DotA? How familiar are you with the game as of now?
I play it myself on an amateur level and can substitute one of the players during some random noob-tournament. As for The International, this tournament has given me a lot more in a sense of deeper understanding of the game, especially at the pick stage, where many pro-players agree with my choice occasionally when we pick our heroes.
Cool. You’ve been to GamesCom last year. Can you compare these two tournaments and tell us if The International has any downsides whatsoever?
This is one is definitely more epic, more spectacular. Talking about organization, GamesCom was a little bit better, because the players didn’t have to arrive early - only before their own games (like an hour or two), and it also had less matches per day, so less pressure and more concentration. Lastly, I liked the format of GamesCom better.
Counter-Strike 1.6 is fading away nowadays, and Na`Vi has been one of the best CS-teams for the last couple of years. What future do you have for your boys?
We will discuss that when I get back. I think we will work it out in a couple of weeks. So, I would be able to talk about our plans only after.
At some point Na`Vi had its teams for League of Legends and StarCraft, but then those squads were disbanded. What results should a team show to be able to stay with Na`Vi?
Ha-ha, I got your question. The standard’s pretty high indeed, but a team should necessarily show some constant progress, they should always be improving. So, when they stop, there’s no sense in keeping that squad. Speaking of numbers, it should be at least top-8, top-6, top-4 for them to be able to progress. In the end, there were no such decent results from those teams, so that’s why they were disbanded.
LoL is now actively evolving alongside DotA while StarCraft isn’t in a sense of tournament development. I think we can expect to see some LoL-players in Na`Vi in the future, but what about StarCraft? Do you think it’s reasonable to seek for such opportunity and take a StarCraft-team on board?
We’re considering the possibilities, and I think that we will have both, LoL and StarCraft, this year.
- This year, 2012? - Oh, I’m sorry. 2013.
- So, we’ll know before the end of this year? 50/50? - Yeah, something like that.
You see, we can’t go beyond our financial abilities, but new year will see new sponsors, new contracts and eventually new rosters coming.
You’ve recently moved to a new training base. As far as I can remember, you’ve already changed it like several times before. Why can’t you stay in one place for long?
Because there isn’t enough room for us. We are always growing and evolving, so we felt that one room wasn’t enough, then we felt the same about two rooms. As for now, we have two training zones for our players, but even that won’t be enough for us by the end of this year, I can feel it. So, we’re expecting to have a large house next year.
- The one like Americans have? - Yeah, with pool and everything else.
- With blackjack and whores? - Yeah, ha-ha.
There are a lot of rumours going on about M5’s falling apart and you wishing to take over our LoL-guys. Do you wanna aquire them?
It depends on them. I haven’t talked to them on any matter yet, so it would be too early to say something like this about M5.
Yeah, I think M5 will not fall apart. Now, what plans does Na`Vi have for its players for the rest of this year? Any bootcamps, trips, etc?
As for CS, there will be definitely a shot at the Portuguese tournament, then Dreamhack Bukharest, and the main event of Dreamhack. DotA will see ESWC and Dreamhack. These will be definitely attended.
During TechLabs I’ve noticed that Markeloff had a lot more hours put in in DotA than in CS. I’ve also heard from one of your DotA-players that Markeloff would be able to play DotA competitively after 3-4 months of training. Will Na`Vi at some point have any reserve players?
Ha-ha, yeah, I heard that, too. But if CS:GO will stay on the competitive scene, then it will be Markeloff’s primary game to play professionally. But if he wouldn’t like to play it he could probably be our reserve DotA-player, of course.
Let’s talk about sponsors and partners. How hard is it to talk things out with them? How long does it take to sign a contract with a single sponsor?
It’s always a hard job to do in CIS. We always need to try and dig for money in the global marketing, including the American and European markets. The negotiations usually take between 1 week to 3-4 months. So, we’ll need to get back and work hard on this starting this September already: preparing presentations, meeting certain people and talking with them during some exhibitions and so on, in Kiev’s offices or in German offices, or whatever.
Or at Na`Vi’s place after that? Ha-ha. I’ve noticed your funny shirt and learned about you guys selling those fun-T’s with “Hello, Pudge” on it. Like “Hello, Kitty” but Pudge. Who was the author of the original idea?
There are some guys called “Chapaev Street”. They got really creative shirts, so they’ve offered us creating something new together for us, and here you have it. We all like it and wear it, even Dendi.
It has been something like a week or so since you’ve launched these. Can you predict their success among the fun-crowd?
Nah, I can’t right now, ha-ha. Haven’t done a research on that one.
So, what do you personally think of this shirt? Will you wear it at all times?
- I just want Dendi to pick Pudge! - But they’ll ban it.
Yeah, first ban Pudge, ha-ha. But I think my boys will overcome LGD. Anyway, Pudge would be great to have.
Alright, any last shout-outs? I just wanna find out if you know all your sponsors well enough.
I don’t, ha-ha. Well, firstly I’d like to thank all our fans who’s support is always really nice to have. We read the comments, so the players see and understand everything going on, and it boosts their fighting spirit. We also thank our partners: SteelSeries, AlienWare, Antec, and Kingston for their priceless support. Special thanks to AlienWare who provided us with their cool laptops which we used during the preparation for this tournament.
- Antec? - I’ve already said it.
- Damn, ha-ha. Ok, I wish you good luck in the final, so that you could grab that next million. - Thanks a lot, man. Adios.