Interview with Puppey @ DreamHack Summer 2012

- Hello, Puppey.
- Hi.
- How are you?
- Fine, thanks.
- How d’you like DreamHack?
- I’ve been here once.
Ask me in three days.
- I got it. H
ow was your DOTA bootcamp?
- Like it usually is.
We played for 4 days together.
- Did you travel to Kiev?
- Yep.
- To Kiev CyberSportArena?
Ok. Did you prepare any interesting strategies?
How will you surprise your enemies and spectators?
- This is not the best place for surprises.
The International is coming.
It’ll be more interesting for us.
- I’ll ask you about The International a bit later.
If you were a spectator whom would you
predict to be the winner at DreamHack?
- Among the teams?
D’you mean the other teams?
- Yep.
- Who is the best now?
I’d name EG.
DARER are strong as well.
And we shouldn’t forget about CLG.
- Are they your favorites?
- Well… yes.
- Will the teams who qualify
be able to fight with DOTA pros?
- Do they have a chance to win?
Those who didn’t get the invite?
The deuce knows.
I don’t know who is playing in the qualification.
- Ok.
- You’ve recently picked Pudge and roamed the forest.
What affected such a choice?
- Pudge can simply do that.
That’s it.
There are not so many heroes who can roam forest.
Pudge can.
- Recently NS from Virtus.Pro said
that Lich cannot be countered with solo-mid hero.
Moreover, it's very hard and next to impossible
to stand versus double, as Lich
constantly eats creeps and uses Nova.
Do you think there is anything to counter Lich
in such a way?
- You can counter Lich by pushing it.
Lich can not only counter solo
but also counter double pretty hard.
He is a good hero,
but push does well against him.
- Three new heroes were added into game recently.
Will anyone pick them at the tournament?
- They won’t be represented here.
- Ok. And how do you generally estimate
those heroes?
Did you try them?
- No, I didn’t.
The new ones are Chaos Knight, Gyrocopter and Mortred.
I saw Dendi playing Mortred.
He seemed to be very strong.
CK is strong as well.
I can’t say anything about Gyrocopter by now.
- Why don’t you use Ogre in your picks?
- Ogre? Well, I don’t know.
People are lazy to test the new heroes.
It’s easier for them to use the same heroes.
- There’s common thought that teams
used 1-2-1 or 2-1-1 forest tactics in DotA 1,
while now they prefer 1-1-3 or 1-1-2 forest.
Why is it so?
Are the previous tactics possible in future?
- Dota 1 mostly uses 1-2-2,
1-1-2 means that someone is roaming in the forest;
it’s actually the same as triple.
Sometimes it happens that triple stands
versus double with someone roaming in the forest.
It also makes 3v3 with other team
trying to counter that jungler.
Why isn’t it used in DOTA 2?
It's mostly like 2-1-2, one jungler, 3v3 ...
so I can’t say that it’s not used in the new DOTA.
- Have you noticed any serious change
in DotA 1 and DOTA 2 gaming style?
- Style? Style is the same.
DotA 2 is more passive by its style.
There are more heroes
who farm in the forest in DotA 2.
- Speaking of the forthcoming International…
are you preparing for it?
- We have been preparing for quite a long time.
DreamHack is also a part of preparation.
All the official games are also
a part of our preparation plan.
All the teams understand,
it’s already high time for practice.
- You said you had special surprises
for the International?
Could you please reveal us a few secrets?
- Certainly.
We had the other state of things
at the previous International.
There were not so many strats,
pick of heroes was the main thing.
Now strats are not so important for DOTA as well,
as there are not so many
heroes able to counter.
We’ll show you everything at The International.
- Let’s speak of the difference
between the previous International
and the forthcoming one.
Which style will prevail:
tight game or aggressive one?
- I think all the teams
choose aggressive push.
I’ve already seen it.
It’s complicated to counter such style.
Everybody wants to take Chen and kill.
That’s the way it gonna happen
at The International as well.
Picks won’t change.
You can kill the first tower very quickly
and kick away all the passive style teams.
- Do you feel any pressure
about defending the champion’s title?
- Absolutely.
- Are you nervous about
everybody anticipating your result?
- Of course I’m.
Nevertheless I’m trying to abstract away
from such thoughts.
- Ok. Another question.
Are you in touch with Ice Frog?
- Yes, I am.
- Are you aware of
the forthcoming new heroes?
- I can’t remember them.
He actually told me, but it slipped my mind.
- Ok, thank you for the interview.
Good luck at the tournament.
Any final words?
- Thank you Alienware, SteelSeries, Antec and Kingston
for sponsorship
and hello mom and dad!