Author: Matcha Peppermint http://dota2.sgamer.com/news/201510/162485.html
In NYC's dining area, the editor bumped into Black who was going for a stroll. Although Fnatic was eliminated yesterday, Black was still here bright and early. During the interview, a lot of people came to greet and take pictures with Black, so you see how popular he is. When he saw the editor's "VG" letterhead, Black shouted "NO", followed by "just kidding, you can ask anything."
SG: Hi Black, very sorry for your loss yesterday, but happy to have bumped into you today. Did you come here alone, your team didn't come?
Black: They are still sleeping, they'll come later. I wanted to come play some Dota and watch the matches.
SG: Before joining Fnatic you said you were leaning towards an NA team. Why did you choose to come to Malaysia and join Fnatic?
Black: After TI a lot of teams approached me, but Fnatic had my good friend Mushi and was Iceiceice's recommendation. No matter how good a team is, I still value team friendship more.
SG: You were previously in China and now in Malaysia, you must be very good at adapting. How are you getting used to living and eating in Malaysia?
Black:
I think Malaysia and China are not that different, the food is about the same. Maybe the environment is just sligtly cleaner, but otherwise it's about the same.
SG: There should be no communication issues in Fnatic, everyone speaks English?
Black: We try to speak English as we have a Filipino player who doesn't speak Chinese. If he's not there we speak Chinese.
SG: How's team practice usually like? You know Chinese teams are very hardworking, how about you guys?
Black: Generally we play eight hours a day, including discussion. At least eight hours, sometimes 10 or 11.
SG: In VG you often said that you had a lot of pressure every day because VG was very strong at the time, and you were afraid your performance wouldn't be good. Do you still feel nervous in Fnatic?
Black: VG was very strong then, so I had a lot of pressure. Now I perhaps don't have as much, but I feel like I'm not playing as well as before , so I still give myself a lot of pressure.
SG: When VG kicked you for Hao, you were quite low-spirited, and you said you never wanted to match VG in the future. How do you feel about VG now?
Black: In life, VG members and I are still good friends. We chat and joke when we see each other. But in dota, indeed I don't wish to play with them anymore, because the way the club kicked me was so sudden and I was really unhappy. But privately my relationship with the players is very good.
SG: Before NanYang your winrate was very high, but they were mostly SEA games. Now in international competition you are eliminated, do you and your team feel surprised and disappointed?
Black: As you know SEA and the rest of the world play very differnetly. It's not to say SEA is worse, actually it's pretty close; but the play is not as mature. Afterall SEA teams do not get many chances to play international teams. I think that's the biggest reason we lost, but we still learned a lot from losing.
SG: How do you feel about your own performance at NYC. I saw your Kael was very good against Secret, but against DC it couldn't get your team the win.
Black: This is just my old problem, I always have stability issues. Maybe it's because after VG kicked me I lost confidence. I feel like sometimes I play very well, and sometimes I play worse.
SG: Other than CDEC, everyone made some roster changes. Going by lineups, who do you view favorably?
Black: I think Secret is strong right now, even though EG looks good on paper, maybe they have some chemistry problems. CDEC is also strong, at TI no one really understood them so they placed second, but now everyone has studied them and they aren't as strong.
SG: What tournaments do you have coming up?
Black: We have BTS qualifier, Fall Major, SL. We don't have a break until Christmas.
SG: Thank you for the interview Black. I want to tell you that Chinese fans like you a lot, everyone thinks you're very personable and hardworking. Wish your future matches will be better and better.