EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/dfs/photos/LGDint_G_001.jpg)
This is a translated excerpt of the LGD.int.God interview by Morf-designer from prodota.ru on the 11th of August, the last day of The International's main event, during the Grand Final.
M - Morf-designer (prodota.ru correspondent and news writer)
G - Sergey "God" Bragin (LGD.int solo-mid player)
M : You were eliminated from the tournament, placing in 12th to 9th place. Tell us, are you going back to China?
G : 100% not.
M : What about LGD.int?
G : I don't know anything about LGD.int's future. We haven't talked about this yet. Maybe they will continue this project, replace the players that aren't coming back. Maybe they will close it. I don't know.
M : You said "players." So you know that there is someone else that isn't going back to China?
G : You will know everything soon. But yes, I am not the only one who isn't going back.
M : There was a story about your team's Chinese teacher that fell in love with someone.
G : So, we had Chinese lessons, about 3 times a week. Before practicing, we studied for an hour. At some point I noticed that there was some tension between Misery and the Chinese teacher. I asked him: "Rasmus, I've never asked you for anything in this life and never will, but do not ruin my Chinese lessons! Don't ruin it, man!" He said: "Yes, yes, it's fine." Next thing you know, she was fired. No personal relationships at work. So I was left without my Chinese lessons.
M : What is your next step? Are you going to continue to play professional Dota, or are you going to stream and play pubs for fun?
G : I have a dream. I've always wanted to play professional Dota. I think that this is the time to make this dream come true. I will start playing professional Dota, no more of this amateur stuff
. But seriously, yes, I will continue to play. I don't know where yet, but whichever organization I will play in, I will try to be even more serious about everything, starting from the practice. I've see a live example in team Alliance. What they have right now is a result of hard work and very serious attitude.M : Wasn't it the same with you? You even had a teamhouse. Alliance doesn't even have one.
G : Still, if you compare the amount of work that Alliance did in a year with that amount of work China did, Alliance has a clear advantage. They play even more games than some professional players only off their enthusiasm. AdmiralBulldog wasn't playing professionally a year ago. He was a pub star, but everybody only knew him as the guy who plays Lone Druid. After TI2, they played with S4 without any sponsors, and as far as I know, they did a huge amount of work and worked on themselves. Maybe they are not the best Dota players right now in terms of star power etc. There are players that exceed them in these parameters, but together they are one of the beast teams of the world.
M : Will you try to get into a Russian team? Or, since you played in an international team for a year, will you look for an international one?
G : My next step is to focus on a Russian speaking team. I will not talk about what conclusions I made for myself and by no means am I declaring that Russians have no chances in an international team. I will base my future choices on the conclusions I made.
M : What do you know about the comeback of old-school players like Art-Style, PGG, Santa, etc?
G : I heard about PGG coming back. I am not sure how serious it is, but most likely it will not be the same as what happened after TI2, when he was barely noticed. The only thing about Art-style that I know is that he plays a lot of Dota. I don't know why; maybe he's preparing for a comeback. As far as I know, Santa is playing mostly pubs with his friends. If Azen is going to make a comeback he will do so with PGG.
M : Do Chinese teams plan to create another international team after TI3?
G : I don't have this information. I am not sure if China understood the significance of the international teams and how to use them. I think that out team wasn't used to our full potential. It is easy to say for a guy who never did any of this stuff, but from my perspective, promoting international players in China is very easy. Releasing products with international players in China is very easy. It could be an additional source of income for players and for the organization. Also, I think that LGD.int should have constantly practiced with other Chinese teams and perfected some secret strategies. We ended up not playing with LGD.cn more than with any other team. As you can see, the results of the international team that spent a year is China isn't spectacular. Maybe Chinese organizations saw the results of this experiment and will not do this to themselves.
M : You talked about additional financing for the players. What was your salary? Was it super high, or was it similar to what you can get in Russia?
G : I am not going to talk about this that much due to disclosure of contract terms. I would probably earn more money in Europe, if I combined my salary with income from streaming. This year was quite scarce in China. There was nothing to do there. Perfect World took too long to release the game so there weren't any tournaments. Everyone was still playing DotA 1. At that moment, YaphetS was still getting more money than any Dota 2 player.
M : LoL was recognized as an official sport in USA. In the "Free to Play" documentary, EHOME manager said that Dota was already a sport in China, but not an Olympic sport. Do you feel like Dota is a sport and do you think that it can become a sport in Europe?
G : Of course it can become a sport. In China, the presence of "clubs" that have agreements with each other, who sell players to each other, etc., is reminiscent of a real sport. There is a feeling of sport, but there is a big difference between just a sport and an Olympic sport. The fact that LoL is an Olympic sport doesn't mean that Dota will became one in the near future. LoL is a whole different story, as far as I know. I won't talk about this right now.
M : Is LoL bigger than Dota in China?
G : I can tell a story. I went to a barber and took a random Chinese guy (Kent) with me so he could explain what I need. During the hair cut the barber was super enthusiastic, smiling, and was a big LGD fan. We talked, but he never mentioned my nickname or the game I play. He took a picture with me, asked for an autograph. It doesn't happen every day, but people ask for an autograph, so I wasn't too surprised. Kent started to say something like: "LoL is a very popular sport in China." I ask: "Why are you talking about LoL"? He said: "I told him that you are a LoL player." So yes, LoL is popular.
LoL's advantage in China is that it can be played on any weak PC at LAN cafes, but Dota 2 can't be played on a weak PC. Dota 2 is has a much higher system requirements.
M : Do you miss Ladder point (Rankings) in Dota 2?
G : Have some kind of Ladder would be cool in my opinion. If it was added right now, I would probably get on it seriously, and I think there are other professional players that think the same. We'd tryhard against each other and aim for the highest ranking. Right now, the matchmaking system is weird. I sometimes get matched into good games, and sometimes there is a feeling that I am playing a pub game in Russia at 6 am against some boys that are skipping school.
M : What Dota skill would you want to have in real life?
G : I'd like to be Bane Elemental. Putting myself to sleep in a plane etc. would be great.
