EPT
Team Liquid's
Sam "BuLba" Sosale
Sam "BuLba" Sosale is currently a member of the Liquid Dota 2 squad who are tearing up the scene with a tremendous win streak in the past couple of weeks. He is a continuous contributor to our front page articles with his "BuLba Says" segments, and we wanted to dive further into his thoughts with this interview and Q/A session to learn a bit more about his team, their current run, and how his experience with Liquid has been so far.
February has been a great month for the team, where you guys are going on a pretty long winning streak. How has this affected the team, and what things can you attribute the success to?
Liquid`BuLba
It has given us confidence. We had a reputation of picking unorthodox heroes, and people were blaming the loss on that, but it was our play that was not fitting up to our abilities. We made a lot of mistakes in all parts of the game. We also hadn't practiced much as a team before mid -January because of Christmas break and vacations. We can attribute the success to our play just being a lot better. Hard to pinpoint other things but games are just going better and we know what to do because of the experience we have achieved through practice.
A lot has been made of the variety of picks in the last few weeks, including Liquid finding success with Clockwerk recently. What are your thoughts on the the range of heroes we've been seeing?
Liquid`BuLba
Hmm, I enjoy the range of heroes. It is exciting to watch and it just shows that they are confident in exploring other ways of winning. Sometimes teams don't know how to deal with a hero, like NTH in their first game vs Dignitas' Warlock pick. They kept trying to force 5v5 fights in places where the Warlock could get 5 people in rock and Fatal Bonds. Just an example, but teams have to be more prepared now for a curve ball as well.
Liquid is known to shuffle the roles played by TC, Korok, and yourself, usually depending on the heroes drafted. How do you think this has worked out?
Liquid`BuLba
It has been going fine. We lack predictability, and so many other teams don't. It also means we have to practice more for everyone to get acquainted with each other's play styles since we can all lane with each other.
What has been your favourite moment so far with Team Liquid?
Liquid`BuLba
Probably winning the BTS weekend cup. Also beating EG, because it's EG.
What do you think about the divide between the Western and Asian scenes? Do you follow much Chinese or SEA DotA?
Liquid`BuLba
Yes of course. I try to watch as much as I can in both VODS and the late night casts with LD and Winter. LGD.int was a real inspiration for the teams over here because it showed that with practice and dedication, you can go really far. It's been said way too much, but it's true (as for the dedication). As for the divide, I can't wait to see what the G-League finals has in store for us. Most of the G-League/Chinese games dictate what the European teams pick for the following months. For example, when the teams in the GEST cup picked Luna, all the European teams started picking her as well. It was a breath of fresh air though. I detested the way teams played in Dreamhack; it was disgusting.
You also currently attend school. What is it like having to balance professional gaming with your studies? With how many tournaments the team currently plays in, how often do major conflicts arise?
Liquid`BuLba
I have made my schedule allow for me to practice after 1 EST on weekdays. This means that i have to schedule a class at 8 AM, and this has not been done since high school for me so it's damn hard getting up. I have enough time to finish most of my work at night and get enough sleep. Playing matches is also really exhausting, and there are so many tournaments these days. It feels like most of our practice comes from matches itself, but that's fine with me since winning a match is an amazing burst of adrenaline.
A few of us were wondering a few months back where you got the Shadow Blade Bounty Hunter build. What was the inspiration?
Liquid`BuLba
After the Shadow Blade buff, I got the item on every hero. The stats were amazing and I just decided to use it on Bounty Hunter. I saw that you can Shadow Blade and Shadow Walk at the same time and get the Jinada buff doing insane damage.
We were all wondering because one of the TL Staff writers, kupon3ss, actually wrote a guide for it on TL in September. He was sad that no one gave him credit.
Liquid`BuLba
Well I saw the guide after I did it in the match, but I had a love for this item on every hero, not just exclusively Gondar.
Thanks for the chat! We'll see you soon.
BuLba Answers Your Questions
By the TL Community
![[image loading]](/staff/TheEmulator/2013February/QA/rsz_1bulba_qa.jpg)
BuLba will be back tomorrow with a Q&A thread! Starting at around Monday, Feb 25 1:00am GMT (GMT+00:00), Liquid`BuLba will answer your questions right here in this thread.
Have a question you'd like to ask him? Start now!
Questions and Answers
- Earthshaker was a staple support of WC3 DotA but not Dota 2, why?
- You get a custom Bulba Clockwerk/Tinker/Disruptor cosmetic item but have to play 200 Tide games in a row. Yay/nay?
- What do you think will be needed for SF to once again be the king of the mid lane?
- What do you think about ixmike's exquisite taste in music? Also, what do you think about Silencer & Medusa?
- What does Clockwerk bring to the team composition? Is he a counterpick?
- Are you gonna be streaming more after exams (April)?
- Has your dad learned more heroes than Tinker? Favorite beverage? Cheese or jam?
- What Hero currently in Dota 1 are you looking forward to the most?
- What do you study in college? Do you enjoy/value your major? Do you have many college friends outside of Dota? Who is your favorite Star Wars character, if any?
- You have 2 choices: You either never play Clockwerk again or you play 500 pub games of Treant protector.
- What are sufficient conditions for Storm to be picked in a draft?
- Most awesome heroes to..
- When are you going to play Meepo in a competitive game?
- Why do we not see Witch Doctor much in competitive Dota? Do you have any advice with regards to Dota 2 graphic settings? What keybinds do you use?
- Meditation? Eating habits? Mass Shadow Blades? 6 man team? Any improvements outside the game? Team chemistry? Superstitions/karma/animals?
- What position do you find the most enjoyable now that you guys switch it up so much?
- What builds on your team did you not invent? Also, why do you have your public games hidden, when you supported Dotabuff rankings?
- From your point of view, what are 5 strengths and 5 weaknesses the Liquid`DotA squad has compared to other teams? How has getting picked up by TL improved you as a squad?
- We all know you like Bulbasaur BUT.....Treeko, Torchic, or Mudkip?
- Any tips for new players besides, "practice, practice, practice?"
- Bulba, what are you majoring in at school?
- Do you think Liquid's style of picking will be successful against Chinese teams?
- What's your most liked hero? What equipment and settings do you use? Do you play any other games? How many hours to you play each day? Do you analyze replays?
- Whose your favorite person in the whole world?
- Which Chinese players do you fear/respect and are there any Chinese players in particular whose replays you watch?
- Are there any players you go to for inspiration? Which heroes do you think are the most in need for a buff/nerf and why?
What do you think the keys to success are for Liquid if you attend TI3? - Who is the best mid player you have faced? Why did you do so badly against Ferrari's TA at TI2?
- What kind of music/books/movies do you like? Will you grow a moustache like ixmike's for TI3?
- What's with the influx of Shadow Poison builds for Shadow Demon?
- How often does Liquid practice with heroes that aren't seen in tournaments frequently?
- Who's gonna play Tauren Chieftain for your team when he comes out? And do you think you'll be picking/using him a bit?
- Any predictions for unused heroes that you think will be used in the G-league finals? Also, do you think puck is an S-tier pick?
- Quick power ranking of Dota 2 teams in both the Asian and Western scenes?
- What do you think about your teammate's new league and the future of NAdota?
- How do I get better at last hitting?
- What do you think about different wisp combos other than Chaos Knight, how do they compare to CK/Wisp, and are there some other pairings you think might be good?
- A few members of LGD.int recently said they didn't think of Wisp or Gyrocopter as top tier picks. Why?
- What do you think aboug using Spiritbreaker to counter splitpush against top teams?
- What fundamentals should I keep in mind when drafting a team?
- How do you think Western players size up against Asian players, skill-wise? Where would Liquid place in the Asian power ranking you mentioned earlier? Who are your favourite casters? Bonus: 2pac or biggie?
- Thoughts regarding: Server swapping between games? Corresponding with Icefrog? TI3 invites? Liquid gaming house/bootcamp? Strategy against Fnatic in BigPoints battle games? Emulating iG after G-league?
- When do you think its a good choice to pick OD?
- Are you happy to be in Liquid? Do you know anyone in the French Dota2 scene?
- Is there a role for a pure spellcaster like Zeus in current meta? What does he need to be useful?
- When/if you played SC2, what league were you and what race did you play? Also, what players would the ideal Dota 2 team have for each position (out of currently active players)?
- Did you play any other WC3 maps for fun in the past? If so which ones were your favourites?
- When are you going to pick Slark?
- Are there any unreleased heroes you are super excited about?
- What was your experience with EG, and what were your strengths and weaknesses as a team? What do you think is wrong with them right now?
- You complain a lot about ancient stacking, but weren't you the inventor of the ancient stacking Tinker?
- Thoughts on Liquid vs Mousesports game 2?
- What about game 3?
- What were voice coms like at the end of game 3?
- If you were to nerf PL, how would you do it without making the hero utterly useless?
- Who are the top 2 korean players in the world?
- Do you guy try to find kills in the mid game or does it just happen for you?
- Could you explain the differences in drafting styles regarding Magnus and Gyrocopter in the Western and Chinese scenes?
- Thoughts on why the team's performance against Mouz was so lacklustre?
