[LR] The International II - 2012 - Page 211

Q: How did you feel when you went back to rest yesterday? How did your team feel? (NB: They went 6-0)
Yao: Very good. We were tired, so we slept well. We did relax a bit after the matches, but as to how, that will be a secret. It feels like a perfect start so far.

Q: Did you prepare any specific counters against opponents in today's matches? (NB: Day 2)
xiao8: We didn't discuss much. Today's opponents are weaker, so we just did some general preparation. (NB: Day 1's opponents were Zenith, EG and DK; Day 2's were m5, CLG and aL)

Q: How did you win game 1? (against m5)
DDC: Opponents made many slipups.

Q: How did you win game 2?
DD: The opponents switched up roles after game 1, Vigoss isn't that good at playing a farm priority #5 Veno (NB: hard support role). This game was easier than game 1.

Q: Rate m5.
Sylar: To be brutally honest, they made many mistakes in this game, and on the overall they're quite weak.

Q: How do you feel about your own performance thus far?
Sylar: Pleased. I like Shadow Fiend and Morphling. (NB: what a non sequitur...)

Q: Talk about your next match.
xiao8: We're up against mouz next. We're quite familiar with they're style - they're a mix of Chinese and Western playstyles, and are pretty strong.

Q: Then, what do you think your score against them will be?
xiao8: (laughs) 2-0. (NB: We all know how much they got in the end.)

Q: Yesterday you were 4-2, how did you feel about this result? AWOKE: Acceptable, but the losses to mTw were regrettable.

Q: How do you normally conclude matches? Is infighting profitable, and who is the best at arguing?
SANSHENG: Sometimes things get intense and we quarrel. There are pros and cons to quarreling, but the most important thing is to settle the problems we had in game. As for who is better... we're all pretty much the same.

Q: Now that you've visited Seattle, have you learned anything about trends?
Hao: The Americans are not particularly up to the times in terms of trendiness, I feel that we're still ahead. (NB: This question was ambiguous as to whether they were discussing fashion or the metagame.)

Q: How did you feel about today's matches? (Day 2)
Hao: About 7 our of 10. Our winrate has been high with Lone Druid, but sometimes I feel as if our attention strays after a while.

Q: Was defeating EHOME 2-0 within your expectations?
Kabu: We were planning to go 1-1. In our first match, Awoke drafted a lineup superior in terms of fighting Roshan, so we killed Roshan and won. In the second game we shut Antimage down at top, allowed Morphling space to farm. He farmed better, so we accumulated advantages and won.

Q: @Mu: You are relatively new, do you feel any stress?
Mu: Not really. The food is hard to get used to, but the scenery is nice.

Q: Your next match is against coL. How much do you understand about them, and do you think you can defeat them?
Mu: Don't really know much about them. Their carry player TC is good, but ours is better. (NB: coL took the games 2-0)

Q: How fashionable do you think Hao is?
Mu: Looks better with long hair.

Q: Your team now has 6 points. What do you expect of your final ranking in your group?
Awoke: 3rd or 4th, I think. The hardest matchup will be against iG. (NB: They're tied in 6th place with EHOME at 6-8)

Q: You went 5-1 yesterday. How did you feel about this result? What did you think of your loss to EHOME?
YYF: Acceptable. EHOME picked Tiny, we didn't make arrangements for that and we lost.

Q: How do you feel about your overall condition these few days?
430: We had lots of training. We're getting familiar, and both the food and accommodation are great, so our condition is great.

Q: Summarize the games against Darer. Game 1?
430: The opponents' style was unique, and they were better at lane. Juggernaut was pretty strong, so we very nearly lost.

Q: How did you win then?
Chuan: Turtle. We turtled until both Tinker and Prophet had Scythe; since they have good mobility, they can gank and catch heroes off guard easily, so we used that to grab opportunities.

Q: Comparatively, why was game 2 so easy?
Faith: The opponent didn't use traditional carries, and we took a better lineup in terms of teamfight. We had a better earlygame. (As to why they couldn't make a comeback,) Chinese teams are better in terms of making comebacks, Western teams tend to give up more easily.

(NB: the lineup here was Darer's Clinkz/Enigma/Tide/Seer/Veno vs iG's Sand King/Druid/Invoker/Leshrac/Rubick)

Q: How do you find the low ping? What do you think of Chinese players' skill?
Zhou: It's good to have this kind of environment (low ping) in a competitive scenario. I feel that all players have equal skill in micro, but Chinese teams are more stable, or maybe more conservative.

Q: Which carries do Zhou like the best?
Zhou: Depends on what the team needs. I personally prefer Druid, but whatever can win works for me.

Q: Next opponents?
Chuan: mTw. We haven't had the chance to scrim or learn about them, but I think we can take the matches 2-0 if we don't slip up. (NB: They did take the matches 2-0.)

Q: Congratulations on taking the games against CLG. Now that you're in a spectacular 10-0 lead in Group A, how do you feel? Happy? Ecstatic?
A: Not ecstatic, but happy. Our team is in a good place now, I hope this streak continues.

Q: The matchups were suddenly shuffled earlier; how did you react? A: We were supposed to play mouz, but it suddenly changed to CLG and that gave us only 10 min to prepare. CLG's win rate was very good, and they were highly ranked, so we didn't have sufficient time to prepare. Still, the games went well.

Q: Discuss the two matches.
A: We were much better in the first match than they were. They came out ahead early in the second match, but we turtled until AM got fed, and reclaimed the advantage.

Q: Rate teammate Sylar.
A: I was the one who invited Sylar to the team, and at that time I was attracted by his diligence. He needs to be less emotionally wavered in bad conditions, but when things are going smoothly his gank and teamfight response is excellent.

Q: The most threatening foreign team?
A: Na`vi and coL. Although their scores aren't too good now, anything is possible.

Q: Any secret weapons? A: Secret.

Q: Congratulations on the win. Summarize the last two matches.
A: aL was quite strong. They went for a tri-core strategy in game 1, but my Druid's farm was still rather successful. Although we lost the earlygame, my Radiance helped us slowly crawl our way back. Since they didn't teamfight well, we took the chance to make a comeback.

In game 2, we fought against Tinker, Prophet and Leshrac (NB: tri-push strategy). We had a very bad earlygame this time - we were down 4 towers and the killscore was 1-9 in favor of aL. They got complacent and we grabbed the opportunity to make a comeback later on.

Q: You lost both earlygames - any lesson you can take from that?
A: We are slow in response entering into matches, and Western teams like to play for the earlygame. We prefer the mid- to late-game and often pick more synergistic lineups centered around late, so we always look for these opportunities to make a comeback.

Q: Which team do you think has the best understanding of hero pool and drafting so far?
A: LGD and iG.

Q: How confident are you of holding 2nd place in the group?
A: Pretty confident.

Q: Rate your teammates and the team atmosphere.
A: Atmosphere is pretty good, ROTK and SUPER are both playing excellently.

Q: Longdd and ROTK can both be considered to be impulsive and rash. How do you deal with the team's interpersonal relationships?
A: Every team faces this sort of problem. We often have meetings and are honest with one another, so we resolve all our quarrels.

Q: Your next match is against CLG. How do you think you'll do?
A: 1-1. We're not so good at night after playing for the whole day. (NB: DK went 2-0)