DOTASG_PAPA
07-16-2007, 03:00 PM
Here an exclusive first hand interview with Anthony, aka Ant form Zenith about their recent trip across the boarder for the in “DotA Tournament 2007 Resurgence Series” held in Johor, Malaysia. Zenith won the second position in this exciting tournament. This interview contains juicy insight and overview of their experience at the event so don't miss it. Enjoy.
Dotasg PaPa: First, congratulations to Zenith on clinching one of the top positions in “DotA Tournament 2007 Resurgence Series”
Ant: Whoo ok, we're actually quite happy to make it quite far considering the games before that.
DotaSG PaPa: The tournament event has been flying below the radar and not widely known among the local DotA community, how did you first found out about it?
Ant: Well, we saw it quite some time ago since I regularly browse the lowyat.net forums but it was during a school term so we sort of disregarded thing, then last week a few people went into our irc channel and invited us over, at that point we pretty much forgot about it. So we saw the prizes were attractive and most importantly it was near to Singapore. And we went since we could field a team of 5.
DotaSG PaPa: Who were the five in the roster this time round? Anyone else tagged along, like friends or fans?
Ant: Well we left too early on Friday for anyone else to tag along i think, so it was just the 5 of us, Tofu, GPS, ZX, NutZ and me.
DotaSG PaPa: So I guess LUX was not in this time's roster due to NS taking him "Hostage" right?
Ant: NS makes you unavailable unless otherwise specified. We sort of released him from regular roster when he entered NS rather than not join when he's doing NS stuff.
Dotasg PaPa: How did Zenith prepared for the trip and the tournament and what was done for the preparations?
Ant: We cleared our schedules and did our homework, by doing our homework i mean it literally, LOL. So we didn't have to be bogged down by it on the trip, other than that I think we played... 1 or 2 games together. The rest was just normal
DotaSG PaPa: Then how about the preparation for the trip? Who did what to help out in travel preparation?
Ant: GPS booked hotel and arranged lots of stuff with the organisers. And we also arranged our own transport. Well basically, GPS' dad drove us there and had dinner with us. Then my uncle also offered to drive me there so we had 2 cars driving over. Only when we were there then we started worrying about transport back which the organiser helped us arrange.
DotaSG PaPa: That's really very nice to have GPS's dad, your uncle and the organiser's helping out. How about the sponsors, did they sponsor this trip?
Ant: Organisers really helpful and even ferried us from hotel to site. It was rather short notice so i think we're getting reimbursed from the sponsors.
Dotasg PaPa: Wow, that really cool of the organisers. This is the second time you experience such great hospitality from friend across the boarders, right?
Ant: Yup, first was Zionnet at Klang, Malaysia.
DotaSG PaPa: What was Zenith’s confident level and feeling before the start of this tournament?
Ant: I don't know about them. I wasn't very confident without ice since we've never went without him, but for feeling of course we were expecting to have good matches in Malaysia like we did last time.
Dotasg PaPa: Were there any expectations before the trip?
Ant: From others, no idea. For me I had some fear of being knocked out in the first two rounds. LOL. Well for me I don't do any expecting, I just play as it comes, but I can't speak for my team.
DotaSG PaPa: From the match-ups Zenith faced, were there any memorable ones?
Ant: You gotta see the replays, reaaaaally. What i say won't do them any justice, I think almost all the games except the first were very good. Especially the very turn-table quarter finals.
DotaSG PaPa: In general, you could give us a brief insight of the whole event?
Ant: Well first, since all games have to be played within 2 days and the lanshop is really spacious (downside being no comps), we marathon play for 12 hours or so.
DotaSG PaPa: No comps?
Ant: As in few comps, otherwise it went rather smooth. And it's very spacious, lots of room.
DotaSG PaPa: How many comps were there?
Ant: Like 28 i think, enough for 2 matches.
DotaSG PaPa: But shouldn't a lancafe be filled with comps instead of spaces?
Ant: Space to breathe, space to stretch leg, space to walk around without pushing other people's chairs is awesome.
DotaSG PaPa: Is there anything needing improvement or addition for their future events? How do you rate this event?
Ant: Well the games were fun, but really compared to sg events, they need better broadcasting. I mean for finals, they had it on stage in some mall and they projected observer's view but it was really feeling quite draggy without commentating. And for the CC a ton of people just crowd around a few monitors to watch the game, and cointoss is gay.
DotaSG PaPa: So there were no commentators? What happened to the cointoss?
Ant: No commentators. It's ok until you come to Singapore then you get used to commentating and no commentating seems boring. Well, about winning cointoss, it basically gives you 3 huge advantages. Usually you get to choose either hero or side, one advantage. Now if you win cointoss, you get to choose side, you get to pick the last hero (it's 1-2-2-2-2-2-1 drafting) and 2 good heroes at the start when he only can pick 1 and you get the final remove, so if they're trying to go a certain strategy, your last remove can screw them up.
DotaSG PaPa: So a 122221 drafting is flawed in your opinion?
Ant: Oh i think it is too but it's just a feeling. However, giving someone choice of side, last pick, as well as last remove, is just imbalance.
Dotasg PaPa: Anything valuable Zenith had gained from this tournament?
Ant: Of course we were exposed to new strategy and so we got to test the durability of our strategy. And integrated some other elements as well that we "borrowed" from them. That's the tactical aspect. And putting us all through "adverse" situations together like this makes our team bond stronger! It's like a team bonding trip which is much fun.
DotaSG PaPa: Were the strategies you guys used this time differ from what you all usually used in local tournament?
Ant: We had to put a lot of thought into the strategy for the first 3 removes but otherwise it's pretty much what we would use in a local tournament. As for whether we've used it before in local tournament, hey, we use different strategies every tournament so no surprise.
DotaSG PaPa: Yep, that's quite true. This time did you see any difference in play style between local and Malaysia's players? Any unexpected strategy encountered?
Ant: Well most of them run pretty standard play-styles and drafts, in terms of hero picks they're much less predictable then Singapore but for play-style they pretty much stick to one standard play-style. Singapore has less varied hero picks but much more play-styles. As for unexpected strategy, well one team did 4 late gamers on us and it was a 2 hour match or so.
DotaSG PaPa: Wow, games that long are pretty unusal nowadays. I can see why you are saying it was unexpected.
Ant: Yeah, they had 4 heroes we would consider late gamers here but used them to win engagements early on and later on we had problems late game.
DotaSG PaPa: So how you guy overcome the pressure from those four late gamers in the end?
Ant: We got aegis rapier, LOL, imbalance items. Well mostly what was unique was they used 2 of their heroes as just natural tanks with no items, letting the other 2 heroes farm as they do 2 don't need to farm. I think watch the replay if you want to see what happens, LOL.
DotaSG PaPa: The two does not need farming, is it because those two are Tanker cum Support?
Ant: Yah, it's quite a lot of pressure because you can't kill them. Also they're irritating and do damages.
Dotasg PaPa: Supporting tankers are rare, locally they are usually aggro tankers
Ant: But can't really waste time killing them cause the main bulk of damages comes from the other 2 late gamers and also to gain advantage in battle. They basically got their low lvl late gamers to mass buyout after tanking.
DotaSG PaPa: Indeed unusual. But it's good that this is something new and it enable us widen our DotA strategies knowledge
DotaSG PaPa: Final question. What is Zenith’s upcoming plans and direction?
Ant: Get through ACG then we see.
DotaSG PaPa: the for ACG, this year will there be special preparation on your side? Or is it the usual as the past years?
Ant: Same as always I guess.
DotaSG PaPa: Will Lux and Musica be back in this year's ACG lineup?
Ant: Possibly.
DotaSG PaPa: Okay, thank you very much for this interview. Wish you and Zenith all the best for the upcoming ACG competition.
Dotasg PaPa: First, congratulations to Zenith on clinching one of the top positions in “DotA Tournament 2007 Resurgence Series”
Ant: Whoo ok, we're actually quite happy to make it quite far considering the games before that.
DotaSG PaPa: The tournament event has been flying below the radar and not widely known among the local DotA community, how did you first found out about it?
Ant: Well, we saw it quite some time ago since I regularly browse the lowyat.net forums but it was during a school term so we sort of disregarded thing, then last week a few people went into our irc channel and invited us over, at that point we pretty much forgot about it. So we saw the prizes were attractive and most importantly it was near to Singapore. And we went since we could field a team of 5.
DotaSG PaPa: Who were the five in the roster this time round? Anyone else tagged along, like friends or fans?
Ant: Well we left too early on Friday for anyone else to tag along i think, so it was just the 5 of us, Tofu, GPS, ZX, NutZ and me.
DotaSG PaPa: So I guess LUX was not in this time's roster due to NS taking him "Hostage" right?
Ant: NS makes you unavailable unless otherwise specified. We sort of released him from regular roster when he entered NS rather than not join when he's doing NS stuff.
Dotasg PaPa: How did Zenith prepared for the trip and the tournament and what was done for the preparations?
Ant: We cleared our schedules and did our homework, by doing our homework i mean it literally, LOL. So we didn't have to be bogged down by it on the trip, other than that I think we played... 1 or 2 games together. The rest was just normal
DotaSG PaPa: Then how about the preparation for the trip? Who did what to help out in travel preparation?
Ant: GPS booked hotel and arranged lots of stuff with the organisers. And we also arranged our own transport. Well basically, GPS' dad drove us there and had dinner with us. Then my uncle also offered to drive me there so we had 2 cars driving over. Only when we were there then we started worrying about transport back which the organiser helped us arrange.
DotaSG PaPa: That's really very nice to have GPS's dad, your uncle and the organiser's helping out. How about the sponsors, did they sponsor this trip?
Ant: Organisers really helpful and even ferried us from hotel to site. It was rather short notice so i think we're getting reimbursed from the sponsors.
Dotasg PaPa: Wow, that really cool of the organisers. This is the second time you experience such great hospitality from friend across the boarders, right?
Ant: Yup, first was Zionnet at Klang, Malaysia.
DotaSG PaPa: What was Zenith’s confident level and feeling before the start of this tournament?
Ant: I don't know about them. I wasn't very confident without ice since we've never went without him, but for feeling of course we were expecting to have good matches in Malaysia like we did last time.
Dotasg PaPa: Were there any expectations before the trip?
Ant: From others, no idea. For me I had some fear of being knocked out in the first two rounds. LOL. Well for me I don't do any expecting, I just play as it comes, but I can't speak for my team.
DotaSG PaPa: From the match-ups Zenith faced, were there any memorable ones?
Ant: You gotta see the replays, reaaaaally. What i say won't do them any justice, I think almost all the games except the first were very good. Especially the very turn-table quarter finals.
DotaSG PaPa: In general, you could give us a brief insight of the whole event?
Ant: Well first, since all games have to be played within 2 days and the lanshop is really spacious (downside being no comps), we marathon play for 12 hours or so.
DotaSG PaPa: No comps?
Ant: As in few comps, otherwise it went rather smooth. And it's very spacious, lots of room.
DotaSG PaPa: How many comps were there?
Ant: Like 28 i think, enough for 2 matches.
DotaSG PaPa: But shouldn't a lancafe be filled with comps instead of spaces?
Ant: Space to breathe, space to stretch leg, space to walk around without pushing other people's chairs is awesome.
DotaSG PaPa: Is there anything needing improvement or addition for their future events? How do you rate this event?
Ant: Well the games were fun, but really compared to sg events, they need better broadcasting. I mean for finals, they had it on stage in some mall and they projected observer's view but it was really feeling quite draggy without commentating. And for the CC a ton of people just crowd around a few monitors to watch the game, and cointoss is gay.
DotaSG PaPa: So there were no commentators? What happened to the cointoss?
Ant: No commentators. It's ok until you come to Singapore then you get used to commentating and no commentating seems boring. Well, about winning cointoss, it basically gives you 3 huge advantages. Usually you get to choose either hero or side, one advantage. Now if you win cointoss, you get to choose side, you get to pick the last hero (it's 1-2-2-2-2-2-1 drafting) and 2 good heroes at the start when he only can pick 1 and you get the final remove, so if they're trying to go a certain strategy, your last remove can screw them up.
DotaSG PaPa: So a 122221 drafting is flawed in your opinion?
Ant: Oh i think it is too but it's just a feeling. However, giving someone choice of side, last pick, as well as last remove, is just imbalance.
Dotasg PaPa: Anything valuable Zenith had gained from this tournament?
Ant: Of course we were exposed to new strategy and so we got to test the durability of our strategy. And integrated some other elements as well that we "borrowed" from them. That's the tactical aspect. And putting us all through "adverse" situations together like this makes our team bond stronger! It's like a team bonding trip which is much fun.
DotaSG PaPa: Were the strategies you guys used this time differ from what you all usually used in local tournament?
Ant: We had to put a lot of thought into the strategy for the first 3 removes but otherwise it's pretty much what we would use in a local tournament. As for whether we've used it before in local tournament, hey, we use different strategies every tournament so no surprise.
DotaSG PaPa: Yep, that's quite true. This time did you see any difference in play style between local and Malaysia's players? Any unexpected strategy encountered?
Ant: Well most of them run pretty standard play-styles and drafts, in terms of hero picks they're much less predictable then Singapore but for play-style they pretty much stick to one standard play-style. Singapore has less varied hero picks but much more play-styles. As for unexpected strategy, well one team did 4 late gamers on us and it was a 2 hour match or so.
DotaSG PaPa: Wow, games that long are pretty unusal nowadays. I can see why you are saying it was unexpected.
Ant: Yeah, they had 4 heroes we would consider late gamers here but used them to win engagements early on and later on we had problems late game.
DotaSG PaPa: So how you guy overcome the pressure from those four late gamers in the end?
Ant: We got aegis rapier, LOL, imbalance items. Well mostly what was unique was they used 2 of their heroes as just natural tanks with no items, letting the other 2 heroes farm as they do 2 don't need to farm. I think watch the replay if you want to see what happens, LOL.
DotaSG PaPa: The two does not need farming, is it because those two are Tanker cum Support?
Ant: Yah, it's quite a lot of pressure because you can't kill them. Also they're irritating and do damages.
Dotasg PaPa: Supporting tankers are rare, locally they are usually aggro tankers
Ant: But can't really waste time killing them cause the main bulk of damages comes from the other 2 late gamers and also to gain advantage in battle. They basically got their low lvl late gamers to mass buyout after tanking.
DotaSG PaPa: Indeed unusual. But it's good that this is something new and it enable us widen our DotA strategies knowledge
DotaSG PaPa: Final question. What is Zenith’s upcoming plans and direction?
Ant: Get through ACG then we see.
DotaSG PaPa: the for ACG, this year will there be special preparation on your side? Or is it the usual as the past years?
Ant: Same as always I guess.
DotaSG PaPa: Will Lux and Musica be back in this year's ACG lineup?
Ant: Possibly.
DotaSG PaPa: Okay, thank you very much for this interview. Wish you and Zenith all the best for the upcoming ACG competition.