Pavel “9pasha” Khvastunov gave big interview to one of the blogers from cyber.sports.ru. The player from our Dota 2 roster answered questions about his team’s participation in The Kiev Major 2017.
What was the first thing ArtStyle said to you after the game? Minus any swearing.
There was no swearing; that only happens during a game.
Vanya was really disappointed. He’d always told us our strategies were very strong; we’d been winning with them, but then after three games, we’d decided to improvise for some reason. And he was disappointed because we hadn’t listened to him. Perhaps with our regular strategies… Although you can’t say we had the wrong picks. It’s just that we have a 100% confidence in some heroes and strategies, and a 60–70% one in others.
Is it bad that they don’t allow coaches inside the booths?
When you have five people sitting there talking, figuring out what someone’s trying to tell you can be hard enough as it is. The hardlaner’s shouting that enemy supports have gotten away from him; the midlaner’s shouting that he needs to abuse the courier; the carry’s shouting for help all of that at once. I don’t think it’s wise to bring in a sixth person, however useful they may be.
Which of you five took this defeat the hardest?
Ilya took it the hardest, I think, because he’d really wanted to win. We all had, obviously, but for Ilya, it meant something greater. It was the hardest for him.
Let’s leave the subject of the Kiev game now. Tell me, what qualities do you think a hardlaner must possess?
You must watch the minimap very, very closely, understand what’s going on at every point; a hardlaner’s macro is very important. You need to know when you can get cheeky and when you can’t. When you can die and when you can’t. You must always figure out what the enemy supports are doing. You must get the maximum benefit for yourself even out of a difficult situation.
It’s a really unusual role. It’s become easier now that they’ve added an extra camp in the jungle; you can walk away and farm a little. Generally, the key thing is to have a good estimate of how strong you are, and to know what you must do specifically in order to win, the part of the plan that you’re supposed to execute.
Have you already decided what you’ll spend your prize money on?
I haven’t decided anything yet. I’m saving for an apartment in Korolyov. Without going into detail, I don’t live in my own apartment right now. I was very disappointed that we lost because that’s not the first and foremost reason of course, but it is the second or third because the prize money for the first place would exactly buy that apartment.
