"I think disappoints will come if you always are constantly thinking about living up to 2nd place at TI"

VG.Black^ at WEC

You got a new team, tell us how you got on Vici Gaming and tell us about the whole process

So, it came actually pretty late, half a month after TI. Iceiceice spoke to me because he suggested that him & I go to VG, and then he strongly vouched for me and Vici was like yeah sure, lets give it a try.



That's pretty much how it happened.

How has Vici been treating you thus far?

Really nicely, like it was a warm welcome, all the players are really nice to me, there's no singling someone out just because he can't speak the language fluently or something, so everything is really nice so far.

What's different about Vici and the other Chinese organisations you've been in, other teams you've been on?

Definitely how professional their management is, cause like, obviously we don't have time right now but for the future we will have practice schedule everyday. Three best of 3s and thats the biggest difference.

You guys have been doing pretty well so far now, beat EG 2-0, what's the difference between this year and last year's Vici?

Well, I guess they have 2 different flavors now, in addition to their Chinese style which is the European and Singaporean one. But, I think the reason we beat EG is because we studied them a lot, had a hotel meeting yesterday discussing how to beat them. What they want to do, what to give them, what to pick ourselves and it went all according to play.

Who do you guys play next?

It's going to be Newbee. It's going to be TI4 grand final again.

TI5 grand final you mean?

*laugh*

Do you like living in china? You have been here quite a while now.

I really like the country. The food, the Dota, and the air really isn't as bad as people say, only in Beijing, but since I live in Shanghai, it doesn't really matter.

What do you think about this event so far?

I think it's been organised in a pretty nice fashion. There's not many delays and you always get food and drink. So nothing to complain about yet.

What do you think about this period after TI with all the team shuffles and everything? Tell me what you think about the new western teams.

New western teams? Who do we have there? Obviously Secret Team, have a lot of potential, but they couldn't really show much yet since their visa was denied. The new Na`Vi looks to be really really strong right now, but I don't know its going to continue in the future. Who else is there? C9 with FATA, I don't know how they're doing right here, but on paper that lineup looks really strong, and then who else is there? Team Tinker obviously, fan favorites for sure, lets see how they do in the future. I haven't really watched them officially because I was busy planning with Vici. And any teams I've forgotten?

No.

Probably many but...

The new Alliance?

Oh the new Alliance! I've watched one or two games and they won pretty convincingly. So they definitely have what it takes obviously, but I don't know how well they will match together. The future will tell I guess.

So, do you feel any pressure being on the team that finished 2nd at TI?

There's definitely a lot of pressure on like everyone, cause if you fail now, everyone will be like you don't deserve that TI 2nd place team. So obviously I'm trying to show off my best to show off what I've got. But I think disappoints will come if you always are constantly thinking about living up to 2nd place at TI.

what are you goals then being on this team?

Well, obviously we all want to win TI, they don't want to finish second. And that's what we're going to practice for. And we have a pretty tight practice schedule and there is a lot of tournaments coming up in china, and so we should have a good ground to play on.

Is this the best team you've ever been on?

Definitely, iceiceice like people say is the best offlaner. Then we have Fy and Fenrir who are the best support duo in china and Super is one of the most stable mid players. I can definitely say this is one of the best teams I've been on.

What's different about the supports you play with now?

They are really really active, they run around and win pretty much every lane, so I just have to kill my creeps and use my spells and that's pretty much all I have to do.

Oh yeah? That easy?

It's pretty easy right now at least. I don't know how it's going to go later on.

You're replacing Sylar, that's pretty big shoes to fill.

Yeah definitely. I'm not up to his level I think but I'm practicing to get there and maybe even surpass him. Obviously that's what everybody wants right?

Do you feel like you have a wider hero pool maybe than Sylar?

I feel like you can't really say that because rOtk drafted a lot of similar lineups so he didn't have a lot of chances to show it. But I do believe he has a really big hero pool as well.

Are we going to see your signature hero comeback?

Which one's that? Antimage?

Yeah.

Oooh I don't know, if it fits the draft then maybe? But right now we're focusing on aggression.

Vici dont pick the super late game farming carries.

Yeah, not often at least. Like at TI they picked Morphling 3 times and Antimage once at least....

Yeah but Morphling is different than Antimage. At least Morphling can fight at the beginning of the game. And Sylar, that's his hero.

Sylar is definitely the best Morphling out there. His Morphling is sick.

What do you think about the other Chinese teams that you guys have played?

Since I got here we've only played versus LGD.CDEC one game in scrims and now we've played EG. So I haven't really played against any other Chinese teams but they [LGD.CDEC] have improved a lot since I last versed them but the other teams I don't know. I've never seen them, I've never played versus them, so it's going to be a surprise to me as well.

Alright we'll keep it short, what shoutouts and callouts do you have?

Shoutout to all my fans, it's been a long time but now we can finally make something work together. I'm really happy that people kept supporting me. And that's all.

You're so boring, come on!

I'm sorry, if I call someone out they're going to be mad at me!

How about call out rOtk for retiring?

Alright im calling out rOtk for retiring and burning too because he said at first he wasn't going to retire, so I was really sad.

Alright thank you and good luck

Thanks.

HotBid had a chance to sit down with Black^ about his new time on Vici Gaming and how the team is shaping up, while at WEC today. This was done immediately before their match with Newbee so there is a question in there about that before the two had played (which is probably okay because as I'm writing this they haven't finished their match).