Interview with Team Mineski at DreamHack India 2018

Mineski is one of the oldest South-East Asian professional gaming organization that features a team for competitive Dota 2 tournaments. Team Mineski were the invitees at DreamHack India 2018 to compete for the Dota 2 Invitational Tournament.

The team was up against Neon Esports in the Grand Finals and beat them to win the champion’s title, showing unbelieveable levels of skills and strategies. They bagged INR 15 Lakhs (21,000 USD) as prize money.

Esportsportal: How is the SEA Dota 2 Scene different from the EU scene?

Manager: I think there are more similarities than their are differences between the South-East Asian and the Europe scenes. SEA teams are known for playing more aggressively than the EU teams. But in terms of competitiveness, not that different from each other. The biggest problem that the SEA teams are facing right now is that we have only two slots in the majors. There should be three slots for the SEA teams, many people think that. And that maybe regions like North America or South America should have less. But the key difference I would say is the play styles of both regions’ teams and the meta.

EP: What are your views on the Dota Pro Circuit System?

Manager: I think the DPC system is really good. The only issue I can think of are that the events on the DPC system are less important to the top teams. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. I think it gives more oppurtunities to the small or less known teams to go up on the leaderboard. The DPC system is a much better system, a much better thing to play in the TI and what the players have always wanted. The players know exactly how they need to play, how many points they need to win and how they ned to fight the opponents.

EP: The players in the team are all from different countries. How does that play into the team dynamics?

JT-: A little bit. I think communication is the main thing. For example, players from the different countries have difficulty in communicating. So I guess if you are from the same country, from the same background, it gets much easier to communicate. We talk in English but it’s just not the same.

Manager: Moon and JT- are from Malasyia, Kpii and myself from Australia, Pieliedie from Sweden and Febby from South Korea so English becomes the common language. In terms of play style, Kpii comes from a Chinese team, so he has that Chinese influence on him, but I think that serves only to strengthen the team because it gives us some variety.

EP: Do you have plans to play on teams outside SEA or China?

Kpii: Currently, we have no plans to play for any team outside SEA or China.