Interview with LGD.xiao8

With four teams invited to the second edition of The International, China has finally entered into the world of Dota 2 almost one year after the release of the BETA. In today’s interview, It’s Gosu sits down with the captain of LGD Gaming, Zhang ‘xiao8’ Ning who will discuss about several topics including The International.

You have played for several renowned teams such as Dream, CCM and Invictus Gaming before heading to LGD Gaming in August 2011. In which team do you think you learned the most as a player?

I learned a lot from all of those teams. If I have to tell which one is the most, I would say it’s Dream because that’s where I started my DotA career, gaining skills and experience everyday through matching and training.

Invictus Gaming is the last team you played for before joining LGD. You mentioned that you joined the latter in order to play with your friends including Gong ‘ZSMJ’ Jian. However, the charismatic carry player left the team shortly after your arrival. How did the team deal with his departure?

ZSMJ’s retirement definitely gives us a big impact. Initially, it was more negative, but we were trying our best to find a solution or I should say a good player. Finally, we found Sylar who is well skilled overall, making him start to adjust our team, and everything is turning into positive.

His departure allowed Liu ‘Sylar’ Jiajun to join the team after departing from World Elite. Could you please tell us what stood out the most about Sylar and why you decided to accept him over other candidates?

The biggest characteristic of Sylar is that he is young. There is still more room to improve, strong individual skill. In my opinion, the rest of 4 players in LGD are the main reason hooked him in, in terms of skills and personalities

Several renowned players such as Zou ‘820’ Yitian and Wu ‘2009’ Sheng decided to take a managerial role after retiring as player. Is there a chance to see ZSMJ as coach of LGD in the future or is he really done with competitive gaming?

Everything is possible; you never know what his next decision will be.

If you want to read the full interview, please click on the following link: http://www.itsgosu.com/game/dota2/articles/lgd-xiao8-every-invited-team-has-a-chance-to-win-the-international-2_542

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