LGD.int has long carried the weight of expectation, and the team now finds itself in the rare position of being able to challenge some of Chinese DotA's toughest competitors on home territory. We were lucky enough to catch up with LGD.Misery.int for his thoughts on being in China, their recent GEST victory, and the upcoming G-League.




First, congratulations to you fantastic debut in the G-League qualifiers and GEST and Thank Misery very much for accepting the interview!

China

You guys have been in China for two months now, what is your favorite thing about life in China?
MiseryDota related, I would say playing in China is way more exciting and challenging than playing in Europe and since its a big part of our daily life, this is probably one of my favorite things about being in China. Apart from Dota, I would say the nightlife in China is very special compared to what I'm used to in Denmark or in the western world in general.

How about least favorite?
MiseryLeast favorite is probably the language, we are currently studying Chinese, but it seems impossible to learn right now. I personally only communicate with Chinese people by using body language or various gestures together with a few words of broken mandarin but hey, I'm getting quite good at it, haha.

Can you describe LGD's training regimen? Do you have coaches?
MiseryBasically we have to practice 6 days a week, 6-8 hours a day. Sometimes our internet is unstable or we have other problems, so we end up not practicing as much as we want. We don't have coaches, but you can say that we, LGD.int and LGD.cn help each other with different ideas or suggestions on how to improve certain strategies or play in general.

Aside from LGD, which teams do you most commonly scrim against?
MiseryWe have been practicing against pretty much all teams in China. ForLove, VG, Tongfu, iG, DK and of course LGD.cn. outside of china we have played a few games vs N9 and MUFC. I personally enjoy playing iG the most, it is the toughest opponent for us to beat.


We've heard about regular Cola Cups, can you elaborate on them?
MiseryWell in the beginning our manager, Nicholas, had bought 2 big boxes of colas and during those days everyone drank it. I thought it was a good thing, to always have cola in the house, cause I love cola! So when we had to practice, we, just for fun threw around a lot of different names for our bo3 or bo5s and ended up just calling it cola cups. Though, no one actually buys that cola, regardless of who wins. lol.

Can you tell us a fun story about being in Hangzhou?
Miseryspecial massage. I will say no more.

Maybe something funny about one of the other LGD.int members
MiseryI think its very funny to watch God play pubs..he doesn't finish a pub game with less than 10 deaths. :D

And one about one of the LGD.cn members.
Miseryxiao8's English accent and expressions never get old.. FOOODOO TIME.




How much Chinese have you learned?
MiseryLike I mentioned earlier, its super hard to learn. But we have learned a few sentences and a bunch of words.. the main problem is to remember it though, everything sounds and looks the same! For example, words like tiao, jiao, xiao etc.. used in so many different words with different tones.. omg.

GEST

How do you feel about winning your first tournament as a team? How was the "LAN FINALS"?
MiseryIt does feel good to win a tournament, although it means close to nothing to us. Our goal has been G-League all along. The "LAN" final was amusing, we had to put up a blackboard in between us to avoid any cheating,(*cough cough* xiao8) since we all sit in the same room.

You guys have picked Luna almost every game you've played, what makes her a top pick?
MiseryAt that time Luna just fit our style very much, get fast levels on the solo lane and go as 5 with aura and her nukes. Even if the game would drag out for whatever reason, she would still be able to carry later on. What makes her a strong carry or however you want to put it, is the fact that she is good in any stage of the game. Its the fastest hero in the game, she gives plus damage to everyone and has high damage nukes that makes her super strong in team fights. Even late game she has glaives and with items she can compete with even the strongest carries in the game, am, void etc.

What are your thoughts on the other "broken heroes" like Mag, Bat, and Sven.
MiseryWe usually refer to Batrider, Magnus, Darkseer and a few other heroes as "League of Legends champions". Just as an inside joke in the team, not sure how intelligent it is, but its funny as hell. On a serious note, I think Magnus and BAT are the 2 strongest heroes in the game right now, as for Sven, I don't believe hes imbalanced at all. I believe people in Europe just have no idea how to shut him down early in the game. In China, there's no space for stacking ancients and creeps over and over with 2 supporters. Without this 25 min bkb, mask, crit and level 16 hes not that big of a deal. Don't get me wrong though, its still a very strong hero, but in my opinion its not to be played as a 1 carry.

How well is the team's positions working out, do you enjoy 4th position?
MiseryEverything is working out really great with this team. Ever since my last trip to china with EG, I have been wanting to play support, but in my former team, CLG, I kind of had to play 1 or 2. With this team though, its possible for me to play 4, and I enjoy it a lot!

Did LGD.cn play about as expected given your scrims or did they try something new?
MiseryLGD played kind of as expected. The team has a playstyle they almost always stick to, and after practicing vs them a lot, its sort of predictable what they are gonna do, in terms of lanes and movement.

How about you guys?
MiseryIn the games we won, we played well, and in the games we lost, we played bad. I feel like we were very sloppy in the second and third game, both in terms of picks and lanes. I guess we took the win for granted being 2 games ahead, and obviously we learned a few things from this final, mainly about ourselves.

How did you guys celebrate afterwards?
MiseryWe finished really late, so we didn't really celebrate.. everyone was pleased with the victory and the atmosphere was good, but we pretty much just went to sleep.

Did eating noodles give either team a power boost? if so, what kind of noodles.
MiseryYes of course, Chinese noodles are next level.

G-League

Your games through the qualifiers and against LW were very one sided, how confident do you feel about the main event?
MiseryI'm not sure. I mean, I am of course confident in the team, but its going to be really hard. All the Chinese teams are practicing like crazy for this event, and already you can feel that the teams have improved a lot. Tongfu for example are really strong at the moment.

You and Pajkatt were in China with EG for G-League last year, how was that experience and will it help you this time around?
MiseryG-league is probably the best and biggest tournament besides The International, it is on national TV in China and its very prestigious. It was a very great experience to play there last year, unfortunately we didn't make it through group stage with EG last year. The fact that Pajkatt and I played there last year might help us a bit, we know the environment and we know what to expect. But it all comes down to outsmarting the enemy team and of course the performance.

Group A composes of both LGDs, DK, and For Love, how do you think you'll do against those teams?
MiseryThey are all great teams so it will be a tough challenge, but I believe we are capable of beating any of them.

Of the Chinese players/teams, who are you looking forward to playing on LAN against the most?
MiseryI would probably say DK, since last year they teased me a lot during our matches, and it made the pressure even higher.

Icefrog released 6.77 as a Christmas present, do any of the changes stand out to you?
MiseryNot really, I don't feel the changes are very significant. The nerfs on Bat and Magnus doesn't really affect the heroes too much. They will still be rated as top tier picks in China.

What are your goals for the League?
MiseryOur goal is to win the thing.

Finally, are there any shoutouts you'd like to give?
MiseryThanks for interviewing me! Shoutout to our sponsors, Taobao, LGD and Razer as well as our team leader Nicholas and Rurutia! and of course shoutout to all our followers and fans in the western scene in particular, your support means a lot!

Thank you very much and best of luck in the G-League and future tournaments!

Original Author: 菜刀刃
http://dota.sgamer.com/201212/news-detail-158042.html

Year 2008

G-League began in year 2007, but it wouldn't be until its 4th season in 2008 that DotA became an official title. To-date, it's been five years and 14 seasons. This article will recall the hot-blooded memories of our youth and let us smile more self-assuredly now that we know a new era is upon us.

Let time flow back to year 2008. That year DC's long hair was still flowing, 2009 was still rushing to-and-fro his exams and his matches, 820 wasn't a boss yet, and Crystal hadn't yet hung up his cleats. That year's G-League featured the dream team EHOME composed of Snoy, GK, DC, Longdd, 2009 taking care of 820's group of young upstarts CaNt. Shortly afterwards, EHOME recruited 820 and 357 into the squad to fill the holes left by 2009 who was returning to college and Longdd who cited irreconcilable differences.

The next season's championship was about the meteoric rise and fall of 7L. Except for Angel_Lover, everyone else on the team including DGC, Longdd, Danche (N3komatA) and BurNIng would go on to become legends. 7L inherited the key players from CaNt and would go on to defeat their old rivals EHOME in the finals.

Year 2009

Going into year 2009, due to Gamefy's sponsors pulling their investment, G-League was forced to shrink their tournament to two seasons. Following the collapse of 7L, Longdd formed a team with BurNIng, Crystal, Vincent and DGC called CityHunters (CH). However, they would be unable to prevent the 820-led EHOME from taking two consecutive G-League championships. At year¡¯s end, BurNIng would leave CH to join EHOME and lead them into a new era.

Zhou's team commeDieu (cD) shot into stardom. Zippo, SanSheng, mamamiya and Insence developed the famous ¡°risk all to win everything 4-protect-1 strategy¡±. The last of the three legendary carries (the other two being BurNIng and Zhou) ZSMJ made his mark on the scene as well with the Legend of the Sacred Relic near the year¡¯s end. The player 2009 juggled the roles of captain and investor as he led his team For The Dream (FTD) to take the SMM World Championship. Shortly afterwards, the team received LGD's sponsorship and officially changed their team name.

Year 2010

Though 2010 is often dubbed EHOME's year, G-League's podium belonged to LGD. 2009 and ZSMJ faced off against 820 and BurNIng in one of the most talked about matchups in the history of Chinese DotA--LGD vs. EHOME. cD would lose its key players to Nirvana.cn (Nv.cn) who would win the last season of G-League in 2010 and take their place alongside EHOME and LGD as part of the triumvirate of Chinese DotA.

Aside from these three teams, Deity, CH and Dream also left strong impressions. Team Deity led by mamamiya would undergo many personnel changes in 2009. CaoMei, XiaoLuo, 186, SanSheng, Crystal, Kabu, ChuaN, 830, Neo, 430, Longdd formed the revolving door of players who were on the team at one point. Their accolades include two second place G-League finishes as well as one championship win.

Most of the players from Dream (originally known as Tm) xiao8, Li, xiAo_D (Yao) and Tia (DD, sC) were from Changsha (city in China). Their fifth was Crystal. Dream knocked out the defending G-League champions LGD, but would end up going down to Nv.cn in the finals.

Year 2011

Heading into year 2011, Gamefy reinvented their ideas and execution of G-League as they moved to bustling Nanjing Street located in one of the busiest shopping districts in the world. Shortly after the start of 2011, team DK underwent many player changes. The original DK captain Ksssssss, Nv.YaphetS, EHOME.BurNIng, EHOME.KingJ and LGD.Benz formed a new all-star team. 2009 resigned his position as LGD manager. ChuaN joined LGD, and together with ZSMJ, 830, YYF and Ch~ shook the world with their deadly dual-roam/dual-jungle tactic. In the first season of 2011, the Zhou-led team CCM was upset by a new team called TyLoo. In the finals, LGD defeated DK by a convincing 3-0 score. Shortly afterwards, YaphetS retired from professional DotA.

In the second half of 2011, there was a big reshuffle in the professional scene. After going through a baptism by fire with the two new members Longdd and Zippo, DK met the youth team World Elite (WE) in the finals of G-League Season 2. With xiao8 as stand-in due to Mofi's health problems, Sylar, Veronica (Yaodao), Fnty and Li fought their best, but could not avoid defeat to DK. The score was 3-1.

In the third season, DK met LGD in the finals once again, but by now ZSMJ had retired. Not a single player remained from the roster that had surgically dismantled DK earlier in the year. The roster was now composed of the current incarnation of LGD: xiao8, Sylar, Yao, ddc and DD. Sharing WE's fate, LGD would go down by a score 3-1. BurNIng was able to fulfill his promise of getting up where he fell down. It was thus that DK established hegemony over Chinese DotA at the start of 2012 with seven straight tournament wins.

Year 2012

Historically-speaking, Zhou's teams CCM and later iG had not enjoyed success in 2011's G-League. They met their old rival DK in the finals of the first season of 2012. This time, they would manage to engineer an incredible comeback win from 1-2 down and prevent DK from completing an unprecedented three straight G-League wins. It had been two years since Zhou's last G-League championship as part of Nv.cn; it would also be the last G-League with Warcraft 3 DotA as an e-sport title. Since their victory at G-League, iG has swept swept three major competitions: TI2, ACE League and WCG China and established a brief dynasty as 2012 draws to a close.




In the second season of 2012, DotA departs from the G-League stage. A new era is about to begin for Dota 2. Famous IDs like Longdd, 357, BurNIng, Zhou, YYF, Dai, and SanSheng return to G-League--the place where their stories began.

As past years fade further and further into the distance, their youthful faces we will never forget. Today, we pay our respects to you: Snoy, DC, GK, 2009, 820, mamamiya, YaphetS, DGC...

Looking Forward

The first matches of G-League will begin 2100 KST December 26 2012[local] on Dec 26th. Now that the stage is set, look forward to the second part of our tournament preview!