9pasha: "Lil really wanted to win"

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.

Have you received any congratulations from the organization?

The organization has been supporting us this whole time, it gave us everything we needed to get so far and accomplish so much.

I’ve noted an opinion among fans that the Top 4 goal set by the organization put pressure on you. Is that so?

No, we weren’t under any pressure in that respect. Perhaps just in the first playoff game… When we realized we’d be playing iG.V, just like in Boston, we were upset. Once again, we were worried that something unexpected might happen and we’d get eliminated like in Boston, where we’d also been confident about our strength. And when we did advance to the semifinals, did get into the Top 4, the tension was gone, we saw that we were doing everything right, that we were doing a great job. It untied our hands, and we were more confident in the match against iG.

What would you say are other CIS teams’ shortcomings right now?

I think it’s down to the same thing I mentioned when I was talking about hardlaning. You must always be aware of what you need to do in order to win, what your plan is. There’s a shortage of this awareness.

You picked certain heroes, you’ve run about getting some kills, and then you stumble because you don’t have a clear task, a set goal. In the early game as well as the mid-game, you need to have a clear understanding of what you need to do to end that game.