Lil: “We’ve been through a lot together”

Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk gave an interview to the CyberSport.ru portal after the end of The Kiev Major 2017 group stage. The support player from our Dota 2 roster talked about the format of the tournament, the group stage games, and the opponents coming up in the first round of the playoffs.

You finished earlier than all the other teams; you’ve had a day and a half to prepare. Is it an overall advantage or disadvantage?

More of an advantage. You won’t forget how to play in the space of half a day, or for that matter a month or several weeks. The guys took a break, had a little celebration of Roman’s birthday, went out to buy him a present, a cake. Then we sat and watched games; in the evening, we learned the grid and who our opponent was going to be. Now we have almost an entire day of practice; we’ll be specifically preparing for our first-round opponent.

What do you think the ideal format should be at Majors?

Same as The International, I think: two groups of 8 teams, four going to the winners’ bracket, and four to the losers’. Then people would be making an effort in the group [stage] as well. I think it’s the greatest system in existence. Or the Swiss one, with winners and losers, but teams with [a score of] 0-3 should get eliminated. Or the same format but without losers, the 3-0 teams advance to the semifinals, and the rest… you get the idea.

With a grid like this, fans are expecting to see you in the semifinals at the very least. Is this a stroke of luck, or are you going to feel burdened by the responsibility?

As I said in a recent interview, sometimes you’ve got to take your mind off this burden of responsibility. You play for the sake of playing, for yourself and your team. You’ve come to win a tournament, and you must understand that you’re supposed to defeat any opponent. No matter who you get in the first round, whether it’s Evil Geniuses or iG Vitality.

This time, we think a little differently. Unlike Boston, this won’t be the first time all five of us will be sitting in the same booth. We’ve been through a lot together. We’ll be at the top of our game. Everything is in our hands, anything is achievable.