DOTA2 Q&A With Singapore Team Scythe.sg

While Gamescom 2011 at Cologne, Germany, was about fun and games, it was also the background where "The International" DOTA2 tournament took place. Sixteen different teams from across the world competed with each other mercilessly during five days, and three teams emerged at the top spots after the dust cleared. Ukraine's Na'Vi came in first, while China's EHOME got in second.

Singapore's Scythe.sg took third place, which isn't a small feat by worldwide standards. GameSpot Asia recently spoke to the team consisting of members Lee Hanyong "hyhy" Benedict, Daryl "iceiceice" Koh Pei Xiang, Toh Wai Hong "xy-," Wong Xinglei "Chawy," and Royston "LoveQuinny" Chee Jin Sheng.

GameSpot Asia: Tell us a bit about Scythe.sg's origins.

hyhy: For this tournament in particular, we all came from different local DOTA teams like KingSurf and Zenith. We are more or less the familiar faces of the top teams in Singapore. We had limited time to practice, so we formed this "all-stars" team, which would quickly adapt in a tournament setting. This team was formed last year. LoveQuinny and I were the original team members back in 2006, three years after DOTA came out.

We were fond of DOTA on a tournament level because at the time, it was very popular on a competitive level; there were a lot of tournaments held. Right now, the fanfare has started to deplete since 2006.

GSA: So after five days of hard and intensive playing, what are your thoughts on the Gamescom build of DOTA2?

hyhy: Better graphics. [In terms of core gameplay], the gameplay still remains the same. The graphics, hotkeys, and interface are the main things we had to get used to. Ladder and match-making options are made easier. Back in Warcraft 3, you host your game and the default server is the country you're in. In DOTA2, you choose both server and location to host a match. Thanks to this improvement, Asian players will have less lag when hosting on home territory.

GSA: Is the game slower or faster? How easy is it this time around to "poke" enemies at a blind spot near their tower?

LoveQuinny: No one wants to lose quickly; that's why the matches are slow in the tournament (laughs).

hyhy: Rushing each other would be unwise in such a setting. Otherwise, the flow of the game is exactly the same. If you count the time of a match between DOTA1 and DOTA2 using similar play styles, it'll be the same length.

LoveQuinny: The "tower defense" mechanic is standard for any DOTA-style game from the original to League of Legends. As soon as your hero enters enemy territory and towers, all of them focused on you. It's just that in DOTA1, players can abuse it since the AI does not focus on you instantaneously. That's fixed in DOTA2.

GSA: Any changes to the characters? If so, what?

hyhy: The skills for each character have been tweaked. For example, the ability blink now has a very long range.

Iceiceice: In fact, the developers have improved on every hero's escape mechanism. So heroes with blink and time walk can use those moves at a longer range now.

Chawy: All in all, it's pretty balanced.

GSA: Would adding in new characters and an all-new map mode be beneficial to justify the game being a sequel, rather than just DOTA with updated graphics?

hyhy: If the developers want to add in another map, give us a reason to use it. The devs shouldn't follow League of Legends' philosophy, where they make two to three extra maps and not use them for competitive play at all.

Iceiceice: The DOTA2 guys should make a new one or two just for casual play. The mentality for pro gamers is that they stick to one official map and train continuously on it. In short, they should mimic what Blizzard did for StarCraft II in designing competitive and casual maps for a player's choosing.

GSA: Seeing as you're pros at this genre, what changes do you wish to see in the future or final build of the game?

xy-: We would like to see new heroes, specifically those that can micro (summon extra units like Beastmaster).

Chawy: We also feel that the flow of the game is long. The original DOTA matches can really drag on, so hopefully, there's a method in the final build that speeds things up in a tournament setting.

GSA: Why do you think the top two teams that won are stronger? Or do you feel that you are at equal footing during that tournament?

hyhy: I believe that our team was on the same level as Na'Vi and EHOME. Na'Vi was more prepared, however, and deserved the win. During the loser finals against EHOME, we could have won that match. It was definitely a close game, but we felt disappointed when we were third.

xy-: Scythe.sg trained separately for five days and only teamed up for two to three days just before the tournament. Na'Vi was the only team that trained together as five in the tournament for the entire one month and a half.

GSA: What did you feel you did wrong during the loser's bracket where you got kicked out by EHOME?

Chawy: After the loss at the winner's bracket against Na'Vi, we lost our momentum and were demoralized. While at first we were doing well against EHOME, the team had a new play style and switched roles and drafting styles. We even made a mistake of banning our own heroes during the drafting process (players take turn banning up to four heroes during drafting for a DOTA2 tournament match). We ran out of strategies and lost the third and fourth game as a result.

hyhy: They are clearly the best team there. They are on a different level and we just couldn't fight them. Specifically, they picked weird heroes not usually chosen in a typical DOTA1 tournament. Since DOTA is a draft game, they somehow mastered how DOTA2's draft works and who the top picks are.

GSA: What is the team's tactic during the matches? (deny creeps, ganking tactics)

xy-: We focused on farming, where we kill creeps on different parts of the map to level up and get items as soon as possible. At the same time, this helps deny opponents the ability to level up.

hyhy: When it comes to drafting, a team would need an engager, a supporter, a ganker, and two carries (farmers). The momentum of the game is basically to get the farmer to get the basic items and then create the space for the farmer (specifically lane control), which then leads to vision and tower advantage, as well as map control.

GSA: For most situations, what's your favorite type of character to use?

Iceiceice: For me, I like heroes that irritate people and disrupt the game space like Furion and Terrorblade.

hyhy: I definitely go for Shadowfiend because he fulfills a few roles like a tanker, engager, and ganker. He helps create the space for farmers to farm.

Chawy: I always pick Faceless Void.

xy-: I like Pudge because his meat hook range is double of that in DOTA1. LoveQuinny: I pick Night Stalker because he has lots of skills and gets stronger when he casts darkness.

GSA: What are the group's thoughts on the Singapore e-sports and competitive scene as of late?

Iceiceice: It would be nice if we could get support from the government.

hyhy: For a start, they should promote awareness on how successful e-sports have been in other countries and analyze how it has been doing locally. From there, gauging from other Singaporean-related success stories in overseas tournaments, they should give us a single chance in terms of financial and miscellaneous support.

We should also be granted leave from Singapore's National Service if we were to participate in a major worldwide tournament, as well as a few extra days to train for it. For example, I'm on National Service duty right now, and I have to waste all of my legitimate leave days to train and represent my country for the recent worldwide DOTA2 tournament. Since I used up all of my leave, I won't be able to go to other major tournaments of this caliber like World Cyber Games.

Even if my team were to win in the upcoming qualifiers, I can't head off to Korea for the finals at all. In that regard, it's retarded and dumb.

GSA: We understand that Valve forked the bill for the DOTA2 tournament. If there were any future tournaments, how would that work out financially?

hyhy: We would have to fork it out ourselves to go to Malaysia or Thailand. Last year's ESCT tournament in Thailand was proof that we paid for our own trip, lodging, registration fees, and food.

GSA: Have you made a number of pleas on your side?

hyhy: We would love to, but by ourselves we don't know how. SCOGA is trying to reach out to the government themselves, but they're having difficulties.

GSA: Do you believe that the local media is supporting e-sports?

Iceiceice: We feel that they're doing the opposite. News like family violence and abuse stemmed from gaming still appear even until now.

Chawy: From that perspective, it's because they don't view it as something to be proud of. The media always wants to create a story no matter what. When there's a family violence story that originated from family issue with video games being secondary and minor, [the media] does its best to highlight gaming as the main cause and scapegoat to such tragedies.

hyhy: We also weren't fans of Kotaku's apathetic response to the Zaccubus interview, as well as its comments on the SC2 e-sports scene. I personally stopped reading that site ever since.