posted by EskayDota,
Last year, fan favourites ua Natus Vincere finished 7/8th at TI4. This year, a worse result could be on the table with a "tricky" bo1 looming in the lower-bracket, but Funn1k is still hopeful for a strong finish for the team. Our Editor-in-Chief, Lawrence "Malystryx" Phillips, sat down with ua Gleb 'Funn1k' Lipatnikov, to talk about Na'Vi and The International so far.
Malystryx.GDS: So, I'm with Funn1k from Na'Vi. Funn1k, you've had a day to think about the groupstage, how's your team feeling about the groupstage? Do you think you played badly or is the format difficult.

Funn1k: Those two things that you mentioned are about 50 / 50 from both, we played badly, and the enemy teams were also strong, so the groupstage felt sad for us.

Malystryx.GDS: Na'Vi has often come back from a series where you may be 1-1 to win 2-1, do you think the best of 2 format is not suited to Na'Vi?

Funn1k: My team didn't like the format, the BO2. A BO3 would be much better for us.

Malystryx.GDS: Would you prefer BO1 over BO2?

Funn1k: Maybe, I don't know. I think BO3 is the best for us, BO1 is like so-so, but overall BO3 is better for us than a BO2 or a BO1.


Funn1k's stats for the TI5 groupstage


Malystryx.GDS: The groupstage was quite rough, were there any games you enjoyed?

Funn1k: We enjoyed the games we won (laughs), and the other games we didnt enjoy at all.

Malystryx.GDS: You did quite well on day 1 and 2, you started quite well. Was there something that happened? Which game do you think was the turning point for your performance?

Funn1k: I think it was game versus CoL, when we lost the series 2-0. We didn't win a game we should have won, we threw it away. We were sad after this, like not too sad but there was a bit of sadness. After that point we started to perform much worse than we should.

Malystryx.GDS: CoL did quite well, do you think the fact they did better later on that maybe the loss isn't so bad?

Funn1k: They didn't do anything, so the game was just our failures. We did make some mistakes on our side and after that, we lost.

Malystryx.GDS: I've talked to several team managers and players and a fair few think the BO1 in the lower bracket is unfair, do you think the fact it is BO1 is a bit cruel?

Funn1k: BO1 first round is very very tricky stuff - it's random. Like roulette.

Malystryx.GDS: Heroes; we've seen techies a few times, what do you think of techies?

Funn1k: Techies is a good hero, but some teams are just scared to use him, or they don't have players that play him well, and aren't using him. He is still a very good hero, there are many options to use him in. If you pick Tusk or Magnus it can be scary.

Malystryx.GDS: What about your teammates like Sonneiko, he's done ridiculously well - he's like your new star, what's his secret, why is he so good?

Funn1k: I don't know, he's just playing dota and he's very good. He's not quiet in the team, he talks, he suggests some moves.

Malystryx.GDS: Na'Vi have had a bit of a rough time at TI, what is a reasonable place you'll be happy with?

Funn1k: Top 8 is good, but still we have to win more games to get this, so we will try our best.

Malystryx.GDS: Do you play any sports at all, competitively?

Funn1k: I was studying karate one time, and I was competing in like some tournaments, in local ones.

Malystryx.GDS: Have you ever used karate on another player?

Funn1k: Not yet but maybe it will happen. (smiles)

Malystryx.GDS: My question is when you play sport, and you play against another team, sometimes you will deliberately pick on the weak player. When you play dota, do you sometimes go, "This guy is easy to get angry, lets kill him a lot". Does that ever happen?

Funn1k: Yes, there are a lot of situations, like if you know the team you are playing well. You know pretty much what is happening in their game, so if you gank this guy he'll start whining or do some bad moves or whatever. You can use this in some things. Yeah it's happened - teams use this sometimes.

Malystryx.GDS: If they want to do this to your team, which one of you has the short temper?

Funn1k: Dendi.

Malystryx.GDS: What about you?

Funn1k: Yeah I feed, I'll go feed and keep feeding.

Navi on press day - @DOta2

Malystryx.GDS: After TI will you keep playing? Will you take a break again?

Funn1k: I won't retire, I will keep playing. I just used the break to solve my own problems, a break from this because I was tired. I had big emotional problems with myself, so i needed the break.

Malystryx.GDS: Did Na'Vi know you were coming back?

Funn1k: Na'Vi didn't know, I don't think. At one point they were thinking like 'What players are we going to take', and then at that time someone else left, Phobos left, and I just said that we can come back with a new team, try this. They said we can think about it, and in a few days we confirmed we would come back as a team.

Malystryx.GDS: Thank you very much for the interview, best of luck on Monday.

Funn1k: Thank you!


Where do you think Na'Vi will finish? Which TI featured your favourite Na'Vi roster?



[i]joinDOTA's TI5 coverage is brought to you by ASUS, our official partner for the event.
[/i]


  • EskayDota
    EskayDota

    EskayDota

    Sam Kennard
    Staff
    • Contact:
    • Location:
      United Kingdom
  • Malystryx.GDS
    Malystryx.GDS

    Malystryx.GDS

    Lawrence Phillips
    Editor
    • Contact:
    • Location:
      Bristol, United Kingdom

Comments