posted by Malystryx.GDS,
Maroun 'Gh' Merhej took some time off bootcamping to have a brief chat with joinDOTA about their recent Starladder win.
GH with team-mate MatumbamanYou've gone from Starladder victory to bootcamp grinding. Normally teams do it the other way around. What were your expectations ahead of Starladder?
"We were expecting to do the best we could, no expectations towards which teams. We just wanted to play good and challenge the other teams and see where we stand," says GH.
"The whole point of the bootcamp is practicing and staying connected with your teammates unlike going back home and letting everyone do his own thing."
His team were of course also winners of the Starseries Season 3 just a few months ago, a LAN which was evidently the reason behind their direct invite to the Kiev Major. But which of the two LANs was more difficult?
"I'd say the Starladder Invitational was more difficult because we didnt know what to expect from TNC unlike the first starladder in which we played VG.J in the group stage before the Grand Finals," replied GH. "I expected them to fight but damn they fought really hard in the finals. TNC raven impresses me, I like his carry style."
GH on stage at the Starladder Invitational (Image: @DotaSLTV) Jakiro was a big talking point of the tournament, especially after TNC's new captain
Theeban '1437' Siva played it in all four of their opening games. In the Grand Finals Jakiro was one of Liquid's first 2 bans in 4 of the 5 Grand Final games, a simple decision for Liquid. "Jakiro seems their comfort hero, their to go to hero . So we just thought why not simply ban it if they value it so much," says GH.Their series versus IG was also a tough one, in particular because of one hero. "Sven felt like a beast in every single game especially the IG game, the hero just feels really strong atm especially with the new every minute ancient spawn," says GH. "Every one's gonna farm , you gotta watch out not to have a 15 min sven with 6 slots destroying your whole team with 2 hits."
Any tips to players for the new patch? God from Vega says in a post-match interview at Starladder Invitational that it is more about the laning phase, what are your thoughts? "It always has been about the laning phase but now a bit more because of the xp change and the xp gain from denies, therefore winning 2 lanes give you a better chance to win the game," says GH.
Did you watch True Sight? Does Kuroky ever go full Art-Style? What would Liquid be like if they were in the next one? "We'll have to wait and see if they decide to do true sight about us, everything that you will see is going to be 100% liquid unfiltered and you'll have to be patient to see how we re like when being tested," says GH.
Last question, have you got Io's Arcana and what do you think of it? "I was surprised an Io arcana was released after hearing that Valve just dropped the whole arcana for IO process," says GH. "I like it a lot and no I do not have it because i haven't got a 245 lvl compendium yet!"
Special thanks to GH. You can find him on Twitter
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