Tundra opens up on wild mid picks, DPC, and NA vs EU pubs

The Stockholm Major is a return to live crowds for Dota 2 esports. For Tundra, this major is also a chance to claim its first Valve event championship. WIN.gg was able to interview Tundra Esports and learn the team’s thoughts on the Stockholm meta, regional pub differences, and why Leon “Nine” Kirilin keeps picking strange heroes.

WIN.gg: Sneyking, you recently switched to the captain’s role. Were there any unexpected challenges with your transition to team leader?

Wu “Sneyking” Jingjun: There of course will be challenges when you transition into a new role. Playing in the safe lane is very different from playing in the offlane, which was what I was doing for the majority of my career. 

Along with the additional responsibility that I had as the captain, it definitely took some time to make sure I was in sync with my teammates and playing my role properly. But with the support of our team and most importantly our coach (Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling,) it made it a much easier transition than most people would have thought.

Nine, first it was Winter Wyvern and now Keeper of the Light at the major. What’s up with the mid hero picks?

Nine: I don’t think about playing off meta heroes specifically, sometimes I just see a hero and think that it has something very powerful as mid. And when I try it and it feels good, I bring it to my team.

The series against Thunder Awaken had a rocky end, but a fantastic performance from skiter helped land the 2-0 victory. What’s it like playing carry in such a creative team?

Oliver “skiter” Lepko: It’s very inspiring. It makes me more creative too with hero ideas and item builds, plus I know our opponent needs to try to solve all these annoying heroes before even worrying about me.

33, what are your thoughts on the Wraith Pact meta?

Neta “33” Shapira: Super boring, not sure if it’s really that good but right now it’s in every game and I think it’s a stupid item design. It’s gonna be either OP or too weak and it’s just a boring concept in my opinion.

What was it like preparing for a tournament just eight days after patch?

Aui_2000: Preparing for a tournament just eight days after the patch wasn’t too hard because a lot of our practice is focused on our fundamentals and figuring out how to combine ideas. 

This let us quickly slot in and test whatever we thought was strong. The patch also wasn’t very big before this tournament so a lot of what we thought was strong or weak stayed the same.

Is there anything you’d like Valve to change about the Dota Pro Circuit?

Sneyking: I would like for Valve to change the six-week season into shorter two-three week-long seasons which would make the games way more hype and allow time for more third-party tournaments.

For the teammates with experience playing in Europe, what’s the biggest difference between the EU and NA pro scenes?

Aui_2000: I think the biggest difference between the EU and NA pro scenes is the quality of practice both in scrims and pubs. EU just has a lot more players which gives a larger pool to practice from.