KJ: "We haven't exactly performed well enough to help other SA teams get exposure"

Honestly speaking, that was the best Dota we played all year, and we had a decent run at The International 2025. We made fewer mistakes compared to previous tournaments, and while we definitely could have gone further, we still played good Dota.

The results weren’t quite what we expected from an internal perspective, but from an outside perspective, it was a very good performance. Everyone’s been saying that, so I’m starting to believe it too, but I wanted us to go further.

We just made some fundamental mistakes and did not execute on the basic stuff. We could have prioritized Roshan properly, been a bit aggressive with our warding game, and communicated better about information on the map. If we had cleaned up those basic aspects, we could’ve easily gone further in the tournament. But yeah, the basics held us back.

Wisper is incredibly skilled and has already played many games as a mid laner in ranked. We saw a lot of potential in him, and he was confident about the switch. Moreover, it was something he has always wanted to try.

Additionally, by moving Wisper to mid, we brought in Davai Lama, someone who we trust and have a good rapport with.

We did consider bringing in fresh blood, but in the end, we felt the team would be stronger if we brought in an experienced player. Adding fresh blood can be risky, it might work out, or it might not. Young players also need time to grow, adapt and learn. With what we have now, especially with Davai Lama joining, the structure is already strong, stable, and the team is in a good place.

We do have some new players in South America, though not as many as in regions like Eastern Europe. But the influx of new players isn’t that great. There are a few reasons why it's tough here.

The region itself is challenging, like North America. NA is basically dead now, so players have to play with higher ping in Europe just to improve. This factor alone makes it really difficult for new players to improve at a higher level.

Also, as a region, we haven’t done a good job over the past few years competitively. HEROIC has always qualified for events, but we didn’t exactly perform well enough to justify getting invites or help other SA teams get exposure. That made it harder for the rest of the region to get noticed or break through.

But I am hopeful that things change now, given our good run at The International 2025. I hope other teams will get opportunities to bootcamp in Europe, play international events, and improve.

HEROIC has been amazing to us. They have given us a structure; bootcamps, support, and basically everything we have needed. When they first signed us, we were just the second-best team in South America, but they still believed in us.

We repaid that belief by eventually becoming the best team in the region. But even before that, they always gave us what we needed to grow, and that support helped us a lot.

My main focus is to become a stabilizing force inside the game. I want to play my own role well, but also make sure I’m there to calm things down if anything goes wrong. My cores know what to do, but if things fall apart, I’m there to guide us back into the game.

Outside the game, I am more focused on working on the team’s mindset. Mindset is key; you win some, you lose some, but you have to stay focused and trust your teammates. Trying to build and further strengthen that trust is a big aspect of my vision.

To be honest, I haven’t even looked at which teams we’re facing. I enjoy playing BLAST events because the format is exciting for fans.

That said, I don’t really have any expectations heading into the event. I just want to play and see what happens. We’re working on our mentality, and part of that is not judging opponents as strong or weak. We just want to play at our best, irrespective of the opponents we face.