343: "I don't think we're very far away from the best teams in the world right now"
BLAST Slam V: Chengdu has begun, and teams are already battling for a spot in the next round. In the midst of all chaos, we got the opportunity to talk with OG Esports' coach, Adam "343" Shah, about his team's preparation heading into the tournament, where they stand compared to the best teams, how the team was formed, and more.
Let's dive right in.
It’s nice to see you back on the big stage after a long time. How does it feel to be back?
It's a pleasant feeling especially with how we did during the tournament [PGL Wallachia 6], but I'd probably feel it even more once we start meeting the fans again.
How is OG approaching BLAST Slam V, especially after its good run at PGL Wallachia 6?
There's no special preparation for BLAST Slam V, we just flew straight over from a tournament we had a good run in, but just got to adjust our mentality to the BO1's since we lost all the first games of our series.
As a coach, which aspects need to be worked on right now for OG to become better?
There's so much for us to work on still: a few I could name would be how we pressure the map, our focus and especially my drafting.
OG coming to SEA was a surprising move. How did this partnership happen?
Towards the end of Blast IV, Ceb reached out to me and said that OG had interest in picking us up and things just kinda went from there.
Do Ceb or Notail provide any inputs or have any say when it comes to devising strategies?
We have not really interacted with them too much yet in terms of Dota but Ceb always sends some nice words to us after our series. We're still a pretty new team and we've freshly joined so we have not had the opportunity to work together yet.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen an all-Filipino Dota roster (besides Execration). How do you envision the team’s prospects in the coming few months?
The team is hungry and I think PGL made us feel like we can be that team for SEA and for OG. I'm confident we will get better.
Define success in your own words for this roster?
Consistently performing at a high level against the best teams in the world.
What separates you from the best teams in the world?
I don't think we're very far away from the best teams in the world right now. There are a lot of small things we need to address, and at a certain level in Dota it feels like everything is just about the smallest of things. I feel like we have room to improve in every aspect of the game
The scene has been long dominated by the European teams, with the occasional rise of Chinese teams, but Southeast Asia has been a true laggard. What changes are required to overcome this issue?
The biggest challenge in SEA right now are the pubs. They are just too far away from competitive Dota, whereas playing in Europe, a lot of the games feel more challenging for the players.
I'm not exactly sure what the best change would be, but hopefully us getting invited to more tournaments means one or two more SEA teams get the chance to join the circuit as we spend more time competing in Europe.
SEA lacks quality leaders. That’s a general sentiment. Let’s hear your quick take on this.
Probably it just goes back to the pubs. I also feel like SEA players are a bit more unwilling to say what they want in pubs because there's always random backlash or negative feedback.
In Europe people are more firm with what they want and regardless of who you are, they'd nag you for it. There are a few high potential captains in SEA, but it's just that they never had the opportunity.
I also believe this generation of Dota has kinda strayed away from this whole "captain" thing to a certain extent.
Stay tuned to BLAST for more exclusive interviews and features in the coming days.
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