Insania: "Retirement is on my mind"

From a player’s perspective, the patch is quite interesting right now. Some heroes are quite strong and fun to play. Overall, I don’t have a problem with the current patch. But I think the day/night cycle would be interesting to experiment on because it has been left the same for many years, so that’s the only thing I wish to be changed in the upcoming patches.

If anything, winning TI has made us a little bit more relaxed. I don't believe it's adding any pressure; rather, it’s taking the pressure off. As for our performance, everyone is confident that we will perform to our potential even if we have some bad tournaments, so it doesn't really matter.

Moreover, we tend to ramp up as the year goes on to avoid burnout by the time Riyadh and TI come around. So we take it slow and don’t really worry about the results. But now, we are going to start ramping up, and that means playing more and tapping into our maximum ability, and focusing on our promise to become a better version of ourselves.

First of all, we like the format and are excited to do well in the tournament. We weren’t able to show what we’re able to do in the last few months, but for this one, we are a bit more locked in and show that we can perform.

It's quite exciting to see another region competing as hard as us, especially when the Western European teams were doing better for a few years. Increased competition is better for the ecosystem.

We try to pace ourselves throughout the year. We take a lighter approach to tournaments and are more likely to put slightly less effort into managing our stress and burnout. But we make sure to be motivated by the end of the year.

We are managing to peak at the right time of the year, and I think it's been one of the key reasons why we've been so successful in the last few years.

As a player, you will always wish to compete in tournaments with gigantic prize pools, but to be honest, TI still has a lot of prestige, and winning it again would be very meaningful, regardless of the prize pool. It will cement our legacy, and we are capable of doing so, and I still really want to win TI one more time.

As far as EWC (Riyadh) is concerned, we've come in second place twice. We’ve been close to winning it, and I’d love to win it before I decide to retire. I'm starting to get a bit older, and it [retirement] has been a bit more on my mind.

I want to keep playing. It's not impossible, especially as a position 5, to keep playing into your 30s. It's just about shifting my priorities. I've been a pro player for like 15 years now, so there are other things in life I want to do, and that becomes very difficult with how much we travel.

Therefore, retirement is on my mind because I want to explore other options I want to do in the future.

Yes, I think there's a chance of my retiring, even if I don't win, but it's not certain as of now. We’ll cross that bridge once we get there.