"I'm grateful for everyone's loyal support."

Playing spectacularly at Wuxi Cup, Burning was undoubtedly a driving force in DK's top notch performance of late. Fresh from his win, the man himself sits down for an interview with Replays.net where he discusses the tournament, his relationship with the team and his plans for the future.

Congratulations on your win at Wuxi Cup. How did your team prepare and tackle the Grand Final match?
-"We had better lanes and established an early advantage since we were up against a dual lane strategy. However, we made a couple of slips during mid game and no one clearly stepped up to do in-game commanding.

Everyone retreated to their tower and eventually we got surrounded and wiped. But then we got our game back - we kept farming and trading towers, and only engaged our opponents in team fights after we got our core items. They could not get back into the game after that."

Was the lineup you used something DK had practiced before or was it like, in the words of 2009, a 'spur of the moment' innovation after watching WE suffer a comeback from their opponents?
-"Yes, initially we had only practiced with Chen relatively often, and we did not train much with that specific lineup. It was through the days of competition and training where we stumbled upon the power of this lineup. That was when we decided to keep sticking to it."

I noticed a shift of roles within the team. Why did this come about?
-"When Yueru started out, he had always been playing Solo Mid, but in teams like Tyloo he was made to play support. We just feel that he belongs in the middle lane, and he certainly proved us right by playing outstandingly during the tournament.

XB also initially used to play the long lanes, but when he arrvied in DK, he was made to play support. It did not work out too well for all of us, and XB himself could not get used to playing support - hence, he's back at the long lane now. Afterwards, we decided to place LongDD and zippo over on support."

You guys just took out two titles in a row (ACG and Wuxi Cup) in a clean sweep. What is your biggest takeaway from this achievement?
-"Through this lineup, our team chemistry and overall confidence has increased dramatically. We also had a lot of fun in the process."

With so many events currently going on, do you guys feel exhausted?
-"We get more excited with the more games we play."

Will such frequent and intensive events destroy DotA like it did to Warcraft 3, where a large number of invitation-only tournaments resulted in a decrease in WC3's popularity?
-"I don't think so, because I have seen people post on forums that it can get rather boring when there's nothing going on. So I guess as long as there are competitions, there will be people watching - how many people tune in, however, would be a different matter altogether."

Are you in charge of issuing commands within the team now? Do you think it will affect your performance as a carry, just as how it did for 820?
-"Yeah, I am currently acting as captain and am in charge of making the big decisions. It will affect my performance to a certain extent, as it could affect my last hitting and such, but the main carry making the decisions in team fights has its advantages as well. For example, we know when to attack and when it's best to retreat."

What was the hardest game you played in Wuxi Cup?
-"I guess it would be our initial game with iG.Y - had there not been an early drop, we would have definitely lost the game. Thankfully, the drop gave us some time to get our head back into the game as well as correct our strategy. We eventually took the match but it was hard fought."

Do you think mockery [of another team/player] has any influence during a tournament? What is your most memorable experience with mockery?
-"I guess it has a practical use in that it raises your team's morale. My most memorable experience would be whenever we successfully kill off an opponent and we mock them about it.

There was once when we played against an opponent who incited us to 'kill him off', which we did, and we returned with an insult. What we did not expect him to do was reply with "So what if you had killed me?". We were speechless."

Will such mockery affect your relationship with other professional players?
-"This depends on how each player regards the seemingly harmless remark. For me, I basically do not take what I say during tournaments and carry them into my real life/relationships."

Your next tournament would be G-League. What are your goals and are you prepared to achieve them?
-"We are pretty much where we want to be with regards to team chemistry and form. I hope that the two championship titles we have won can motivate us to perform phenomenally at G-League."

Any last words?
-"I'm grateful for everyone's loyal support of the team; it's only with your support that we are able to 'ride from hell and ascend to heaven'. We will keep giving our best."

Roster:
xB
BurNing
Yueru
LongDD
Zippo