GosuGamers interviewed some lead people in the DotA community right after the MYM.Nations groups were announced. Stay tuned for more interviews.
Markus "Army" Stefanko
MeetyourMakers and Regroup eSports CTO
Tournament Organiser
Hi, Army. You have just released the seedings of MYM.Nations. Can you give us any details how the exact seedings were done?
The seedings have been calculated with a secret formula which is closed in securely in the Regroup Esports office safe.
After the teams have been assigned to their level groups ( A B and C level ), we ran their lists through a neutral randomizer website and announced them accordingly.
Are you happy with how the seedings turned out overall and could you rank the groups from strongest to weakest for you personally.
I am happy that the process went through smooth so far with this new exciting system, and that the groups have been created with nature´s fairness : randomness.
The toughest group on first sight is group D, which has been already called group of death before the A seed was announced.
As second toughest I would rate group A with sweden, USA and Canada.
On third place group C with Romania, Ukraine and France, and the 'easiest' one - if you can say so - would be group B, where Denmark will face Korea and Greece. However Slovakia has proven to have very skilled players in the Prime Defending tournament, so I would not underestimate the toughness of the group at all.
Kim "Drayich" Larsson
Team Captain Sweden
Could you tell me your overall thoughts of the groups and could you rank the groups from strongest to weakest?
Overall it looks like Denmark putted some money into the organisation, I kid ofcourse. Group 2 looks easiest in my eyes. Group 3 next easiest, Group 1 after that and hardest for sure group D.
Who are your favorites to win the 2 places per group?
Group D will be Russia and Singapore/Malasia. Its gonna be a rough fight and I wouldn't be super surprised if neither of those teams wouldn't qualify.
Group C will be a fight between Ukraine, Romania and Finland imo, Finland will have the greatest teamplay along with Romaina but i belive that Ukraine will have better individual skill. My guess is Ukraine + Romania.
Group B: Denmark should really dominate this group, anything else is not acceptable, However Greece could steal the second slot, also Korea. My guess are Denmark and Greece (Greece as abit upset here).
Group A : Sweden gonna come out top in this group along with either Canada or USA alot of people belive, I guess USA is stronger then canada. But i wouldnt be surprised if Kazakhstan upsetted here and got the secondslot. My guess: Sweden and USA.
Alexander "Sacco" Feher
Player for Slovakia
Could you tell me your overall thoughts of the groups and could you rank the groups from strongest to weakest?
The group drawing ended up really good for us. I think we ended up in the easiest group :) Group D is the hardest one obviously. Group C seems harder for me than Group A, since there are more countries to battle it out for the playoffs.
Who are your favorites to win the 2 places per group?
Group D: Battle between Russia , Germany, Singapore and Malaysia. Apart from the hosting issues, I think we should see some interesting fights also with Poland in the group. I'm hoping for Russia and Germany to advance.
Group C: If Ukraine plays as strong as it should be, they'll be taking the first spot. Second spot should go out for Romania, France, Finland. I'm hoping for my finnish brothers to proceed, but it could end up in any way. Maybe Ukraine won't even proceed...
Group B: Denmark undefeated ofcourse :) I'm hoping for us to take the second spot , if we prepare well enough. In case of our failure either Korea or Greece will proceed
Group A: Papa Dray's team (Sweden) taking first place. Rest is between Canada and USA. Can't really say who is the stronger one atm, but my guess would be USA.
Ladislav "Xali" Liptak
Team Captain Slovakia
Could you tell me your overall thoughts of the groups and could you rank the groups from strongest to weakest?
I think that the matches in all groups will be very interesting.. Each one of the teams will try to fight for the 2 advancing slots, we will see the best games in group D, which I will call the group of Death, in which Russia will try to confirm their position as favorite and the fight of the 2nd slot will be really hard I personally look forward for replays from this group.. 2nd hardest group is group A, then C and last the group B, where also Slovakia belongs. I think our team is ready to take a spot to advance from this group because of our experience.
Who are your favorites to win the 2 places per group?
Group A: Sweden will take the first spot, there will be a big fight between USA and Canada which will be won by the USA I think. Canada is missing enigma.
Group B : Denmark will take the first place easily, I believe we can be runner-up and take the second spot.
Group C: WG+xLo (Ukraine) players together will make such a strong team, so they will take the first spot in this group, 2nd spot will be for Romania or France? I hope darka (France) will lead his team to the victory.
Group D: Russia is my favourite for the whole tournament..if there wont be any hosting issues the russians should take the first place in this group. We'll see many interesting matches between the other countries..but the second team which will proceed from this group of dead will be Germany.
Radek "DarKy" Sobczyk
Team Captain Poland
Could you tell me your overall thoughts of the groups and could you rank the groups from strongest to weakest?
Overall i think the groups are pretty even besdies fact that Denmark group looks suspicious! The strongest group is definietly our group namly D, then goes Group A which will be very interesting to watch, Group C is the 3rd and ofcourse last one is Group B.
Who are your favorites to win the 2 places per group?
Group D: Russia are for sure the best team here but I think that if they will understimate any of the teams then we can have a big upset. My prediction Russia/Poland (gogo Polish pride!)
Group C: I think it will be Ukraine/Estonia. Ukraine has a very solid line-up so I think there will be no upset about them not qualifying. Second place will be tough fight between Estonia(who in last nations went very far), France and mh'ers Romanians ;).
Group B: Denmark will have it easy to finish groups on the 1st place but the battle for 2nd place will be quite interesting cause any of the teams can jump on that spot. My prediction Denmark/Greece.
Group A: Il go for Sweden/Canada. Sorry all USA fan's but canada has 2 sBACK members to carry it so eZGAMED!
Dan "x3mliz" Golub
Team Captain Moldova
Could you tell me your overall thoughts of the groups and could you rank the groups from strongest to weakest?
In my opinion group D is the thoughest, B (our group) is the easiest, but overall every group is strong because there aren't bad teams remaining in the tournament.
Who are your favorites to win the 2 places per group?
A. Sweden/Usa B. Denmark/Moldova C. Ukraine/Romania D. Russia/Germany
Pieter "SPECTERi" Cortebeeck
Team Captain Belgium
Could you tell me your overall thoughts of the groups and could you rank the groups from strongest to weakest?
Ranking groups is rather easy, only a fool would dare claim group D isn't by far the hardest group around, and group B the easiest one. I would rate group A the second hardest group, because the fight for the 2 spots between Sweden USA and Canada will be pretty much crazy.
Who are your favorites to win the 2 places per group?
Group A is really a toss-up, I'm fairly confident Sweden will manage to take one of the two spots, and other than that, it's probably going to come down to how good Merlini plays and how bad Fear plays to decide the outcome between USA/Canada. Even though I'm a huge fan of Swizz, Fachh and Miraclechip, I'm gonna go with Sweden 1 and USA 2.
Group B is easy. Denmark wins by a landslide, and I'm pretty sure Greece will manage to outplay Korea for the 2nd spot, everyone knows RiPPeR carries.
Group C: Ukraine is sure to prove their strength once again, and taking some results of recent competetive play into consideration, France will beat Romania to it for the 2nd spot.
Group D: I'm gonna try keep it as simple as possible here: Russia wins their group, obviously. No other nation can field 5 absolute worldclass players like Russia can. If yamateh manages to play all of the matches Malaysia is going to grab 2nd spot over Germany, I'm very doubtful of the latter's ability to function well enough as a team.
