SeleCT: 'I will show how important APM is in Dota 2'

Hello SeleCT. How are you?

Hello. I am good.

Some Dota players may not have followed or played Starcraft 2 before. What we know is you have played competitive DotA before switching to Starcraft. How long have you been playing Starcraft?

I have played [competitive] Starcraft for roughly 2.5 years.

How long do you train daily in Starcraft 2 to go pro? Considering that Dota 2 is a team game, how does the training differ from your regime in Starcraft 2?

Starcraft 2 is an individual game. Everyone has different ways of practicing style and training time. However, for myself, I train all the time except for eating and sleeping time. Of course, I had some leisure time watching Korean shows and drama (laughs). On the other hand, Dota 2 is a team game, which means you all have to have similar daily schedule, and accommodate to each other. Plus it is better to live together to train a team game so that you can give tips to each other. Even if you are the best player, there are always tips that can be given because everyone thinks and sees differently.

Recently, there was an interview with sC who tried to switch to LoL but failed because of the difference in practice patterns and he ended up going back to Starcraft 2. How do you deal with this?

Well, I don't know how well he did in LoL or how well he understood the AoS game. However, I have spent so much time on AoS games. I have played "CHAOS" (Korean version of DotA) - it's similar to DotA. I played that game when I was a professional Warcraft 3 player. I also participated MBC game league for that game. After I came to USA, I played DotA for about 1.5 years. It is true that you get some stress over practice patterns. As I mentioned before, in terms of team game, everyone has to have same schedule. Even though if you want to practice today or tomorrow, if one person can't, you can't practice as a team. Plus, its not a game that if you are the best, you can win.

What do you think about the reception of you coming back to Dota after playing Starcraft for a long time?

Well, I don't get much welcome or reception from people since DotA was very small and the game wasn't big when I played. So, not many people knew about my DotA days. I think it is all about how well I would do in the future.

If you could be more successful in Starcraft 2, would you have switched to Dota 2?

I am not sure because the reason for quitting Starcraft 2 was not about my success. The biggest reason why I quit Starcraft 2 was the motivation. When you lose motivation, the practice games are very boring and it makes almost impossible to continue playing. I think I needed a break for a month or two. When I was taking break from Starcraft 2, I played Dota 2 and I got motivated to this game.

This has been asked a couple of times now but how did you end up getting to know SingSing & co before they invited you to join them in QPad Red Pandas?

I announced retirement from SC2, and after I came back from vacation in Korea I was just streaming public games. They saw my potential. They thought I was very talented and my friend Apollo connected them with me as he was living in GD studio.

It’s been quite a while since you played DotA and since then, the meta-game has changed drastically. As demonstrated in some of the recent games, your main role is the off-lane solo. Who determined the roles for the team?

I don't know who determined the roles for the team. What I heard from them is they are looking for off-laner. I have played support and safe-lane solo back in DotA so it makes me very easy to understand other roles. However, Position-3 (off-lane) was very new to me because back in DotA It was all about dual-dual lane. So when I first heard my job, I started practicing it very hard.

How are you finding the off-lane solo role? Do you think it’s significantly harder than all the other roles in the team?

I love my role. I think it is a bit harder than other roles but not by much. You just need to understand the role better. I think off lane is not only about how much you can get in the lane it is also about how much you can deny from opponents getting much.

Assuming that you are up against a tri-lane, tell us how do you deal with being so under-leveled and deprived of farm?

As I mentioned before, it is not only about me getting anything. As long as I deny and waste their supports time on me as much as possible, it is already worth it. For example, [during the] SK trophy game, I was Bounty Hunter, and they had Enigma for their offlane. Enigma abandoned his lane from the start and was jungling on his side of the map while they had a safe trilane. I was level two for four minutes. However, it was worthwhile for our team because I kept their support chasing me, I denied them from pulling and I made them waste two set of sentries, plus Enigma was only level three because I was hitting his Eidolons and stealing his creeps. Meanwhile, our supports pulled, stacked and farmed so much more than their supports. If I was just staying on lane trying to get and deny experience from their carry, all the roles from each side would have same situation except the offlaner because their Enigma would be farming jungle when I couldn't.

In any case, QPandas has been rather successful in their debut. One thing people noticed is that your teams love the Kunkka. How do you think the hero fits in the team?

If you know how to play the hero, it is very strong. Kunkka fits very well to our game playing style.

What do you think is the strong point and the weak point of the Qpad Red Pandas?

The strong point of our team is that our movement is good and our team fighting skill is nice. In my opinion, our team's weakness is that sometime we try to play the same style of play when we shouldn't. We need to change and accommodate the playing style depending on what heroes we have and they have. I love thinking strategy, and I think I am good at finding how to win the game.

What do you think about FXO recently picking up an all-Korean Dota 2 squad. Do you think Dota 2 can be as big as Starcraft 2 in Korea? If so, how long would it take?

I get this question a lot but I have connected between them. I have introduced March to few teams and he decided to stay in FXO. I wish Dota 2 would become big in Korea. I think it would take a year or two.

GOMTV also recently made a show to encourage new players to try Dota 2. Do you think this is useful to help get Dota 2 more recognized in Korea or do you think it’s redundant. Why?

Dota 2 is not an easy game, so I think that would help very much from them to get used to the game.

What’s with ¯\_(?)_/¯? When was the first time you did that and on what occassion?

Me and my friend Andrew An aka SLog called each other "son" and saying "sup son". I signalized it on my stream, and interviews I also used it for my ceremony after the game. After that it became very famous. Unfortunately, someone took the copyright of it. That is the time when I stopped selling my Best t-shirt. (laughs) I wish I had it.

We also noticed that you have been streaming some of your pub adventures over on Twitch. Were there more viewers watching you stream Starcraft 2 or Dota 2?

For the first few weeks, it was my Starcraft 2 fans and the viewer count was very low. Now, I think it is my pure Dota 2 fans who follows our team, because of how well we did recently.

Mind telling us how you can mash the left click so quickly in this video? Do you do it Playstation One Dragon Ball GT controller destroying style?

(laughs) I just shake my hand. If you focus applying a strain on your elbow, your arm shakes. and I click with it.

Can some of your APM (actions per minute) training in Starcraft 2 be applied over in Dota 2?

I will show how important APM is in Dota 2. There are always pros to have high APM - it never becomes cons. There are so many things that you can abuse with in Dota 2 but people haven't done it yet.

What’s next for you and QPandas?

Next thing is Dreamhack Playoff, and Phase 2 of Weplay.

Thanks for taking time to do this interview SeleCT. Any last shoutout to your fans and your stream viewers?

Shoutout to my fans. Thank you for cheering me always. I will bring it back with great wins. Also, thank you to the sponsor QPAD. ¯\_(?)_/¯