CML on Interview about MDL Chengdu Major.
MDL Chengdu Major marked the debut for the Filipino Team Adroit at a Valve sanctioned tournament. We caught with Bryle “cml” Alviso in Chengdu last week and we were curious to hear from him, how was the Major experience overall for he and his team, to learn more about Adroit and what are their plans moving forward.
The interview was conducted by Yuhui Zhu after Team Adroit’s elimination from the Major.
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Hello, and thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Adroit might be new on the Dota Pro circuit, but you guys have actually kind of dominated the tier SEA tier two scene. You came here with two championship victories, at ESL One Clash of Nations and VKGAME BATTLE OF DAWN. So, given those results, what was the goal for this Major?
We were hoping to get to the top eight, but unfortunately, we were suffering in the group stages. We had problems perhaps because this was our first big LAN tournament and we didn’t know how to handle the pressure. Three of us are new to the scene. Boombacs and Bok are veterans, but for the rest of us, this was our first Major experience.
Are you content with your performance overall, are you confident that from here on you will only improve as a team?
I’m a bit unhappy with the result because we got to play only five games in the tournament when we could have gotten a lot more experience if we passed that best-of-one elimination match. But, we look at this event as our starting point and we are fully motivated to fight for the next Major.
Your opening series in Chengdu was against Evil Geniuses, one of the contenders at the title. Looking at your drafts versus them, it seems like you were really prepared to face them. Did emotions or any other external factors got the best of you when you played versus them?
Yes, there was a bit of pressure because they are known as a tier one team. We tried to play our drafts, but throughout the tournament, we discovered some mistakes we are doing in the drafts and we tried to adjust those.
What would you say are the main lessons to take from your first Major experience?
I think we have a lot to learn about the draft. Like how others pick their heroes and also the way they pressure the map. EG, for example, were so much systematic than us. We were playing on our own tempo, but they have this early pressure, they have this synchronized movement on the map, so I’d say we have a lot to learn from them.
The current Adroit Roster was built in May this year could you walk us through the whole process of how you formed, how did you guys come together in this formula?
Our two veterans, Boombacs and Bok came from Team Admiral and recruited the rest of us, because we came from the same town, we speak the same language, which made it more comfortable for all of us to play together. We came to the team in May, after we graduated from school and we started to play in online tournaments to prepare for the TI qualifiers.
So, what’s the day by day life inside the Adroit team, do you guys live in a team house or do you gather in bootcamps only ahead of important tournaments?
We live in a team house, yes. We train for six days a week and we play a minimum of three sets of scrims in a day. We start like at 2 PM and end our practice games around 10 PM. After the training hours, some of our members enjoy playing some CS:GO, some play some other custom games in the Dota client. On Sundays, we hand out, roam around the city, have lunch or dinner outside, watch movies, things like that.
Describe your teammates in one word.
Natsumi: Fast-learner
Mac: Strong
Bok: Mentor
Boombacs: Reliable
Myself: Silent
You are the team captain, are you also the drafter and the in-game shot-caller?
I’m only the drafter. Boombacs is the team captain.
Are you guys currently working with a coach as well?
We don’t have a coach at the moment, but we work with an analyst with whom we discuss the drafts.
Are you thinking to bring a coach aboard in the near future?
Yes, in fact, we were looking for a coach to prepare us for this Major, but unfortunately, we were not able to bring someone in.
We are down to only eight teams left in the competition, and unfortunately, there is only one SEA representative still fighting. Were you surprised to see Fantic exiting so early?
No, not really, and that’s because their opponents were also super strong. Invictus Gaming surprised a lot of teams here, while Fnatic are not at their full potential yet, I think.
Thank you very much for talking to us and if you have any shoutout to make please do!
I want to thank all who support us and to give a shoutout to our friends in the Philippines.
Source: https://www.vpesports.com/dota2/news/cml-interview-we-look-at-this-event-as-our-starting-point-and-we-are-fully-motivated-to-fight-for-the-next-major?fbclid=IwAR1xeAJQ1GjtJt2hZ1dDHKsnLsSqAhy_DobFEl-yFZWSiuvnq6u-yydHR1I