Hello, dear friends, I'm interviewing Akbar Butaev aka SoNNeikO. Hello, Akbar
Hi.
We can finally talk. I've been trying to arrange this interview for quite a long time.
Thank you very much for agreeing to it. Many people are waiting for it.
So I'll ask a lot, but not too much, so that you don't get tired.
My first question is: you're a newcomer in eSports.
Tell us how you understood that you wanted to play Dota and video games.
I began playing Dota 2 2-3 years ago, but before that I'd been playing first Dota for 1,5 months.
The first Dota didn't impress me much, and I decided to try the second Dota,
'cause people suggested me trying it, when I played first Dota.
I began playing in late December 2012. My friend gave me invite with a gift or something like that.
I began playing it. Eventually, I liked playing it. I played for about 2 years...
However, I didn't know there was a competitive scene.
Later I found out about it and I became interested in the way people play there.
At the time, I thought that the role of mid-laner is mine, I preferred it.
Then I tried playing support. I chose this goal and I always picked support including public games.
I liked it. I was never bored to play supports all the time.
As a result, after summer vacations, in September I was invited to Cleave Gaming.
- I began to... - Act as a professional gamer.
Yes. I got engaged in eSports.
Tell me about Cleave Gaming. Which players played there? How were you invited there?
I played ranked games and I had good MMR.
My friend from Cleave Gaming (he lived in Lipetsk and he knew me) was astonished with my development.
We hadn't played before that. He didn't knew that I played at such level.
He invited me as a support. In a couple of days he told me I was good and that we could play together.
I was glad. And that's the story.
Did that game succeed? You know that they gave you the start in pro Dota.
Well, I don't really remember those events. We did achieved results in some minor tournaments
(either top 3, or took the first place). But these were minor tournaments.
Apart from that we performed öóää at StarLadder.
If not taking Cleave Gaming into account , which team do you consider to be your first pro team?
Was it Power Rangers or Empire, where you played as a stand-in in the very beginning?
In the very beginning I was invited to PR, cause I had got acquainted with Shachlo,
who invited me as a stand-in player, when their player couldn't play the match for some reason.
I seemed to perform well. We played against Na`Vi. The score was 1:1 in a best of 2 series.
Afterwards you played in Empire a bit.
Afterwards I was invited to Empire to play at LAN. I was to stay there,
However after having played for some time with them, I changed my vision of how to play further with them.
Because I interacted with some players very well, while with others...
I don't know, maybe it's due to the character, maybe it's because I'm not used to it
or maybe they couldn't compromise. I decided not to move this path
Instead I chose the players I feel comfortable with. I decided to play with PR.
Afterwards PR invited me and I began acting as a support at Power Rangers.
What can you tell us about PR. You played there for a long time.
Apparently as per moment that's the team you played most time in.
Was there interaction? This Belorussian team performs very well at the global arena.
However, they don't manage to achieve big results. Why does it happen so in your opinion?
Yes, they don't achieve big results.
However, after I had joined them, we managed to win the top places in the first months,
which they hadn't won before. We were glad.
Before that we had had 28th rating at gosugamers, and then it increased up to the 15th or 10th.
And the guys told me that we'd improved.
However, things turned to bad after we had lost. So we didn't manage to fix it.
Were you surprized that PR defeated Alliance in The International 2015 qualifiers?
No. The guys are experienced there. We played CW with them and they performed very well.
I thought they'd reach top 2 at least. Well, they might've been too nervous,
or something might've gone wrong. However, I believed they'd manage to do it.
Tell us how you got to Na`Vi chronologically, since it is interesting to everyone.
Who offered you? Did you think about it for a long time? Did you hesitate?
When I left PR, I played IDEC League with pro players.
In a couple of weeks XBOCT wrote me that they needed a stand-in for about 2 weeks.
I thought about it for about an hour. I had other plans at the time. Eventually I answered "yes".
Afterwards, we played for 2 weeks, and I seemed to fit in. And now it is what it is.
So you were invited as an official player in the squad, and you didn't think over this offer,
'cause you understood that you felt comfortable in the team.
Or did you understand that there are things to be worked at.
At the time it didn't go well. There was no leader or captain. there was no confidence in the team.
As of now we seem to propose different things, work, analyse everything as a team. I like it.
You got to the squad before ArtSyle. That was a short period of time.
Can you compare the team before him and with him? Has the leader emerged?
Or do you still have troubles with that? Vania don't seem to me to be an apparent leader.
The difference is significant. Dendi used to pick and he had never been a captain before.
It was very hard to him. We tried to help him, but it was very difficult.
The team kept silence almost all the time. We made many mistakes.
However, when ArtStyle came, he became a captain.
The guys were very confident, telling me all the time: "Vania will do it!"
I trusted him too. Due to our trust we started to offer more, make more and discuss more.
Before that it was ok, but we didn't do it so well.
As I see it from my point of you, you propose many things in game, maybe not as a captain, but as a leader.
Do you think you have talent to become a captain? Are you capable of taking full control over gaming process?
I think I will be capable, but not now. I'm preparing myself now.
Perhaps, in future I will offer to become a captain in some team.
- If it is necessary... - Yes. If it is necessary
Ok. You said you began your eSports career in the pro teams in September 2014.
Do you feel the lack of experience, in LANs, in social interactions.
As this is organization, and this is grand eSports, big business.
Do you feel you need more time to feel better and more confident as pro player?
I think that my substantial drawback is that I haven't participated in many LANs.
I've noticed that I underperform during LANs, because the atmosphere changes.
We're now flying to China, and I'll try to see if it has changed,
if I feel equally at LAN and at bootcamp and at home. This is my main task for now.
Let's talk about bootcamps. Have you been to bootcamps with your previous teams?
Only with Power Rangers. We made bootcamps twice and they seemed to be successful.
Due to one of the bootcamps, we were qualified to DAC. We participated in online qualifiers.
We noticed that the bootcamp was successful for us.
What can you tell me about the current bootcamp in Kyiv. You live in an apartment and train at the other place.
Previously, you lived and trained in one appartment. Is this format convenient for you?
How do you spend your time during the bootcamp? Are you satisfied with it?
I am satisfied with the current bootcamp. The previous bootcamp was arranged differently.
We used to play at one location and had to drive home to get some rest.
Now, we're playing at home. So we have everything in the apartment.
You simply can sit down or lie down and watch.
You don't have to think that it is late and you need to go home, where there's no PC.
Even if you want to sleep, you still think what if.... Well, we did lack something.
So, during the previous bootcamp, you had to....
We had to go home, simply because it was too late, but not because we didn't want to play anymore.
So you've understood that it is more convenient for you to both live and play in one apartment
rather than playing official games at office or training base. Right?
Right. Even the guys voted for this. And it is so now.
Well, you have achieved the main task of this bootcamp, namely to get to TI 2015.
Tell us, if you are satisfied with the team's performance at the qualifiers
not taking into account the final match you are to play now.
I can't describe it in words. I didn't think, we'd... manage to get that far
I didn't think that after the defeat in a match with LC we'd manage to gather strengths and win.
We hadn't done that before at such tournaments.
However, the guys prepared very well, we aspired and we did what we did now.
Were there the teams in your group you didn't train against?
I think that we didn't play against any team in our group - I don't remember is it A or B.
The teams refused training with us. I think the reason was that we were in one group.
So we couldn't play with them. As concerns the other group, we played with all the teams.
since they didn't care much about it, because we were in different groups.
What can you say about the performance of CIS teams at the qualifiers?
It is sad that 3 or 4 CIS teams get to one group.
Should they divide it differently, a CIS team would get more chances to get to the play off.
As per moment, as far as I know, Vega Squadron is defeating 4 Anchors + SC,
so they have chance to get to the final with us. I'd be very pleased to play with them
and meet them at TI, as the players are very outgoing. It'd be better with them.
Let’s talk about that significant game versus HR, where you managed to snatch aegis.
Can you recall your thoughts at the moment, what made you stay there and go for such a move?
Well, I remember seeing invis rune and I did know there was a gem on puck.
But, when I took the rune, I seemingly saw puck on the ward heading towards base, so I decided to go for it.
As it turned out, they didn’t see me, so I had stayed there for about 10 seconds up until rosh died,
still worrying about puck being able to tp in and arrive in time for them to kill me.
Consequently, I took that aegis. Though, I could have taken both aegis and cheese, but I had no slot for it.
Hence, I took only the aegis and tped out. At the very last moment puck came in and even threw his orb but I was out of there before he teleported into it.
In general, the game with HR was very intense, we saw some unreal swings of gold and exp.
In your opinion, was the victory your achievement or a mistake from your opponents?
Because you were ahead at first but then you’ve managed to lose the lead, so it seems like you’ve been making more mistakes.
But, at the end of the day you’ve won. So what do you think loaded the dice in that particular game?
Loaded the dice…well, they had that one moment when they could have ended the game.
But SF goes to our fountain and dies, or, wait, maybe he drops low and they just run away.
We had Magnus and others dead for 60 seconds, so we were rejoicing. XBOCT was like, “Look, we can still win, the fountain did it!”.
Before it was like a spam, but after that moment we got together and had no more worries.
We believed, Wyvern and Magnus with refreshers would do it.
We even thought, we would play against megas, and we felt like it wouldn’t change much.
Eventually, they went on us 5 vs 5, they died, buybacked
and diebacked?
yeah, they had this moment, when they’ve bought back and they needed to destroy the lane. On the other hand, we only had to wait for our ultimates.
And they didn’t withstand it, they went one by one or something, I don’t even remember.
So, they make a mistake and we used it to our advantage.
Did you expect to play with 4ASC for the TI slot, or even for the wildcard slot? No one was taking them seriously.
What do you mean, them advancing to play-off?
Yes, and that it will be them who you’ll play against, not Alliance or NiP.
Well, I think everyone was expecting Alliance or NiP. We did consider 4ASC a little bit, thought they were playing as average.
But they showed their potential, and we got what we got.
Now you are going to the International anyway. Do you feel self-fulfillment?
Objectively, in twitter everyone considers you to be one of the best supports in the world. Do you feel this regalia, the light of fame?
I don’t know. It is quite pleasant, but I feel neutral about it, because you shouldn’t get above yourself.
You should simply play as good as you can, or otherwise you can forget about trainings,
thinking you’re too good for it. And after that you won’t be that good anymore.
Right after the qualifiers you are going to China for the Mars.tv competition.
This will be the first off-site LAN-event for you. I can tell you already, get ready, it will be tough in China.
There is a food issue in China, not everything can suit you. I got it from the very first day there.
Apart from that, the city and the country are beautiful.
Anyway, the list of participants is massive. What is your expectation from Mars.tv?
And will you give it a separate attention or will it just be a preparatory phase and all the focus will be aimed at The International?
Actually, we didn’t care much about Mars.tv. Our goal was to go to Seattle, and we have basically achieved it.
Now, we will surely try to win Mars.tv, but we will be testing and perfecting some strategies there.
I think, it will be a preparation for TI5, though it would be nice to win.
To your mind, what’s the difference between Chinese and European Dota? Give us your vision of it.
Well, I’ve been playing Chinese pubs. There you get 4 players and all of them have their mics, they speak out everything, every move is on timing.
We had Silencers, who would press ult, without thinking, should you just say something in chat at any moment of the game.
There are ganks and all of the other stuff. They are approaching every game with all the seriousness and I like it a lot.
Which of the Chinese team can you bring out? Do you follow their scene?
I don’t follow it that much. Last game I watched was Vici Gaming vs LGD on E-league, I think.
And LGD won 3:0. I have no idea how they are doing it, how this xiao8 is invigorating his team like that,
but I think this trio of LGD, IG and Vici Gaming are constantly switching places in the top 3.
After China you will play at Dreamhack. You will meet Alliance, who won’t go to The International.
Do you think this failure will drive them to prove themselves or will they be crushed?
I think they should be more motivated now that they know for sure they are not going.
So, they should be doing their best to get a direct invitation in the future.
I believe they will prepare well and be playing at their maximum level.
Now we’ll have a series of different questions. How do you handle flights and do you like travelling in general?
I’m okay with flights. Travelling…depends on where to go. I wouldn’t want to go to some places, but, in general, I think travelling is significant, so I would say I like it.
Can you give any tips for beginners? You made it into e-sports in September, 2014. How does a young player make it to the top in such a short period? What do you need to do?
First of all, you need to choose your role. Then I would suggest watching pro plays, tournaments, team plays.
Choose your style, and watch replays in a way to get something out of it, not like, “well, they won, there was a fight” etc.
You need to choose a person you are watching, need to analyze his moves, his tricks. Only then you will be getting better each day.
As far as I know, you had a little accident with your PC. Can you tell us more about it? How were you playing before that?
Well, I was playing on minimum requirements, render quality was at 43% and I had been playing that way for 1,5-2 years up until I got into Na`Vi.
So, one day we were playing CS, 15 rounds ended, it was time to switch sides.
Suddenly, my PC turns off and starts smoking. And that is where I knew I should not have switched for counter-terrorists.
So, your PC just burned out?
Yeah, right when we were winning.
You were playing CS, was it just for fun, a way to relax? Or are you a professional Counter-Strike player as well?
Nah, I have only like 10-15 hours played in CS. I started playing during our bootcamp with the team.
We played CS after training matches in Dota just to distract ourselves. Or, maybe, it is our ritual, to play 1-2 games of CS together to catch a break.
I have this opinion, and one of the players has also said this, that you are playing this good as a support, even despite your talent and skill,
because you’ve been playing so long on a poor PC and then here you got everything of the best quality.
Did this factor have any influence or did you just lower the setting to the minimum and play like you used to be?
Well, I put it all on minimum, as usual, I only increased render quality to its maximum.
But PC does matter, since your FPS is higher, it doesn’t lag during teamfights. On my old PC I could only right click after minute 40.
It was really difficult, some things won’t even press. As for the rest, I’m just used to it.
Playing on an old computer, every time I had to get used to a new PC, and it was really uncomfortable.
Does your nickname have a special meaning, aside from referring to a sunny and bright game? Is there something else?
I came up with the nickname rather spontaneously.
It’s a mixture of words, but I liked it and started using. Maybe, it refers to something sunny, I don’t know.
It is a great nickname, I bet it will become an appellative.
Most of the time you are playing in conjunction with XBOCT, it looks like that to me. Is it right?
Basically, yes. Artstyle and Funn1k have already achieved good teamwork, I’ve noticed it a long time ago.
Artstyle has his hero pool, and I‘ve got my own and though I can play those heroes as well, but he is used to those heroes
and I don’t want him to play something he doesn’t want or something he hasn’t played for a while.
Is it comfortable for you to play with XBOCT? He’s sort of a lone wolf, but he spoke good of you, he feels at ease with you.
Is it mutual in your tandem? You can say it in the interview, “Sasha, you need to work on this”.
Well, after the game he says I’ve been lasthitting creeps. What he doesn’t understand is that I’m trying to help.
It happened several times, and I happened to have too much or too little attack damage.
At that moment, he omits it, but afterwards he starts pointing at the exact moments, when I had a last hit.
And after that you don’t want to help your carry, you want to last hit, cast Finger of death on creeps, etc.
Overall, the playstyle, as everyone notices, usually is that supports play for their carry or they play for nukes.
But, when you said you liked being a support, do you like when the game largely depends on your carry?
To my mind, everything should be shared.
Even creeps?
Creeps and farm… well, no, at the beginning farm can be given away, but during the later stages you need to make use of the map at its maximum potential,
carry needs to migrate to the woods and leave lanes to supports and so on. This will result in greater profits,
than if you farm a lane and you support is unable to farm woods.
So, it is better for you to move you carry to the jungle and stay on the lane, and will be splitting the entire farm.
Are you going to start streaming?
If there is an audience, then yes, I will surely start doing that.
I’m certain, there will be plenty. Yesterday you started your twitter account, how many followers did you get overnight?
About 5000 or 6000. I was really surprised. But, all the credit goes to my teammates, they retwitted the news.
Actually, it is your merit, because everybody wants to follow you. Thank you for this big and interesting interview.
Any greetings, wishes, thanks? You can say all you want in this camera now.
Well, I would like to shoutout to my mother, to my sister and my brothers first of all.
Thank you to all of the fans, who believed in us even after the game with LC. Believed we could win and advance to the next stage.
And thanks to our sponsors.
Thank you for the interview, good luck in the qualifier finals.
Thanks.