Best post-match interviews of TI10

TI10 is a tournament filled with many relieving victories and bitter losses. The two weeks have witnessed many teams sharing their thoughts after their matchup. Some were absolutely inspiring, some were heartbreaking, and a couple of instances were definitely ‘entertaining’. Here is a compilation of the best post-match interviews of TI10!

In a spicy matchup against the defending champions OG, Team Secret delivered a huge stomp and dropped its opponent to the Lower Bracket. This marked OG’s first Lower Bracket run in four years since 2017. After the 2-0 win, Secret’s captain and veteran Dota 2 pro, Clement "Puppey" Ivanov gave a little advice for those facing the elimination rounds in the Lower Bracket.

“It’s rough being there. I have no advice whatsoever,” he laughed. “-because there’s no such thing as good advice when you’re down there. Most of the time, there’s only one team that knows what’s going on, then they crawl up and do some stuff. But I think that comes from understanding the game. And when you’re down there, I think you have to have the same mentality as when you’re up there. You should be blinded by the fact that you’re down there. Just don’t even think about it.” 

Jake "SirActionSlacks" Kanner, who was interviewing Puppey then asked if he has any advice for OG.

Puppey then glared at the camera, “Stay down,” he said.

On another day, the CN stream interviewed Sébastien "Ceb" Debs, OG’s offlaner, and asked if he had anything to say about Puppey’s statement. “Puppey is always funny with his comments.” Ceb said, “ All respect for them, they out-drafted and out-classed us yesterday. Puppey in particular, he can say whatever he wants.”

T1’s Kenny "Xepher" Deo pretty much did what we all would have done if we were in his shoes. The 25-year-old player is the first Indonesian Dota 2 pro to set foot on the stage of The International, along with his teammate Whitemon. After T1’s win against Alliance in the Lower Bracket, Xepher had a conversation with SirActionSlacks. He asked Xepher if he has anything to say to his fans.

Xepher exclaimed, which means “Mom, I’m at TI!” in his native language, Bahasa Indonesia.

SEA’s T1 stepped foot into TI10 as one of the underdogs of the tournament. Impressively, they managed to place top 8 of the championship after losing an intense elimination series against Vici Gaming. Carlo "Kuku" Palad, the captain of T1 promised his team’s return in the next season.

Apparently, you don’t need to understand your hero to win your game.

In the Upper Bracket, Team Secret met with the Singapore Major champions, Invictus Gaming. After sweeping the Chinese team 2-0, Yazied "YapzOr" Jaradat, position 4 of Team Secret, had a chat in the CN stream. 

Zhang "Dove" Tiange told Yapzor that the Chinese crowd named him the MVP of the matchup. He played Elder Titan in the first game of the series and Windranger in the next. Yapzor responded with, “I’m not really sure because Matu (Matumbaman) played extremely well in that game.”

He also added an interesting statement.

Team Secret had a fascinating run throughout TI10, achieving its highest ever record by securing the top 3 placing. However, Team Spirit stopped them right on their track as the CIS team defeated Secret 2-1 in the Lower Bracket Finals.

Ren "old eLeVeN" Yangwei and Daryl Koh "iceiceice" Pei Xiang have a long history together. In TI6, the two players were under EHOME where iceiceice served as the carry and old eLeVeN as the offlane. The two had a reunion in their Lower Bracket run. In an elimination series, Evil Geniuses and Vici Gaming had to face off for their lives in the tournament. After an intense back-and-forth, Vici Gaming outplayed the NA kings and knocked them out of the tournament. After the series, Frankie Ward asked old eLeVeN how he felt after sending an old teammate home. 

“If it was someone else, I would feel a little sad. But if it’s iceiceice, it feels great.” said old eLeVen.

Whoa, the statement is definitely spicy, but it is also known that both of them are great friends and no harm was intended. 

Evil Geniuses’ run ended and Vici continued to pursue the Aegis. However, the squad later fell off after losing a hard-fought series against Invictus Gaming.

On the fifth day of The International 10, Invictus Gaming met against its Chinese counterpart, Vici Gaming. At the 17-minute mark of the first game, iG took down the first Roshan. But, none of its teammates took the Aegis and it was left abandoned in the pit. After a while, old eLeVeN snatched the free Aegis. Despite the peculiar blunder, iG came out on top of the series. Chan "Oli" Chon Kien, position five of iG, explained what went on inside the booth during that moment in-game.

“We just killed the Roshan, we go out, and we kept talking, talking, talking. And we didn’t know that he didn’t pick up the Aegis. And he himself (Emo) didn’t know that he didn’t pick it up.”

“When we were going to push the tier two, and we said, “Doom has the Aegis.” We were shocked.”  Oli laughed.

It sure was an expensive mistake, but iG did not let that incident pull them down. They eventually won the series against VG 2-0. IG's TI run then fell short as Team Spirit defeated them 2-0.

A heartbreaking moment for players is definitely when experiencing loss. The captain of Evil Geniuses, Tal "Fly" Aizik expressed his emotions after losing an intense series against Vici Gaming and being eliminated from TI10.

"You kind of wait two years for something and it doesn't go the way you expect. It hurts. That's the reality. It feels like the world is crashing down."

"I'm sorry for letting down the fans at home or whoever's cheering. This was not our best try. Your support matters a lot during these times so thank you guys for supporting us."

Evil Geniuses left the tournament at 9-12th place with a prize-winning of $800,400 USD.

OG was the defending champion that came into the tournament with a big question mark. It didn't have a great season and the squad barely qualified to the championship after defeating Tundra Esports 3-2 in the TI10 WEU qualifier. The squad met Team Spirit in their Lower Bracket run and was convincingly defeated 2-0. Ceb, the mainstay of OG explained what they would do to handle a tough loss.

"We support each other of course, for those who need support, and also give each other space. Be loving and caring, this is a big deal for everyone. It's a big deal to lose, in the sense that so much effort went into it. So we are there for each other. " said Ceb.

Ceb also talked about his gratitude for the support OG received. "What is really special about OG and about OG fans and just the community around OG, is that we feel the support through the highs and the lows. Today is a low, and there wouldn't be any highs without lows."

Team Spirit is one of the underdogs that came into the championship with a lot to prove. After Team Spirit's huge win against the Singapore Major champions, Invictus Gaming, they secured the top 3 of the tournament. Miroslaw "Mira" Kolpakov, the position 4 of Team Spirit talked about their achievements so far.

"We are 5 friends who play our best Dota. We enjoy every game and we have a good synergy between us."

After the match, Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk, the carry player of Team Spirit earned his second Rampage at TI10. Mira recalled what it was like in the booth when that moment happened. "We were screaming like madmen. And Miposhka was like, 'Can you guys calm down, we still haven't won.' It was pretty loud in there." Mira recalled.

TI10 has just concluded, crowning Team Spirit as the champions of the tournament and awarding them a massive prize-winning of $18 Million USD. A lot of emotions have come and gone throughout the event but what remains is the joy of witnessing the world's best Dota (plus the beautiful behind-the-scenes insights).

Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Dota 2 news and updates.