Pure of Entity: “We are going to show some Entity Dota in the qualifiers”

It’s always exciting when new entities rise on the biggest Dota 2 stages. And right now, one team is posing a huge threat to the household names of the Western European region. Introducing, Team Entity. 

The organization entered Europe by acquiring the popular team, Creepwave in November 2021. From then on, the team slowly found its feet to qualify for its first Dota 2 Major. Entity placed top 6 in the PGL Arlington Major and once again placed top 6 at the ESL One Malaysia. They had a great run at the Malaysian event, not until they faced a tough loss against Fnatic. 

Esports.gg had the opportunity to chat with Entity’s carry player, Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko who attended his first international LAN event at the ESL One Malaysia. He talked about his experience at the event, how the team got eliminated, his unconventional hero pool, and more.

KZ: How has your first international LAN experience been so far?

Pure: The atmosphere is fine. It feels good to play on stage, it feels good to play in an international tournament as well. And ESL is making such a good tournament as usual. For me, everything is very good.

After teasing for a new big patch for a while, Valve finally dropped Patch 7.32 on August 24th. However, it dropped right smack in the middle of ESL One Malaysia - which according to Pure, caused Entity their run at the event.

KZ: Entity looked really solid coming into the tournament, with the team playing as 5 for the first time at a huge tournament. What do you feel happened in the game against Fnatic in which you guys were eliminated?

Pure: Too many things went wrong. It went bad from the start, from the drafts. I actually hate this new patch, they nerfed Pudge.. all my good heroes. It is the reason we lost this tournament.

KZ: So you’re saying, if the patch did not drop in the middle of the tournament, Entity could have won ESL One Malaysia?

Pure: Yes.

KZ: As an 18-year-old, you are one of the youngest players at the tournament alongside ATF and bzm. During games, do you put your opinions out there, or are you a little timider because of your age?

Pure: I’m not shy and there is no pressure on me because I’ve played a lot already. And I think there is no pressure on ATF and bzm as well. 

KZ: Do you think there is a difference between the younger and older generation in terms of gameplay?

Pure: I think yes, there is a difference between old guys like Noone from NAVI for example, as compared to bzm. I mean, you can even see it in-game.. the ideas and gameplay. They have a more old-school play yeah.

Esports.gg also held interviews with Ludwig "zai" Wåhlberg of Team Liquid and Roman "Resolut1on" Fomynok of Team Secret. When asked which team would be the most challenging in the WEU TI11 qualifiers, both of them said Team Entity.

KZ: Most teams in WEU have their eyes laid on Entity for the TI11 qualifiers. What do you think is your confidence for the qualifiers?

Pure: We are confident in ourselves but in this tournament, the patch made us lose games to the draft. But we are going to work and commit, I think it’s going to work out I’m pretty sure. We’re going to show some Entity Dota in the qualifiers.

KZ: Final question, you are notorious not only for a wide hero pool but also for the unconventional picks. Are these like out-of-the-blue, YOLO picks or did you guys actually build strategies around it?

Pure: These hero selections for my hero pool are not random. They are very planned, they are practiced.

He also indicated that after this patch drop, he’ll be adding more unconventional carry heroes to his pool.

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