4Game

I'm typing this as the interview is airing live, so I might miss something. I will go through this once again after the interview is over and correct any mistakes I can find. Also, sorry if my translation is a bit dry, I don't usually work with informal interviews like this one.

Urgant (U): So now we will talk about a serious subject. E-sports. We discussed it a week before but now e-sports are being talked about on the highest level. The reason: our team called Team Spirit won The International, the biggest e-sports tournament. Today the enitre team came to our show and I will say every single name. Managers: Ruslana "DKLana" Berest, Dmitry "Korb3n" Koryakovtsev. Coach: Airat "Silent" Gaziev and the cyberathletes themselves: Ilya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk, Alexander "TORONTOTOKYO" Khertek, Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov, Yaroslav "Miposhka" Naidenov and Miroslav "Mira" Kolpakov. Welcome our guests!

U: Thanks a lot for coming and welcome to the show. I have a lot of questions. I like that you are pretty much the face of our e-sports and I can see how much energy, drive you have, how wide your smiles are TS sits completely poker-faced

U: So, explain to me, why do 5 players play, but we have 8 guests today. So until the moment you've won 18.25 million dollars you were walking around as 5 but now there are 8 of you. Who are these people and do you even know them? Please tell me about Ruslana and Dmitry, what is your job on the team?

Miposhka: The unseen soldiers, let me tell you that much.

Korb3n: Well, my job is to wipe our mice from all the sweat and do relaxing massage when the players need it. OK, but seriously..

U: Yeah, please speak about this seriously, I would easily massage you guys for that much money. Even my kids would. So please tell me, what's your job?

K: My job includes scheduling our training, controlling the entire process, every player and staff member, some motivation, conflict solving and so on.

U: So who was the man that created the team?

K: Well, I could probably say we did it together, but I was the first man to take charge. but Airat, who had a lot of experience that I heavily relied on, as well as Ruslana and our boss Nikita who helped a lot.

U: Ruslana, you're the only woman on this team. What is your job?

Ruslana: My job is mostly a managerial one, I work on all the papers, communicate with tournament organizers.

U: Did you say papers?

Ruslana: Their pointing at the players papers.

U: So it's safe to assume their passports are in your hands?

R: Yeah, pretty much.

U: That's nice! So you buy all the tickets…

R: Yeah, I buy all the tickets to tournaments, organize our arrival to and departure from bootcamps, communicate with TOs, I take care of all our trips, look up every piece of information that we need to know to play better.

U: So please tell me, what is a bootcamp? Do you really have a base where you spend the majority of your time? Guys, say something, where do they keep you?

TORONTOTOKYO: Ruslana also brings me food, so kudos to her.

U: Ruslana, what food is needed so that TORONTOTOKYO could..

R: Rice. 6 times a day. He eats rice for breakfast, second breakfast, dinner, lunch, supper etc.

U: Sasha (TT) is it true that it's not just a joke but a special diet that helps you perform? Or is it about stuffing your face?

TT: Idk, I just like rice, that's it.

Teammates: Yeah, he just likes to stuff his face.

U: Yep guys, that's the inside of e-sports. He just likes rice. Where's your bootcamp by the way?

R: It's in Moscow.

U: So it's just a normal house?

R: Yeah, it's a normal house that is equipped with everything an e-sports team might need.

U: So you can say that it's a heaven for any person that likes gaming?

Everyone: Yeah, pretty much.

U: So how does this heaven look like? You each have your own room…

Everyone: Nope.

Yatoro: That's not heaven.

U: So you all sleep in one room and Ruslana has 6 of them?

Yatoro: Yeah, cause she has our passports.

U: So, let's talk with the coach. Can you tell us what are the best qualities of each and every member of the team?

Silent: Ok, so the guy that's the closest to you (Yatoro) is solid as a rock and incredibly decisive.

Yatoro: goes in for a handshake, Urgant declines and does a fistbump instead cause of COVID

U: Yatoro… Can I call you that by the way?

Yatoro: Yeah, sure.

U: Oh, by the way. Let me quickly ask you this. Why is your nickname yatoro?

Yatoro: Beats me. You wanted to it quickly, right?

U: Yeah, that's… nice. But was there any reasoning behind your nickname?

Yatoro: Nope.

U: So you just liked the word and decided to name yourself that?

Yatoro: Pretty much. I came up with the word myself.

U: So tell me more about Yatoro.

Silent: He is incredibly decisive, he is steadfast, he never doubts himself despite being so young.

U: How young is he anyway?

Yatoro: 14.

U: 14 huh. Guess hormones didn't do you dirty. So, what about TORONTOTOKYO?

Silent: Well, what can I say. He has this savagery inside him that really helps him during the game, he is full of audacity. So Magomed is..

U: Wait a sec. Why is your nickname TORONTOTOKYO?

TT: Cause I love these cities, I like Japanese and Canadian culture a lot.

U: Have you been there?

TT: Nope, but I'm planning to go now that I have the opportunity.

U: So you're gonna go there like a king? I guess you could buy like half of Canada now.

TT: I'll go to Japan first though.

U: Of course. So what about Magomed?

Silent: Magomed is incredibly calm, he can cool down any situation, he is like a Dagestani mountain. I can't remember a time when he doubted his decisions both in life and in game.

U: So why is your nickname Collapse?

Collapse: I love rap, I'm a huge Eminem fan. So that's why.

U: Oh, that's actually nice. Ok, so let's leave Miposhka as a cherry on top? What can you tell us about Miroslav?

Silent: I can't say much except for the fact that he is a great guy and a wonderful DotA player?

U: Well that's unexpected. Is it true that Mira is considered to be a heartbreaker in your team?

Silent: Well, we all love him, so yeah.

U: I can guess where your nickname comes from. Well, finally. You know, I have the real names of every team member but for some reason Miposhka's name just says "Miposhka". So tell me more about Miposhka.

Silent: Well, I guess that's because we always call him Miposhka instead of his real name. Yaroslav is a very hard-working person, he is a real captain of the team, he takes responsibility both in game and in real life and I am thankful for it.

U: Thanks Yaroslav. So, guys, explain this to me and all the viewers. As far as I understand, you have defeated a Chinese team in the final game. And Chinese fans have started speculating that the finals were fixed, that the win wasn't fair, they don't really like you and come up with a lot of..

Miposhka: Conspiracies.

U: Yeah, conspiracies. So tell me what are they based on? I have some examples right here and we can just quickly go through them. So I will read one of the problems Chinese fans have and you reply to them as honestly as you can.

Miposhka: Like counterarguments?

U: Pretty much. So Yaroslav, struggles to read off his paper on the first game of the grand finals LGD picked Pangolier for NothingToSay who played a small amount of games on the hero and his winrate in matchmaking with Pangolier is just 38%. So… uhm.. how do you.. you know.. explain… this?

Miposhka: (mostly a joke, but it's really hard to translate) Ok, so let me try. They have an excellent coach, xiao8. He played as a stand-in for NTS and while he was playing he picked Pangolier for himself and felt very comfortable with the hero. So when NTS came back, voices of the past remained and he just suggested NTS play this hero. You know, they are pretty strict in China, NTS can't really speak back to xiao8.

U: I kinda can't speak back to you guys, you know. So let me just cross this one, this was a very easy to understand explanation on why this is just a bunch of malarkey. So, please tell me. LGD used Smoke of Deceit with Enchantress and bumpted into Terrorblade and instead of at least slowing the player LGD wasted 2 seconds to break a Sentry Ward.

TT: That's a really strange accusation.

U: (jokingly) I ALSO THINK IT'S STRANGE! IT'S MADE UP!

TT: But seriously, you know… Terrorblade… had Aegis…

Everyone: Yep, everyone understood that.

TT: And Ench had to break that ward because fighting under it is just a death sentence.

U: Yep, that's it. Nothing I can add to this. By the way, guys, how did your parents react to your win?

Yatoro: Oh, I told my mother that I'm gonna pay a visit to Urgant and she asked me to say hi to you from her and her best friend. Hi.

U: When you say you're going to pay a visit to Urgant, it sounds like you're gonna kill me. So what's your mother's friend's name?

Yatoro: Tanya.

U: Tanya. That's a nice boy you have there. So, your parents were happy with your visit here and… Sasha, is it correct that you left MSU (Russia' best university) to play Dota? What was your major there?

TT: Computational Maths and Cybernetics.

U: So are you going to return there after you win?

TT: Idk, it's possible, but we'll have to see.

U: Yeah, let me just write down "No". I heard that your mom wrote a very supportive Instagram post for you. Let me read it: "Sasha is incredibly gifted, thanks to his ancestors, he got the best qualities from them, I thank heaven and God for my children". Can you imagine some other mother supporting gaming like this.

TT: I think that any mother will support her children despite things she can say.

U: And so we will support you as well. Thanks for bringing e-sports to our country and making Dota feel like home. A very hard to understand one, but a home nonetheless. But what comes next? What championship is there, who do you have to defeat to make your carreers legendary?

TT: There is this idea among Dota players that you have to retire after winning TI. We already spoke about this in a n interview today, but football players don't retire after winning Champion's League. So we have more ambitions and we will try to play on the same level we played during the tournament.

U: Ladies and gentlemen, Team Spirit!! everyone applauds Wait a second! I see Miposhka brought some gifts.

Miposhka takes out a Team Spirit hoodie

U: There is a tradition that whenever you win a huge sum of money, you bring.. a 5$ hoodie to the talk-show.
Miposhka: No, no, you got it all wrong. This is a hoodie in which one of the players played one of the sweatiest games of dota.

Urgant takes a whiff of the hoodie

U: Yeah, I can see that. That smell of youth, winning and other people's money, I can remember it from when I was a boy. Ladies and gentlemen, Team Spirit!!