“We are definitely this season’s favourites“ - An Interview with the Warwick Ducks DOTA team
In the NSE 2021 Winter Split, the Warwick Ducks made the DOTA 2 Finals for the fifth consecutive season, before suffering a heart-breaking defeat in the final. The Ducks are Warwick Esport’s most decorated team, with three titles and two runner-up finishes to their name.
I spoke to their captain, Daniel ‘Overlom’, and their newest player and Dota Co-ordinator, Kirill ‘MooNLighT’, to discuss their experiences from last Split, and what to expect from them this 2022 Spring Split.
Harry ‘Sol4rys’: “The 2021 Winter Split ended with a shock for the Warwick Ducks, losing 3-1 in the Grand Final against UCL despite you being strong favourites. Could you talk me through what went wrong that day?”
Kirill ‘MooNLighT’: “Unfortunately, one of our key players, ‘sealplayer’, could not attend the finals, so we had to find an urgent stand-in. Therefore, we lacked teamplay as well as personal skill in the series final which, which led us to that 1-3 loss (it’s no secret that there are not many 8000+ MMR off-laners within Warwick Esports). However, we give huge thanks to Xero for standing in for us, he did a wonderful job given all the circumstances we were in!”
Daniel ‘Overlom’: “There isn’t really any other reason, I think we are a lot better [than the result shows] but it is difficult to find a good stand-in at 10am on the day.”
Harry ‘Sol4rys’: “Last season was the first that Warwick Ducks had ever played without former captain Sylar following his graduation last year. How was your experience of leading the team for the first time Overlom, and did the change in roster affect your performance at all?”
Daniel ‘Overlom’: “Even though I’m officially the captain, I don’t feel as though there is a lot of responsibility for me to lead the team in game, we kind of all make calls. Same goes for drafting, I usually just ask what everyone wants to play and what they would prefer to be banned for their role. As for the change in roster, I don’t think that had a big effect on our performance, MooNLighT is of a similar skill level to Sylar.”
Harry ‘Sol4rys’: “A lot has been made of the rivalry between Warwick Ducks and UCL Instant Reflex, with you facing off more than 30 times across the last 3 years. How seriously is this rivalry taken on your end?”
Daniel ‘Overlom’: “I wouldn’t say that it is taken very seriously, but they are definitely the team we enjoy playing the most.”
Kirill ‘MooNLighT’: “We think that UCL are a top-2 team in NSE and quite frankly, they are the only opponents that can beat us if we make slight mistakes in the draft or gameplay. It’s always nice to beat them and show them that we are No. 1 despite last Split’s finals. We’ll be looking forward to playoffs versus UCL this spring!”
Harry ‘Sol4rys’: “Has any extra preparation gone into the run-up to this season as you hope to reclaim the championship?”
Kirill ‘MooNLighT’: “We have been preparing by playing a lot of solo ranked games before the season. We have also talking about some drafting ideas. Overall, I think we are definitely this season’s favourites as long as we take the games seriously and put our best effort in to win the games.”
Harry ‘Sol4rys’: “How do NSE games compare to playing in high-MMR (Match Making Rank) matches? Do yourself and the team find yourselves needing to change your playstyles in order to adapt to the nuances of competitive play?”
Daniel ‘Overlom’: “High-MMR matches are definitely more challenging. However, I do have to make a reasonably big adjustment to my game as I need to play a different role in NSE to what I usually play in my ranked games and other teams.”
Kirill ‘MooNLighT’: NSE games are actually very different to pubs (public games). In pubs, some people decide not to listen to others, which makes those games much more random and chaotic to play. Keep in mind, that even in high-rank games, you don’t know most of the players, so toxicity is often the issue. In general, NSE games are much harder to play, because even teams with a low average MMR tend to find interesting draft or gameplay ideas. We do not really have to ‘adapt’ our playstyles to NSE… probably more players talk more in NSE than they would in pubs. We also do not flame each other for mistakes and try to be constructive.”
Harry ‘Sol4rys’: “Finally, how confident are you going into this season, and how do you predict you’ll perform?”
Daniel ‘Overlom’: “I think that we are very likely to win it. If all of us are able to make it to the finals and try our best, we should win.”
Kirill ‘MooNLighT’: “We are definitely here for the win. Support us and we’ll bring the trophy home!”
So far this NSE Spring Split, the Warwick Ducks have won 5 out of their 6 games and have qualified for the Championship Bracket, only losing to the Winter champions UCL Instant Reflex, and are well on course to challenge for the Spring 2022 title. You can follow their progress in NSE at twitch.tv/MooNLAight_ from 7pm on Sundays.