Interview with Maltese Dota 2 Player

The following is an interview carried out between a Gamers.com.mt representative and Alex Botvinov, a member of Project Eversio’s newly established Dota 2 squad.

Good morning, could you introduce yourself to the readers at home about who you are competitively and maybe personally?

Hey everyone. My name is Alexander, I am 16 years old and I am a professional Dota 2 esports player currently playing for a newly established team “Project Eversio” on Mid lane. I come from Moscow, all the way from Russia and have been living in Malta for more than 7 years. I have been playing Dota 2 since 2011 and do not plan on stopping.

So, you’re 16 years old; a very young age to compete and the youngest on the team. Do you think age is an advantage or a disadvantage in esports? Why?

It is kind of both at the same time. Usually young players are not familiar with the esports arena and cannot show their full potential when performing in front of the crowd and your fans. However, young players are the new generation that play differently from others and constantly surprise the crowd with something unseen.

Being so young, I would guess that you are still studying. If you are, do you think that your competitive career will affect you academically after the summer? When the time comes, which would you prioritise; studies or Dota 2?

Studying is definitely one of the most important stages in my life and in some way I would prioritise it because if you fail with your esports career, you will not have a backup for another career. Right now, I finished with my exams and I’m planning to work hard with the team to achieve the best results possible being the first Maltese Dota 2 team.

How did your team of five players first meet and when did you decide to start playing together?

I knew Danill “Yaster” Prorok since I was young. We were good friends at school and that is when we started playing together. It was just simple Ranked match making. We were playing the same roles that we play now. Danill and I were talking too much about Esports and how we can have our own team. But all those thoughts went down to a simple fact that we do not have players and the right attitude fot competing against others. Danill finished school and went to the university. I hadn’t seen him for a while but we still talked to each other on Facebook. Time passed and in March 2017 I saw a message from Danill saying that it was time to have a team and compete. We found other players that we needed and with the help of our friends who was also interested in this project, we found a sponsor and ended up in a good team full of enthusiastic players.

Did you ever think you’d make it to where you are now?

To be honest - no. I never thought that a simple game would take me to this level. However, there are still a lot of things that you have to achieve before calling our team a success.

On your team, it’s evident that there is a balance between Maltese-speaking and Russian-speaking Maltese players; does this affect the communication or anything else in particular on the team?

Not at all. All players are fluent in English and that is how we communicate. Of course, sometimes we might use a word or two in our native language but it does not affect anyone.

Relate about how you play, your role in the team and what makes you a dangerous competitor.

I play on the mid lane and have one of the most important roles in the game. I always want to dominate the opponents so therefore I play aggressively and try not to leave a single chance to attack and have an advantage over him. In the early game I am usually a silent player, but when it comes to mid game or late game, I am usually the most hyped player in the team.

How did you join Project Eversio? What was your team’s reaction and how has your life changed since?

With the help of my friends, and with a passion to play on stage, I joined this team and my life did not change much. I started spending more time playing Dota with the team.

Describe the reaction of friends and family learning your involvement in competitive gaming. When did you realise you were a talented player?

My family does not yet know about my involvement in competitive gaming however, I am planning to surprise them soon. I realised that I have a certain talent in Dota and in my role in particular when I saw that I can outplay my opponent easily. And it happened more than once. I can think better and faster than others and that is what I think makes me a dangerous player.

Talk to me about the future of Project Eversio’s Dota 2 team. Relate the plan for this summer and your ultimate goals as a team.

Our plans are to compete against other amateur teams and play online on basic tournaments to get experience. This summer we will have many boot camps to have a stronger bond in the team and to understand better how each of us play.

Is there any player or team that is your inspiration, if any, in the global competitive scene?

Since I started playing Dota, I was truly insiped by Danill “Dendi” Ishutin who is playing for “Natus Vincere”. If I wanted to learn how to play a particular hero, I searched for videos on YouTube and observed how he played. That inspired me a lot and still does now.

In your opinion, why does Malta lack a competitive Dota 2 scene and how has this lack of local competition affected your competitive career until now?

There is a certain lack of attitude and commitment in Malta. We are not able to shoe anything on LAN tournaments here simply because there are none. We can only play online and that is what we are doing at the moment.

To finish, is there any particular backstory to your choice of name; ‘BaRaCuDa’ and if it wasn’t Project Eversio, what would your team name be?

When I was young, my parents bought a fish to eat for dinner. It was a scary fish to me so I asked my mother what’s the name of it. “Baracuda” - my mother answered. I remember that word until now and It just became my nickname in some way. Regarding the name of the team - I am fine with any team name as long as it suits everyone.

Thank you for answering our questions with such enthusiasm. On behalf of Gamers.com.mt, I wish you luck for your team’s future representing the island.

Thank you and I wish you all the best.