The interview was published on 14th of July, and at that moment team wasn’t under HellRaisers name yet.
The Qualifiers for The International have recently concluded, and Europe produced two more representatives for TI, among them Planet Dog – the team whose roster includes Milan “MiLAN” Kozomara and Uroš “Swiftending” Galić.
KlanRUR interviewed both players who are living the dream many players from this region covet – to play at the ultimate world tournament. Many have tried, but these two are the first who have succeeded. We will endeavor to introduce them to our readers and find out what’s behind the success of Planet Dog.
Hey Milan, congratulations on winning the trip to TI7, we’re all going to root for you guys – but why exactly is that your team name?
Haha, let’s keep that a mystery, but many seem to like the name haha!
It is my understanding that the Visas have been sorted and that’s it?
Yeah, that was most important for us and now it’s all sorted… J4 is still in Lithuania because of it, so we’re not practicing…
Was there any panic when you got through the Open Qualifiers and when the real challenge had just begun?
Not at all, it was just another Pro Dota cup for us. We have all played in the Qualifiers before, with the exception of 33, but he had an easy time of it. We scrim and play against Danish Bears, Singularity and Mouz all the time, so it was nothing we weren’t used to already.
Before the finals we’ve had a series of about ten scrims against Mouz in which we alternated in victories and played one-for-one all the time. That lasted until the final series in which we broke out and won two in a row. (the series ended at 3:1)
SsaSpartan and you are good friends, so how did the rivalry in the finals go down? Has your friendship survived?
(Smiles) Of course, Giorgos is a great fellow who’d never insult anyone, so for us this was just another competition between our teams. We couldn’t both end up there, but we’re too close of friends to be sour about it. (Milan later mentioned that it was actually SsaSpartan who taught him how to play support)
What did you preparations look like?
Perfectly normal – overall planning, scrims, talk before and analysis after a match, perhaps a bit of consultation on what and how we want to play.
Since you’ve mostly scrimed against European teams, do you have any experience against teams from other regions?
Before the qualifiers we had regular scrims against isGG (Team Freedom). They almost won the NA qualifiers, and in group stage only lost to monkeysforever, and then lost again only in the finals against Digital Chaos 3:0, whom they’ve beaten in group stage. Against them, we’ve won more than we’ve lost, but we also scrimed against Team NP and Planet Odd.
We have no experience against Chinese and SEA teams however.
What’s different about this team compared to the others? You were a part of many other teams that have tried to achieve this very same goal and failed, so what’s different this time around? After Elab, NLG, EPG, PDG, and other acronyms, Planet Dog succeeded?
Here’s how the story goes – from stack to stack, until you find the right teammates. I’ve known 33 for the longest time and we played in a few teams together. I’ve known Swiftending for a very long time, a few years at least. I’ve met J4 and Keyser over the last year.
When we formed the core of the team as some new iteration of NLG (No Logic Gaming), 33 and I started with new players, added J4, and then he (33) went to Horde, Keyser joined, 33 returned, and then we moved to Pro Dota Gaming with Garter. I’ve always wanted to play with 33, and the others fit in nicely, except for maybe Garter who joined us through the organization.
The rest of the team understood each other, we just clicked together.
And what about Swiftending?
Uroš is a story in and of itself – he basically didn’t even want to play the Qualifiers. We’ve ended things with PDG and were looking for a carry. Our options were iLTW who was already in a team, Badman who we weren’t sure even spoke English, but we thought had potential as a player, and Swiftending who was our best option and we knew each other.
He wanted to prioritize his University studies because he didn’t have high hopes for the Qualifiers, but when he joined the team his dedication proved that he was the teammate we needed, so now we were complete as a team.
You’ve played in many Balkan teams, and unlike many players from around here, you decided to leave those teams behind and play in international rosters, while many local players remained together, playing mostly in Balkan stacks. What differentiates you from others?
Well, for example in EPG I tried to impose my own ideas and failed. We didn’t view Dota the same way, while for example j4, 33 and I do. That’s why Garter didn’t work out. Those kinds of things happen in other teams too, for example in Elab with GH or in EPG, who I favored over Elab, but if the team fails to click together, that’s it.
I’ve had my own vision of what Dota should look like, and was often berated as a player for it, so the main point is to find understanding with your team.
I wasn’t often considered a good or talented player in Serbian teams – they always had different ideas, while I always thought I could do better than what I could do at the time, and to learn from someone else every day, even if it were some puber. I think that’s what ultimately allowed me to go to The International. Throughout those teams I always felt like something was amiss and that we’re a tier lower, while the others would think “we’re around there somewhere, we can qualify for a Major”.
Since you’re viewed as a captain in Planet Dog, does that mean that you’re the main shotcaller? (the author wasn’t aware that MiLAN wasn’t the captain)
Haha, I’m no longer the captain, for a month now. I was initially, but I stopped leading the team after the boot camp in Turkey. The boot camp itself was very successful, but we were destroyed at the very end by Team Secret. Since we were practicing in their boot camp, we joked that if we beat Team Secret we would get to stay there and the house would be ours, haha. That didn’t happen, but now J4 is the captain!
(We then heard Milan lighting a cigarette, so we felt compelled to ask the next question)
How does smoking and pro gaming work out together?
Well, I don’t mind it since I’m not a hardcore smoker, so it doesn’t bother me during long matches. That’s more prevalent with us and Russians than it is in the West… In this team both Keyser and I smoke, and I never before had a teammate who was also a smoker. At a tournament, I go out and light one up, and there’s the whole Vega Squadron team, smoking hahahaha.
What do you think about the current meta?
I find this meta to be better and more interesting! The changes to Shrines are something I like the most, as it was pretty boring how they worked before. The fact that the game plays around mid a bit more is fine with me too. All in all, this patch is great.
Balanar (Nightstalker) is a monster in this patch, very dominant and popular. Do you enjoy playing him?
Awkward silence – Nooo, Balanar is just a hero on my position, I don’t mind playing him, but he’s not even close to being my favorite…. My favorite is Templar Assassin haha (a remnant from Milan’s mid-laner days)
You weren’t afraid of Treant who was just as popular, dangerous and strong – yet you didn’t ban him?
Since both teams have only two bans at the start, Treant wasn’t our main choice to be banned. In the finals, for example, in all four games we’ve banned IO and Nature’s Prophet. SsaSpartan is very good on the wisp, and they beat us a few times before with Furion, so we couldn’t prioritize Treant.
Currently, there’s a feeling that the European Dota is weaker than it was a few years ago. Any comments on that?
It might be, but you got to view it this way – at the very top there are OG and Team Liquid which are great, and the rest of us are comparatively close to each other as the teams from a few years ago were. The comparison between us is the same as it was between the qualifying teams from back then, so there is some balance there. The Qualifiers might have been the weakest in the last few years, but among us, we’re all on a similar level of quality.
Who do you consider the best position 4 at the moment?
Jerax and Yapzor! He rampaged all over us hahaha. He fit right in with Team Secret, he carries matches, uses the space well. And in the world, Boboka and Viktoria play great.
Did you receive any offers from a T1 or T2 team in that period of time?
No.
When do you think you’ve progressed the most?
I progressed the most while playing in Kaipi, when in only a month of playing with SingSing and Bone7 I learned totally different ideas on how to play Dota, especially on a macro level. As an individual player, I think I progress all the time, because I watch replays and practice every day. Now I progress in this team, with 33 and J4.
I made huge progress when I switched from mid to support, when SsaSpartan taught me to play support and all the basics of support gameplay and thinking.
What is Kaipi like as a team?
I only played with them for a short time, but with SingSing and Bone7 that team was interesting. They are major tryhards, so we tried for a month and then I received a kick hahaha. They are excellent players, but Bone7 is full of ideas that are fundamentally good, but he tries to realize too many at once, so that never works out.
What is it like playing with SIngSing?
He’s definitely one of the best teammates I ever had. He’ll always help you and teach you to be individually better. That’s just his trait, one that 33 has too, that he’ll always help you progress. He’ll give you advice, whether it’s for a skill build, positioning, an item build… When he’s on the team, he’s the biggest tryhard, although he’s always as crazy as he is on stream. But as a guy, when he’s playing seriously, he’ll tell you extremely useful things during the game.
Who is the best teammate you had in any team?
33 – I learned the most from him, he’s a great player and a great guy!
What are Keyser and J4 like?
They’re quiet guys. Keyser is in a world of his own when he’s playing, he has strange ideas that can often work, he has a strange game-sense and sometimes that wins us games. They’re both nice, but withdrawn when communicating.
Are there any offers now that you’ve proven your quality?
Of course there are haha, but we’ve had them before too. Imperial has shown interest in us, and we’ve heard great things about them, that they have vision and can recognize quality, but they’ve withdrawn now that we’ve gone through, because they don’t have the same capacities as the competition.
Do you have a coach?
We didn’t have one before, but now we have a new coach for TI7, and that information will be public once the arrangements are finalized, haha.
What are your expectations for The International?
We don’t have any – we will simply try to play as best as we can, it’s a wonderful opportunity. We’re probably being scouted by every team that will play at the tournament, so it’s hard to represent an unknown to anyone. Still, it’s easy to underestimate someone even after you’ve had them scouted, because you peg them as “weaker” subconsciously.
What do you do beside Dota? Do you play anything else?
Hahaha, I play pubs! I like basketball and love to watch it, I used to play it when I was younger. I go out with friends from time to time, and beside Dota 2, I play a bit of casual Overwatch.
(he told us that he has little playtime and 3100 SR)
How much do you think MMR represents an indication of a player’s skill, vision, idea, whatever?
MMR is just a Dendi haha. I think it is a fair indication, especially on core positions. As everything, there are exceptions. Sumail is one – he’s about 7500 I think, but he’s an authority compared to Abed. He’s probably one of the best of all time. I could compare Sumail to Zai. He doesn’t need to play or practice and he’d still beat me on certain heroes because he has superb vision of the game and is super-talented. The same goes for Sumail.
Just one more question – 144hz monitor: a necessity, luxury or red herring?
It’s certainly not a red herring, but it’s not a necessity either. You can play without it, but once you have it, it does help – especially once you get used to those kinds of conditions during the game.
Interviewed by: Miloš Španović
