DSG huhi: “I will also gladly work with my team again because I’m so proud of them.”

Q: Did you feel like everyone got nervous going into Game 5?

huhi: Honestly, I couldn’t really tell that we were nervous [before the game]. But when I was watching our gameplay, we even had a big lead, in my opinion, where we could have closed out the game cleanly. But we started making some small mistakes or individual mistakes that I didn’t see in game three and game four. So maybe I do feel like nerves did hit us a little bit. But yeah, it was a really close series, and I don’t blame them at all. I’m just really proud of us, how we could at least show what we have improved on and took [it] to game five.

Q: When did you realize the team was actually good — that the haters were wrong?

huhi: I think I definitely started feeling that after we swapped AD carry and mid. And even in the beginning after we swapped, I was a little worried because [of] the way we were playing, and all those things didn’t really improve. So I started kind of also doubting myself. But as the season was progressing, and, I will say starting from like middle of the regular split, even though there was only three series… that’s when I started feeling like ‘oh we are kind of becoming like a team,’ and we started gaining trust and kind of trusting the process slowly. And I think going into the playoffs, for sure, that’s when I started feeling like, oh we’re definitely not the last place team, I think I can confidently say that we’re at least top five.

Q: Who would you put below you, at the time?

huhi: I thought 100T, Dignitas, and even SR, because we were playing SR on week two, you know, that’s why we picked SR for a reason, because we really thought-

Q: Do you still think SR is a bottom three team?

huhi: I think no, for sure, now I think they’ve have improved. But I’m talking about back then on week two. I definitely thought they also got really lucky with the bracket because we chose them. You know, they kind of got the easier target to make it to the top four because of the format. And I think it just kind of benefited them. And now I think they are for sure a lot more improved.

But yeah, I think going into the playoffs, that’s when I started thinking, oh, maybe we can kind of throw some punches to the top four teams, and I think the team that we were scared of the most was LYON, but LYON actually got knocked out by I believe 100 Thieves. So for us, we were really confident running the lower bracket. The hardest opponent would be C9, and as long as we beat C9 we were pretty confident going into top three.

Q: What level do you think C9 is at? They got upset by SR and now almost lost to you guys — Are C9 worse than expected, or is DSG just insanely good?

huhi: I mean, I wouldn’t glaze ourselves that high yet because we still kind of failed to deliver. But also, I do not think C9 is a bad team at all — I think they are for sure easily a top three team, top two team, alongside FlyQuest and I dunno, maybe like one random team.

Q: Shopify? Shopify beat C9.

huhi: Yeah, I think Shopify should be in the top three with C9 and FlyQuest. But I don’t think C9 is a weak team. I think C9 can definitely make it to the top three and still be a championship-contending team. Yeah, I think today we just … I don’t know — we just started playing pretty well as a team on-stage, where we could deliver what we can show [on good days in scrims]. Yeah, I don’t think they’re bad at all. I think they’re one of the top teams.

Q: This DSG roster performed above expectations with only a short time playing together. How are you feeling about the chances of playing another year with the same team if you perform well in the relegation tournament?

huhi: Yeah, I mean, I think relegation will bring a different kind of pressure. I haven’t played relegation for such a long time. I can’t imagine.

Last time I played [in relegation] was versus Dignitas, actually, on Team Fusion. […] Like in 2015 or something. I’m an old man now. But yeah, it’s going to be really important for us to kind of not look down and kind of still be focused. That’s why I think even after today’s game, it’s like a month out to play the relegation tournament — We’re going to maybe take one or two days off and still try to keep our form until the relegation tournament. So we’re not going to underestimate our opponent at all.

And yeah, I think what you’re saying is really valid where I really feel like throughout this playoff experience, especially, [we’ve learned a lot]. [Playing against] Dignitas kind of taught us how to become a team and how to play as a team, and C9 also kind of helped us how to teamfight as a team. So I think we are definitely improving. I don’t think we have reached our ceiling yet. And we almost took out one of the top two teams in LTA. So yeah, I think we’re really happy with our performance.

Obviously, it sucks that we lost in the end. But I will also gladly work with my team again because I’m so proud of them. Throughout this whole year, we’ve been through a really hard time. Everyone disrespecting us, everyone kind of doubting us, everyone kind of calling us a joke, you know? But we kept our mental strong and [didn’t] let those things affect individuals to have some kind of, “Oh, I’m just going to play for myself because my team is shit.” Everyone kind of bought in the process and we really brought it.

Q: How has Ido (DSG’s head coach) changed the team since he joined?

huhi: I think Ido was a really good addition to us because he will, you know, do a lot of experiments with the draft and kind of show us what he wants us to improve on with thoughts to the team so that we kind of buy in together as a team, like in the morning meetings and stuff. And he’s really consistent with those things.

Also about draft, he’s really — you know, like he listens to us really well. And one of his only issues that we had with him was that he listens to us too much. Sometimes when he has an idea, we should support him well, it should go like back and forth. And sometimes our draft was looking whack because he didn’t have the full control of the draft. And I’m not going to throw anyone’s names under the bus, but just as a team, I think those are the things that we kind of had to work it out. And as we were working [those things] out, you can see clearly this playoffs, we started drafting better, we started playing better because of the points that he was bringing in the morning meetings. And it was just such a great addition as well.

Transcription help from @fluffjwi2