Roman Dvoryankin: "The season is going to be very difficult"

Virtus.pro General Manager Roman Dvoryankin told Cybersport.ru which tournaments the Dota 2 roster is going to take part in, why they are not going to Starladder and what makes this season different from the previous one.

What qualifiers is the team going to participate in? For every tournament or specific ones?

The main problem is that we haven’t received any official information from Valve on how many points teams are going to receive for Minors and Majors. Before receiving it, we are going to focus on Majors. We’re going to play Minors only in two cases. The first one—if we haven’t got enough points by the end of the season, the second one—if they serve us as preparation for Majors like this fall.

Which announced events are you going to participate in and why?

Since we haven’t got accurate information about the point system, we don’t want to be in a situation when we consciously miss Minors and then find out they are almost as valuable as Majors. We have decided to play at the Minor in Bucharest in October, then we’re heading directly to the Major in Hamburg and then to the Minor in Croatia if we qualify, of course. Our further plans will depend on the information about the point system.

Why did you refuse to take part in Starladder? Is the tournament starting too early?

It’s not only about Starladder. We formally requested ESL and PGL. Both met us halfway and put off the qualifiers. Our plans were based on the previous year’s schedule. That’s why our team is still on vacation. The dates chosen by events’ organizers dissatisfied others, too. For example, Na’Vi has just announced a new roster. Team Secret and other teams contacted the organizers too.

When does the team’s vacation end? How are you going to prepare? Will there be a boot camp?

The team is returning next week. The last player comes back on September 13, and after that we will immediately start a boot camp. I think the main change compared to the previous season is that we’re going to restrict guys’ activity in both tournaments and boot camps. The season is going to be very difficult. Our task is not to let them get tired of each other. The team will gather for a short boot camp to play qualifiers. Afterwards the players will return home and later head for a series of three events, grouping together for a while beforehand.