Celebrity Spotlight: Interview with Purge

Yellow everybody this is an interview with Kevin Godec, you probably know him as Purge. Whether you are a fledgling Dota player or a seasoned veteran, you probably are familiar with the popular YouTuber. He maybe helped you get better through his 'Welcome to Dota', You Suck guide. He could have taught you how to play a certain hero through his Purge Plays videos. Either way, if you are a Dota player, you probably know Purge. Recently, Purge moved to South Korea to compete in the Nexon Leagues with his team, Zephyr. He plays in the 5 position for the team that has dominated South Korea since moving there. In their domination, Zephyr has taken home over $100,000 USD in prize money through three first place finishes. Their success landed them an invitation to compete in The International 2014 Southeast Asia qualifiers where many people are touting them as favorites. Make sure to support him by visiting and following his fan pages: Official Website Facebook YouTube Twitter Twitch For how long have you been playing DotA ? ( both DotA 1 and 2 ) I've been playing dota heavily since around 2008, so around 5-6 years.. You're best known for your video guides and gameplays, when and why did you start creating videos for DotA 2? I first started making videos for Dota 2 when I realized there was a market for it(at the time few people made videos). I also hated my job at the time so I had a dream that I could accomplish it with hard work, and then I put many months of effort into it until I got better and it got big. My first videos were made in early 2011, a bout 6 months before TI 1. Some time ago you started to play competitively with Team Zephyr, how is your experience so far? I've learned so much playing in a serious training regiment. I have quite enjoyed it so far, but it's easily the hardest I've ever worked at something in my life, and it's easily the hardest thing I have done in my life. As every month goes by I realize there is another stage of thought that I was not utilizing in games and then I have a whole other can of worms and ways to think about the game that should make me a better player. I'm trying really hard to catch up and running into walls constantly. It's very frustrating and humbling, but luckily my teammates are being patient and carrying me often. How often do you guys have training sessions and how long do they usually take? If it's crunch times, like big matches/tournaments coming up, we play between 3-7 hours a night together, plus we watch replays and practice solo que individually in our free time. There are many players and teams out there struggling to get to the top, do you have any advice for them ? Exposure is extremely important, I guess. I had the benefit of being an established personality for non-competitive Dota things, so with that fan base, it helps us get seeded into tournaments, but the best way to make it is to get good enough that you win matches against good players. Just play a lot of amateur tournaments, and assuming you have the talent, hard work, and right mix of players, you should eventually make it to the big leagues. Which teams do you think will finish on the first three places at this year's International? I think DK, Na'Vi, and Empire are the 3 favorites right now. I could see EG or alliance getting up in that area as well. Is there a player or a team you admire or support in particular? I admire all of my teammates for their patience and general good attitude about Dota. I know it's very frustrating to be on a competitive team when things don't always go perfect, so when I see forgiveness and people working together to solve issues then I really appreciate them as teammates. Which heroes do you think will be the most banned and picked at The International? I think Centaur is still good despite the mana cost nerf, Invoker will still be played, AA is still pretty good, Sand King is still good. There are lots of good heroes that didn't get hit by the nerf bat too hard. In your opinion, what is the biggest problem the DotA 2 community is facing right now? I think that there are only minor issues in Dota 2. Valve's doing a great job, balance of the game is nice, the pro scene is growing in healthy ways, and I'm happy with their efforts to fix in game rage/bad attitudes. Many players are having a hard time with the ranked system, do you think the MMR and matchmaking system are fair? I think they are fair yes. The only problems with ranked in my opinion, is that it causes tons of frustration from players because you are trying to rationalize why games are being lost and it's diffcult to always figure out and see the issues so it affects your sanity. In terms of MMR spread, the disparity between top pros and much lower ranked people are bound to happen when there just simply aren't enough people at their skill level. There are truly very few super high ranked people, and the MMR's become exponential as you get towards the top. Also, I'm much more willing to believe in how valve modifies the system using their massive amount of statistics they surely gather, rather than subjective knowledge from players(though that subjective knowledge can be useful). How do you see our beloved DotA 2 in 10 years ? I think that Dota 2 could continue to be around in 10 years. It's almost 3 years old now(counting from TI 1 to now) and it has no signs of reducing in growth(though there is good competition), and I think Valve is doing a lot of great things that allow organisators and content producers to do good work and be rewarded for it. This is a question many have asked before, how difficult it is to have a balanced professional DotA life and also a social life? I think being a full time serious professional and also having a heavy social life is semi unlikely, but it kind of depends on what level of a team you are on. If you aren't winning everything then there is probably more work you can do. Luckily for me I don't care about being social that much, so I have tons of practice/work to do and I am happy to spend most of my time on trying to get better. Which is the best and most effective way for a newcomer to learn the arts of DotA 2? The obvious answer is to watch my videos and read my guides, but the best way is to always think about what you could have done better or differently to be more successful in your games. Every death can generally be prevented(though some are needed obviously), so every death you have is a mistake that you shouldn't have made. That's about it, would you like to say something to our members and your fans, any shotouts maybe? Thanks everyone for supporting myself and Zephyr as we continue to play in Korea! Thanks to our sponsors Nixeus and IObit for helping us with our gaming experience, and keeping us here. Thanks to all of the fans who are being understanding with my lack of free time to produce youtube content, as I'm trying my best to not let my team down and it's taking up all of my free time right now. I'd like to thank Purge for spending time and effort into answering our questions! We wish you luck in your DotA 2 career, go Zephyr!

No C9? D: And sadly, I don't see Alliance being so strong after the changes that made Rat Doto much less effective.


I strongly agree with this: I don't play ranked that much, but I feel the same in common pub games because I don't want to go below 52% win rate. I know it's not that big of a deal, but it feels like it is.

His predictions are pretty much the same as mine, except I have EG and Empire the other way round. I don't see Alliance winning either though. No one takes C9 seriously. 8{3

I think Na'Vi will finish first and DK 2nd :).

I do. I think it'll be Na'Vi first, C9 second and DK third; or DK first, Na'Vi second and C9 third. Not sure where to put DK in, as I don't watch the eastern scene that much but I know DK from previous matches. Also, I believe in the "eternal second" place of Na'Vi.

You don't have to know. All you have to know is that Mushi rapes and that's all it is to know. Whether he loses a match or wins he still rapes.

DK is the clear favorite purely on how easily they outclassed all the top teams in starladder.
before that they were also doing great and it is IMPOSSIBLE to predict their draft, from one game to another they whip another strategy out of the hat.

navi is still navi though, i hope they get their **** together becouse they have been performing bad since starladder.

Empire has been playing really well and very consistent, but i dont think that they can beat some of the other top tier teams if those teams play at their best.
same story goes for vici, a great team and maybe even better then empire but i think their best might be just not good enough to win.

C9 and fnatic and IG are the opposite. they have high potential but are inconsistent. mainly due to weird strats (which might give them an advantage) and in IG's case Luo is the main problem, becosue i think most of the communication problems they suffered from can be fixed.

alliance dont seem to be able to ever reach their prime from 6.78
that version just suited them perfect, as well as the favoured heroes in that patch.
they still are pretty clutch though.

newbee, LGD, titan and some of the qualifier winners can come far, but i dont see any of them winning it.

Cloud 9 DO have a chance for first, I sort of like them. They just have to stop blowing it after getting to semi finals, finals etc. (#Support Tinkerneverforget)

Split pushing strats were nerfed so Alliance isn't as good relative to the other teams compared to TI3, but they're still pretty good. Top 6 unless they get a bad matchup like DK imo.

I think Fnatic is REALLY strong now, people aren't really respecting the n0tail Earthshaker as of late, and they're wrecking games because of that. As usual, they found something that they can dominate with despite not being first ban material. Classic Fnatic. They'll have to be more consistent though.

Being an Alliance fan, I have to say they don't have that much of a chance to win. Like really ... My Top 3 is DK, Empire and EG. Yes Cloud9 can be considered, and you can't count out Na`Vi in every TI. I can't wait to see how Fnatic will perform, too

People say both Na'Vi and Alliance are keeping their TI4 strategies secret, they might surprise us if that is true.

Another top tier team I overlooked is Team Empire, they also have a chance to get to the top.