Rapture Gaming Network

Tea with NDrakaN

4768 times Posted by admin on 2010-03-01

Birthday: 10th Oct 1991

Competitions: CAPL Open 3rd, Summerheat Qualifiers 1st, Various other small tournaments with Aeon.
Favourite equipment: Razer Diamondback
Game: DotA for 2 years, and CS before that for 3 years. NDrakaN is a familiar face in the Singaporean DotA community. He has been present in almost every single DotA competition, and can be found in Garena’s SG DotA Clan War Room almost all the time. He has played with and against all the top names in the Singaporean DotA scene, and even in Malaysia. He has joined competitions with iceiceice, he has joined competitions with Aeon, and he has even joined competitions with vA|w4si in Malaysia. Most of the time though, he joins competitions with a bunch of other lesser known players, but still brings a significant standard of play to the field.

DrakaN (middle, black CAPL shirt) with his team at DvG, July 2009

Catching up with him in a Cafe at Funan, NDrakaN proves to be every bit as friendly on the opposite end of a table as he would be behind a computer. After swiftly providing the above details, I open with a question asked to everyone.

So, what other talents do you have beside gaming?

DrakaN: I don’t get pissed off. High blood pressure… so it’s bad for me to get angry. The Hulk said so too.

So, 3 sexiest female DotA players.

DrakaN: ARE YOU KIDDING ME? DrakaN: NO WAY. I’LL GET MADE FUN OF. Violent response indeed, yet all previous interviewees seem eager to offer their opinion.

How about males.

DrakaN: 1st is d4rkw1sh! DrakaN: Next is Chawy DrakaN: And the 3rd one is… hmm… just write LimYang.

So, you’ve teamed with a lot of different DotA players with calibers all over the board. What do you think makes a good team?

DrakaN: A good leader. Someone who knows players, and what they can play. DrakaN: Someone who doesn’t show off, who has a good attitude.

So do you think that you’re a good leader?

DrakaN: Most of the time I’m considered my team leader because I do all the saikang… DrakaN: Part of me being a leader is that I know a lot of wrong stuff but I don’t say it.

Wrong stuff?

DrakaN: Like there are a lot of bad drafts in Singapore DotA games. DrakaN: 4-man ganks are wrong… DrakaN: Anyway, I’m only a good leader is people listen to me, and in my social circle, most of the people I team with are better than me, so they don’t really listen. He seems to have lots to say about Singaporean DotA! Knowing about his vast experience playing DotA with Malaysians, I ask him about the Malaysian scene.

So how did you get involved with the Malaysian DotA scene anyway?

DrakaN: Well, I went on Garena and made friends with the Malaysians, back when there was no Singapore DotA Clan War Room. DrakaN: I got linked to more Malaysians, and got to know the good players. DrakaN: Now in Malaysia I’m known for being with good players. Most of his experience with Malaysian DotA started 1 year ago, so I asked DrakaN for his thoughts on that.

What was the DotA in Singapore and Malaysia like a year ago?

DrakaN: I think 1 year ago, Malaysian DotA was better… DrakaN: Actually it varies. DrakaN: Malaysians knew how to win the game properly, and most had more experience in doing so. DrakaN: Singaporeans only farmed, and were too passive. It was rare to see aggressive play. DrakaN: Malaysians win through gameplay and skill, and Singaporeans win through strategies. DrakaN: I don’t know which one is better, but Malaysians do win more often.

So has anything changed in 1 year?

DrakaN: Top teams in Singapore are better than the Malaysian teams.

So, who are the best players in Malaysia?

DrakaN: Yamateh. I know that’s a generic answer. DrakaN: Winter. There isn’t a better support player except maybe NeT. At this point, DrakaN seems to be deep in thought.

Is it really that hard to think of the best players in Malaysia?

DrakaN: Their good players all seem to be roughly at the same skill level! DrakaN: I guess there’s also Monk3y. Creative guy. Does stuff like Blademail and Ghost Staff on a suicidal tinker. Well, I do always ask for the best players in Singapore, so I add a little twist to the next question.

Name the 3 lousiest DotA players in Singapore.

DrakaN: THERE ARE SO MANY! Me: Any names you recall? DrakaN: No. I’m going to get flamed. DrakaN: Why not just ask me for the best? Oh no! Someone’s questioning his interviewer! I swiftly redirect.

What’s wrong with being flamed?

DrakaN: Personal stuff stays personal. Oh well. No sense bugging him for more information. I explore one of his unique trademarks, participating in almost every single DotA competition in Singapore.

So, why do you keep playing competitions?

DrakaN: It’s a hobby. To pass the time. DrakaN: Plus I want to break barriers! I hope that one day people here can make money by playing games. Like in European countries. I guess he means that he wants to support the Singaporean DotA scene. Always a noble cause!

All right… name the 3 best players in Singapore.

DrakaN: Ice. You knew it was coming! DrakaN: Mike (Dk-Mag3) DrakaN: WaN.

So how is it that you always get to team with good players?

DrakaN: I guess it’s because of good interactions with them and good personal skills.

So do you think that it’s important to know people?

DrakaN: If you want to play competitions, you got to know people! Unless you want to team up with people within your own social circle. DrakaN: It’s important to get to know the right people, which players are good, and which players are bad. DrakaN: If you want to get better, you need to know which players are better.

So, after identifying and playing with good players, do you think you’ve improved?

DrakaN: Yes.

How do you know?

DrakaN: I don’t feed anymore. I know how to engage, I know how to farm, and most importantly I know where to farm. Throughout his competitive DotA experience, DrakaN has teamed up with many different players, but his longest partnership has been with a player known as Nanoflame.

So, tell me about your partnership with Nanoflame.

DrakaN: He had nowhere else to go for 1 year, and nowhere else had a better team.

So what’s it like having the same teammate for a year?

DrakaN: We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, but we had a lot of conflicts. DrakaN: Even so, we got used to it, and even with personal differences, stuck together, and improved at a faster rate together.

Totally unrelated question. Why do you like watching Hentai?

DrakaN: Because it’s cute! At this point Nanoflame walks past and asks DrakaN to tell me exactly what kind of Hentai he likes. DrakaN rambles a list of terms that I can’t spell, and I hand the paper over to him for him to write his answer down. The list? Normal, Lolicon, Shotacon, a lot of Tsunderes

Okay. Let’s talk about European versus Asian DotA.

DrakaN: That’s a hot topic!

What’s the difference?

DrakaN: Euroes like to engage, catch, and gain total map control. DrakaN: Asians like to farm. Like to get towers fast. Much more pressure. DrakaN: But they’re now combining… so you see a lot of similar stuff between the two. DrakaN: But to be honest, Europeans always engaging/catching is dumb. There has to be a limit on how much you can engage or catch.

Why do you think there’s a difference in the way they play in the first place?

DrakaN: At the start everyone followed the Europeans. DrakaN: But towards version 6.42, Asians started diverting to farming and stuff. With so many competitions participated in, DrakaN has had his fair share of losses.

So… why do you think you lose competitions?

DrakaN: There are always one ore two weaknesses in the team I play for… DrakaN: And sometimes people rely too much on me.

Conversely, why do people win competitions?

DrakaN: Stable gameplay. They know what to do, and they are not feeding all the time. DrakaN: The most important thing at this point of DotA is vision and warding.

What heroes do you think need to be buffed or nerfeD?

DrakaN: BUFF LYCANTHROPE!! He can’t backdoor anymore, and is useless in engagements! DrakaN: Lightning Revenant is too nerfed. He is going to get dropped soon. DrakaN: Icefrog needs to balance heroes that get automatically banned in -cm mode.

Any final comments? Say, your favourite food?

DrakaN: My favourite food is anything savoury.

Who do you like to feed on?

DrakaN: Euro thrash. And that ends our interview.

Images coutersy of DotaSG

• Rapture Gaming Network (C) All Rights Reserved. Designed by Rapture Design