General Information:

Full name: Nguyen Khanh Hiep
Nickname: Izumin
Date of Birth: November 24th 1991
Occupation: Student
Competition Honors:
DotA:
• The 2nd Prize of Vpro league 1st
• The 3rd Prize of WCG 2009
• The 1st Prize of Skynet March 2011
• The 2nd at Razer Summer Party
• The 1st Prize of Garena eSports Sunday I and II
• The 2nd Prize of Garena eSports Sunday III
• The 1st Prize of Garena Online Tournament: DotA 2nd
• The 1st Prize of ASUS ROG Championship 2011
• The 1st Prize of Skynet 9th
League of Legends:
• The 2nd Prize of Boba eSports Tournament III and V
Other talents: Ability to stay calm down
Favorite quote: “It does not matter where we are standing, it is important that where we go to”.
Favorite stuff: Razer Abyssus Mouse.
Describe yourself: Optimistic, focus on what I am doing.

RGN: Why did you choose Izumin as your nickname?

Izumin: Long time ago, I have enjoyed reading the manga named “Crest of the Royal Family”. In this series, there was a character named Izumin. This guy was very kind and merciful, so I really liked him. Because of his faithful in love, I felt he was similar to me, so I just chose his name to make my own nickname!

 

RGN: It’s interesting! How did you begin your DotA career?

Izumin: I started playing DotA at net cyber D4-Dat game. Some friends and I formed a team to compete in DotA tournaments there. My team defeated some stronger teams such as Net Viet, G4V, but we did not win any special achievements. More than two years later, my team won some achievements as 2nd Prize at Vpro and 3rd at WCG 2009, but unfortunately, with this team, I had never become a champion. In 2010, I switched to many teams until joined We Are Genius.

We Are Genius (WAG) included good DotA players in Vietnam DotA ROOM 3 on Garena server, was established by WAG.S. It was in December 2010 when WAG.S invited good players to participate in the team including PhongVan – the best solo-er in Vietnam, Rosica – carrier of Phoenix team and me, Izumin – captain of the D4 team. However, WAG team did not have a successful start as we expected, until babie.579 joined. Then, WAG was very powerful and we could fairly compete with Skynet – the most powerful DotA team in Northern Vietnam.

My WAG has won consecutively at Skynet March, Garena Online Tournaments 2nd and ASUS ROG Qualifier Round in April. By Garena eSports Sunday I, babie.579 had serious illness. For him, we determined to win this tournament and finally, we got the prize. What I always stay in my mind after each tournament was the time when we carried trophy to hospital and shared the joy of winning with babie.579. From March to August 2011, WAG was considered as the most powerful DotA team in Vietnam.

 

Izumin (first on the right) with his team, WAG

RGN: But why WAG suddenly disintegrates after that? And why you moved to League of Legends?

Izumin: After babie.579 recovered from illness, he and WAG.S did not want to continue playing DotA anymore. In addition, WAG met consecutive unexpected achievements and made me lost my faith in DotA.

When WCG 2011 ended, Lonely and Blackmoon from Skynet visited us at MLI. They invited me to play League of Legends for fun. I found this game pretty well and it keep attracting me until now.

DotA and LoL have a lot of similarities, which both have 10 players divided in two teams and compete to each other in three lanes. However, in LoL, there are not some real carriers as DotA. Rune and mastery system will increase creativity for players and the LoL champions seem to be more balance than heroes in DotA. But I feel the tactics in LoL is restrictive than DotA, and the gameplay is faster but lacking several gank phases like DotA. Results in LoL rely heavily on the major combat in battle.

What I feel please much in my DotA-time that was when my team won ASUS ROG Championship 2011. In the final, I have used POTM – one of my forte heroes. But the most regrettable that was I did not won any championships with D4 team and could not keep up my passion to go further with DotA, although my love for DotA still remains forever.

 

Izumin (second from the right)

RGN: Will you stick with League of Legends for a long time?

Izumin: Not sure. WAG.S asked me if I want to participate in DotA 2 training. I will try DotA 2 and after that, I will choose what I want to pursue. I have found that DotA 2 have many great prizes. This is really very attractive.

 

RGN: What are your hobbies?

Izumin: I like football and love to go to cinema with my girlfriend.

In football, I love the goalkeepers the most. So, the teams that have good goalkeepers will be my favorites. Now I love watching Real Madrid because they have Casillas. I also loved Manchester United when they had Van der Sar. In 2002, I was crying when I saw Brazil defeated Germany. I especially loved the style of Germany team who are led by Oliver Kahn. 1 year ago, I still regularly played football. But then I have myopia and cannot be a keeper anymore.

 

RGN: Who are your idols in gaming and real life?

Izumin: In gaming, my idol is Vigoss. I’ve watched his replays so many times. His play style is like my DotA book for me. I think I also achieved 50% of Vigoss’s talents!

In real life, my idol is David Beckham. He’s the ideal type of all men: rich, happy, talented and kind.

 

RGN: Can you talk a bit about your girlfriend? She doesn’t protest your gaming interest, does she?

Izumin: My girlfriend and I have been together for 5 years. It is really a beautiful love. She regularly goes to encourage me in all eSports tournaments. Many gamers said that they couldn’t find a girlfriend because of their passion in games. According to me, before decided to love someone, you must share with him or her about your interests. Agree and support each other is needed for a love. And of course, you have to balance gaming time to spend time with your girlfriend. Hang out with girlfriend is always better than playing games!

The most memorable which I had with my girlfriend was when we go into a giant carousel in the park. I was afraid of heights, so I was scared very much, but I still had to show her how brave I am, but honestly, I was trembling at that time!

 

RGN: What is your intension in future?

Izumin: Now I’m heading to the LoL championship in Hanoi. And I also consider DotA 2 and LOL, which games have higher award to pursue. I think that the probability DotA 2 appears in Vietnam is not high because in Vietnam, not everyone can afford money to buy keys to play this game.

Currently, I am studying computer programming at APTECH and do not intend to leave gaming. Maybe I’ll leave gaming when I can’t continue to race with the young people anymore (laugh).