Volodymyr ‘No[o]ne-‘ Minenko is the veteran force in Parivision’s rebuild, now under coach Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov.
Insider Gaming spoke to No[o]ne to discuss Puppey’s coaching, the 7.41 patch, DM’s departure from Pari, and the Dota 2 circuit.
We spoke to No[o]ne- at ESL following their Lower Bracket victory over Falcons. The roster was later elminated by Xtreme Gaming in the Lower Semi-Final.
Did you expect Falcons to be a bit stronger?
Yeah, of course. I expected it to be tough games, maybe three games, one-out games in the end.
After the patch, no one knows what you’re going to draft, you know?
Yeah, for sure. Nobody knows what to ban, actually, what is good. There are some heroes that are already explored, but some heroes are not explored, for sure.
Do you feel like you’re a little ahead of other teams in that sense?
No, I don’t think so. Just one game, we’ll see how far we can get. Tomorrow is Aurora, a really strong opponent as well, so it’s going to be a rough game.
What was your first reaction to the patch?
First reaction, I liked it. I think if not for the patch, we would not be here sitting right now, for sure. We had some struggles, and the patch just revived us in a way.
Overall, the patch is weird because so many changes, it’s completely changing the game. The most big change to me is that the refresher doesn’t refresh the items. I think it’s the most valid in the end.
It’s going to be rough late games from now on.
Yes, it’s interesting. Do you think the meta is going to move more towards scaling heroes because it’s harder to end?
No, I think the meta is going to shift, actually, to faster games, but maybe I’m wrong.
I think the games, probably you will know who will win the game with 99% at 25 minutes late, you’re going to already know that it’s kind of over.
Okay, why do you think that is?
Because of the changes. It’s lots of them. There are so many items that. First of all, there is only one Ancient. They deleted the Ancients, and that’s the big… Because some teams can get really fat if they’re ahead, s you basically will survive.
If the enemy has a second Aegis and 25k lead, 25 minutes, you cannot win the game.
Do you think your experience with going through so many patches over the years helped you?
I don’t think it’s experience. I think it’s a group of people just seeking and trying to discover whose ideas are going to be better. They’re basically going to win. It’s kind of random.
Some people will think, oh, Bristleback is in, but some people will think Broodmother is in, and they’re going to pick it and see how it goes.
You said earlier that you think you wouldn’t be sitting here if the patch hadn’t happened. What do you think it was about the old meta that didn’t suit Parivision?
I mean, I think last meta was actually good for us, but we just had some really big struggles in the team, and now it just feels fresh. It’s just fresh air in the room, basically.
What do you mean by struggles?
We expect from ourselves too much, basically. We know how to play, but in the end, with every game, we were just getting worse and worse for some reason.
With Puppey coming in as a coach, what is he contributing as a coach so far?
I mean, there’s lots of stuff. First of all, he is the one who is signing on the draft. He is the one who is actually drafting for us and asks for our help if he needs it.
Secondly, he’s teaching us how to play aggressive Dota, basically. There’s lots of good stuff that he has showed us.
Do you think that Puppey has more of a voice than some other coaches?
I think it’s just different. I don’t think he has a stronger voice… I don’t actually know how to answer this correctly, but I’ll just say Pape is good, that’s all.
Obviously you moved away from DM in the team. What did you want to do in the game that meant that decision was made?
I was answering this so many times already. This decision is not about the game. It felt like we had struggles already on the team after TI, and I knew we needed some changes.
I told myself, ‘If they change me, fine.’ But, I knew the team needed to have fresh air, basically, in the room. They needed to do something new for themselves.
I think it was not about, ‘We will choose the guy.’ No. We had some life issues, basically, with each other, and it was hard in the end for both of us, DM and us.
And, this decision was made not for Dota-related reasons, to be honest.
Did you enjoy the crowd on stage?
Oh, yeah. This is is the best. I’m so missing the tournaments like this because I think this is what Dota should be in the end.
It was when I started my career, back then I was in Vega and VP, when we were really good, I was playing only on LANs, and it was the best. That’s why I played Dota in the end.
It’s super sad that this tournament is only one after TI, and the next one is going to be, I think, TI as well. It’s like two LANs in a year. I think it’s too little.
Organisers need to take it. If they want to rise Dota up, I think the LANs are much better for sure.
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For more interviews from the event, see our interview with Speeed from GamerLegion!
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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